Here There.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIX, Issue XII, 20 September 1902, Page 718

Here There.

The Opotiki “Herald” states that between April Ist and August 31st of this year over 20,000 sacks of maize have been shipped from Opotiki.

A Wairarapa man has given an order for a motor car to seat 20 people. It is his intention to run it between Featherston and Martiniborough. The car landed in the colony will cost close on £ 800.

Lord Roberts lately informed the Council of Scottish Associations in London that there is no intention of interfering with the dress and specific tartans of the Highland regiments, except that the colour of the service dress must be, like the rest of the army, khaki, but will be made to suit the Highland uniforms.

Speaking at Amberley lately, Mr Blackmore, Government* pomologist, mentioned that last year Tasmania exported 350,000 cases of apples, and eaid he saw no reason why Canterbury, providing proper attention was paid to the orchards, could not export a similar quantity.

“I’ve got to go out and cut eighteen acres of oats with a scythe myself and sow the grass seed. As for the sheep, they are old, dying things, and I don’t value them at anything at all, because I don’t know that they will live.” This was how an old lady depreciated her own property in giving evidence in a case at Darfield, Christchurch, lately.

Dr. Gatling, of famous gun repute, has been turning Jajis attention to ploughshares. He has just invented a plough operated by a gasoline motor. The plough can be worked at the cost of 8/4 per day, and the inventor holds that it will do the work of 30 men and 80 horses. If this be so, the farmers have here an invaluable helpmate. The plough is to be a feature in the coming St. Louis (U.S.A.) Exposition.

To have known Melba is the proudest distinction the fashionable person can boast of for the time being. Those favoured creatures who went to school with Miss Nellie Mitchell, and perhaps had the high honour of sharing a sour apple with her, or of trading off a wounded doll for a slab of chewing gum, the property of the future queen of song, are the most envied mortals in Melbourne. They are to give the diva a special reception, to swap schoolday reminiscences with her, and to renew a friendship the value of which has been enhanced a thousandfold by Nellie’s triumph abroad, and the fact that Kings and Emperors have been proud to salute her dimpled cheek. Something like a Melba craze has begun to take shape, and even the children are responding to it. A little girl, disputing with another on the St. Kilda sand last Saturday, crushed her rival with the proud boast, “Oh, my mother once turned a skipping rope for Madame Melba, see!”

At Kinohaku, on Kawhia harbour, the rudiments are now being formed of the first township on the south side of the harbour. In Kinohaku there is already a post office, store, boardinghouse and butcher’s shop. Some distance from the landing place a party of men are clearing a six foot track to admit of packing up to the bush sections recently ballotted for and now occupied. Kinokahu promises to be a busy and thriving township in the near future, as it is the natural outlet to the harbour for the Kawhia South lands.

A great deal of discussion is going on just now in New Zealand as t.o the cost of feeding fowls for the table, and the following particulars of how fowls are fed with the object of rapid development by one of the most successful poultry raisers in the Mana-

watu district will be of interest to our readers. Following are the details of a day’s feed for fifty fowls, which costs at the rate of under a penny per fowl per week: In the morning a mash is made up of a gallon of mangolds (811bs), id; green bone, id; half-gallon pollard, 3d; waste cabbage leaves, etc., or waste kitchen product, id; total, 4JI. Hie mid-day meal consists of a bucket of mangolds, valued at Jd, cut in halves, and allowing the fowls to eat them out. For the evening meal 2Jlbs of hard grain is given. This, at 4s a bushel, is worth IJd. The total cost per day, it will be seen, is 6id, or a fraction below a penny for each fowl per week. A bone-cutter is used, and all the food is put through the machine, the bone being put in last. This leaves the machine in good order. Fat-hen, a weed which grows in abundance, is an excellent constituent of a mash, and dock leaves are also very good. The acidity in the latter may be counteracted by placing ground charcoal near the birds. Mangolds can be purchased this year for 15/ a ton, and in ordinary seasons at 10/ a ton. From the above it will be seen that by judicious feeding the cost of keeping poultry is very small compared to the great returns. To succeed, a balanced ration, which will put flesh on the body and develop the bone, must be fed, and with reasonable forethought this can be easily managed.

