Here and There.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIX, Issue IV, 26 July 1902, Page 206

Here and There.

Tbe well-known old Maori chief llori Kukutai has been fouud dead on the Waikato railway line.

It is said that two ex-members of the notorious Kelly gang of bushrangers served as irregulars during the war in South Africa.

Owing to the scarcity of teachers iu Otago and the low salaries offered in the baek blocks the settlers are likely to suffer serious disadvantage. During the past month there were 13 schools in Otago without teachers, and the settlers in the districts concerned are complaining bitterly that their children are not given an opportunity of attending school.

Concerning the Ninth Contingent, Sir Arthur Douglas, Under-Secretary for Defence, has written in reply to an enquiry from Auckland as follows: “In reply to your letter of the Bth inst.. I beg to inform you that the Department has no other information beyond that published by the papers, except that 100 men of the Ninth Contingent have received their discharge in South Africa; but no names have been given in either ease.”

Recently (says the Tauranga “Times”) a small parcel of kauri gum was brought into town from Paengaroa (south of Tauranga). The land lying between the Pyes Pa and Paengaroa roads is said to contain a good deal of this valuable deposit, which has been worked by the Maoris in a desultory manner.

The Opotiki “Herald” says:—“A- report comes from Waimana that two natives, who have been in the habit of visiting certain hen-roosts in the dead of night, were surprised by a watchful owner, and treated to the contents nt a shot-gun. which has necessitated their temporary retirement from active operations for some time.” A Dunedin paper says:—“A "ripple of merriment passed over the congregation at the Hnnover-street Baptist Church on .Sunday, when the preacher (the Rev. Mr Ward) said that he had receiver! an anonymous letter, charging him with a grave wrong, in that he had joined in a game of ping-pong. Mr Ward.added that he had no sympathy with the kill-toy sentiments which denounced nil amusements and recreations as unchristian and mischievous.” A numlfer of Whangarei gentlemen, desirous of showing their appreciation of Mr George Rout, late steward of the s.s. Wellington, presented that gentleman with a handsome diamond ring, diamond scarf pin, and a very fine meerschaum pipe. The manager of the N.S.S- Co. when making the presentation, congratulated Mr Rout on his popularity with the travelling public, and said that it was gratifying to the company to know that the efforts of their servants for the care and comfort of passengers were appreciated, as was evidenced by the presentation just made. A country correspondent of the “Pay of Plenty Times,” writing on the cost, of the war. brings it home to his readers in this way’: —“If the bodies of the British dead were placed in a row, head to feet, they would extend as far as from Tauranga to Ohineiuutu (over forty miles); the wounded, if standing shoulder to shoulder, would form a double row of the same length; and the money expended, if laid as sovereigns edge to edge, would pave a sixteen feet wide road all that way.”

The Government has sent to London a number of samples of New Zealand timber, in order that these may be thoroughly tested, with the view of having it decided whether it is possible to start the paper-making industry in thiscolony. SirJ.G.Ward, in mentioning this circumstance to the sawmillers’ deputation at Wei-

lington, said that oue of the daily newspapers in Australia required as much paper in twelve months as could be made from timber dealt with by any sawmill in this colony in that period.

The luck of the Celestial is proverbial (says the Waikouaiti “Times”), but it seems passing strange that since an unfortunate Chinaman was killed by a train at the Anderson’s Bay crossing some seven weeks ago, the Railway Department have had to contend with no less than seven railway accidents, all of which have occurred on the Dunedin-Oamaru section. Perhaps “having killed a Chinaman” has some significance after all.

Referring to the Burgher National Scouts, a South African paper says that having sacrificed everything in the shape of cattle and ponies in order to join the British, an effort, is being made to place tlie ex-Scouts on an equality with those at present surrendering. Lord Kitchener is giving each man a Boer pony. Those who are in a position to live on their farms and cultivate same will be allowed to go immediately, tents and rations being provided by the authorities.

