GLEANINGS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1800, 19 January 1884, Page 4

GLEANINGS.

The poeb laureate Tennyson has been elevutecl to the peerage under the title BivouTunnysou Drincnirt of Aldooi rt. Amongst; the latest sensational news of the French Figaro ia one that will amuao Eton boya. According to oni French contemporary, Sitting Bull, the famo is Indian chief, has been educated at tho English Alma Muter, as the luqam calls Eton, and distinguished hims If id the year of grace ISJ-o by scalping on • of tho tujLorb, as a set-ofF for a sound w hipping. — Couit Journal. A member of Congress from the Fai West, who was invited to a dinner at Washington, ia now telling his con stituenfes all about it. "There wasn't anything on the table when I got theie," he says, " but some forks and .spoons and brick y- brae. Presently they hi ought in some soup As I didn't bee nothin' else, 1 thought I'd eat all the soup I could, though soup is a mighty poor dinner to invite a feller to. So I wab helped four times ; and then caiiio on the finest dinner I ever see, and thric I set," gioans he, " chock-full of soup !" Gaugnani's Mrc.sshM,'Kit, of Novcm berGth, gives the following account of .in accident to an Ameiican gentleman at Florence, whose peculiar hobby was driving twenty horses at one time. As will be seen he got a severe shaking, and probably has by tins time 1 counted at leisure of his snobbishncs in thus parading his wealth and making a ciicus show of a private equipage. The Messcngei says : " Mr. Livingston, who is well known in the English and American Colony here, driving a break with twenty horses, met with a sei ions accident this afternoon. Whilst he was conducting an equipage in the Cacin his horses lan aw ay, the break being overturned and smashed to atoms. Mr. Li\ ingston escaped with a severe shaking. The e\ent has cieated great excitement. Florence is the only city in Europe where &o many hoi fees aie allowed to be driven simultaneously in connection with one vehicle. Some amusing stoiies of the late Lord Dudley are told by Loul AHicmaile, in his amusing woik, "Fifty Yeais ot Mj Lift 1 ." Loid Dudley had an cccentiio habit of giving vent to his thoughts aloud. He was a fierjuonfc guest at the Pavilion. His knowledge of good In ing led him easily to detect agicat falling off in the loyal cuisine since the decease of George IV. Sitting next to King William, he exclaimed in Ins deep bab&, "What a change to be &iue — cold pate's and hot champagne !" On another occasion, tho King and Queen, when Duke and Duchcas of Cloieuce, dinned with Loid Dudley, who handed her Royal Highness into dinner. Scai oe-ly seated he began to soliloquise aloud — " What bores these rojalties aic ! Ought I to diink wine with her as I would with any other woman ? ' — and in the sa.ne to no continued, " May I have the honour of a glass of wine with your Royal Highness ? ' Towaids the end of dinnei, he asked hci again. " With gieat plea^uie my loid," she replied, smiling ; " but I have had one glass with you aheady."' " The biuto, and so she has !'" was the rcjoindei. A iStiieio\L Do.vie' Y. — It, lias always been thought that man pos^essess one point ot supenority, if it cm be so called, over the lower animals in that he alone is capable of committing suicide. Mcis sole claim to this sad pnvilege is n<>\\ assailed fiom a quite unexpected quarter. The Paris Piix, of the 12th instant, ghes- paiticulais of the suicide of a donkey which was lecently witnessed by a dozen poisons, who aie one and all convinced that the anim tl'o death was premeditated and intentional. Tho unfortunate quaduiped, which was i educed to a condition of skin and bone, from eating two little.and woi king too much, managed to escape fiom his &tabl"s in the Rue dv Chaulonnoict. and made for tho Pont d' Ails toil it/ A man who happened to bo giving a Newfoundland dog a bath close by, peiceh ing that the donkey made no eflort to swim and w.is on the point of drowninsi, despatched the dog to his assistance. iSei/'iig