A Wairarapa settler, resident of Alfredton, an applicant for an old age pension, states that he was born in 1801. He is father of eight children, and his descendants number 68 grand-children, 218 great grandchildren, and 10 great great grandchildren, making a total of 304. Ten of the number are in the fifth generation. The veteran was born in Stratford, England, is still in possession of his full faculties, notwithstanding his great age, and is able to get about with the aid of a stick. The application for a full pension has been granted to him.

A case of interest to lodgers came before the Stipendiary Magistrate, Wellington, in which a young man named William Hammond, describing himself as a commercial traveller, sued William Klein, a boardinghousekeeper, for £lO damages for wrongfully detaining plaintiff’s box and certain private papers. The defendant admitted retaining the box, but had offered plaintiff this papers. Klein gave as a reason for seizing plaintiff’s box that the latter owed him £ 1 8/3 for money lent and board. Klein issued a counter claim for that amount. Hammond stated that he had lost part of the sum at cribbage, and, whilst admitting having borrowed small amounts from Klein, said that he had repaid them. Klein denied having played for money. Mr Ha selden, S.M., said it would be as well for boardinghouse-keepers to know that they had no lien on a lodger’s goods and chattels, and it was an illegal act to detain them. Judgment was given for Hammond for return of goods by Klein within twenty-four hours or £lO damages, with 11/6 costs. In the second case Klein was given judgment for £1 8/3, with 5/ costs.

There has been submitted to Parliament by Messrs. Percy Smith and A. Hamilton a lengthy report containing suggestions for the establishment of a Maori Museum, together with draft regulations under the Maori Antiquities Act, 1901. It is recommended that a museum be established in Wellington, to be called The National Maori Museum for the Preservation of the Antiquities of the Polynesian Race, and that a sum of £15.000 be appropriated for museum buildings and offices, with a provision that not more than £3OOO be

spent in any one year, and that to carry-on the museum a further sum of £3OOO a year be provided. The total cost of the suggested staff is £960. A plan of the proposed building’s includes a square hall, to be used for portraits and memorials of noted persons of the Maori race represented by paintings, and eventually it is hoped by .statutory provision being also made for future inclusion of portraits and pictures and events in Maori history. The decoration of this hall would be a study in the application of Maori ornament to modern architecture. The museum proper would be a large hall, divided by two walls, which do not go up to the roof. Cases of specimens would be arranged round the walls and on tables, except that one end would be of glass, giving a view of a winter garden in the rear, in which would be placed Maori war canoes and the different Maori buildings. It is further suggested to place groups of natives modelled in papier mache in the neighbourhood of the canoes. It is considered highly desirable that Government purchasing officers be appointed at once. It is suggested that the services of Capt. Gilbert Mair be obtained for Auckland, for Rotorua it is suggested Judge Seannell might act; while Mr Percy Smith will be glad to act for New Plymouth; for Hawke’s Bay Mr A. L. D. Fraser is suggested; while Mr Tregear could probably act foxWellington. It is proposed to give properly constituted officers powers to seize and detain any Maori antiquity attempted to be removed from the colony contrary to the Act, and no such antiquity could be removed from the colony without permission of the authorities.

_A most amusing unrehearsed comedy took place in the smoking compartment of a train between Winton and Invercargill the other day, according to a Winton paper. Report Jias it that a farmer not unknown for his pugnacity when certain conditions prevail, delighted himself in disagreeing generally with everybody and everything. This passed unnoticed until the name of a prominent politician of the South was mentioned, When the irate farmer commenced to hurl the wildest abuse at all and sundry who had “besmirched” themselves by having any connection whatever with the said politician. This roused the ire of a. hitherto mild mannered farmer present was significantly demanded of the aggressor if he would pay half the cost of any damage done to the carriage. “Agreed!” Then, rumour has it, the fun commenced. Coats off, teeth clenched, hair on end, they met! A right-hander from the mild man knocked the aggressor into a corner, from which he quickly emerged to return the compliment, whereupon such a delightful scrimmage ensued as defies description, until one of the contestants, catching his foot in a receptacle in the carriage, fell before his opponent, who, losing no time, in his turn fell—but upon his foe—and making good use of the few minutes of grace allotted to him exercised himself until he gasped for breath. This pleasant diversion was, however, abruptly put to an end by the. appearance of the guard, and what followed was in camera. Verily, man is a strange animal.

