They Say.

Observer, Volume XVI, Issue 921, 5 September 1896, Page 3

They Say.

— That quarter-million surpluses and million loans are a trifle incongruous.

— That the electric tramway boodlers are satisfied that they are going to get that forty years' monopoly. Public opinion is dead, evidently.

— That if Premier Seddon was as sincere as Mr Cadman on the question of resuming the Tairua lands for goldmining purposes, the thing would be done.

— That there is the deuce to play in the Auckland Women's Liberal League over some alleged shady tactics in connection with a recent election of officers. A considerable section of the members has seceded, after the fashion of women's societies.

That the civil servants are breathing freely now that the Loan Bill is all right. They are sure of their salaries for another year. — That Mr Boardman is being brought out for the Mayoralty in order to deal a death blow to the Freeman's Bay recreation ground scheme. Can this be true. — That the resumption of borrowing by the Government knocks a big hole in the solemn professions so persistentlymade that the Ballance policy was being strictly adhered to. — That another flagrant case hap pened close to town this week in which two young girls homeward bound were molested by a married "reature. In this instance, too, the molestor is himself the father of three, or four girls. — That J. C. Firth is getting very rough handling from the Wellington press in reference to his proposal that he should have the monopoly of the electric power from the Waikatb River for fifty years for nothing. They are not so partial to monopolies down Wellington way as we are here.

—That the Rev. Cold Water Isitt is a martyr to spasms. — That our Supreme Court grand juries are fearfully and wonderfully made. . — That there are nearly a thousand girls in the colony at present waiting to enter the telephone service. • — That the latest Devonport romance is the union of May and November — sweet sixteen and susceptible 52. — That the Factory Act is evaded by tricksters who close the shop and carry on business at the back door. — That a Melbourne judge has laid it down that a man may get drunk regularly from Saturday to Monday without being considered an habitual. —That the rush of white women to China as missionaries continues, while the need for their services in their own land remains as great as ever. —That second-hand Levy couldn't pass off any of his characteristic impudence on Mr Justice Conolly. The judge wasn't taking any. —That .the difference between some of the English amatuers and professional cncketera is microscopic- the pros, receive pay, and amateurs large ' exes.' — That Bobbie Burns' signature to a permit for ten gallons of rum was the sacred relic solemnly exhibited to awestricken Scots at the Burns Centenary celebration at Sydney. — That the sympathy of Labour members with the sorrows and sufferings of the destitute, starving unemplayed, if measured by their contributions towards relief, would be— nil. — That married folks live longer than t'other kind, and those who have to work hard are longer lived than the lazy folks. —That Rev. W. Calder's trip to England has disclosed the gratifying fact that the throat weakness from which he suffered is not serious as was supposed, and that no operation will be necessary. —That the votes of 680 eligible maidens of Eden which would have been cast for Mr Malcolm Niccol are in doubt now that he has gone and got married. Is that why Mr Jackson Palmer is nibbling at the seat ? But Jackson has foresworn matrimony, they say. —That J. C. Firth hopes to retrieve himself financially by the scheme to obtain electric power from the Waikato River. Say, will he allow the Bank of New Zealand to stand in with him and square itself also ? J. C. owes the B.N.Z a good turn. —That the .£50,000 cash paid for the Try Fluke mine is equal to one fourth of the capital subscribed for new companies in Auckland since the beginning of the boom. And yet we talk of the amount of money locked up by this boom in the face of the fact that the sale of one property alone releases a quarter of it. — That beyond engaging the services of the Premier, the President of the Bank of New Zealand and other big people at considerable salaries, the Anglo-Contin-ental Company has done nothing in the c°ay of acquiring mining properties. Is it playing a waiting game to see what it can get for nothing, after the prospectors and first investors have been squeezed out ? — That the Licensed Victuallers' Association, as a connter-falast to the Prohibition party, intend employing a lecturer to place the views of the trade before the electors at the forthcoming licensing elections, and that a well-known Hawke's Bay journalist, who is a good platform speaker, will shortly assume the position. — That a flutter of indignation has been aroused in Richmond Road, Ponsonby, owing to a young Jady belonging to the 'frail sisterhood' buying a house in that suburban retreat, in the vicinity of the Costley Boys Institute. She was ' chivied ' out of her last resting place by the police. The residents of the street are complaining, but are the ' soiled doves ' to find no rest for the soles of their feet ? — That a Viennese professor has just made public the fact that the chances of a smoker suffering from diphthera or other diseases of the throat, as compared with those of a non-smoker, are as one to 28. His observation enables him to assert that smoking tends to check the development of bacteria and to kill them ; so much so is this the case that it has been found essential to forbid smoking in bacteriological laboratories.

Fancy E. M. Smith wanting to know anything about development of natural gaa deposits in New Plymouth ! Isn't it already pretty well developed ?