Here and There.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIX, Issue XVII, 25 October 1902, Page 1037

Here and There.

The editor of a secular weakly newspaper in Illinois, U.S.A., has be- • gun the publication of theßible as a serial. He says that “the BfWe, considered from a standpoint whoMy foreign to moral sentiments is a liberal education if read and studied conscientiously.” He believes that sections of the Bible in a newspaper will be news to many of his readers.

A medical journal deplores the falling-off 4nTdancing, as “it was-a. muscular exercise, beneficial to both, sexes.” Four waltzes, it • reckoned.were equal to about two miles, a polka and a set of lancers -as good as a sharp spin of a mile and a half, and a barn was a little better tban-> 15 minutes with the dumbbells. For dyspepsia i the journal thinks, dancing eannot be over-estinwted, bnd strongly recommends it fdr the sad-dle-aged boys of the livar brigade. Programmes, it suggests, should hitwe the distances marked oof fhem.t so. that a patient could taks the es»ctamount, of mileage ordered by this medieal officer. If this medmine# orcure, were to be ordere* > regularly by the, profession, the ery&abont stise. scarcity of dancingmen would sowu stop.

A deputation of twenty-three (-returned troopers waited ondhe Mayor of Dunedin last week, asking -Air wo A. They stated that they eqadd. not get their sick pay from the Department. Some were not strong. All were willing to do any wark rather than loaf. The Mayor said he, would introduce them to the city members, with the object of informing the Government.

There—was a slight disturbance last week in a fashionable suburb under the depression “Pianoforte.”- A lady, making a call on a friend, was told by the maid that her mistress was ■'not at home.” As the caller hoard the piano going, she naturally put this announcement down . as- untrue. Happening to meet the lady she tried to call on at a wedding, she gave her a “bit of her mind.” “I knewyou were at home,” she- r said, “as I heard you playing the piano.” Having assured her friend she wastreally out, on returning home she inspected the piano keys, and found them slightly blackened in places. Next went out she locked the Instrument.. On returning in the evening she found both maids gone. They had proparly resented the stoppage of their musical exercises.

Volcano-ridden Tierra del Fuego. which is the most southerly- region of South America, and whose inhabitants are amongst the lowest in the scale of human beings, is not, one would think (says a Southern paper), the most enticing place -for a Kew Zealander to visit. Mr D.- Robertson; of Roxburgh, Otago, however, is proceeding there in charge of a hydraulic elevating plant, with which it is intended to test the gold prospects of that island.

“I'm sorry to see you giving way to drink like this, Pat," said the village priest, as he met one of his parishioners staggering homewards; “you that were always such a respectable boy, too.” “Share, an o'im obleeged to do it, your ’anner,” replied Pat, with whom, by the way, things had not been prospering of late. “Obliged to do it!“ exclaimed the priest in surprise; “why, how’s that, Pat??” “Oi have to dhrink tr» droun moi trubbles. your holiness,” whined Patrick, giving vent to a sound which was a cross between a sigh and a hiccup. “H’m,” said his interrogator, “and do you succeed in drowning them?” “No, begorra.” cried the Bacchanalian, “shure an’ that's the warst uv it. The divvies can shwim!”

According to the Wellington “Times” Carterton correspondent a native named Pahira Anaru had an extraordinary experience the other evenipg. In attempting to jump p

wire fence his heel caught, the top strand and became fixed. Pahira, who is a man of short stature, toppled towards the earth, and in spite of his efforts to free himself hung for four hours in an inverted position. Ultimately the heel of his boot was torn off and the Maori, feeling very, bad, hobbled home. X

The fees paid to musical stars by the givers of private entertainments in London have become enornteus. Rivalry among the “millionaires” accounts for them. The “Daily Express” says that Mr Astor paid Paderewski £ 1000 for two nights, and Melba a similar sum. while to Kubelik he gave £6OO. Other great artists were correspondingly paid. London society has become so big and so comprehensive of millionaires from all countries that, it is almost impoeible io have a success without great expenditure. A concert must almost if necessity be a Melba concert or a Calve concert. Melba was most in request during the recent 'London season; one week alone she made £2200, besides her opera fees. Next in importance came Calve, whose fee. £5OO, is the same as Melba’s, and Caruso at 150 guineas. Planeon, at 100 guineas, was more popular than ever. Among other favourite artists were Mr Denham Price, M. HardyThe, M. Kocian, Mlle. Spravka, Ponte Carvo. Mme. Nordica, and M. Arens.