A French newspaper devoted to the fishing industry makes reference to pearl fishing in the Pacific. It points out this is one of the chief resources of French houses in that part of the world. The French Colonial Minister has despatched M. Cheyrousse on a commercial mission to the Pacific Islands for the purpose of studying the best means of getting the pearls and mother of pearl on sale in Paris, such products having hitherto been sent in a somewhat irregular manner to England and Germany. It is considered that both the French and colonial industries will benefit by these efforts.

“It is not generally known that the practice amongst Maoris of rubbing noses when friends meet has Scriptural warrant. ‘lron sharpeneth iron, so doth the countenance of in. man his friend.’ ” “Winton liecord.”

The s.s. Wakatipu, which has arrived at Sydney from Melbourne, reports a most singular occurrence. When 50 miles off the Victorian coast a fall of chocolate-coloured mud occurred, and the vessel was covered from stem to stern.

The native population of the Hawaiian Islands on June 1, 1900, was 29,834; in 1896 it was 31,019. The half-castes now number 7835, but in 1896 they numbered 8485. The decrease in the number of Hawaiians is therefore 1185, and of half-castes 650.

It has been suggested, with apparently good reason, that the “new star” in Perseus which Dr. Anderson discovered a year ago really blazed up about the period of the Spanish Armada, only it is so far away that the news has taken three centuries to reach us, travelling without rest on the wings of light at 186,000 miles a second. —“Spectator.”

A new geyser has broken out at Waiotapu, in the Thermal Springs district. It started on Wednesday on what was apparently the site of an extinct geyser, and threw boiling water sixty feet into the air. It was again active on Thursday. On each occasion it played for half an hour. None of the present natives at Waiotapu remember having ever seen this particular locality active before.

At Arrowtown (Otago) one day lately it was reported to the police that the sum of £73 had been stolen from the hut of Sue Sing, a Chinese gardener. The local constable made diligent inquiries, but no clue could be found, until it was suggested that “John” had buried the money in the ground floor and forgotten the exact place. The floor was dug up and the money discovered, and deposited in the bank for safe keeping.

The Grey “Star” states that a party of Chinamen at Payne’s Gully came across a block of greenstone which weighed over 3cwt. They sold it to a local syndicate fo.r £ 15, who, in consideration oif a sum of £4O, passed it on to a third party, who has decided to ship it Homie to the Dondon market. The block is one of the finest yet found on the Coast, and it is thought that it will realise a handsome price at Home.

“I have nothing but gold,” said a Sydney young man when “bailed up” for Mount Kembla Fund by two pretty girls at the corner of Market and George streets. “Hand it over, and I’ll give you change,” suggested one girl. As the coin dropped into the box she presented him with a King- Edward half-penny.

Dr. Brown, of the Wesleyan missions, who lately returned to Sydney from the Solomon Islands, has a photograph of a Solomon native with an American nickel clock in his ear. The clock measures 13 inches round, and four inches in diameter. The collar box only measured 34 inches across. It is the young “dandies” who distend their ears in this fashion. When young they pierce the lobe of the ear, and then, by means of heavy weights, gradually force them to become larger and larger.

One or two brave ladies in Melbourne have adopted sandals for outdoor wear —with stockings—brown stockings with toes. The effect, though it may be comfortable, is by no means becoming. Sandals do not suit twentieth century dress; they require a toga, or some loose flowing garment. With a tailor-made gown they look quite absurd. Modes that make for health are frequently very ugly. Modes that are indifferent to it are usually, becoming; the new skirt which grips its wearer firmly to the knees, and then froths out into a cascade of frills, is unhealthy because it gathers up much dust, but unfortunately it is becoming.

