NEWS ITEMS

Colonist, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8257, 25 May 1895, Page 3

NEWS ITEMS

— ♦— — (From our Latest Exchanges.) A capital story i 3 to!d by the ' Daily Mew a ' of Masoagui and au orgau grinder. Infar.ated at the rapid rate at which his ■• Interim zzo" was being perioimed en the ia&trnmeiit ia qasgiion, the composer rashed into the street, acid s izing the ha. die proceeded to grind the tune at the proper pace, explaiuiug tLat he had written it &nd ought to know. Whireod next day the grinder appeared witu the placard, " Vupil of the 09<ebiated Mußcagui." Verdi was happier, though less economical, in hie treatof tho organ-grinder tiuißanoe a few years back* He compounded with all the periormers ia the neighborhood wheie he was stayiug at so muoh a week, and warehoused their inetrameDts in bis owa viilu. An evidence of the popularity ol football is the fact tuat there are at present iv Eogland and Wales 14,960 football clubn. Thf Eev. Haskett Smith, who lived for five years in Palestine, and has made that country his especial study, told an Adelaide interviewer that within the last ten years 70,000 Jews have gone back to Palestine, chiefly owing to Eussian prosecutions. The Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works met the other day, 40 strong, to select two office lads at a salary of £1 per week. Five ballots occupied two and a half hours, Contracts involving the expenditure of £700,000 •were passed in two and a half minutes 1 Lockwood, playing for Surrey against Warwick, scored 158. Dr W. G. Grace, for Gloucestershire against Somerset, made 288, thus registering his hundredth century Nottinghamshire scored 786 runs against Sussex, Gunn being responsible for 219. The Queen's household expenses on an average amount to something slightly over £85,000 a year, Mb Solomon Slosemun, tie discover of the Visoount of Canterbury nngg-t, which caused so great a een--Ba«icn maty yp.ars ago in Victoria, bae lately died at Coolgardie. A ;"■■ ew South Walrs country fchoolteacher Btt a boy a question in compound proportion for hi-me-work, one eveniug, which happened to inoiude the circumstance of " men working 10 hours a day in order to oomplete c certain work" Kext morning th< nnsnspecti g feaohtr, in looking ovei his little pack of exercises, found "Jim's" sum unattempttd and tb< following' letter cnoloeed in tie page : ' Sir,— l refuse to let Jim do his sun you give him last night has it iooks tc me to bo a slur at 8-hour sistom ennj Bum not more than 8 hoars he is welcomo to do but not more.— Youn traely, Abbam Blank, Benr." r iBE erotic weather in England it Maroh stimulated a demand for furs and at the sales extraordinary prioe< were obtained. The skin of a fine cc; otter fetched £235, that of a black fo? £170, silver fox tkins realising £50. " i ohemian" iv the Chriatohurcl: • Press ' writes : — •' Wbat X admin about onr polios forco is tht-ir undoubted energy. Last week, for ex ample, an unfortunate man namec Turner got astray. Detachments mounted and on foot, set out from th< depot towards all points of the com pass, with goodness knows how man] days' provisions in their haversacks They were determined to find tha man or die in the attempt. The;] searched the nooks and crannies o } the Port Hills ; it is even alleged thej I were seen with field-glasses on Coop" 3 er's Knob. They explored suburbar 3 lanes and city rights-of-way. The; r patrolled the sandhills at Brightoi 3 and dragged the Heathcote at Sumner 1 Such zeal deserved success, and sue cess rewarded it at the eleventh hour 3 They discovered the unfortunate ma] 5 at last — sitting on the kerb-stone op 3 posite the police station,"

