MEN AND THINGS.

Observer, Volume X, Issue 603, 24 January 1891, Page 7

MEN AND THINGS.

A Bia Sydney retail firm took £8000 in cash on Christmas Eve. A Harbour Bak — The refreshment bar on the harbour steamer Eagle. Capt. H. St. Glair has been appointed commander of H.M.S. Orlando, now due to arrive in Auckland. A Southern paper likens Poet • Homra ' to a comet because ' he comes suddenly and never stays long.' The cost of firing a single shot from the British 110---ton gun is £853 for material and wear- and- tear alone. — Hatfield, the ex-Aucklander, rode unsuccessfully in the Maiden Hurdle Eace of two miles at Canterbury Park (Sydney.) Thames Drainage Board has rejected J. M. Lennox, who was for so many years chairman and ruling spirit of that body. Sir Bobert Stout got 150 guineas from Sew Hoy, of Dunedin, for defending the Chinese in the Hutt murder case. It is proposed to establish a Koch Hospital at Berlin, in honour of the great dootor who discovered the consumption cure. Too many Cooks, &c— Harry Hayr intends starting a branch of his tourist agency in Sydney, under the name of F. Cook and Son. A Texas journalise named Keith has a beard seven feet long. He declines to go into the show business, though he might make a fortune eating soup in public. Assessor, Gulliver was in Lilliput last year, when he assessed the Auckland Gas Company's property at £2666 ; but this year he is in Brobdignag, with a value of £6225 on the Bame property. Good old Capt. Pennall, of Auckland, has paid the universal Penalty for Adam's sin. He died last Thursday of heart disease, aged 51 years, making the third death within a week from that cause in Auckland. A Parnell man has two kittens and a pig. The feline pets bear the names of Birch and Abbott, and they have a rather 'cute dodge which they work on the poor pig. Birch plays with the pig while Abbott collars the Mi intended for the poroine one. Despite the fact that W. S. Gilbert and his co-ven-turers divided £270,000 during the last eleven years, he is comparatively penniless. A yacht which cost him £18,000 was sold for £2,000 ; and his house at South Kensington, which cost £30,000, was parted with for £7000. The Scotch railway workers are on strike, and, acting on the advice of John Burns, are putting a lot of ' devil ' into the fight. They are attacking policemen and free labourers, wrecking trains, etc. Wild folks, these Scots, when roused ; but ordinarily the most docile and law-abiding of people. Wb beg to acknowledge receipt of a beautiful and artistic oard, conveying the compliments of the season from the Auckland Star employees to their fellowcraftsmen. The execution is a great credit to the office, and the following lines convey the good wishes :— Brothers in toil, who scatter varied thought In graceful lines and many a well-framed par, Accept in Friendship's name, with kindness fraught, A New Tear Greeting from the Auckland Star. The wißh has our warmest reciprocations. Mr W. R. Cook (Cook and Gray) will shortly visit Sydney and Melbourne, to sell or float certain Thames and Kuaotunu gold mines. He will also take with him a valuable and unique collection of ancient and modern coins, the property of a client, who is looking for a purchaser. It will be a pity if such a rare collection should be lost to Auckland ; but our local Corporation would probably not be able to find the money required to buy it. Baldwin, of parachute notoriety, has settled down in America, where he is living quietly on the fortune he made in EnglanaP During the two and a-half years which he spent in England he gained no less than £80,000. At the Alexandra Palace he received £150 for every ascent he made. On the evening after his last aaoent he tore his balloon and parachute to tatters, gave a champagne supper to his friends, and resolved to risk his life no more.