A settler of Huiakama, Taranaki, considers hawks are destroying all the pheasants in that district. He says’ “One day we saw a big brown hawk pick up a young bird about the

size of a six weeks’ chicken. Soon after another appeared, and then another, and .every day from that day forward we saw a hawk or two pick up young pheasants, sometimes two and three times a day. In the end they had them all killed. In this part I’m speaking of there was not a shot fired last season, so if it had not been fqr the hawks there would have been som? fine shooting next year.”

A case of particular interest to poultry produ.cers was heard in the Magistrate’s Court, Wellington, last, week. An Otaki poultry breeder, Arthur Leigh Hunt, sued the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company for £5l damages for the loss of a customer —Miss Malcolm, a boarding-house-keeper—through delay on the railway company’s part in two instances in delivering consignments of fowls and eggs. Mr Morison appeared for the plaintiff and Mr Travers for the defendant company. Plaintiff stated that Miss Malcolm was a regular customer for poultry and eggs to the value of at least £ 7 a month, but. owing to the delay of certain poultry and eggs in transit she had refused to deal with him. T!icsccond consignment consisted of ten dozen eggs and two pair of fowls, which were delayed in transit. As a result of having lost his best customer, plaintiff said he had given up poultry-farming in disgust, and had sacrificed his stock of three or four hundred fowls. It was contended by Mr Morison that" damages for loss of custom would be such as naturally flowed from breach of contract. Mr Travers, on the other hand, maintained that as there was no written contract there could be no secondary liability. Mr Haselden, in giving judgment, said that although the plaintiff was entitled to some damages for breach of contract, the damages claimed by him for the loss of Miss Malcolm’s custom were too remote. Further, the plaintiff had not proved what measure of damages he had sustained. From his own evidence he had been top ready to accept the situation. The amount (£5) paid into Court by the defendant company was sufficient, and judgment for that amount was given for plaintiff, out of which he would be required to pay £2 6/ costs.

Mr. Justice Cooper’s remarks about the Sunday tram service have raised a storm of dissent in Dunedin. The “Star” points out that Sunday trams are not used chiefly for church-going purposes, but for the heavy traffic to St. Clair and other resorts, and it remarks: His Honor, in instituting a comparison between Auckland and Dunedin, was hardly fair to this city, the environments of which are so very different to those of Auckland. There is no need for tramways to run in Auckland on Sunday, for the simple reason that the population would not patronise them; they take their Sabbath pleasures on ferry steamers or go across to Takapuna. But His Honor knows better than we how thousands of the Auckland people break the Sabbath. And to go no nearer than Christchurch, which affects quite as much godliness as ourselves, the trams run there continuously after morning service. The excursions to New Brighton and Sumner in the season are a sight, and it is no uncommon thing to see trains

of ears fully laden and preceded by brass bands! We have not reached that pass in Dunedin, though we may yet get there all the same.

Mr. O. C. Wason, formerly a member of the New Zealand Parliament, and M.P. for Orkney and Shetland Islands, has, according to the London

correspondent of the “Freeman's Journal,” visited the De Freyne Estate, and so impressed was he with the eviction scenes that he has become an ardent advocate for the compulsory purchase by the State of the landlords’ estates. He considers it the only means of remedying the ills of the present system.

The greatest triumph of the Tor-rey-Geil mission in Australia was the conversion of .Tian Burke, alleged champion pugilist of Tasmania. Referee Torrey came inito the ring when Jim and the Devil were in holds, and ordered them to break away. They obeyed to such effect as to bring from Burke the following letter: —

“63, Wellington-street, Launceston, Tasmania. 14t<h July. 1902. Mv dear dear friend, —You are the dearest friend on earth, 'because you were the means of bringing me to Jesus, you and that angell-singer, Mr Alexander. My wife has 'been smiling ever since, and the youngsters who confessed Christ ais their Saviour are continually singing the Glory Song. Even the people about the streets where I live have the Glory Son" on the brain, but they have added the. following:—‘lt is good enough for the pugilist, and it's good enongih for me.’ Black .Toe. whom I always thought was an ordinary-looking nigger, had a most, beautiful expression on his face I ever saw. He jumped around me with his eyes apparently jumping out of his head with joy. With the love of this whole happy household. (Signed) Jim Burke, ex-champion pugilist.”