Half a crown an hour is the ordlary pay for a diver actually at work nder the water in the Thames and a ' iiilling an hour while he is attending is comrade working under the water, 'he men work in turns, four hours bove and four hours below in the ourse of the day, and they can make bout four guineas a week. Six pounds week is not an unusual sum for one f them to earn ; indeed, that seems o be the general rate for good men rhen things are brisk. A prodigious memory is that of Villiam Morris, the poet and Social3t. Given a fair start on any senence in Dickens' works, he will compete that sentence with very little leviation from texual accuracy. Were ivery copy of "Pickwick Papers" lestroyed to-day, William Morris :ould write the book almost word for vord as it now stands. There is an amusing anecdote ibout Mr Beerbohm Tree's little ten-fear-old daughter, Viola, who was jome tune ago acting before the Queen it Balmoral. Her Majesty gave the jhild a lovely pearl-and-ruby brooch as a souvenir, and, pleased with Viola's lainty grace, held out her hand for Viola to kiss. Viola, all unsuspecting grasped the Queen's hand and shook it heartily, and there was much amusement among those present. America is the land where the star of the fortune-^making woman shines most brightly. Harriet Beecher Stowe made £40,000 by writing one book. Then there is Madame Modjeska, who is worth £20,000 ; and Annie Louise Cary, who, asked by her husband as to the amount of her fortune, replied with a blush that she had a mere £20,000. It is judged that Mrs Langtry's gains in America during her tours have been nearly £30,000 ; while Miss Mary Anderson is worth more than that sum and has it well invested too. According to a recently-published account, one of the greatest money makers in the world is Lydia von Finklestein, a native of Palestine, She is 28 years old, and her study has been the Holy Land, of which she knows every inch. Her business to lecture, and every time she lectures £25 floats serenely into her treasury. Dr. Hinde, who has lately returned to England from Africa, states — At N'Gandu, the headquarters of Gongo Lutete, we found that chief had gathered together about 10,000 cannibal brigands, mostly of the Batatela race. Through the whole of the Batatela country and from the Lurimbi northwards, for some four days' march one sees, as I said at the Royal Geographical Society, neither grey hairs, nor halt, nor blind. Even parents are eaten by their own children on the first sign of approaching decrepitude. N'Gandu, I may tell you, is approached by a very handsome pavement of human skulls, the top being the only part showing above ground. I counted more than a thousand skulls in the pavement of one gate alone. Almost every tree forming the boma, or fortification, was crowned with a human skull." When we arrived at Lusuna's, a town described by Cameron, we found that Lusuna had died about ten months before, and we were told that when he was buried his followers cut the throats of a hundred men, and placed them in the grave, laid the chiefs body on the top of then, then threw in a hundred live women, filled up the hole and built a splendid house upon it. It is suggested in Victoria that the simplest way to overcome the trouble with the butter agents in England is to establish Colonial auctions, and sell dairy produce in the same fashion that woal is now marketed. The domh Australian wine growers have actually done something in this way with their produce. Stdney bnghmen work twelve hours a-day for 6d an hour- Tram conductors work nine boars a-day for lid an uour and uniforms. A New Yobk woman who sells newspapers on the streets is reputed to have made £4000 out of her calling in the last twenty years. In a Free oh the court the judge in his haste pronounced a decree divorcing the lawyer instead of client, having transposed the names, aud alt Eoria of form lilies bad to bj gone through before the error could be rectified. The Lending Board under the Advances to Settlers Act, Bays an exchange, has a very onerous tssk to perform, and has to be careful that in advancing money to Bmall settlers it is not buy iu? them out, aud giving them the means of leaving for Coolgardie, or some otter distant £1 Dorado. A cubio¥S story is related of the adventure of a fiftetn-year-old g ; rl named Luoy Dewhirtt, who has at various times resided with relatives at Knot End and at Blackpool. About aix months ago, it appears, she was taken by her mot er to Lawrence, Massachusetts, wh re a home was found for her with her brother's family. Tiring of American life, however, Lacy obtained a boy's suit of clothes had her golden ringlets shorn, and then proceeded by train to Boston. Bbc engaged to work the passage to Liverpool on a cattle steamer as oabin boy. During the voyage Bhe attended to the cattle, was made to go aloft, helped with the painting, and received more than one " licking " from the captain, and yet. according to a resect interview, she says her esx waß never discovered. After arrival in Liverpool she stiil continued in her male aUire, not discarding the trousers till she arrived at Ashton-under-Lyne. where a sister resides. When she dashed into the house and flang her arms round her Bißt=r's neck, her sister had not the slightest idea who she was, and it took some time to convince tier that it was her sister. The girl, who has returned to some relatives in Liverpool, appears none the worse for her adventures, bat expresses a wish that her hair would grow. Sootoh as is she spoka : A Scotchman goes into the shop of a brother HigbUndman.audeome ck thing being under discussion, the following conversation takes place :— "Oo ?" " Ay. oo." •• A'oo ?" " Ay, a'oo." " A'ae oo ?" " Ay, a'ae oo." Whioh being interpreted, signifieth— '• Wool » Yet wool." «• All wool ?" Yes, all wool, * - " Ail the |came wool ?" " Yes, al the same wool."