A settler of Rangitikei. writing to a friend in Masterton. savs: “An incident connected with the recent floods in the Rangitikei River has. so far. not been published. A man was camped in a tent on the bank of rhe river. The flood came down during the night, but he. was not disturbed. On the following morning, when he awakened, he found himself, tent, and about an eighth of an acre of land, high and dry nearly two miles further down the stream than when he retired to rest.”

Trooper J. C. McLellan, of Lyttelton. who returned from South Africa in the Ruapehu, has a unique record as regards his escape from the Bpthasberg disaster. He was one of the section of the Seventh Contingent which was attacked on that memorable night, and received a shot straight through the ankle, a fagged wound in the left thigh, a shot in the right thigh (the bullet still remaining emheddecl in tbe flesh), and a

scalp wound, which has left an indentation in the head, but despite a’l these he has recovered, and is in good health and spirits.

Sir .Tosenh Ward’s marvellous fluency appeals to the Maori (says the “Free Lance.”) At s recent meeting, one dusky son of a thousand rangitiras remarked: ‘Him rangitira kapai! He never stop to look up sky. By Golly, all in here.” pointing to his month. “You come with me and have a beer. You lend me a bob, and I pay you sometime. By Golly, him the feller.” I hope Sir Joseph is not responsible for many Maori tbjrsts.

General French, in a recent speech in South Africa, defended the branch of the service which he represented against the criticism of those who declared that the cavalry, as at present constituted, was a thing of the past, and that the lance and sword should be put into museums as relies of antiquity, and who also said that young officers did nothing but hunt and play polo. General French said that this war had not taught him that the British officer had been.found wanting, and he spoke of the daring and gallant leading of patrols and small units by the young officers.

The latest way to play ping-pong in Sydney is to have the ball attached by a piece of elastic to the ceiling. It can then bounce all over the room, but no one has to stoop to pick it tin when it is not in play. Some people use shovels to pick up loose balls; others have long-handled implements like rakes. Tn not a few houses every piece of furniture is removed from the “ping-pong room,” so that if there is stooping there is, at any rate, no

crawling. t’Ping-pong eyes” are beginning to be a more fashionablydreaded complaint than "a bicycle back” or a “football fracture.”

Colonel Bell, U.S. Consul at Sydney, who has lately returned from a trip to America, says pretty well everything in America now, from moth balls to steel rails, is controlled by a trust. "Trusts,” says he, “are the order of the day. The world is no longer big enough for the ambition of a great many men. From America they have spread to England, and through the ship and oil trusts they will soon reach Australia; and in this new country, where you are commencing in the work of building up a new nation, I think there ought to be precautions against them.”

A funny story about‘Marie Corelli comes from Stratford-on-Avon, where that novelist has been living opposite a lady’s school. In the school were many pianos, daily practice upon which by the pupils were excessively damaging to Miss Corelli’s nerves. Driven to desperation, she wrote to the principal, asking that when pianoforte practice was going forward, the windows might be kept closed, as the noise interfered with literary’ composition. The schoolmistress replied that if the noise would prevent the composition of another book like “The Sorrows of Satan” she would order half a dozen more pianos.

A daring attempt at sticking-up the manager of the Commonwealth mine, Mr A. G. Coleman, is reported as haring occurred lately at Wellington, N.S.W. Mr Coleman arrived in town in the evening on horseback, and after transacting some business was proceeding home. On reaching a spot near Nanima Falls, on the Macquarie River, he was brought to a standstill by means of a wire stretched across the road, and three men rushed at him. He, however, was quick at reining in his horse and galloped back to town, reporting the ineident-

Kaikoura is convulsed over a squabble between a bank manager and a minister, arising, as such things usually do, out of a very small matter. At a church bazaar a vote of thanks to a person who had assisted was carried, and the Presbyterian minister, in conversation with the banker in his office, expressed an opinion that the vote was invidious, other parties who had given as great help being ignored. The manager wrote a letter to The press, giving a version of the interview, which the minister characterised as false; the banker retorted in a two-column letter, sectarian jealousies have been invoked, and the undignified dispute fills all the available space in the local newspaper.