There is a centenarian resident in one of the back-blocks of New South Wales. This is Mr Michael Scobie, of Oakhampton, near Maitland, who celebrated his hundredth birthday lately. Mr Scobie was born in the village of Airth, Sterlingshire. Scotland, on October 3, 1803, and served his apprenticeship as a carpenter, at which trade he worked for several years in Scotland before leaving Greenock for Australia, with his wife, three sons, and three daughters, in Palmyra in 1839. After a short stay in Sydney and East Maitland Mr Scobie settled down on property at Oakhampton, where he at present resides.

A turions light is thrown on th* persistence of the bull fight in Spain and other parts of the Mediterranean coasts by the discovery in the classical excavations of Crete of fresco’ ’paintings depicting bull tights of date about 1700 B.C. The bull fight may safely be considered a Mediterranean form of amusement for at least 4000 years. No wonder it is so hard to get it put an end to in Spain. A strange feature in the prehistoric bull fights appears to have been the appearance on the scene of female toreadors. Some cave pictures unearthed in France point to an honourable origin for the bull fight, however disgraceful it may be at the present day. These show excellent representations of the wild bison bull, which must have been a terrible enough beast of the chase to men of the stone period. It can readily be imagined how, as parts of the world emerged from the hunting stage, a lively interest survived in the pluck and resource required to convert an infuriated bull into a feast of beef for a hungry village. The, bull fight, as a dramatic revival of the hunt in . dead earnest, cannot fairly be considered to have been in prehistoric times the piece of callous cruelty that it is to-day.

The number of letters delivered in the United Kingdom was 2,451,500,000. The post cards totalled 449,900,000; book packets and circulars, 766,200,000; newspapers, 169,800,000, and parcels, 86,600,000. making a grand total of 3,919,000,000. The letters have increased at a higher rate than for many’ years past, and the 6.2 per cent, increase in post cards was no doubt in a large measure due to pictorial post cards. Out of 10,000,000 letters undelivered, nearly 9,000,000 were reissued to corrected addresses or returned to senders. The number e< undelivered letters from abroad (not in-

eluding *7.850 from the South African Field Force) returned unopened was 417,900, and the undelivered letters returned from abroad numbered 396.300.

The history of die Coronation would not be complete without recording an event which occurred near Goulburn, Australia.

On the eventful morning of August 9th the hens belonging to a local farmer showed their appreciation of the importance ot the day by laying purple eggs. From Australia also comes the report that a New South Wales farmer has a hen which lays 480 eggs a year. He must have adopted the American system of shutting up the fowl in a coop impervious to day light, and turning on the light three times a day to induce the bird to lay three eggs.

Experiments have been made at Odessa with the purpose of finding out the possibility of destroying rata by electricity. A rat was subjected to a current, of 141X1 volts for one minute. It was completely paralysed, bus on the withdrawal of the current recovered in ten minutes.

A shock of a further three minutes’ duration was given. This killed it.

Cats and terrier dogs are evidently more effective than electricity.

A society novelty comes from Newport, U.S.A. A leading social light of that, fashionable watering place has been thrashed by his butler for staying out too late at night. Of course, it is quite likely that the “leading social light" richly deserved the spanking he got, but it cannot be one of a butler’s proud prerogatives to administer it. ft is to be hoped that the social light will test the question in the law courts, and that he will win his case. If not. goodness knows what fate is in store for masters and mistresses at the hands of their domestics. Ladies may be trounced by their maids for a little harmless flirtation, or beaten with the broom by their cooks for “imperanee” in having too many dinner parties, or the housemaid may knock them on the head for objecting to have their frocks and boots worn.

