NEWS ITEMS

Colonist, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8263, 1 June 1895, Page 3

NEWS ITEMS

(From oub Latest Exchanges.) Worth's establishment, of Paris, has just created for an American lady a unique sleeve, which represents a stained glass window. The different lights are marked out by raised piping of a contrasting color to the panels, which are exquisitely painted in rich subdued colors. The owner of this remarkable production paid a large sum to have the model destroyed. Colonel Fox, addressing the Wellington Navals, said that the events of the past six months had placed an entirely different aspect upon the matter connected with the defence of the Colonies. There were now within easy distance of the Colony ICO,OOO armed fighting men, who might at any time be launched against Australasia. Therefore, it was of the utmost importance that the defences and forts should be in a state of efficiency in order that the warships of the Empire might be able to retire to their shelter to refit, provision, coal, or obtain war material, and to use them as a base of operations. After Mr Crockett had written his first book he tried it on a Scotch firm, but he tells in • Cassell's Magazine ' that they returned it with a note, politely assuring him that there was no market at all for that sort of thing. He has since had his revenge : — Not very long ago (he says) I received a letter from the same firm, saying that it was a great pity that Scottish work should go to England to be published, and adding that it would gratify them very much to have a book from the author of " The Raiders " Thereupon the devil tempted me and I fell. I looked up their earlier letter, which happened to be endorsed, " In replying please refer to No 898 b." So I wrote back, politely requesting Messrs to refer to No 1 398 b, and they would , see their former opinion of the work of the author of " The Eaiders." I had no reply to that. A good story (reports the London ' Standard ') is told of Thackeray, who was always at one time a welcome | visitor at the house of Lady Ashburton who was somewhat free with her tongue, and in offering an opinion of others. Something that the saucy hostess said offended her guest, and he not only declined her invitations, but he spoke of her with discourtesy. Some months afterwards, when his angry feelings had died out, he received Irom Lady Ashburton a card of invitation to dinner. He returned it with a pen-and-ink drawing on the back, representing himself kneeling at her feet, with his hair all aflame from the hot coals she was vigorously pouring on his head out of an ornamental brazier. The humorous expression of contrition was followed by a complete reconciliation, and thenceforward the satirist and the lady continued in a warm friendship. With regard to wheat, one of the latest Christchurch papers states : — From the latest cable quotations from Adelaide, the cost of South Australian wheat laid down here is equivalent today to about 8s 6d to 3s Bd, and Californian would cost, roughly, about the same- Seeing that the quality of our wheat this year is especially good, and i probably very closely approximating to South Australian in intrinsic worth, we should consider that our Tuscan and pearl are worth about an equivalent value, whilst Hunter's white would range a shade lower. If Australian values advance further, so will ours, but the governing factor must be that pried at which the Australian product can vie with us. Some time ago Dr Robertson (of Chitral fame) spent eighteen months among some of the most dangerous tribes of Beloochistan, risking his life the whole time, but quite happy at being able to learn something about the unruly races with whom England is being brought into contact. Dr Robertson does not know what fear is. The natives recognise his unique personalty at once, and he can do things that no other man dare think of doing. When he is out anywhere, Europeans and natives acknowledge that he is head and shoulders above everybody else. The natives declare that there is no getting the better of him. " This man," they say, " thinks of just what we were going to say, and every intrigue." He is a wonderful diplomatist, and he delights hi difficulties. A New- Womanish lady has appeared at length on the House of Commons terrace. In her right eye was an eyeglass, and in her mouth a lighted cigarette. The law authorising the consolidation of the Astor, Lenox, and Tilden libraries into a New York Library has passed the Legislature, and the project will now be put into operation with 400,000 volumes, and an endowment of £1,600,000. A story illustrating Ruskin's whimsicality is given on the authority of a friend of the great writer. " One morning," he notes, "as we were coming out of chapel, Ruskin said tc us, • I ought not to have come tc chapel this morning. 1 We asked him, in no little astonishment, why ? ' Because,' he said, ' 1 am going to write a critique on 's picture, in the Academy, and I want to be in a perfectly diabolical temper.' " — « CasBella's.' Mrs Billus (after the company hat gone) : Johnny, you shouldn't tiav( erttn thore preaeived frnits. Th«j were not intende J to be eaten, Tbe) were put on tie table to fi'l up Johnny Bilks : Well, that's w ;afc ] used 'em for, mammi. Messrs Bodmin Broe., of Hawera lost fu'ly £200 worth of potatoes dor ing the Easter flood. Continuation Qt" m News tee Fourth Fage^

An incident in connection with s tbe scovery of a human heaoT on the r- 1. c ilda b.aoh. Me b -urn?, serves to g low how ab<o!u eiy unreliable lay 1 entific »lion m y pr ye to ba in euch g 18GB. A M-2 Cairel on Wednesday and confidently identified' le head bb that vt bet missing hnsind, Jame* Onrr 1. She W3? so enre fitth it she at once adopted moarnig at' ice Dr Neild, however stated lat the bead wag palpably that of a lan between 40 and 45 years of age od that, judging by the 6tats of the cad, he iatcied it had been in water ■om two to three weeks, which was ather longer ttnn it was possible for tie man Carrel to have beei dead, aeicg that he had been missing only ome 10 days. The bead has since een identified as that of Michael lullery, of Weet Melbourne. It may not be generally known bat the controversy as to the missing sir Roger Charles Tiohborne has assumed a novel phase in Auckland (says Herald.') There ia a workman in he employ of the Auckland Gas Com)*ny. Charles Henry Dore, a tteady ndu&trious man, wh > states that he jears upon his body the birth marks ivhicb were eaid to b 3 upon the body >f tbe missing man, as detai'ed in evidence upjn the trial, and that some 3f the incidents then alluded to ccsurred in his own life. He states that there is a myaey about his iifo. Dore is evidently well ecquiin'ei with the his'o.'y of the Tichborne family, and has been pondering over tbe bu-i-----r.eas for years pact. He has cent to England for a'l the information concerning the Tichborce case, through a friend going home, and also purposes writing to Lord Onslow. Dore enlie! edin the 65th, at the outbreak of the Crimean War, end served in the New Zealand campaign. He states that the Osprey was lying ai Spithead when he was there, and sailed a few days previous to bis leaving for New Zealand, and when be was stationed at Wahapu, Bay of Islands, under Ca?tain Macgregor, she called there aud he boarded her. Dore is a married man with a family* He does not claim to be the man who eailsd ia the Bella. His theory involves the •' mixing up of babies," a la Buttercup. The ' Bawke's Bay Herald ' relates that a Mrs Oodd, acoompanied by a lady friend and her child, wps driving over the Bedcliffe bridge, when ihu horse shied, and tbe ohild was thrown from its mother's, arms over tbe rails into the 'lutaeknri River, a distance of fully 30ft. The little cne, strange to say, floated down the river for aboui fifty yards, being probably held up bj its clothes, and was eventually rescued by a Mr Waierbouse, who had tc wade into the water waist deep, apparently cone the worse for the acoi dent, although it was several minute* ia the chilly water. Two adventurous seronauis, M, Mil let and M. de Fonvielle, have undertaken to make a sky trip arounc Franca, keeping their balloon as n?ai tbe eßrth as possible, bo as to be able to descend with ease occasionally They want to prove that agreeabh aud economical journeys can be made by balloon as well as by rail oi water. A GisNTiiis Hint. — Traveller : Goot day, mister. I don'c ask yer for anj tuoker, bm would yer mind leitin' ms sleep on yer wire fence ? bqautter Well, as the ground is wet, I don'i mind you sleeping on the fence if yoi on manage it. But what about th< dog ? I can't allow dogs on the run Traveller: Ob, that'll be ail right bo3s. I'm goin to ("at 'im to night i yar dou't mi ad lendin me a match t< light a fire to cook 'im. It is stated : — •• The Tobacco fac tories in Victoria, employ only 661 hands, of whom 157 are females The total wages expended is onh £50,000 per annum, whilst the Stati subsidy is practically £140,000 pc annum. The colony, that is, has pai( the entire wages-she st of the manu facturers, atd given them a bonus o £90,000 per annum besides, and th< price of tobacco in Melbourne is n< cheaper than in Sydney. Rev James Chalmers (New Guinea i Missionary) writes: — A singular thing happened with Koapena, the Arorm chief, when visiting a man-of-war Be was greatly interested in all he caw, and was descending just after me into tbe stokehole, when a furnace door was opened. Tn&tantly he sprang up the ladder, disappeared over tbe side into a canoe, and made for the shore. Nothing could induce him to return. He once told me he would like to accompany me, but his wivee objected : and he asked if I would take tham off acd show them the vessel, for then it would be all right. We were to start for Oloudy Bay in tbe morning, and I toid bim to bring them on board when he came. In the morning he came with his food and pig for the journey, accompanied by his two wives and daughter. All went well, the anchor was being weighed, and I felt sure we had our big frieiid. The wives and daughter were getting ready to go into the c^noe, atd just then the Btoker opened the furnace door ;- the women hearing tbe noiee balow looked down and saw the great flaming fire. There was one fearful yell, a loud cry for Koapena, and in a few seconds he and all of them were in the canoe and hurrying to the shore. Thb ' Temuka Leader ' says : — We learn that Mr Gideon Rutherford, of Kakanui. has lost under pecular circumstances a prize ewe, for which he had refused 100 guineas a few weeks ago. Mr Rutherford was away from home, and the household, running short of meat, made an application to the shepherd for some mutton. The shepherd directed the boy to a paddock in which he said he could find some sheep, and told him to catch and kill one of them. The boy did as he was told, and selected the 100-guinea ewe, which he had very soon prepared for the pot; Mr Rutherford, on returning home discovered what had happened, and his state of mind may be easier imagined than described. He had named the ewe " Perfection," and would not have taken any money for her. The boy left uncermoniously, and has not been heard of since.

