News Items.

Colonist, Volume XXXIV, Issue 7034, 10 June 1891, Page 4

News Items.

Judgs .Webb, of Victoria, said recently that tiuman life in the Colony was less: regarded than at any time within his memory. . It is said that for the present year freight space had been engaged- for 140,000 bushels of apples to be sent to England from Tasmania,

The « Maiiawaki Times' reports tjatit a boar has been, .captured in that- district weighing 4cwt r and with askin two' inches thick on the shoulder. - At a funeral recently held in NorthwestLondoii, no wreaths were sent to. be piled on the coffin of the deceased, but the 'sums' these wreaths" would: have cost were. presented by the i friends and acquaintances of the, dead nian to a well-known London hospital, which specially deals with the' painful disease from which the deceased suffered.' •; ; -Mus Elizabeth^Ojkk Bell, widow, of the late Mr David Bell, Craigniore and Blackball, who died at Blythswodd square, Glasgow, on April 22, has, by her djeed of settlement, bequeathed the whole of the residue of her estate, after, paying of certain legacies, to General Booth for the' Salvation Army. The residue, it is.believ.ed, .will amonut to between £60^000 and £70,000.; A hint as to the bad state of the labour market of Melbourne is given by a workman in writing to the ' Age ' on the shearers dispute. He says ■:— " There are thousands i'a the city of Melbonrne not far removed from starvation point, and I know that in Richmond alone there are .a long way over 1000 houses vacant is. the number given — and in numerous cases there are two and three families living in the one hou3e to-saye expenses." A tipsy passenger, who was seated on the box with the stage driver, swayed backward till he tumbled off. The, mud was deep, and he fell soft " There, now ! " he exclaimed, as he crawled out ot the slough, "I knew you'd upset if you didn't take care." On being told that they had not upset — " Not upset !" he echoed in amazement. "3f I'd known that I wouldn't have got off." The • N.Z. Trade Eeview ' says that the import and export returns of gold and specie show that during the last four yeas £340,000 of money has disappeared from the country, which can only be accounted for on the supposition that it has been taken away by people leaving the Colony. As a considerable sum has undoubtedly been brought and left here by tourists and other visitors, the actual disappearance of coin must be a good deal more than that amount. The experiences of Zoe Gayton, an actress, who has walked fron Pan Francisco to Nsw York for a wager, which she has won, were curious and interesting. She took 215 days to do her 3,395 miles tramp. During this time she wore out five pairs of heavy shoes, and three dresses. Her.greatest day's record was forty miles, and she lost twenty-four pounds in weight. She endured plenty of privation, including poor and scanty food, bad sleeping accommodation, aches and pains, bruises and scratches. But she made 12,000 dollars, gained notoriety and a " boom " for her return journey as a star in a melodrama, which she will not make on foot. The .Auckland ' Sporting, Eeview ' tells she following good story : — The first " Neddy " imported into the North Island was the property of Mr E. Caffier of Whangarei. When the animal was landed there, the Maoris, who had never beheld so strange-look-ing a creature, were greatly exercised in mind, and a long discussion grew into a protracted debate, which Maoris, next to eating and dring, relish beyond all earthly delights. Most of the disputants held that the animal was some kind of a horse, others maintained that it belonged to the cow tribe, while a third section defined it to be a jwaka mil (a big pig). After all these various opinions had been pronounced and discussed, a vote was taken, the horse faction having a large majority, and the -pig faction being at the bottom of the poll. Then arose a young chief, who had so far listened in silence and refrained from recording his vote. He cut the Gordian knot in this fashion : " You are all fools ; it is neither a horse, nor a cow, nor a pig. lh must be a half caste V This varitable judgment of Solomon was received with applause, and settled the question. A little girl asked a minister, "Do you shink my father will go to heavea ?" " Why, yes. my child. Why do you ask ?" " Well, because if he don'» havß bis own way there, he won't stay long, I was thinking. A little girl had been to a museum oi magic in New York, aud was telling her mother aboafc a wonderful half a j woman that she saw there. " She was stc inking in a swing, and moving her hands and opening and shotting her eyes and bowing and smiling, and there waß only half of her," said the child miraculously. "And did she talk?" asked the mother. "Of course," interrupted the father from behind his newspaper ; " she wouldn't be half a woman if she didn't." A Witt? as well aa a soft answer will sometimes turn away wrath. Charles Burldgh, the abolitionist, in the r&Hst of ay aati-plavery speech, was struck by a soft egg full in the face. Pausiog to wipe away tbe contents of the missile, he said calmly, "I have always contended that proslavery argnments Wfcre very unsound." The crowd roared, anci he was no longer molested. The searchers far Egyptian ties have been - rewarded by an important discovery at Deir Elbahri, ntar the plain of Thebes.}" AJboui sixty-five feet below the smfuce, in a large chamber excavated in tue,limestone rock, were 163 mummy cases, and a number of bbxea containingrolls of papyrus, which, bad b*en apparently placed there in a hurried; mancer, presumably in aome time of tumult, to prtveat their & stenotion, The mummies are found to bt those of priests and priestesses, tha latest belonging to the 21st dynasty. The whole collection has been sent, to Cairo; where expart3 will be employed j in ciphering the manuscripts. V According feo Cbiaese reck'czuag the priganfc ye&s is tie year 7 ■910,341. The Emgeror of Getniauy. has parchased the celebratea yacht Thietle for<£4 50Q.. , ; v ' / jA- Njsw York paper recently gava' a prize of 100 dollars for the best recipe for keeping a husband at home. Il; is as follows :—" Keep him, it home by encouraging hina to gojout occasion^ ally. Employ no art. of : coquafry , Became ,hw choicest comrade. - Ke6p the Setailifand; worries of^the household from him ; lie has his full afe are oi . worry"; outside; If, after %]\ tlka, ho goes 6lsewberv he is not^.wprth JKepjmgWbome,** - v

