BRIEF MENTION

Observer, Volume 1, Issue 20, 29 January 1881, Page 195

BRIEF MENTION

—Mrs. Lingard paid a long call on Mrs. Macfarlane the other night. —The best description of Auckland "society" is given in these two words— pride and pimples. —"Political Observanda," by Brutus, -will be resumed next issue. — The Pitt-street Wesleyan Improvement Association is moribund. —Sam Hesketh was not instructed by Brockie to sue Fiji Dick for damages to underlinen. —Poor old "love-and-affection." He was liacl properly. — A lady threatening to prosecute her husband for libel is the latest novelty. — Whilst at Cambridge, Joe Ellis manufactured a powerful hair restorer. —Mr. Cox, licentiate in dental surgery, R.C.S., England, has commenced practice in Hobsonstreet. — A German paper, in announcing the imprisonment of Mr. Dale, informs its readers that •' Holloway is a town near London, famous for its pills." — The shell pattern trimming is much in vogue amongst some of the "upper ten" of Tauranga. It is very becoming to a slight figure. — Adam Kelly, of Tara farm, Mangawai, is supposed to be the best informed man on all general matters North of Auckland. —Mr. Clarke has returned to Gisborne to open up the Kotokautuku Oil -Block, tho company having been successfully floated. Mr. R. H. Foster, draper of the Thames, was married to Miss Kate Tregouning on the 25th of this month. The jovial bachelor crowd wish him joy. — A tall gentleman wearing a parsonified appearance with long coat and bolltoppcr has, a correspondent understands, got his name up for climbing— lamp-posts. —The Regatta Ball has been awfully mismanaged and seems likely to be a very mixed aflair. There is no lady patroness and " currant jellyisni has determined to stop away. —Nelson's last signal.— " England expects every man to do his duty," viz : — To pay for the use of the dress coats worn at the Govenor's Levee, and send them home sharp. — People who were puzzled as to the meaning of the affix A.A., are now informed that it signifies " awfully awful," to which society of pretentious snobs (the awfully awfuls) the user generally belongs;. —Mrs. Clayton's school-girls are having a jolly time of it in Tauranga. Bances, picnics, and riding-parties follow in quick succession. The place will be very quiet when they leave. — Pawnbroker's Sale.— Mr. Arthur will sell at his Mart ou Monday, 14th February, at 11 o'clock, Jewellery and Clothing. —James Eae, Pawnbroker.— [Advt.] —Charley McLean, of Waipu, and several other young men with commendable energy, have purchased a set of Highland bag-pipes— to be used in the settlement on holidays. — The schoolmaster abroad. — In a certain boot shop I saw a ticket on which was the legend, "These is them. 18s." We certainly need free education. — "A friend in need is a friend indeed." I hear Capt. Thomas still remains true to Mr. Swallow, and has given him a fresh start in Parnell. The Professor's advertisement apiiears in another column. —"My Mother's Ticker," a pathetic sequel to "My Grandfather's Clock," by William Horace Lingard, first produced (with gveat effect) at the Supreme Court, Auckland, on January 20th, 1880. — Some kind friends of the Lingards have taken pains to circulate copies of the daily papers, giving an account of his bankruptcy examinations all over the United States. — Mrs. Susie Fuller, the proprietress of that commodious hotel fronting Walton-street. Whangarei, — ♦'The Settlers"— gave grand accommodation to tho Masons while there. — The elevation of Mr. Justice Lush (says the Referee) is a suggestive line. Lush does sometimes lead to' elevation, and elevation leads to justice, which generally ends in " forty bob." — Walter Johnston who was awarded Sir Julius Vogel's prize at District; Scholarship Examination, is son of the chairman of the Katikati Highway Board, and arrived by the " Lady Jocelyn " abovit three years ago. — Much unconscious humour is says Smith, to be found in the menace lately sent to Lord Morris Fitzgerald by his Irish tenants, to the effect that, though lie would be shortly shot, nothing would be done to righten or annoy Lady Adela, his wife. — Some of the uniforms worn at the levee were of such a nondescript description, that had the aflair taken place near London, one would have been led to suspect that old Nathan's shop, in Coventry-street, liod been ransacked for the occasion. —In Swift's "Tale of a Tub," he says " Bread is the staff of life." So it is if properly made, and a trial of Hudson's Baking Powder will give the housewife a certainty of turning out bread that cannot be surpassed. — [Advt.] — During his examination last Saturday, Mr. De Lias let us into some strange secrets of the dramatic profession. According to him, Lingard is not a "star" at all, and wouldn't draw an audience if it wasn't for his charming