News Items.

Colonist, Volume XXXV, Issue 7224, 21 January 1892, Page 4

News Items.

He had passed in bis checks, or as Sootty Briggs observed when making arragements for Back Nanshan's funeral in diggers' parlance, " he had gone np the flume ; " or in pugilistic phraselogy " he had tbrowed up the sponge ;" or as they say in Norfolk " he had kicked the bucket." His belongings, including a black cutty pipe, half a fig of tobacco, a jack knife, and a few bits of string and unoonsidered trifles, are in the police watch-house tied in a red pockethandkerchief. For those who want a model will this is what he had written on a bit of discoloured paper an# neatly folded : "By the Holy Saints, I, John Jansen, in the parish of Difcohside, in the county of Selwyn, colony of New Zealand, being through abundant mercy and grace, though weak in body, yet of a perfeot understanding, and humbly thankful for the same, but concerning the uncertainty of life, do make and ordain this, my fast testament, in manner and form following ; that is to say I commend my spirit to Him who gave it, and my body to be decently buriei in some dry place, and that my temporal estate, if sufficient, I bequeath to pay and reward whoever care 3 to be my executors, John Jansen— -if that was his real name— now rests, in the public cemetery of , he was- decectly buried at the expense of his fellow colonists by the officer of a Liberal Government, and his " temporal estate" beyond the pocket handkerchief and contents have not bsen olaimed by 6ven the pushing and euergetic agent of the Public Trustee. — ' Ohristchnrch Telegraph.' prised if the Chinaman retorted " Too much-ec ohow chow (divergence of views) in your religion ; more better you come joss-house side." Still les ? should the missionary be surprised if, when the patience of the Native is exhausted by the dogmatio and persistent attacks upon hia religious faith, indifference is replaced by auger and acts of violence. An excited people do not draw very nice distinctions between individuals an-3 the masses ; hence the fanlavas, be he a peaceful and inoffen&ive merchant or an intrusive missionary, is liable to meet the same fate at the hands q$ an infuriated mob. When"Di'" Fritz travelled round this quarter of the globe he brought with him a couple of " pigmies," j which he said came all the way from j the "Dark Continent, and belonged to the tribe discovered by Stanley." These two little people were stranded at Palmerston North when their patron left for other parts. On Wednesday, when Stanley was at Palmerston, we learn that the Africans were presented to him. The 'Standard' says that " after Mr Stanley had talked Zanzibari to them, and endeavored to arrive at some idea of their nationality, he eaid that they were no pigmies, but merely small negroes from the South of Africa. With a gift of half a sovereign each the couple departed quite happy. The extravagant sc^le on wbich the Melbource Centennial Exhibition was conducted is well shown in the case of Mr Lavater, the secretary. When accountant in the Railway Department Mr Lavater was in receipt of a salary of £900 per annum. On January 7, 1877, he was appointed secretary of the Exhibition Commission at a salary of £1,250 per year. Though the Exhibition was closed on January 81, 1889, Mr Lavator continued to prolong bis secretarial duties, and four days before the present Government were sworn in Mr Lavater again reported himself to the Eailway Department for duty, after an absence of nearly four yeatß. A few weeks afterwards Mr Lavater reached the age when his retirement from the public service took place, which he was enabled to do upon a pension of £618 Is Id, calculated upon the salary he received as secretary of the Exhibition. A wkit£b in the ' New Review ' cays— about the outrages in China : — 1 have seen, on the occasion of an eclipse, crowds of enthusiastic Chinese rush from their houses into the darkness armed with gongs, trumpets, and firearms, until the clash and roar of these implements succeeded in driving away " the dragon of the sky," who was intent upon swallowing the sun, or the moon, as the casa might be. Then the victorious crowd returned joyously to their habitations. It might wound their self-conceit, but they would not be offended, were the foreigner to enlighten them upon the order of the planetary system, and such instruction would be beneficial to them ; but if the teacher went beyond this, and, in the hope of "saving souls," ventured to instill into the native mind the doctrinal points of theology — each according to his own peculiar tenets — he should not be surHokses are pretty cheap at Brisbane according to a Melbourne paper. A short time ago a resident of Victoria rode from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Brisbane, close, on a 1000 miles. Having no further use for his horse, a real plucky animal, with legs of steel, he entered the beast, with bridle and Eaddle, at the saleyards. They were put up in lots. The saddle fetched 15s, the bridle 2s 6d, and the plucky steed, who did the 1000 miles without a flinch, was knocked down at Is. There's many a slip 'twixt the cap and the lip. An Australian died recently, and left £100,000 to an old man named William Young, in England. When Young was going to Pontefract for the legacy he met with an accident on the railway platform