Corporal Otene Paul, of Orakei (a member of the Auckland Mounted Rifles), is one of the natives who went to England in the New Zealand Maori Coronatios Contingent. He writes cut giving a diary of the contingent’s doings, and expressing himself delighted with all he saw. He was absent from the parades for some time through illness, being sent to a hospital. He warmly praises Lieut. Uru (of Canterbury), who visited him frequently at the hospital. “Lieut. L r ru, he says, looks after his men as well as if they were “his own children,” and as to his military ability, it is “all up to the mark.”

“Why is the Cabinet called the Cabinet?” lasks a correspondent. Because, primarily, in former times the common meaning of the term was a private room, a retired apartment; and it was in such a room that the King took counsel with his Ministers. The Cabinet Council originally meant a council of Ministers held in the King’s cabinet. The Cabinet, as we understand the word, originated in its present form in the reign of William 111.

The inventor of post-cards has Jus, died at the age of sixty-three. lie was Dr. Emmanuel Hermann, Councillor at the Ministry of Commerce, Austria. In 1869 the idea of a postcard was cbmmunicaited by him to the “Neue Freie Presse.” It was soon adopted by the Austrian Government, then by Germany, and finally by the whole world. ,

Verily New Zealand is a democratic, free and easy country'. At Napiet last week a man named Higgins, sentenced at the Supreme Court to three years’ imprisonment for breaking and entering, asked the Chief Justice to grant him a change of prison, as

there was no light at night time in the Napier gaol. His Honor did not think it was for men like accused to make a selection of the prison they would like to be in. If prisoner was dissatisfied he eould make an application to the Government

Mr. Matthews, Chief Government Forester, has concluded his visit to Te I’uia springs, Waipiro. He found the road from Waipiro and the means of access to the thermal region in a very bad state, says a contemporary. He was, however, pleased with the springs, and was satisfied that the Government would be justified in developing them. Sulphur also abounds in the neighbourhood. Mr. Matthews was accompanied by’ Mr. H. Simmonds, landscape gardener, of Napier, who will undertake the planting of the reserves next year. Mr. Simmonds has gone on to Nuhaka, where he will lay off the track from the hotel to the hot springs there and plant the reserves.

This is of interest to Aucklanders: The news that there will shortly be on the market a contrivance for rendering harmless the breaking of overhead tramway wires will rejoice the hearts of those who live in towns where the overhead trolley system is in force. When a wire snaps under the new’ device a short circuit will at once be created, and the broken ends may therefore dangle among the passers-oy without anyone being the worse. Thus will be removed the principal peril of this otherwise excellent method of tramway working —that is, of course, assuming the new short circuit idea will fulfil all that is promised on its _ behalf. London is as yet singularly" backward in the matter of the overhead trolley wire, there being only two lines of tramways in the whole metropolis which are worked by this system.

The West Coast of Africa has always had a peculiar fascination of. its own, particularly' the. sea-board hounding British West Africa, which includes the Gold Coast and Ashanti. Nigeria, Lagos, Gambia, and Sierra Leone. These are not generally' reckoned to he the healthiest of localities, though every' year the sanitary conditions are being improved as trade and population increase. The trade of the West Coast as well as the social life thereof, has been the subject of many an interesting story in which sickly traders, puncheons of palm oil, steamy swamps over which the malarial mist hovers like a ghost, sluggish yellow rivers, anil miles of angry surf, stand out as the most prominent features. There is a lot of romance and tragedy on the West, but it is a locality where much trade is done, more particularly with Liverpool, and the Year Book of the British possessions just issued gives an idea how considerable this is. It also goes into mining pretty' extensively. The aggregate nominal capital of the companies to date, after allowing for defunct enterprises, is £ 45,492,497, as against £39,660,495 in September, 1901. There are 501 West African companies in existence. A statement of this sort gives us some idea how little we really know of th© resources of some of the units of the Empire, for most of this mining - is on British territory.