wife. — According to a Te Aroha correspondent, Mr. Edward Eccles Echalaz (late 12th Lancers) nephew of Lord Lascelles, and several other well-connected gentlemen, are busily engaged ,in handling the pick and shovel at Te Aroha. — The waxwork model, supposed to be a correct likeness of the professional beauty, Mrs . Langtry, still keeps on the turn in Longuet's window. A person remarked the other day that " Mrs. Langtry must be on the ' bust' as she was always rolling round." — Sermons at St. Paul's seem to be at a discount. The other day a resident said to a gentleman lately arrived, " Come to St. Paul's to-night. I cannot promise you much of a sermon, but I can guarantee some good singing." — In consequence of the unsettled state of the weather during this summer, some of our city drapers have yet on hand large stocks of light clothing. It is said that T. McMaster, Queen-street, is offering special bargains to lessen his stock. — [Advt.] — There is a marriage on the tapis. The curled Adonis of Ponsonby, so slim, so handsome, and so sad, who but lately wept bitter tears over the grave of the departed, will shortly lead to the hymeneal altar, a fair Hebe of Irish extraction, — Mr. and Mrs. Glasgow, who lived for some time at Glen Orchard, TamaM, and who removed to Nelson, have returned to Auckland. They do not like •• Sleepy Hollow," so wish to dispose of their property there, and take up their abode once more in Auckland.

— W. J. Offer, City Councillor, and self-styled friend of Bradlaugh, has been twice rejected as a wouldbe School Committee man. " 'ow 'ard, my masters." — Regatta Day is "becoming the f avourite day for Sunday school teachers' picnics. This year the Baptists are going to Motutapu, and the Presbyterians too. — A correspondent suggests that a suitable testimonial for Mr. Secrettwy Bice, would be a copy of Lord Chesterfield's "Letters on Civility and Good Manners." — The news about the s.s. Norfolk being put on the New Zealand station again, which was published in Monday's Melbourne Argus ttn( l subsequently cabled to the daily papers in this colony on Tuesday, appeared in the previous Saturday's Observer. This comes of having a good London correspondent. — Dr. J. Murray Moore, the Homoepathic Physician, calls hishouse, "Liverpool Villa." Agentlemaii remarked the other day that "Liverpill Villa" would be more appropriate. Another replied, "As the doctor is a Homcepath, it ought to be Liverpillule Villa." — Hudibras says, " Some have been kicked until they can feel whether a shoe be Spanish or neat's leather." If you got a kick from a boot made by Garrett Bros, for the working man, you would not require to know what leather the boot was made of. You would be sure it was the strongest and best. — [Advt.] — If the Wesleyan Home Mission are indeed so pressed for money that they find it necessary to reduce the salaries of the -European missionaries 25 per cent, and the native missionaries 15, how come 3it I should like to know, that the salary of the Rev. Mr. Buddie, which was already tolerably substantial, has boen quite recently increased ? — "When the Duke of Clarence was drowned in a butt of Malnisley, it may well be said that the liquor had a peculiar flavour for those who preferred a body in their wine. "Good wine needs no bush," and anyone desirous of ascertaining that fact cannot do better than pay a visit to Mr. Gundry, the new host of the Queen's Hotel. — That the Dog Tax this year is considered exorbitant is evident from the numerous canine corpses to be seen fringing the beach from Parnell to Ponsonby. The wretch, however, who in order to avoid payment, tied his dog to the chain of a floating log and thus catised it a lingering death, deserves similar treatment. Is there no branch of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in the city ? — A gentleman on returning from the levee the other day, was seen standing at the corner of Short-lnnd-street and quoting the following sentence from Shakespear: "O what a world is this, when what is comely envenoms him that wears it." The remark was caused by the discovery that he hud got a bad attack of the itch, from wearing one of the half-a-crown an hour dress coats. — The levee was a very solemn affair indeed. Those privileged with the cut rcc formed a line in front of the Governor, and looked for all the world like a lot of figures in Madame Tussand's wax-work exhibition. The only jovial face present was that of the Honble. the Attorney General, who evidently enjoyed the fun of observing the atrociously awkward bows perpetrated by sundry " most respected citizens." — Hebe, as described in Heathen Mythology, was the Goddess of Truth, and cup bearer to the Gods, until superseded by Ganymede on account of an unfortunate fall, owing, it is supposed, to her having taken a cup