A ’Frisco paper says that Captain N. T. James, once of the navy, now one of the most prominent marine surveyors of -San Francisco, advocates substitution of the bugle on sailing vessels for the fog horn now in use. “The fog horn at present in use,’* he said, “is most unsatisfactory. In the navy when we had sailing ships the bugle was used in foggy weather with great success. Its tone is more penetrating than the best fog horn constructed. I would like to see every sailing vessel compelled to carry a bugler. With a code of thirty-two calls the bugler could not i.nly give notice of the whereabouts of his vessel, but could announce to within a few points the exact course the craft was steering.”

A Victorian lady who was at Home for the Coronation, and saw all there was to be seen, says it was just like a pantomime in daylight. The state Coach was Cinderella's, only a little larger, and rocked more. His Majesty was a duplicate of the king in a pack of cards. Short, stout, and beard trimmedjust like the cardboard monarch. A few, very few, of the peeresses looked well in their robes, but the majority resembled the lords and ladies who attend stage banquets, and were just aa awkward. The peers were simply guys, and got their gowns tangled between their legs at every opportunity. ' Moreover, their heads (having no dressed hair like their could not keep the coronets in position, and they slid over one eye, fell off at times, or got well away to the backs of heads, only to be jerked forward again with a vicious jerk and muttered swear words. Tiny flasks of spirit were carried in coronets, and it was amusing to see the many dodges resorted to to hide the little bottle while being conveyed to the parched mouths, for the weather was close, and the interior of the Abbey stifling.

Amongst the old identities who foregathered at Seddon on the occasion of the opening of the SeddonBlenheim railway lately was Mr Stanton Workman, who is said to have ridden the winner in the first horse race run in New Zealand. The meeting was held at Kororareka (Bay of Islands) in 1835. Mr Workman is now eighty-five years old. The following not very uncommon advertisement recently appeared in the local paper at Neuhaus, in Dower Austria: — “Warning.—l hereby give notice that I will not be held responsible for debta contracted by my wife in my name.—(Signed) William Hunstock.” The next day this reply appeared in the same column: “Dear Husband,—There is no fear of anyone lending me money on the strength of your name; you cannot even borrow money yourself on such a weak guarantee.—(Signed) Marie Hunstock.”

News from the Chatham Islands reports the death of Mrs A. E. G. Shand, one of the oldest settlers there. The deceased lady with her husband, the late Archibald Shand, first Resident Magistrate of the Chatham Islands, was a passenger by the ship Oriental, which, with the Aurora and Adelaide, sailed from London for Wellington under the auspices of the New Zealand Association in September, 1839. arriving on the last day of the following January. In 1850 they went to Otago, and five years later crossed over to the Chathams. For the first few years they experienced considerable hardships, and had some trouble with the natives of the island.

“The home life of the Imperial couple, of Russia (says Fritz Morris in ‘The Cosmopolitan’) is very simple, and almost without ceremony. The Czarina in manner is charming and diffident, more like a very young girl, perhaps, than an Empress. She blushes very easily, and has a trick of drooping her head. She dresses as an English lady, and looks English. Although she has wonderful pearls, star- apphires, and cabochon rubies, she seldom wears jewels. The Czar generally dresses in simple Russian costume in, the Palace. He, too, has a very quiet and gentle manner, but great deter-

mination, and both he and the Czarina are held in great awe by those around them.

