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Star (Christchurch), Issue 3580, 1 October 1879, Page 2

Strong. — Elections occasionally bring out somo good stories. One is told of a certain candidate of the legal profession, in Dunedin, who has a reputation for appealing on every possible opportunity. On one occasion this peculiarity was remarked on in tho presence of a distinguished judicial authority, who promptly replietl, "Appeal? Why, Blank would appeal against the ways of providence if he could only get someone to ensure his costs ! " Railway Tickets. — Would it not bo possible for the Government to inaugurate some such reforms in the railway system here, as have tbis month been introduced on several Victorian lines, and indicated in the following eitract :— "Tho officials at the railway stations," states the Geelong Advertiser, " havo been supplied with new ticket nippers, which havo the distinguishing number of each station in raised figures in the insido of a small Btcel knob being placed below tho number. When the nipper iB applied to the ticket, the number of tho station is impressed on the cardboard, and tho nob nips a piece out. The now system is adopted on tho Ballarat line of issuing single tickets available for ono week after issuo. Holders of these tickets, if bo disposed, may go from station to station without having to obtain frosh ones. Whereover the traveller gets out tho number of the station will be marked on the ticket." A Gentle Snub.— The Wellington correspondent of the Otago Daily Times tells the following stoiy :— lt is said that one Civil servant was overheard by his superior to express a devout hope that " old Grey would not come back with a majority." So profane a wish naturally shocked the superior officer, who ''felt it his duty to report " the delinquent, and "did his duty like a man "—or rathor, perhaps, like a flunkey. Ho informod the Premier of the blasphemy of that underling, and awaited with a complacent smile the order to " make an example of him." Marvellous to relate, and to Sir Georgo Grey's credit bo it told, that official toady received a smart snub. Sir Georgo Grey coldly replied that Mr had a perfect right to his own ' opinion } that he could not debar any Civil

servant from thinking as he chose, and that all the Civil service were welcome to hold any views they "darned pleased," or words to that effect. "Whereupon the flunkey in offiqe slahk away disgusted and discomfited, y. A Go_ioua Stobt.— The Sydney Morning Herald of Sept. 15, says :— About half-past 5 oclock on Monday evening last a man named Robert Stephens, who keeps* a market-garden some distance on the Raiidwick side of the Botany road, noticed a pigeon alight in his garden. It apparently was wounded, and he succeeded in catching it without much exertion. On examining ifc be found that blood was trickling from a wound on its right side, and fchafc round its neck was a string with a piece of paper— evidently a piece of the border of a newspaper — attached, and the following words written on it in red ink and in a bold legible hand : — " Uncle is dead. Mother is gone home ; it is now 5 o'clock." There was no signature attached. The pigeonisofthe carrier breed, and may nowboseenafc the police stationafc Botany. Representatives of thb PEOriß.— The Melbourne Daily Telegraph, commenting on the unsatisfactory stato of things in Victoria, make tbe following remarks, which are not without their pertinency even in New Zealand :— " The lesson to be learned from the severe calamities which have befallen us is too plain to bo overlooked. It is that we should endeavour to establish a school of trained statesmen ; and that, either by statute or by the action of the constituencies, we should insist upon certain mental and moral qualifications on the part of candidates for a seat in the Legislature. In the ordinary affairs of life we either ridicule or despise the man who is notorious for ' tho gift of the gab ;' but in politics we throw our practical good sense to the winds, and we elect representatives, more often than otherwise, for no other reason than because thoy can gabble fluently aud volubly. Magpies would be just as eligible and less expensive."