: A revebbnd gentleman in addressing a nurnbar of your>g ' fellows' m Christclinrch the other day, extolled football as, when properly played a meana of physical training atd moral discipline. The ppeaker urged upon his hearers to play unselfishly and hot with a view to individual distinction. That the unemployed does not trouble Oarterton is fully proved by the , fact, that a contract for . work recently offered failed to elicit a einglo tender. . 'During the past year fourteen Alpme. mountain-climbers met death by accideat orjby freezing. In no previous eeason have there been so many disasters in the Alps. It is not ■ pf ten ; that, a man applies for -a proh' bitien order against himself It is recorded in the ' M&nawatu Daily Times' that Norman Charlton made such an application to the Feilding justices, and. has been accordingly debarred from quenching his thirst with alcoholic liquors for one year at all the -licensed houses in the district. . The 'Sua' publishes an extraordinary story. Nearly three years ago a sealing schooner named Helens, manned by 24 Japanese and 4 Americans, was poacbing in the Behring Sea. A Kasaian warship attacked there* kiliiDg 7 of the Japanese and taking the remainder of the crew prisoners. They were taken to Nico!aski, and -sentenced to three years in the miaes.,, They were treated with horrible bru'aiity. Captain Morris, command9r of the Helena, has just reached Boston, and tells a fearfni slory of hia sufferings. For many days he worked in the mine chained to the corpse of hia companion, who had succumbed to his terrible treatment. Having no communication with the upper world, save the ascending and decending coal oars, Captain Morris was forced to rid himsalf oi the corpse by cutting it in two with his shovel. He believaa that two of bis crew have also survived, but he had not heard from them 5 et. I A Korth Canterbury man ju&t returned from the Zoehan silver fields, Tasmania, gives an account of the road and the field calculated to make New Zealanders content to stay where they ate. From the present end of fcbe railway to Zaehan is only eight mile?, but it is an eight hours' walk. Of coarse that will be caved when the railway is completed, but the heavy work is still to be done. The streets of Zeehan are np to tbe kne9s iv mud, and oa all roads. under traffic fonr horses are needed to drag a ton. It is a dreadfully wei placa. CADBURY'S COCOA. "A perfeofc Food. '-- HealthThe Rev. James Weils, of Poilokshields, Glasgow, wro'e home from Egypt ffo his congregation that "the missionaries ieli us that the British have aheady done more on behalf of the oppressed peaeaiits than has been done since the days of the first Pharaoh." The Arab ponies which the Sal an recently presented to the three elder of the German .Emperor 's six bogs are Egid to have a pedigree wbich dates back to the "sacred mare" on which the prophet fled from Mecca to Medina. Commander Pcsley, according to a sto?y now bing related ia the Washj ieg club rooms, received among iiis boyhood Christmas presents a handsome Bible, from a rich aunt; After a moment's reflection, they Bay, be exclaimed : " I'm up to that dodge," and began examining the voinme eagerly leaf by leaf until he reached the Sermon on the Mount, where ho found a §10 bill pincei to the page. It eeema that Sohley had read a story of the bad little boy, away at school, who tock with him a eimilar gift. When he came home for vacation hia mother examined the Bible and found tha f 5 bill which she had placed between its leavee. Tons did she know that her boy had not read the Holy Book. A mobt extraordinary story is becoming current of a species of pumpkin, said to have been discovered by Stanley in equatorial Africa. It is an annual The leaves, which are flabe!late, measure from six to 7 inches across, and its enormous vines are from 12 to 18 inches in circumference, entwining round the stems and branches of trees to the height of 80 to 100 feet, and yinv in some instances to a much greater height ; enormous blossoms measuring from 4 to 5 feet in diameter* The pollen, which fell in quantities (0 the ground, was, in someplace?, several inches deep, and like a bed of fine sawdmt. The fruit measures from 10 to 80 feet in cirenmference. and weighs from 5 io 10 owt. They mostly rett in, and are supported by, the forks and branches of the trees, but some were seen hanging from the vines. The fruit it eaten by man and several animals. Some crossbred wethers recently offered in Lyttelton realised 23s each. The AnaniFarm, Waveriey, of 1010 acres, about six miles from the township, has been purchased by Mr James Eiddle, from the .New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Company, into whose hands it had fallen. The price paid was £9000, which included the stock, consisting of 2600 ewes. : Teacher : "Now, Johnny, you may explain to me the difference between, a king and a president." Jonnny; "Kings are bom and presidents get /there." Judge (to . small witness) do you know the nature of an oath?" Witness: ''Oh, yes, sir. I am an office boy, and have to answer the telephone every few minutes." .; " QOOD MOENING you used PEARS' SOAP? 1 . . ■