too much. It don't say where, or how she fell, or it' anyone was injured, but any further information on the subject, can be obtained from the " Hebe" at the Nevada Hotel, for the small sum of sixpence. — [Advt.] — I hear that at a picnic given by a dashingyoung bachelor in Tauranga, the week before last, a peculiar and old-fashioned mode of riding was resorted to. Two of the horses hapx>ened to get loose and stray j awaj r , and as it was a matter of importance to icct home early, one of the gentlemen mounted behind a'lady and thus travelled home. I have not heard whether the horse survived it or not. — The result of the Examination for District Scholarships has rather disturbed tb c mind of, and is doubtless a great disappointment to the Head Teacher of the premier school of this city. It would not be quite incorrect I believe to state that he confidently expected that six at least would fall to the share of those under his immediate tuition ; and would not have been surprised if his school had carried oil' all of them. — A writer in Truth says :" I remember once going over a German Champagne manufactoi-y. The entire store rooms were filled with bottles of champagne with different French brands attached to them. Their destination, the proprietor informed me, was Brazil and the Australias. Saxon champagne is by no means bad, excei>t that it is a little sweet for our taste. Its wholesale price is 2s. 9d. per bottle." — By a series of interesting- experiments lately made in America, it has been discovered that a woman's tongue is capable of moving- one thousand nine hundred and twenty times in a minute. I think of {hat and weep, but I heard a woman's tongue go quicker than that when she told an acquaintance that she could get her groceries cheaper and better at Holland and Fortxer's in Queenstreet, than any other house in the city. — [Advt.] — Servant-galism has extended even to that God-forsaken spot Gisborne It is a fact that, quite recently, a servant refused to accept employment at 15s. per week, unless she had permission to attend all the balls and dances given in the place. The lady agreed to this arrangement, and on one occasion both servant and mistress at tended the same ball, the sister of the mistress undertaking to look after the children during the absence of the torpsichorean loving pair. — Passing along Grey-street the other day, the voice of a female was heard, giving her husband a "piece of her mind," because he had been smoking in the parlour and spoilt the new lace curtains his better half had just put up. The lady wound up her jobation by saying, " I should'nt mind if you would only smoke decent stuff, why don't you go to Partridge and Wooliams's and buy some of their Durham tobacco that don't stink. So he did for one shilling a bag.— [Advt.] — Psalm singing, moderately indulged in, is no doubt very good, acting, it is supposed, as a mild stimulant — a co-iningler, so to say, of a terrestrial and celestial nature, but it certainly is not pleasant to the subscribers of the Young Men's Christian Association to have their perusal of the papers accompanied by an infliction of Sankey and Moody, sung through the nose of some energetic Christian, whose forte in religion is evidently of the house top kind of worship. — Mr. G. S. Graham, Inspector of the Colonial Insurance Company, and District Grand Master of Freemasons, under the English Constitution, returned to Auckland, by the s.s, " Hero" on Sunday last, after a tour of inspection through the Australian Colonies, India, China, &c, and a long sojourn in England. While he was in England, his Masonic position took him into the society of royalty, and he was hand and glove with the Prince of Wales and Duke of Connaught. — There is a certain suburban police station, within a stone's throw of the back door of a well-known public house, where Sunday trading of a very pronounced description goes on. On the Sabbath before last, a correspondent, whose name is a guarantee of respectability, saw no less than 16 persons, including three small girls with jugs, enter the hotel within an hour, and he is of opinion that the police would see similar sights too, if it hadn't been made worth the while of the local constables to be — blind pro tern. — Mr. Eller, the Collector of City Rates, was very much, disgusted when he found that he had to pay for clerks to prepare the City Assessment notices out of Ms own salary, which is quite small enough iii comparison with the work he has to do. The clerks in the City Council used to prepare the notices, but the Town Clerk discovered that they had not time to do so. They would have had to find time if the extra clerical assistance had had to be paid for out of the Town Clerk's salary, which is more than double the amount of that of the Collector of Cit es.