The London 'Economist' in a recent article says: — "The people" (i c., of New Zealand) " thrown upon their own resources have in the past five years considerably diminished their imports, and turned their at'ention, as they were forced to do, to legitimate production. They not only supply theinselvQß more fnlly than they need to do, but have added a good 50 per cent to the exports. The birth of tbe first monkey ever born in New Zealand has just taken place at Temuka in Canterbury, where Dr Hayes keeps a small menagerie and in which the great event took place. The pair of monkeys which are kept in this menagerie are from Barman and Calcutta raspectively. It is stated by the Woodville 'Examiner' that in order to revive the trade at Home, Messrs Nelson Bros, have decided to send no carcasses over 751 b weight, and intend to confine their export to first-olaBS sheep from 551 b to 651 b. All sheep over 751 b are now being boiled down. An Englishman — George Gedge— who claimed to be the first white man who ever stood on the site of Melbourne, died at V&llejo, California, on the 2nd inst. He claimed to be a son of Admiral John Gedge, and to have been at Yarmouth in 1819. Ho entered our Navy when he was twenty four years of ago, but soon after left it, and after drifting about the world joined tbe rush to California ,in' 49. GOOD MOBNING I Have you used PEAR'S SOAP , I Mb William Deane, late of Enmore, Sydney, has left something more than £9,000 lo the British and Foreign Bible Society. A sain of £28,000 is to be equally divided between it, the Church Missionary Society, and the Church Pasloral Aid Society. j In Victoria the use of the laeh is found to be a deterrent to crime, and of late in the serious robbery and burglary | cases the justices have been very severe in their sentences. At Melbourne four men were sentenced from five to six j years' imprisonment, with solitary confinement, and on several occasions ordered to be whipped. Melbourne was horrified at Christmas tide to learn that a poor woman travelled its streets all one night with her starving babe, seeking admission to tbe charitable institutions and finding none. Worn opt at last, she lay down by the roadside, and the child perished in her arms. I Teere was some hard swearing in a case of larceny heard at luvercargill on Monday, and at its close one of the justices remarked : " I hope never to see children in this Court again. If this is a sample of Makarewa, it wants both churches and gaols and a'l the rest of it." Tee story goes that the Inspector of Schools plucked a girl candidate for the Sixth Standard for being unable to answer tbe following silly question : — " Can you tell me where to go if I wanted Ehea?' Now, the obvious locality in which to searc'u for a mythological person is Hades. But, perhaps, the Inspector knew less about the daughter of Ccelus and Terra, the mother of Verta, Ceres, Juno, Pluto, Neptune, Ac, by her husband Saturn, than he did of the rhea fibre obtained from the Asiatic species of nrtica, or common nettle. For the intelligence of the Inspector we hope the story is a gross fabrication. — ' Napier Telegraph.' "CADBURI'3 COCOA, | A perfect food. , — Health. During the past few weeks most of the houses at Zeehan have been overrun with bush rats, a small black inoffensive looking creature, but one that is very destructive to goods. At one business establishment a, few days since over 80 were killed in less than one hour, and a sufficient number escaped to give many such hour's employment in the future.