News Items.

Colonist, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5778, 16 April 1890, Page 4

News Items.

r Tits quantity of Victorian fruit 'forwarded to. England fey thfe mail steamer which left on the 28th r&tMoi ft&s 8200 cases, mostly |aj#l£s/' t r ■•■ •. - v ; :^.: In Victoria, op ■' ■ to s .the^respn.jV. £283,000 have been adyancedtq'irriT gation trusts, and £186,000 invested in n&tional irrigation worksp \ A! gold .nugget, , weighing J'S6z,f has beeh. tpund in the neigKborhopd pf the Forest* Range Goldmingdo.^ property, near Adelaide. j It >; ia to be sent to' the 'Mining Exhibition in London.

'What great event occurred in 1880 ?' Small boy (after a pause) : * Please, ma'am, I was born then.'

The Oamaru Volunteers lose an energetic officer in Major Oosegrove (Navals), who has obtained an appointment under th? Nelson Education Bonrd, and will be stationed at Westport. The Minister for Works has telegraphed to Mr Grimmnnd, M.H.R , that negotiations are going on with the Midland Railway Company for the completion of the Hokitikft-Greymouth line, and that if these be concluded satisfactorily the company will guarantee to complete the line within twelve months from the signing of their contract.

They have a curious but effective method of dealicg with inebriates in the Argentine Kepublic. An English clerk who had gone thither to eeek his fortune was arrested at Eosario for being intoxicated. Instead of being let off on payment of a fine, the unhappy wight was sentenced to sweep the streets for eight days. So hntpilating did he feel this penalty to be that he quitted the country. Dtjnedin's oldest inhabitant died on the Ist lost. This was "William Low, familiarly known as • Sandy.' He was in Dunedin to welcome the John Wickliff and Phillip Laing arrivals. He had been a whaler, and being wrecked on Waipapa Point he lived for some time with the Maoris. When the settlers came he joined them, and was bellman and town oner to the first town board. He was about 80 when he died.

Lady (to olerk) — Will this calioo wash ? Olerk — No, madam, it will cot. It will fade, run, shrink — and, in fact, is a most inferior article. Why, young man, how honeat you are. I thank you for telling me. It is not often I find a olerk who has suoh a high idea "of honour and Clerk : It's not that madam ; but the boss left me out when he raised the salaries of the others to-day, and I'm trying to get even with him.

A clergyman whose salary had not been paid for saveral months told the church- ward ens of his church that he must have his money as his family were suffering for the necessaries of life. • Money,' exclaimed one of the churchwardens, noted for his stinginess, ' Money. Do you preach for money ? I thought you preached for the good of souls.' The minister replied, •So I do, but I can't eat souls. And if I could, it would take a thousand such as-, yours to make a meal/

Mark Twain has published some observations on Swiss mountain farms which seemed to have been made with a view to be striking if not truthful. Among them are remarks on the steepness of these farms, their fences being precipices on the lower sides, — a Swiss cockatoo ' might ' fall out of his holding and break his neck on some other man's property. Up Waiapu way, in the North Island, there are some farms steeper still, for a man not only ' might ' fall off his farm, but one has done it, and killed himself.

The following good story is from ' Stockkeeper ' : — A family let their house famished, leaving in it a large dog. The tenant was an old lady who liked to sit in a particularly comfortable chair in the drawing room, but as the dog was also food of the chair she frequently found him ia possession. Being rather afraid of tha dog she did not dare to drivo him out, and therefore used to go to the window and call 'Cats!' The dog would then rush to the window, and the lady would take possession oi the chair. One day the dog entered the room and found the lady in possession of the chair. He ran to the window and barked excitedly. The lady got up to see what was the 1 matter, and the dog instantly seated himself in the chair.

Next to beiDg the nephew of a rich aunt the most promising po&itioQ in life would seem to be that of chief clerk to a judge or great lawyer. Justice Manisty's gift of £2500 to his chief clerk has recalled many equally munificent gifts from lawyers of the past in recognition of life-long services. Mr Justice Quain, who is still kindly remembered by the Bar of the Queen's Bench, left £5000 to his ci)ief clerk. Sir John Karalake, who served boih as Solicitor-General and Attorney-General in the Derby Administration of 1865, left £2000. The lucky cleric qf Mr Justice Orowther received £8000 by bfqiieat. Lord Justice Gifford left £1000, and Lord" Justice Thesiger £1000. Another famous Queen's cousel, Mr John Southgate, bequeathed £2000 to his assistant.

The obituary writer (says the Scotsman ') will probably pass without notice the death which occurred on, Monday morning, 13fch January, from*' a painfnl and incurable disease, of a humble Aberdeenshire peasant, to wit, John M'Gregor, which took place at a farmhouse overlooking the village of Kincardine O'Neil. Yet, this man was the father of Sir William M'Gragor, the present Governor of British Npw Guinea. A shrewd, bard-headed old Boot he was, who had passed his life in the severest physical toil, but one who, in spite of an uphill battle for bread; struggled 'tooth an'diiairto give his son • a,college jeduciatipii.'. That boy, the type of the poor but clever youths that annually enter at Aberdeen University , more| than requited his fond father's self-sacrificd. Qualifying for, the medical service, he went to Fiji during the time|Of Sir Arthur GordoVs adminis•trat|lon, and attrricted the 'notice of f "tHatVoapable administrator,, was, pronjojctdiOigll §^rietyaof postSii ultimately becoming Reoeiver^genwal;: