MISCELLANEOUS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 11975, 26 January 1903, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

legal point that wctud have delisted tne. great Khadaruantnus iimaed pouncted to a Bench ot .Melbourne Jusuces recently. A butcher sold to a woman a ieg or rnuttcn, and instructed the bov who took i; no: 10 .eave it without the money, as. Tue woman tendered naif a sovereign, aad cue i aa went off to seat cnange. H e fell upon a laiiKinan to wnoui woman owed bs, and ne gave the bov a moietv in c^b anJ hu recei d a< ? count wi:n the lady. She appropriated the butchers 5s aaa sent him tue receipt for the butcher sued the miikmau belore unices, h-ac after wrestling with the contji L rrua for two hours thev gave a up 'and eisniissiu tue cse. " " _ Commenting on the launch of the \"ord-ceucsci-er Uoyd "riier,'- the Kaiser Wilhe.m ii.. and the White Star Ceuric. the largest_ snip in the world, the " Shipping VV oriel gives some imeiesting comparative figures. The fo.ruer is to cross the Atlantic at a speed of 24 knots, and w»lf have engines co develop 4b,000 indicated horse ptmer, while the British ship will obtain 17 knots, with 14,005 horse power. The two boats reprise (Jciniac and Uritub. policy at the present moment. To gain her 40 per cent. ui..ie speed the Kaiser Wilfcclra 11. will burn 190 per cent. ci;>re .:cl.!_about 750 tons per day: she requires 256 more hands to work bar, while of her 600 hands only 45 will be ordinary sailors, the remainder being nmstlv mechanics of various kinds, and she" mast <orego the carrying of some 1200 passengers aad 15,000 to 20,000 toot of cargo

every voyage. Such is the price of speed, and the moral to be drawn from the launch of the latest great Gsrman ship is that there are plenty willing to pay heavily to cross the Atlantic at the best speed. The tendency of British shipowners is to cheapen freights by employing steamers of very large tonnage. We have not been singular in this respect, only where foreign nations have built one such ship we have built a dozen. Of the largest class of ships 255 belong to Great Britain, 81 to Germanv, 31 to America, 18 to France, 11 to Russia, and 4 to Holland. A story, which will go straight to the hearts of" sheeting men is told by a contemporary o; a clerical gentleman who was invited to join a shooting party. In the course of the day the host felt himself prodded in the" back, and, turning round, found the amiable cleric poking at him with the muzzle of the gun, and bis I-ok of interrogation was met with the remark, "Can you tell me how to let down these baastly things." alluding fo the hammer of the gun, which was full-cocked and loaded.