the diownmg animal's ear in his mouth, the dog mannaged to - bi ing him to land. I'ut to no puipose The donkey looked lonnd with hi-, laigo sad eyes and quietly walked back into the water. The dog was agiin sent after him, but this time the donkey kicked out so vigoiously that his picsoncr could not appioaeh. The donkey, once beyond his depth, lesigned himself, and was speedily drowned. — St Jame's Gazette. Tar, Annual TJepoit on the Butish Army issued by the Field Maishal Com mandmg-in Chief piesents some lather staifclmgand significant facts. Both in point of nninbcis and ph\siquc the ai my seems to be on the wane. Within the last twenty yeats its a\ciagc strength has declined by moic than 30,000, added to which theie has 1-pcn a veiy sensible diminution in the lusrht and chc&t measuiement of the men. In ]SC>3 our army at home and aluoad was 219,00(5 strong ; to-day it is only 180,220 Added to this is the fact that no less than 7.J,."/J!j soldieis aie less than fi\e feet scscn inches in lnght and upwauls of 30,000 measure less than thiifcy-fho inches round the chest. Its moial standaid it. also lather fliscourngin^, as we (md that 14,0?8 comt--mai tial weie held dining the jast year, and 19811 offenses dealt with. Neaily 43,000 fines weic indicted for diunkenness, upwaids of 2,000 men being tluice convicted foi this offence within the jcar. Thoieaie 14,520 Scotch men in the army, and, 13,000 who adhete to the Prcsbytei ian fiom of woiship, wfiile the Roman Catholics, the bulk of whom aie lii&hmen, i epic-sent the laige total of 42,366, Rocimting was lather more favoialbe than dining the picvious year, but it appeals that a laige piopor tion of the enlistments were those of youths under seventeen and eighteen yeais of age. With legaid to the xolunteer force a much moie favouiable state of tilings picvails, as fact 5 ! show the continued populaiity of the force of auxiliary sen ice. For twenty j eats the volunteer force has mci cased at the rate of a thousand a year, and it is giatified to fmd^the out-turns at tho annual inspections so large, the attendance last ycai having been 54.53 per cent, of the whole force of 246.119, which is the present strength of our \olunteer battalions.— Court Journal. Mr Henry Irvix; made his fiis-t appearance in Ampiica at the Star Theatre, in New Yoik, before a crowded audience, which included the more pi ominent citizens, as Mafc'lnas. in The Bills. He was wainily giccted and called out after eacb act, or &e\en times ! altogether. He showed a slight ner\ ousness at times while thus acting, for the first time, befoic an American audience, but he speedily and easily won thoii favour, achieving an unquestionable success. As the play proceeded the calla for him were made with inci casing enthusiasm. After the final act he dcliverc'd a biief address as follows :—: — " Ladies and Gentlemen — lam told it is your custom to permit an actor who appears before you the privilege of leturning his thanks for such favour as you may have accorded him. From my heart I thank you. I assure you that wherever, and in whatever circumstances I may be, .1 shall never forget this 29th of October and the welcome of America, ■which greeted me in this metiopolis of I^gw York. It seems to me that tho greatness of your welcome is typical of your national greatness. 1 thank you, too, ou behalf of my comrades'. I hope you will be here to-morrow night to welcome with as much kindness, and even greater enthusiasm my friend and associate, Miss Ellen Terry. Will you permit me to add, • May our lives increase even as our days do grow.' " The American ,nr,wspaper critics generally accord td^'lrving's performance a warm approval. Among the audience were Mr .'William H. Vanderbilt, Miss Terry, > x Madame \N"ilsso'n and Me Gilbert Cole- • ridge;" ''"' ! - ?'JEUfcS"iIN» Mice.— lf you wish to.del ftroy tberoget a picket of Hill's Magic Vermin <>, Ki'iXM,Jn,packfts,,6d, ?d, and, ls, to be obtained;