The Consul for France in New Zealand and the Countess de Courte arrived in Auckland last week from Wellington. They intend to reside permanently’ in this city, the seat of the French Consulate in New Zealand, as it has been already stated, having been transferred to Auckland. This removal of the Consulate from the capital of the colony is caused by the Count’s Consular jurisdiction having been extended to several groups of islands in the Pacific. As a consequence, the French Consular agency at Auckland will be discontinued, and a new one created at Wellington. The Count and Countess de Courte have taken up their residence temporarily at the Grand Hotel.

The Dunedin High School Board of Governors has resolved to offer to the Government to make secondary education free in the Boys’ and Girls’ High Schools on the payment of a capitation of £8 during the first year of the transaction and £6 per annum subsequently for pupils who have passed the sixth standard.

Writing from Vereeninging at the end of May, a correspondent with the South Issand section of the Tenth Contingent said: “It is simply disgraceful the amount of firing by mistake that goes on in the lines. At Elandsfontein we shot a nigger, who subsequently died, and three or four

nights ago we shot through the foot one of our own men who was making up his Led in his bivouac. The next day an Army Service Corps officer, who had gone up to the big plantation in the hope of a hare, galloped back to his lines pale and trembling, and when asked the cause of his discomfort, replied that he had been at Colenso and Spion Kop, but never knew anything like the firing going on in the plantation.”

A Gisborne .telegram states that the movement to erect a memorial at the first landing place of Captain Cook in New Zealand is meeting with good support. The Bishop of Waiapu, writing to the local committee, states that the features of the scene of Captain Cook’s first contact with the natives 'have been completely obliterated by the works connected with the Gisborne breakwater, but the landing place, which is very clearly indicated by Captain Cook’s journal, is as yet intact. This may not be the case a few years hence. His Lordship also expressed the hope that the monument, when erected, will be one worthy of the subject.

As showing the heavy toll that must be levied upon shopkeepers by sneak thieves on occasion. the ‘‘Otago Daily Times’’ mentions that the other day a well dressed lady was intercepted in the tea rooms of a large and fashionable establishment with some £l5 worth of clothing concealed about her person. It seems that during the crush at the opening of one of the annual cheap sales she contrived to slip on a cape worth five guineas under her own cape, at the same time stowing away no fewer than five expensive furs and a silk petticoat. On being searched by one of the female attendants all of the articles were recovered, and at the earnest entreaties of the culprit on behalf of her family she was allowed to go free instead of being handed over to the police.

Is an actor who fails to play his part owing to illness liable for damages for 'breach of contract? The Magistrate’s Court at Dunedin was occupied on Saturday week in hearing two cases in which Mr. Barrie Marschel sued for damages against two of his company who failed to take their parts in “British Pluck.” The defence raised by Mr Downie Stewart was that in all contracts for personal service, where skill is required, illness is“a good defence, and renders the contract void. After evidence had been heard, some of which caused considerable amusement, Mr. Carew, S.M., held the defence good, and decided in favor# of the defendant in each case. Mr. A. G. C. Miller appeared for plaintiff.

Some far-fetched objections were made to the establishment of a kiosk at Kelburne Park by one or two persons whose letters were read at the meeting of the City Council, say Wellington papers. One writer urged that if a kiosk were established, music and dancing would probably be introduced, and “a menagerie of monkeys might follow.” Councillor Evans was in favour of municipalising the kiosk, and he and three other Councillors wanted it referred back to the committee responsible for further information. The majority of the City Fathers, however, expressed a decided opinion that the kiosk would be a boon and a blessing, both to citizens and visitors, especially as all modern conveniences are to be provided in connection therewith; and an amendment postponing a permit for the kiosk was defeated by eight votes to four." It wks made evident by the discussion that the kiosk would be carried on under strict regulations, and under a scale of tariffs t-o be approved by the Council.