The amazing story of the loss of a quarter of a million of money' at Woolwieh is emphasised by an incident which has just been related by one of the principal parties concerned in it. A North of England contractor who had business relations with the War Office received notice from Woolwieh to the effect that a number of empty crates belonging to him must be removed. He replied that no crates of his were at Woolwieh, but the only notice taken of his letter wns a further intimation that the erates must lie removed at once,

failing that they would be sent off at owner’s risk. After further correspondence the erates were delivered to the contractor who had disowned them. The most amazing part of the story has yet to come. When the crates arrived at their destination they were found to be not empty but filled with brass gun mountings. The War Ofiiee was at once informed of the circumstance, and .the formal and frigid reply came back: “This correspondence must now cease.”

On the Kiawaka station, Hawke’s Bay, there are some unusual experiences this lambing season. One ewe gave birth to no fewer than six lambs, though they did not all survive. A peculiar monstrosity - was also found in the shape of a lamb with two bodies, eight legs, and two tails, but only' one neck and head. The head was the most peculiar part, haying four-eyes, two mouths .and four ears, the ears being under the lower jaws.

The statue which is to be erected near the guns in the Albert Park is completed, and is open for inspection by the public, through the courtesy of Messrs. W. Parkinson & Co., at their yard in Victoria-street East. The statue has been built under instructions of the surviving Auckland members of the New Zealand Fifth Contingent, in honour of a number of their comrades who fell in the war. The Auckland members of the Fifth, on arriving in South Africa, were formed into a battery known as the New Zealand Artillery, and it is the members of this battery - who are erecting the statue. The statue represents a trooper in life size, standing on a pedestal. It is a striking piece of work in white marble, and will be an ornament to the park. The trooper is represented carrying a sword and a revolver, the proper arms of an artilleryman, and in these respects he differs from the models of other New Zealanders in the war. Lieutenant Bosworth, who has had the arrangements in hand, is now' communicating with Captain Boscawen concerning the unveiling. It, is expected that the statue will leave the sculptor’s yard after next week, and it is intended to ask His Excellency - the Governor to unveil the statue if in Auckland at a sufficiently early date.

Further experiments with wireless telephony - have been made in Berlin recently over greater distances than on the first occasion, the inventor. Herr Ruhmer, having effected some improvements in his apparatus. The receiving apparatus was this time placed in the neighbourhood of the Karsberg, in the Grunewald, whilst the despatching station was. as usual, on the accumulator boat Germania, off the Pfauen Insel, a small islet opposite Moorlake, near Babelsberg. This was a distance of four and a half English miles, and over this space the speakers at either end could make themselves clearly - understood. The clearness and loudness of the transmitted conversations struck everybody present. They were principally achieved with the aid of an “electrical eye,” very - sensitive to the. light, which has now beeri applied for the first time. The trials will now be continued between two lived stations, and it is hoped to render possible a conversation over 20 to 25 miles by means of large reflectors of one or two metres diameter. So far only one with a diameter of thirty-five centimetres has been used.