— Attention is specially directed to the article headed " Bankruptcy, considered as a fine Art," which appears on our page. The opinions enunciated are not only novel but forcible and well deserve careful consideration. —The Observer's circulation last Friday and Saturday was the largest ever attained by an Auckland weekly and has been beaten only by the " Star." Advertisers who doubt this fact are invited to come and inspect the issue book. — The cost of taking the census in England this year will exceed £100,000. Truth says that a large firm has made a communication to the RegistrarGeneral, offering to defray the whole of the above cost on condition that it be allowed to advertise on the backs of all the forms which are issued. — On dit that the election of Mr. John Waymouth upon the City School Committee is due to the organised plumping of the Good Templars and Total Abstainers. Henius and Brassey (the Bible in schools men) were rejected. —Several teachers of the Board of Education complain that while they Jmve been dismissed for failing in their examination, others have been kept on who failed likewise. It is to be hoped the chairman will see justice done to nil, and that there will be no helping the "lame dog over the style." — The first of a series of five archery matches by tho Saturday Afternoon Recreation Club took place on Saturday last. Miss McKay and Miss McEdininston were the highest lady scorers ; and Messrs. W. Cooper, H. Haslett, and J. M. Geddis the highest gentlemen scorers. The membership of the Club has now reached its full compliment. — Mr. George Cook, of Papakiira, lias shewn me some exquisite silver and gold flowers and ferns manufactured by a new process from nature's originals. They make most exquisite and artistic brooches, earrings, &c, and being quifcean. novelty ought to find a ready sale. Nothing better of the kind can be obtained even in Paris. — The Waikato Times, one of the best, if not the best, of our country contemporaries, last Saturday contained a number of doggrel verses, entitled, "Ye Governor's Visit. Ode (a long way) after Macnulay." It was a wretched parody of "The Armada,"' and was neither poetry nor rhyme. It finished, as well it might, with "Ohone! Ohone! Ohonc !" At the Shaughraun's wake one of the old women sang, " Ohone ! why did he die ?" I would sing at the wake of the poet (save the mark) who wrote "Ye Governor's Visit," "Ohone ! why did he not die ?" — The other day, a lady sent her female domestic to the shop of a well known chemist with a prescription. In addition to the medicine, she received a large blister, with verbal instructions to place it on her mistress' chest. Hailing from the Emerald Isle, she interpreted the order in a very literal manner by placing the blister on her mistress's chest, containing her best bonnet. Dire was the consequence. It drew all the shape out of the article in question, and necessitated an immediate inspection of Munro and Milligan's largo stock, on the new premises in Karangahage Road. — [Advt.] — And he said in his haste, "All men are sweeps ! ' ' Certainly a sweeping statement, and coarsely expressed, but then he was only an Auckland larrikin, who had saved up to buy a ticket in Mr. George North's sweep on the Wellington Cup, and Mr. G. N. has swept suddenly out of Wellington, and into hi& pockets the £1000 subscribed for said sweep. Yes, a clean sweep he's made of it, that the newest of new brooms couldn't have done better. Yet is it not impossible that " dirty sweep" may be the vulgar term applied to the sweeper by| some of his victims, amongst whom, no doubt, is (s)wceping and gnashing of teeth. Ahem ! — Do any of my gentle readers remember Louis Von Tempsky '( the brave and gallant page of clays gone by, when the amateurs of Auckland acted " King Arthur " and " Chilperic " in the Choral Hall to crowded and enthusiastic audiences. Louis Von Temusky, the son of the noble and gallant man who died for 1S t ow Zealand, who shed his best blood in defence of the all but exterminated settler.s of the East Coast. Well, be is !io\v in one of the smaller islands of the Sandwich group, of which Honolulu is the chief, keeping a butchering business with his brother Randall, doing very well in it, and looking as handsome and as gentlemanly as ever. Yet