the world consumes 2,000,000 tons of tobacco a year. A>* apjjUtil is to be made to E lulish audiences in the lai'-je towns, 1 efore Christ nas. (o support Home Rule in [ eland. Vtik ex- Viceroy of Egypt intends, i is Slid, to settle in London. He lias an income not far short of £100,000 a year, md a number of youmj ami beautiful \VI\CS. At the State banquet given to the German Emperor in the Palm Garden at lAanKfoi r, the Impcnal table was ornamented by a magnificent display of gold plate lent hy Baion Rothschild. In the middle was the famous centrepiece purchased from the city of Nuremberg, which is valued at £30,000. The whole s< r\ ico is w oi th over £100,000. L\mi.s iv I'owkr.— Sundry peiultie.ind disabilities have at vanous times l)ccn imposed upon bacholois, but none of thi'in scorns more haid than the disadvantage at which nnmariied naval olh'eer>aic pl.u ed in the American navy, ft so happens that the wives of the officers on the Asiatic station arc " all ladies of gieat pei tonal attiactions," and are bo w ell pleading in the eyes of their husbands th.it tlicte has been <f a most reeklcs shifting about of officers between the diffeient ships, s.O that the manicd men may be with their wi\es in agreeable places." The ical staff is composed, it "■eenis, of the ladies, who ship off the bachelois to Coica or Chefoo, collect their husbands together on the flagship, and then settle down for the season somewhere where it is always afternoon. The lotus-eaters of the American navy aie at any late faithful to their wedded lives, but such an excess of the domestic virtues can hardly be beneficial to the sen ice. E\c:ms»i La\d Owners in t America. — Sir Edward Reed, M. P., owns no less than 2,000,000 acies in Ameiica; the Duke of Sutherland, 4000,000 ; Lord Dunmore, 100,000, and Doid Dumaven, 00,000 acnes. Phillips, Marshall and Co. own a laim of 1,300,000 acres ; the heirs of Colonel Muiphy, 1,000,000 acres ; H. Diston, 12,000,000 acres ; and the Standard Oil Company, 1,000,000 acres. It appears that ni'ie men own a teiritory equal to that of Now Hampshire, Massa chusetts and Rhode Inland combined Then there ate the gieat tailroad eorpoiatiou-, whose fiee gifts of land fiom la\ish ConijiPoses amount to upward of '200,000.000 acies. Eleven of these corpoiations have received I '2o 000,000 acics. Not them Pacific load had giants amounting to 47,000,000 acres, and other «iants made langed fiom 1,000,000 acies upwai d. I'lMppcais, tliat after all, the lcpoitof the Aii'sfcu.ui Consul that only one-third of Ilickb Pashas aimy was destroyed, wa-5, unfoitunalcly, without foundation. The iMudir of Njunai tclcgiaphs that a denish cuti'ied a ba/u in that place and pioclaimed the annihilition of 1 1 lcko Pasha's ai my near El Ob.-'id Thedcixibh swoic on the Koran that not one Egyptian soldier was left alne in Koidofan. It isfuithei l elated that uponhcaiinir this news his h'^c thousand heaivts armed themselves, "all havms; Remington i ides," and declvied for El Mahdi. Tins incident is in oveiyuay chaiat tciistic of tiie people, and it foicibly lllustiates the gnat dangei witli which the E_'j'ption Government has to contend E\uy successful step made by El Mahdi will add thousands to his foices, and time is no knowing how soon the lower and n-oic fanatical classes may rise en mnssc in his favour, even in Caiio and Alexandna. RrrouT ok tut. Commission! rs ok "Woons \m> Foin vr-,. —-The sixty fiist lcpoit of the Coinnnssioneis of Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues foi the year 1882-3 ha-> bern published in tlie four 1 of a Blue Book. The net annual sum ansmg fiom the Ciown piopcity in the hands ot the Commissioners and paid by the dcp.u linont in^o tlio J'Jvelicquer mci eased fiom £2,12,000 in ] 5.32 to £llo,oooin 1877; but it has since fallen to L"3SO,000 in consequence of sexcie agiicultuial depiession, which rendeied it nccessaiy to make considerable allowances to many of the Ciowu tenants out of the ient>> piyable by them, and also to permit some, of the lents to remain unpaid for \ai ions peiiods. The Windsor pai ks a>id woods, maintained as part of