A poor woman picked np a email UaMier bag on the pavement in Fmiihfild the other day, which was found to contain papers and gMd valued at £500. the restored it to the owner, hnd w^a rewarded with a penny. A thrilling etory of an encounter wi h a leopard comes from Seraj^ucge, in India. Two young English gentlemen belonging to the i< caUty weut out to ham a leopard that had been making its pr. senoa uopleasantly felt in the neighboring villages, Neither was aocnatomod to hunting cor to the ute of firearms, but both wt-re fall of pluok and e^gar to Bhow their powers. They took up their station on a patch of cleared ground, awaiting the leopard that the b sat era were chasing from his lair, when suddenly the brat? leaped on one of them and caught him by the thigh , inflioting terrible inj uries. His oomp niou, seeing his danger, tried to fire at the brate, but, unfortunately the Bafety-pio, wi'h ths use of which he was unacquainted, had locked the gun so that the trigger would not move, He. triad to bsat tbe leopird off from bis companion, but the enraged beast turned upon him, stripping bia arm and literally crunching hie band. Two of the beaters came up and used their bamboos wi h such telling effect that the animal turned tail and returned to the jatgle. The two Europeans were removed to Serajgunge, and it w&s found th*t tte fmt-men'.ioned wa3 in such a c itical state tba*. he cou'd not recover from bis injuries. He died shortly afterwards. In ten years the Oxford colleges hive suffered a loss of income through agricultural depression amounting co ,660,000. Science ia revolutionising mankind (eaya a contemporary). Industry ha 3 problems hithorto uabearcl of to solve. The whole conditions of existence ate being altered. fairy tales oi eci9i.ee are becoming everyd.y facts. The advance phyaically is enormous, and ii without mtes and bounds, bal the intellectual advaooe dees not correspond ; bo thai' we have the speoUc c of inferior men dealing with illimitable powere. Ttie fattest ofmea are to poteeßS the powers of the gois, to be armed with etrength withon 5 the wisdom ar.d pity which ensaro their pradent use. As a consequence we see the world seething in hundreds of prcjeots, takitg visions for faciß, desires for ri>ht3, and the fahalloweat of scbeme3 ifar the conclusions of philosophy. Snrely we must conclude that the portion of the world referred to is " cracked " now, even though we kaew that " it was craokit before." Canon Tristram in his coairibution -;o a eerie s of articles in the ' Beoord 1 on" Bejmon Preparation, " begs tbe clergy to bi'Ware ot wrong or unfortunate i lustrations. •' When a dockyard thap!aia,l once," ho says, " secured tbe aid of an eloquent American Bishop, v*ho3e sermon certainly riveted me. The next d*y, meeting the boatswain of (ho yard, who was a great critic, I remarked to him, ' That was a grand sc-rmoo, Mr S — , that we hearl ytsler.iay.' • Well, I dou'ti know, sir, 1 he replied id the same deep roar which ha had used when he was Lord Nelson's boitswaia'd m*te ; ' X on ! y hope he knows his own bußiaess betier than he knows mine. 1 ♦ Why, wh^t was the matter?' exclaimed i. • Why didn't you hear ? He talked about Bails hanging idly from t'e maer, as if any landlubber ever saw a sail hanging from anything bat a yard yet !' " THE HABIT OF HEALTH. The constant obo of Pe±bb' Soap. In Melbourne Ohicamen are now dyeing men's suits of clothes, for about a third the price charged by Europeans: Chinamen ssk 2s 6d a suit ; Euro* peans get 6s to Bs. Becently the estate of a Brisbane bankrupt paid a first and final dividend of 1-82 of a panny in the £. How on earth did the small creditors get their dividend ?