IN A NUTSHELL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6362, 17 December 1898, Page 4

IN A NUTSHELL.

Barometer falling. " Star " iixtra to-night. "Three Blind Mice" ia a music-book of 1609. Stanmore Band at the Theatre to-morrow night, 8.15. b. D. Parnell, the eight-hours founder, died Dec. 17, 1890. " A Froggie Would a-Wooing Go " was licensed ia. 1650. Animal muster parada of the City Eifles on Monday night. " Little Jack Homer " is older than the seventeenth century. The English, Continental and ATnpmV«i.Ti wheat markets are-dull, sf Prize distribution on Monday night, 7.30, at the Girls' High School. Lord Curzon has left London to assume his duties as Viceroy of India. The Southern Cross expedition, has sailed from Hobart for the Antarctic. The time for ratifying ibe. Niger Convention has been extended for six morriihs. Mr W. T. Stead denies that tho Czar's disarmament conference has been postponed. Anniversary to-morrow of the official abolition of slavery in the United States, 1862. " Pussy Cat, Fussy Cat, Where Have You Been ?" dates from the reign of Queen Elizabeth. New Zealand i per cent stock is auoted at £114, 3J per cent at £107 15s, and 3 per cent at £99 10s. Great Britain has secured a session of territory in Cfiina, in the neighbourhood of NeuChang. _ f An influential syndicate proposes to acquire a hundred thousand acres of land in British New Guinea. " Boys and Girls Come Out to Play" dates from Charles 11., as does also "Lucy Locket Lost Her Pocket." The National Bank of New Zealand has declared a half-yearly dividend at the rate of 6 per cent per annum. In the cricket match, South Australia v. New South Wales, the South Australians in their first innings scored 334. The Victorian Government has- finally decided that Victoria shall not be represented at the forthcoming Paris exhibition. " Old Mother Hubbard," " Goosey, Goosey Gander," and " Old Mother Goose," apparently date back to the sixteenth century. The coal lumpers' difficulty in New South Wales has been settled, and it has been agreed that future disputes shall be settled by arbitration. A madman made an attack upon the British Embassy at Washington, by throwing bricks through a glass door. Miss Pauncefote wae slightly injured. A revival of Canadian interest in the Pacific cable has taken place. It is expected that Canada and Great Britain will contribute fiveninths of the cost. " Cinderella," " Jack the Giant-Killer," "Blue Beard," and " Tom Thumb " are French, were given to the world in, Paris in 1697. The author was Charles Perrault. " Humpty-Dumpty " was a bold, bad baron, who lived in the days of King John, and was tumbled from power. His history was put into a riddle, the meaning of which is an egg. The interprovincia! cricket match, Canterbury v. Otago, was commenced at Dunedin yesj terday. Otago in its first innings scored 237, and Canterbury 32 for the loss of two wickets. A statue of Burns, the poet, has been unveiled at Leith. This is the only statue in the town. It is proposed to erect a statue of Byron at Aberdeen, where he received the elements of education. The Dowager Empress of China received the wives of the foreign diplomatists at Pekin on her birthday, and Lady M'Donald, the wife of the British Ambassador, read an address of congratulation. Overtime work at the Sheerness Arsenal, which has been in force for some time, has been discontinued. The first watches of the crews of the Channel Squadron have received ten days' leave of absence. As a result of the experiment in the Gothenburg system of licensing, the streets of the Fifeshire village of Hill-of-Beath are illuminated with the electric light. The cost of the installation has been defrayed by the profits of a public house. " The Babes in the Wood " was founded upon an actual crime committed in Norfolk, near Wayland Wood, in the fifteenth century. An old house in the neighbourhood is still pointed out, upon a mantel-piece in which is carved the entire history. In the South Australian Legislative Assembly, the Treasurer said it was expected that the wheat harvest would reach from five to six bushels an acre, and that it was proposed to reduce the exemption under the income tax from £200 to £150. The cross erected by the Natives' Association on the Bridle Path, in place of that erected in the fifties by Mrs J. R. Godley, was unveiled yesterday by the Hon C. C. Bowen, in the presence of a large number of persons, including many old colonists.