the domain attached to Windsor Castle, consisting of about 14,000 acres, yielded a revenue of £5,232 Od 2d, as ,i«amst a total ex pendituic of £25, 138 6s Gd ; but inasmuch as that piopcity, like the loyal parks in Loadon, is laigcly used by the public foi pin poses of lccreation, the leccipts and expenditure in ie.spi.ct of it cannot be looked upon as a matter solely of profit and loss. The property eomniibcd under the head of 'manors, messuages, land, &c, in various parts of England' consists of about 70,000 acies let for agiicultuial pui poses of about ."560 houses let at lack lents, and about 5000 houses built by Ciown lessees upon land let upon building leases, and vaiious colheiies and other minewoiks. During the last &uven yeiis neaily £140,000 has been expended by the Ciown in underdt,image and in othei works of permanent improvement. Dinincthe year the Commissioners sold to Her Majesty the reveision to the estate of Olaremont for the sum of £74,100, The Comnm&ioners have also let the site of the old Colosseum in the Regent's Paik for the term of about eighty years, at a rent of £70 per annum. Tin; Fho/kx Mkat Trade. —The Argus coi respondent, writing a week aite-t the .Sue/ mail left, says • — The trade still continues somewhat dcpiessed, chiefly because the Marketis glutted with New Zealand mutton. The shipments from that quarter aie excessive, and cannot leadily he absorbed. The ss. Poiic aimed it the end of last week ! with 0207 cai cases of mutton and 40 quniteis and 226 packages of beef from New Zealand, and the Gaionne c.ime into poi t the same day w ith 3636 carcasses of mutton fiom the works of the Austiaban Fiozon Meat Company. Both c.u goes ate in excellent condition. The Sheep ex Garonne are lather latter than is considered dcshahlc, especially for the best class of trade. In this respect they aie beaten by the New Zealand shipment. As regaids butchering and diessmg, the Melbourne sheep are perfect Only a tual lot of 30 carcasc3 has yet been placed on the market, and it has been sold at 3s (id to 3s Sd per stone Sib, the Doric sheep fetching similar pi ices. A few of the sheep selected from those on the bottom tier of the Garonne shows the marks of the battens on which they jested, indicating that the cai causes must have been slightly soft wh"n shipped, but it is not thought that the defect will be material. The opinion is entcitaincd by some peisons hea\ily interested in the trade that the existing system of distributing the meat for sale all over the maiket is apt to depreciate the prices to the extent of or Id per lb. They think it would be wiser to confine it to two or three salesmen who devote special attention to it, and are prepared to sell judiciously, and not sacrifice consignments merely to realise upon them more expeditiously, Recently sales have been made up to 5000 and even 6000 a week, but not a few engaged m the trade state that on an average tlnoughout the year not more than 3000 a week can at present be disposed of at the prices with consignees have a right to expect. Osb Suilt/ino. — Francis «T. ShortW I'opul.ir Art Union.— lon first-class Oil Paintings by colobratcd .iitists. 5000 tickets at Is. 1 lie prizes are magnificent and costly. Country subscribers sending stamps or otherwise will have tickets by return post. Enclose stamped envelope for reply.— Fkancis J. Shoktt, 140, Queen-street, Auckland.— [Advt.] Lifk in tiikßdsii— Then and Now. — It is generally supposed that in the bush we have to put up with many discomforts and privations in the shape of food Formerly it was so, but now, thanks to T. B. Hill, who has himself dwelt in the bush, if food does consist chiefly of tinned moats his Colonial Sai/ck gives to them a most dejectable flavour, making them as well of the plainest food most enjoyable, and instead is hard biscuits and indigestible damper his Improved Colonial Baking PoWder makes the srery best bread,, scones, cakes, and pastry far superior and more wholesome thamevetat'or !eaveu. Sold ,fa aH •torfike?eWywHQ' ciq ' bb« ; <