At the instance of the police Dr. Wilson, of Huntly, went to Mercer last week for the purpose of visiting the natives, among whom a fatal sickness has been endemic for some time. He found four of them dead: —Makenc, 7 years; Pai Rau, 13 years; Tari, 6 months; and Pura, 9 months; and one still sick. The symptoms —high lever, pain over the bowels, and de-

lirium well marked in all cases—point, in Dr. Wilson's opinion, to disease of a typhoid character, the virulence and rapidity of the disorder being accelerated by unsuitable diet, insufficient housing, and want of treatment. The condition of the housing is exceedingly bad. The patients sleep on a mat spread over a damp floor in badly-ventilated houses, and thus cannot obtain the necessary warmth. At present there is only one native sick.

Amusement is scarce in the backblocks, and a practical joke is a godsend. A new baby had arrived at Smith’s, in the township, and the local wag, driving home in the small hours of the morning, met the doctor and learned the news. He drove at once to the only policeman in the district, roused him from sleep, and said, "Get along to Smith’s at once, for heaven’s sake! There’s a stranger up there kicking up a deuce of a row, and they can’t get rid of him.” Dressing hurriedly, the policeman hastened to Smith's —a mile away—and going quietly round to the back, he got admission and met the nurse, and astonished her by asking excitedly, “Where is he? Where is he? Have you got rid of him?” The house father came, and heated explanations ensued. Now there are two men waiting for a chance to get even with the local wag. and the constable is more suspicious of strangers than ever.

The tribulations of the fossil-hun-ter are always great, but none could be more irritating than those which befell Mr. McKay, the Government Geologist, in connection with a fossil whale, which he discovered in the Waitaki Valley, near Oamaru (says the Dunedin “Star”). After much . tunnelling and delving he managed to extract a nearly perfect skeleton, and triumphantly packed it upon a truck. This truck got safely under way, but before it reached Wellington it capsized, and the skeleton went into numberless chips. It now reposes in pieces in the . Wellington Museum.

If a bank, in breach of its duty to you, dishonours your cheque, what is your remedy? An action for damages you promptly suggest, and, no doubt, you are correct. But whaf sort of damages can you claim? The injury for which you seek compensation must be harm to your credit in a business sense, for in no other tangible or measurable way are you damaged. Accordingly it has been judicially said that unless you are engaged in some tradh or business, you have no efficient redress for the dishonour of your cheque. The award of nominal damages will hardly be regarded as a remedy at all. Perhaps if you could show some special damage which you suffered in consequence of the dishonour, you might get damages, although not a trader; but any such special damage would doubtless have to be of a kind which would be reasonably and naturally expected by the parties as likely to flow from the wrongful act of dishonour at the time when it was done. All damage which, in fact, flows from a wrongful breach of contract is not necessarily recoverable. If you had some special reason for making the contract, and so informed the other party, the defeat of your object would be the basis of damage; but not if you omitted to tell hinj,.your purpose. A curious find was exhibited by Mr. Hamilton to the members of the Otago Institute lately in the shape of a fragment of a supposed Maori relic, found near the Orepuki shale works. Mr. Hamilton said that the relic was in many respects remarkable and unique in this part of the world, so far as his experience went. He had been unable to assign any use for it. It differed from the characteristics of native tokens and ornamentation in several marked ways. The faces on the handle were kite-shaped, and the circles were concentric instead of the usual Maori spiral curves. The kite face seemed more characteristic of the New Heorides than anywhere else.

Five residents of Athol, a place in Southland, were brought before Mr McCarthy. S.M., at Lumsden, last

week and charged with using insulting behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace on the 16th April. They and others erected a staging in front of the house of a couple who had incurred hostility in connection vMth the Boer war, and more especially by reference to a trooper who went from the village and was killed in the Maehavie railway smash. The stage bore the effigies of a man and a woman, and these were fired amid hooting and groaning. Defendants seemed to think they were quite within their rights. It appeared that an attempt had also been made to prevent the man, who was the subject of this demonstration, from getting his crop threshed. Harris, father of the trooper killed, deposed that the female complainant knelt on the road and invoked the “curse of God on Jim Harris; may he get shot down.” His Worship said no doubt unkind things had been said by the complainants, but life would be unbearable in places without police protection if the defendants’ conduct were allowed to pass without punishment. He fined each of the accused 20/ and costs, to be divided.