surely something better might have been the fate of Major Von Tempsky's heir. — The concert at the Lake School-house on the 20th was, on the whole, a success. There were about 200 persons (not 300 as the Herald asserted) present, and there would have been ample room for many more had the arrangements been satisfactory. That several visitors had to stand was due to the fact that the committee were more intent upon collecting tickets than upon studying the comfort of their guests. The person in the chair discharged his duties with a solemnity indicative of only moderate approval. But another clerical worthy down in the auditoruni really did seem to enjoy himself and laughed consnmedly at the " Babies on our Block." The chief features of the singing were '-Strangers yet" by a lady amateur, and Mr. Grad well's "Four Jolly Smiths." Unfortunately, the latter did for his early acquired reputation by a subsequent murder of " Enoch Arden's Dream." — A little unpleasantness which shows what petty jealousy and small-mindedness prevails in musical circles took place in the choir at Pitt-St. the other evening. It was caused a correspondent informs me by the over officiousness of a popular bass singer who admires his splendid voice so much that he airs it rather oftener than is absolutely necessary. On this occasion a Mr. S., who possesses a nice organ and sings as well as most of our good amateurs was asked to give a short solo in an anthem. Whilst trying the piece through however he made a trifling slip and ceased singing so that he might begin again. Unfortunately this arrangement did not commend itself to the bass-voiced gentleman, who, quietly ignoring the gesticulations of the conductor, took up the air himself, and, to the astonishment of everyone, calmly finished it. This incident of course created considerable indignation and the sympathy of the choir went entirely with Mr. S. My informant says he is to bo publicly condoled with, but I scarcely think he will allow himself to be made such a fool of. — Now that the valentine season is drawing on, people are naturally beginning to look aroitnd for suitable novelties. For my own part I think the old way of sending elaborate figments of paper and tinsel rather a foolish one and not to be compared with the custom, lately come into vogue at home, which has converted the valentine into an article both pretty and useful. Purses, jewellery, gloves, chatelaines and articles of vertu neatly packed in suitable boxes form the most favourite valentines now-a-days and are far more pleasing to the recipients than the ordinary cards, <fee. Mr. Goodson, of Queen-street, who is always first in the field with anything new, has imported a munber of these useful valentines which together with more than 5,500 descriptions of the old ones may bo seen at his emporium of wonders in Queen-street. Not half a bad plan is to buy one of the new kind of valentines and place a pretty card with some nice wish or picture engraved thereon upon the top. It combines the advantages of new custom with the prettiness of the old. —[Advt.] — A correspondent writes : — The Pitt-street Wesleyan Congregation has as few righteous men in it, as had the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah — that is to say if the statement of one of their preachers is to be credited. The other Sunday evening the Rev. Mr. Dewsbury, who, by the way, I should judge to be one of the most finished and incisive speakers of the Connexion, in referring to the mission of Mrs. Hampson, enquired how it was that the ordinary preaching did not produce like results, and after referring to unfaithfulness on the part of preachers, and want of faith on the part of hearers, concluded a most powerful and searching sermon in these words : — " How many out of this large congregation came here straight from their knees, and in full expectation that God would fulfil his promise, and save men by the foolishness of preaching ? Alas ! I greatly fear that you may be counted on the fingers of one hand^" Rather rough this on our friends, but only too true, and true not of that congregation only. The Wesleyans in this city may rejoice in the possession of a minister, who, fearing not the face of man, can utter plain and unvarnished, even though they be unpalateable truths*