Pakeha doctors are going out of fashioii among our Maori brethren. A Maori medicine man has turned up. with a hot 'bath and a barrow - load of bark, and he washes disease dway in a solution of tree. Everybody gets well after being immersed in the bark bath, and the Maori doctor, who is located at present nt Taiporohenui, has received enough shark, pig ami kuniara in fees to tnngi overwore. A Maori gentleman, who was cured of a bad leg by amputation, faith and hot baths is going to have the same doctor when any other of his. limbs are sick. Recently he put the case in a nutshell: “Maori toctor,

he cure every time. Pakeha toctor, he say, ‘Put out to tongue! Um! How tc powel? Um! Ten and hikipene!’ ”

A Vienna paper says that the specifications of a new - kind of 'boat have been lodged at the Patent Office there by a Croatian engineer named Cvetkovitch. The vessel, called an “aerohydrostatic boat,” is to be a cross between a ship and a flying machine, and is to attain a speed, according to. the inventor, which would enable it to circumnavigate the world in 48 hours. The principle seems to be (says a “Standard” telegram) that when set in motion the boat raises itself on the surface of the sea and slides on a film of water or air. It is really a pity that experiments have still to Ire made, and that this amazing ship exists only in its inventor’s brain.

Recent caltles from Home have reported a remarkable series of Alpine accidents this season. Dr. Kurstenier, of Berne, publishes in the thirtyseventh volume of the Swiss Alpine Club an interesting article on the Alpine accidents from 1891 to 1900. He says that during- that period there have been 275 fatal accidents, of which 98 have occurred in the Central Alps (91 of them on Swiss territory), 37 in the Western Alps, and 133 in the Eastern Alps. Although it may - appear at first sight as if the number* of accidents is on the increase, Dr. Kurstenier calls attention to the fact that the nurnher of climbers is nearly a hundredfold what it was in the early part of the last century - , and he calculates that the annual number of climbers is now nearly 100,000. Dr. Kurstenier classifies the victims of Alpine accidents during these ten years by - nationalities —169 Germans and Austrians, 48 Swiss, 23 Italians, .18 English, 12 French, and in two cases nationality unknown.

The women of Austria are coming to the front with rapid strides in the struggle for life. Their latest conquest, the “Daily Telegraph” remarks, is the railway. They had already taken posses'sion of the posts and telegraphs, the State tobacco shops, and sleeping-car company’s offices. Now one of their number is become a station-mistress and an official of the. Ministry of Ways and Communications. Miss Mizzi Horak, of Vienna, began life as a clerk, a position which she qualified for by joining a. commercial school. She next, became comptroller of the International Sleepingcar Company - , and the Government

have lately appointed her station-mis-tress of Vilpian, and if circumstances continue favourable she may rise iu time to the post of directress.

A young lady, well-educated and in comfortable circumstances, has just completed a five years’ experience of general servants’ work. She undertook the task voluntarily, because she was interested in the domestic servant problem. Her conclusion is that both sides are to blame for the present unsatisfactory state of affairs. In her own words: “I believe the servant girl problem can only be solved by a Christian education. The employers and servants must be taught to work together. The problem furnishes a splendid field for the energies of our young women. They - should know something of the experiences I have had. 1 know several young girls with good educations who work as domestics because they - like it. These are the kind of girls who stay - a long time in one place and have no trouble with their employers.” » ,

Mrs Hirst, living at Middlesbrough, to whom the King has just sent a message sympathising- with her in her illness, was the daughter of DrumMajor Gibson, of the 75th Gordon Highlanders, and married Private Hirst, with whom she went through two Kaffir wars. She served ammunition in the trenches at Fort Hare, and assisted in the nursing of the wounded, for whom her wedding outfit was sacrificed to make bandages. Her father and brother were murdered by - Kaffirs while eating their Christmas dinner. All Mrs Hirst's five sons entered the Army, three becoming captains, the fourth a bandmaster, and a fifth a sergeant of the 'Medical Corps. One of her sons, Captain James Hirst, is still on active service, and was mentioned in dispatches by - Lord Roberts. Another son, who died two years ago, was captain and adjutant at Netley, where a monument has been erected to his memory. Mrs Hirst’s only- daughter is the widow of a soldier, and has two sons serving the King. The attention of Lord Roberts was drawn to the old lady’s record, and he forwarded the information to the King, who graciously - replied.

Could gluttony beat this record outside of a pig-sty - ? Michael Scholtz, of Brooklyn, has won fame by eating- seven and a half pounds of steak at a sitting, though he had forty-two glasses of beer to w - ash down the meat.