The Hon. J. W. Barnicoat, whose resignation as a member of the Legislative Council was announced at the opening of Parliament, is one of New Zealand's oldest colonists and politicians. Arriving as one of the passengers of the ship Auckland, in 1842, he has been closely identified with the social and political life of the Nelson almost from its foundation. As a surveyor he had much to do with the settlement of Nelson, and • he was one of the few who escaped from that tragedy of 1843, which arose out of Captain Wakefield’s rash attempt to seize the Wairau Plain while the title was yet in dispute. He was called to the Legislative Council in 1883.

Lord Banfurly, addressing a Wellington audience some days ago. gave some interesting particulars relating to the roll of veterans which he is having compiled, showing that New Zealanders had taken part in all the wars of Britain during modern times. He stated that 39 of those enrolled had medals for service prior to 1850. one being for the bombardment of Acre in the year 1840; 779 were earned between ISSO and 1860, and there were 1362 given for the Maori war. There were representatives of the Abyssinian expedition of 1868, of the Canadian Fenian raid, the Zulu war,

the Transvaal war of 1880 (including a Majuba veteran), the Egyptian expedition of 1883, the wars in the Soudan,

the Canadian North-west Territory, Burma, and the Punjaub frontier. Italy’s great liberator, Garibaldi, also had a representative, who wore not a medal but the rosette that was, with Garibaldi, the reward of valour. New Zealanders, said Lord Ranfurly, eaine of a martial race, and in view of South African experience, and the frequency of little wars throughout the Empire, he did not anticipate that the proposed Veterans’ Home would ever be derelict for want of veterans.

The secrets of the jury-room are always under embargo in the Court. No appellate tribunal will listen to reasons why the jury came to a particular conclusion—unless, perhaps, some proof of fraudulent collusion could be made out; the verdict is the only thing with which the judges have to concern themselves, and the verdict is the answer given in open court. Misunderstandings on the part of some of the jurors in the jury-room as to the evidence — error by the foreman in setting down the items of the verdict—blunders as to a majority or minority of votes—all these things are sacred to the juryroom, and the Court will not hear anything said about them. If a juror has any complaint to make, or any misapprehension to set right, the time for him to act is when he comes into Court, and the foreman is asked to state the verdict. The protest has to be made then or not at all. A curious example in this connection was furnished only the other day in Melbourne. The defendant in an action applied for a new trial, one of his grounds being a mistake as to the verdict of the jury. A juror swore that he had understood that the verdict was to be for the plaintiff, and that when he entered the Court and heard the foreman say that the jury found for the defendant, he was so taken aback that he could not speak, and so he allowed the false verdict to pass unchallenged. This, it will be noted, was a matter in the Court, and not in the jury-room. The judges held, however, that the general rule must apply. The verdict had been given without objection, and had been entered. and no notice could be afterwards taken of the manner in which the decision was arrived at. A dissenting juryman must speak at the right time, or for ever hold his peace.

Captain Tubbs, of the steamer Stanleyville. which was recently wrecked on the West African Coast, is a rather remarkable man. Despite Mr. Cutcliffe Hyne’s denial, the captain claims to be the original of the noted Captain Kettle. The skipper is said to be certainly a strong personality, and spins excellent yarns out of his

extraordinary adventures. One of his characteristics is his splendid loyalty to the Elder Dempster shipping firm, under whose flag he sailed, and his admiration for Sir Alfred L. Jones, the firm’s managing director. Sir Alfred’s recent tribute to Captain Tubbs was following terms: ‘’His genius is cast in a rough mould, but he is a grand character and a clever linguist.”