According to Mr- Lee, in his book >n fox terriers, the largest sum ever jiven for a terrier was £470 for " Vice Regal. Mr Stephens' the purchaser, jet by £2000 to buy terriers \fith. Burgeon Roberts, wbo bag been to Ohitral say a:— The country through which out troops had to make -heir wsy is desolate and weird beyond desoriptioD. Snow capped mountains of b-;e b;owu iock, aurelie?ed by a Bicgle green t ; .ing. rise from 80CO fret to more than 20.000 feet on all sides, and the only passage through them is by oarrow dc fi es worn ia the rocks by the torrents which have roshed down them for ceDturits. Ths natives had more potant weapons of defence than riflUs, though t v hty mdc good use of these. They have raised rock throwing to a soienc . J heir for's are protected by immeuee oollestions of rook, which are seat hurtling down the shingle slopes with terrific force. It is wonderful how effective this simple means of defence and offence is. I have seen a man'd koee taken of jus% a3 if a cannon sbot hnd struck it. Of couree, ap:rt altogether from the mountaineers, there is Nature shaking down rocks on her own account. Roads, as we k«ow them, are almost unknown in euch a country. There i8 a mnla traok part of the way from Gilgit to Chitta', bat beyond where it ceases there is only a mountain track, which ia in a fearful condition in mo*t places, and hasgs over awfal precipices in an appalling fashion. Bach is the present; routo t; ibitral, 700 mi'ee long, which will be avoided in the future when the old route from Chitral to T'eabawur, 180 miles long, closed by Umra Ehao, is re-opeaecl by the Bri isb. When Murillo was at work, in a Bpanish convent, he thoughtlessly promised one of his Berving brothers to paint him a picture. Being im~ pcruned to redeem bis promise he made m*ny excus* s, the last thing that he had no canvas. ' Paint it upon this ' eaid the motik, Bpi-eading out his napkin. It wai done, and ■the painting, which is known as • Tbe Madonna of the Napkid,' is hang in the gallery at Seville, Spain. A Gebman journalist wbo visited Bismark recently says that the exohancellor has aged very maoh in the . last few months. He eats with : difficulty, can bardly bold bimself • erect, and speaks only in a tone so low that it is hard to understand him. i Fbom Pdlmerrtoii North comes the i following little anecdote of harvest. ) thanksgiving in one of the oharohes s there, which was decorated ia the r usual harvest manner. When the I sermon time arrived the parson did ) not ascend into the pulpit as was bis - ordinary ouetom ; instead he addreseed ■ tha congregation from the middle of the 3 chancel aud thus commenced bis sermon : — ' My brethren, I cannot to-day - preach from my accustomed place in - the palpit, as the floor of that place I i 8 ocoflpied by a duck sitting on 18 r eggs, which Farmer Blink has Bent 3 as a thanks-offering.' THE HABIT OF HEALTH, 3 The constant use of Peabs' Soap. 3 Hebe von Kotzk, the mastei of cerec monies at Berlin, who was recently acquitted of tbe charges of writing lii bellous letters which had been brought f against him, was obliged nevertheless, 9 in order to clear his character com- •' pletely, to challenge his accusers. He t fought his duel with the first among i them (Baron von Beischaoh, one of the Kaiser's chamberlains) en April 18 • and at the eighth exchange of thuti fell i Beriouefy wounded in the leg.