“The Czar likes simple food, and is a very quick eater. He seems hardly to have begun when he is finished. His dinner consists of but few courses, uni he likes to talk and joke during the meal. Banquets are his abomination, and at the great State dinners it is easy to see how much His Majesty is bored by the lengthy menu. The rest of the evening, until ten o'clock, he spends usually with the members of his family. He makes a point to do so when the exEmpress is present. After this he retires to his study, and punctually at midnight goes to bed. Court banquets and festivities interfere now and. then with the daily routine of his ' life, but the ministers try as much as possible to keep his working hours uninterrupted.” The “Globe” publishes these amusing rhymes illustrating how English may be spelt:— A certain young lady of Belvoir Was certainly seized with a felvoir. She said Lt was doe To a nail in her show; But the doctor declined to belelvoir! A fox-hunting yeoman of Leicester Once bought a young filly to teicest her; She snorted and neighed Till the man was afrelghed. So he sold her and fervently bleicest her. There was ay old person of Alnwick. Whose appearance was almost satanlw'ck. If seen Ln the street People beat a retreet; In fact, he created a painwick. The Hungarian Minister of the Interior has issued a decree ordaining that all waitresses in cafes, restaurants, tea-shops, and so forth, must be at least forty years of age. The decree came into force on Ist September, and will throw many young women out of employment.

A certain fond mother would not allow her first-born male child, aged six, to learn how to swim. He, as many had done and many more will do, would not be baulked of his desire. Since he could not learn to swim with permission, he learned without—a fact that he kept carefully concealed. A year elapsed, and his mother, changing her mind, sent him to be taught to swim. The instructor, in order to spur his pupils on, offered a gold medal to the boy who, under his able tutelage, should first learn how to swim. And the aforesaid boy won that medal, and took it, too. He learned how in two lessons, • and his instructor always afterwards referred to him as his most remarkable pupil.

A celebrity, whose name is known all the world over, is now visiting Melbourne. I refer, of course (writes the witty “Woomera,” of the “Australasian) to James Hennessy, whose coat of arms —the three stars—is as familiar to all students of heraldry as the Boar’s Head or Bulldog and the Burkes or Guinnesses. Mr Hennessy is French, not Irish, and though he speaks French excellently, his peculiarity is that he does not understand his own language when spoken by others. Any defects in the following interview must, therefore, be attributed to that source.

“Do you carry samples with you, Mr Hennessy?” “Sare,” answered the philanthropist, resentfully; “you insoolt me; I am not ze cammaircial traveller.”

“And, you, monsieur, insult my intelligence,” I retorted; “nothing was further from my mind than purchasing.”

“I forget you are journalist,” said M. Hennessy, apologetically. “In ze spirit of investigation, I will submit you my best specimens.” “Be it my proud privilege, then, monsieur, to provide the soda.”

The eutiente cordiale—l believe that is the term as I caught it—being thus established, an international conference on the most important industries of Bordeaux and Ballarat followed. M. Hennessy stated emphatically that the fame, of Schweppes had been unduly exalted, and that Rowlands would yet be a term of wide-world meaning. In the same spirit of international courtesy M. Woomera informed the visitor that Port Melbourne had yet something to learn from Paris.

“The soda water of your country," M. Hennessy declared; “it is exalting, it is of generous disposition; it is the nectar of the gods.” “And your Cognac, monsieur, is •üblime. At this stage various toasts were duly proposed and honoured, the company, which included M. Hennessy and M. Woomera, receiving them with enthusiasm. The possibilities of an Anglo-French alliance were discussed, and there was mutual agreement that any failure of effort to promote this great end could only be regarded as criminal in the extreme.

M. Hennessy having sung the “Marsellaise,” ana M. Woomera recited “The Billiard Marker’s Story,” the study of the industrial arts was continued.

“My friend,” said M. Hennessy, “you have the discernment, 'the appreciation; the Cross of the Legion of Honour shall be yours.” “And jrou, monsieur, may have the Southern Cross —you deserve it for your beneficence to mankind —it has two more stars than your own constellation. Take it. Three stars is good enough for me. Hooray!” The proceedings towards the end were marked by great fervour, and M. Woomera at parting was so affected by the cordiality and consideration of the •eminent Frenchman that in his emotion he missed the steps of the cab and di’.located several joints. Such things must be, however, when Gaul and Briton fraternise.