One cay last week, says a Christchurch paper, a passenger who arrived from Wellington by the s.s. Botomahana reported to the police in Christchurch that he had missed his purse, containing a sum of money, and a steamer ticket to London. He mentioned that he suspected a certain member of the crew of having stolen it. Accordingly a detective and a constable visited the steamer and searched the man in question and his quarters, but found no trace of the lost property. The man was kept under surveillance for three days, after which he was again searched, with the same result as before. Then the detective suggested to the passenger, who was staying at an hotel in Christchurch. that it might be well to look among his own "belongings for the missing articles. After some demur this was done, and the purse and its contents were found in a portmanteau, where they had been placed by the owner, who had forgotten having put them there. The half yearly report of the Official Assignee of Auckland states that the number of filings during the six months ending June 20 was considerably less than corresponding periods during the past nineteen years. In 1834 for the six months ending June 30. the number of filings was 60, in 1385, 101, and in 1886, 107. Since the last mentioned term the number has gradually decreased until in 1900 it was 16. The half year just ended was more satisfactory even than in the corresponding period last year, the filings numbering only 11. The average number of filings during the past 19J years was 47 per six months. From the above the one conclusion is that business generally must be in a far healthier condition than in previous years, and it speaks volumes for the integrity of ours- business men.

A good many readers of the "Graphic” will endorse the following, written by ’’Parent” to a Wellington exchange: I think it is a disgraceful thing that Arbor Day should be honoured in the breach and not in the observance, as it is in Wellington. What a farcical tiling it is that a holiday should be given to the school children on that day, seeing that few, if any, of our school teachers are pub-lic-spirited enough to take advantage of the occasion and do something towards beautifying the city! It ap-

pears to me that the school teachers in this city care for nothing except to get through their day’s work in a perfunctory manner, and appear qnce a month to draw their "screws.” The Education Board should certainly prohibit Arbor Day from being observed as a holiday under false pretences. In this case the children had just finished a three weeks’ holiday, and it was an injustice to them to have the next week broken in two in the ridiculous manner described.

As showing the heavy toll that must be levied upon shopkeepers by sneak thieves on occasion the "Otago Daily Times” mentions that the other day a well dressed lady was intercepted in the tea rooms of a large and fashionable establishment with some £l5 worth of clothing concealed about her person. It seems that during the crush at the opening of one of the annual cheap sales she contrived to slip on a cape worth sgus under her own cape, at the

same time stowing away no fewer than five expensive furs and a silk petticoat. On being searched by one of the female attendants all the articles were recovered, and at the earnest entreaties of the culprit on behalf of her family she was allowed to go free instead of being handed over to the police. ,

Earthquakes and tremors are still being constantly felt in Cheviot, as many as fifteen in a fortnight having been registered lately, says the "Press.” For the most part they are only slight, and fail now to cause much anxiety. There are still, however, plenty of evidences of the late disturbances, and bricklayers are still in great demand. Although most of the dwellings have now bne brick chimney re-erected, there is much more yet to do, and wherever one turns the housetops still show by tarpaulins and covers that the work of reconstruction is yet incomplete.

Race stories drop in naturally-. Here arc two that happened a long way away. An owner, w hose jockey had been given orders "not to knock him about to-day,” suddenly discovered that the two he feared might beat him were not being backed. He at once jumped in. and put a niee parcel on his own, which, from a forlorn price, at once bounded to six to four. The horses were at the post, and the owner was making a bee-line down the course to tell his rider that he was now to try and reach the win-ning-post as soon as he could. Bus the scent of a rat had by this time reached the stewards’ noses, and they woke up and stopped Mr. Owner's journey. Not to be beaten, he wrote a note to his jockey, and, giving it to a trooper, asked him to take *it down, which he, ail unconscious of the use he was being put to. did at all speed. The horse won. The second story is of a race meeting in a very primitive spot. There were four lined up. and the starter saw. by the eagerness of one to get off and of the other three to tarry, that there was only one on it. "Sthop a bit,” he cried to the riders, and. galloping back up the straight to the enclosure, shouted to his mates. “Bhoys, back Blue Lion: the other three’s dead as eowld mutton for him.” And they did.

A recent trial in Sydney supplies a reminder, if such be needed, of the folly of dealing with agents as though they had the full powers of a principal. A farmer borrowed £2OOO from an insurance society in Sydney, and gave a mortgage over his land by way of security. The document specially provided that the principal was to be repaid at the end of three years at the head office in Sydney. Nine months later the mortgagor went to the society’s local agent at Lismore, and asked leave to pay off. The agent stated that he had no power to take the money, but thpt he would write to Sydney and obtain authority. A few days later the mortgagor called again, when the agent said he had heard from the head office, and the payment would be accepted. So the mortgagor paid over the £2027 in full settlement, as he thought. This sum the clerk misappropriated, with the exception of £291. which ultimately found its way into the bank account of the society. The society repudiated the acts of its clerk, and then the mortgagor brought an action, seeking to recover the £2027 from the society as moneyreceived to his use. On the want of authority in the agent being shown, the claim narrowed itself practically to the £291. It was said that, as the society had enjoyed the benefit of this sum, it had ratified the acts of the ager.t to the extent of that amount at all events. Moreover, it was contended that as to the £291. the society was estopped, by the fact of having got it, from denying the authority of the agent to receive it. The Court, however, disposed of both these points, on the broad view that unless it could be proved—which was not the case —that the society, when it received the £291. knew that the amount had been paid by the mortgagor to the agent in respect of the mortgage, there could be neither assumed ratification nor estoppel.Knowledge is, in short, the basis of both the doctrines. You cannot, even inferentiallv, authorise an act unless you are aware of it. As to the estoppel, the Court apparently meant that the society was entitled to the £291, at any rate as against the agent, and that the mortgagor's sole remedy was against the agent personally.

Smart society in England, according to Mr G. W. E. Bussell, has given up keeping Sunday in the old-fashion-ed way. "To-day whatever of Sunday is not occupied with exercise is given to meals. The early cup of tea, not without accompaniments, is followed by a breakfast which in quantity and quality resembles a dinner. and is served at any time front ten o’clock to twelve. A good many people breakfast in their own room, and ’do themselves,' as the phrase is, uncommonly well there. Luncheon has long been a dinner, excepting • nly soup. The menu is printed in white and gold; and coffees and liquers are prolonged till within measurable distance of tea. Tea is tea, and a great deal besides —cakes, sandwiches, potted meat, poached eggs; and. perhaps. in its season, a bleeding woodcock. A little jaded by these gastronomical exertions, and only partially recruited by its curfew game of tennis, society puts off its dinner till nine, and then sits down with an appetite which has gained keenness by delay. Drinks of all descriptions circulate in the smoking room and the billiard room, and Monday morning is well advanced before the last servant gets to bed. If he had brought his description up to date Mr Bussell would have said that in many country houses the inmates spend the afternoon’ and evening in playing bridge. Christchurch girls, on a visit to Wellington, relates the “Free Lance,” are not letting any opportunities slip of advertising the fact. 1 have noticed several more or less peachycheeked damsels with large gold letters, “CcrisTchurch,” on their hatbands. It. is a well-known fact that Christchurch girls, while at home, despair of annexing the transient male. Of course; you have noticed that girls from other towns make periodical raids and scoop the best matrimonial plums. Men are always looking for fresh faces, and Christchurch on a hat lets them know that the beauty under it is perfectly fresh.

Ping-pong, our newest game, is determined not to be behind its older brothers, and has therefore produced a disease which is quite its own. Its i mposing ’ name is teno-synovitis, and it is said to be very painful. Dr. F. Graham Crookshank, writing in the “British Medical Journal,” gives a description of a ease. A patient eame to him with considerable swelling of the left leg above the ankle. This subsided after a day in bed, and examination showed that there was acute teno-synovitis or inflammation cf the sheaths of the tendons connected with the muscles round the skin. The patient attributed his condition to his daily avocation,, which involves

much walking; but incidentally another and more material circumstance was elicited—that he had been devoting his evenings with much ardour to "ping-pong,” and had, moreover. played the game wearing his usual stiff buttoned boots. The pastime in question appears to necessitate many sudden alterations in posi-

tion, while at the same time the weight of the body is supported chiefly on the interior pier of the main pedal arch. The strain on the tibialis anticus muscle must under these circumstances be severe, and until in the fulness of time a costume and footgear appropriate to this national sport be evolved such cases as this will prooably from time to time occur.

Honor or honour! I’p to date, I believed (writes "Boyet”) that British people spelt it with the u, and Americans without it. There is, and has supposed to exist, an unwritten law to avoid Americanisms. But then comes an eye-opener, or, as Mr Swiveller would have said, "a staggerer.’’ The King and Queen of England, and Prince and Princess of Wales, in their invitations, spell honour without the liquid vowel. "To have the honor of meeting Their Majesties the King and Queen. The comptroller of the household is desired, etc., etc.” “To have the honor of meeting His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, etc., etc.” This is the wording of two cards of invitation, issued by the leaders of so-

cial England. What ean our unfortunate citizens who went Home for the Coronation do? They must reply in the same strain, and will be compelled to “have the honor to accept, ere., etc.” One may well ask whither are we drifting? Some day we may have the “honour of being invited to a plowing match,” and will have to part with our good. old, honest, agricultural "plough,” and substitute “plow.” This is. indeed, a time of trial, doubt, and difficulty, when no man knoweth when he is going to receive one on the solar plexus.

No doubt there will be plenty of room in South Africa for men able to work and willing to work, but as the following advertisement in the Dublin "Irish Times” indicates, there is no toom there for a certain type of "new chum,” who occasionally reaches us here in New Zealand. The advertisement runs: —- "The writer of the present, who is of most respectable South European family, Boman Catholics, finds him in a temporary pecuniar difficulties, through his unsuccessfulness in securing a sen- - tlemanly employment in either of the new British Colonies in South Africa. If their is an Irish girl cf respectable parents. Romsn Catholic, with say £«X» a year of her own. desiring to marry and share the happiness with the writer either in South Africa, or at the writer’s native country, or in Ireland, let her write in strictest confidence to . Photo desired, which will be returned, if not accepted. Age of writer 28, tall, good-looking, ex-health, teetotaller, has a graceful voice, and plays piano beautifully.” As we observed, we know that imported ereed here, and can spare ’em all for S.A. The ’’Graphic” likewise mistrusts the reliability of the allegation of teetotal’ism. This class is usually fond of the wine-cup. Ping-pong is being pressed into the service of charity. This was only to be expected, and doubtless it will realise many shekels for various causes. Amongst the first is,a juvenile ping-pong tournament for boys and girls under seventeen. This is in aid of the Victoria School for Maori Girls. It takes place on Saturday, August 2nd, and entries are to be received till Wednesday next (to-day week). They will be received by Mr GHfillan. of Fort-street, and Mr Murray, of Parnell.

It is satisfactory to note that someone (Mr Witheford, M.H.R.) has at last lodged a put Sic complaint concerning the disgraceful lack of comfort and accommodation on the wharf at New Plymouth. Thousands of readers of the ’’Graphic” have no doubt been turned out of the express on to the wharf on dark nights when rhe weather has been wet and blustering, and have been wet through and chilled to the bone before they could get on board, and thousands arriving on rough mornings from Auckland, and suffering agonies from sea-sickness, have turned out on the shelterless quay to brave any inclemency of the.weather rather than the horrors of mal de mer. We learn now that rhe Harbour Board of New Plymouth are to blame, or rather are too mean to supply proper accommodation for travellers who are most grossly overcharged for the brief journey up to New Plymouth township. Now that attention has been drawn to the proper quarter for complaint something may possibly be done, and the New Plymouth Harbour Board brought to a more proper sense of Their responsibilities to the travelling publie.