A colonial who went Home by Orizaba writes describing an extraordinary phenomenon witnessed by those on board. The letter, which was written while the Orizaba was off Cape Guardafui, dated August 2T, 2 a-m., states;—“We are expecting to pass Guardafui within the hour, so that another twenty-four hours will put us in the Red Sea. We had head winds and seas ever since leaving Colombo, and are about a day late. Saw a most peculiar phenomenon last night about eight. The whole sea from horizon to horizon seemed to be lit up from below, not with the usual flashes of phosphorescence, but one steady, white glow like a lamp covered with frosted glass. As you know, the sea at night appears like a black circle against even the darkest clouds; but this was the reverse; it was like steaming in a sea of fog. It gave everybody the creeps, it appeared so ghostly and uncanny. Although the weather all day was rough and windy, it was smooth and calm while the phenomenon lasted, which was about an hour. The sea appeared to be boiling and twisting from beneath, and when we ran out of it the edge between the dark water was as sharp as if printed. We could see the actual moment that the ship’s nose touched the black water. Even our oldest officer, who has been 26 years on the run here, never saw anything resembling it. I would not see it again for a pound, it was so uncanny.

Mr Cochrane, who returned to New Zealand after spending several years in South Africa, visited the West Coast last week, and passed North by the Mapourika. Questioned as to his opinion of South Africa he said it was a grand country to keep out of—at least for.a couple of years or so. There is, he said, no money there at present for investment, nor will there be for some time to come. People are selling their farms and all their other possessions in order to obtain the necessaries of life. In a few years time it will be a splendid country. Capital will then be invested to good purpose.

It is not, perhaps, generally known in New Zealand that Captain Wallington, chief A.D.C. and confidential adviser toj Lord, Hopetoun and Lord Tennyson, is an enthusiastic cricket-' er. The return of the Fijian warriors from the Coronation caused the indispensable and imperturbable gubernatorial functionary, to cast his recollection—tenderly, perhaps—back to the days when he held a similar position on the staff of the High Commissioner of those romantic is' lands. It may have been that the strain of separating the sheep from the goats—or should it be the pure merinos from the “stores”?—in connection with vice-regal festivities, was not so arduous as in the Commonwealth capital; at all events from one cause or another Captain Wallington decided to teach the game beloved by those whom Kipling injudiciously styled “flannelled fools” to the gentle Fijians. They picked up the game fast enough, but showed an unconquerable predilection for stopping a straight ball with their feet. Anyone who knows Fijians will immediately understand that unless the Kall took a course as sinuous as that of s member in answering electioneering questions,' it would have no chance of passing those monstrous pedal appendages, and as the rules do not distinctly provide for “feet before,” the progress of the learners was unhappily retarded. It is related that it was the devastating area of these Fijians’ foothold that caused them to be dubbed “constabulary”— they are soldiers in reality—but that may be regarded as another injustice to the distressful isle.

A country candidate for the Victorian Parliament, is also a property owner. A few weeks ago a couple of showmen, who by some means had become possessed of the carcase of a large shark, rented one of hie shops for the purpose of exhibiting it at 6d. a head. In the course of time the exhibit began to decay, and ultimately became so offensive that the police stepped in and ordered that it should be buried. The showmen decamped, leaving the carcase in the shop, and also forgetting to pay their rent. The property owner, after incurring the expense of removing and burying the shark, re-

luted his troubles and losses to an acquaintance. "Didn't you take out its teeth before you buried it?” asked the friend. “No; why should 1?” “Why sharks' teeth are worth from 3d. to 6d. each for the manufacture of trinkets.” The shop owner at once set men to work to exhume the putrid monster. They made an interesting discovery. The shark was toothless.

The advertiser is never lacking in resource. With each of the dividend warrants received this week by the De Deers shareholders, says the “Financial Times,” there was enclosed a leaflet from Macmillan's, the publishers, advertising a work upon the diaVnond Aines of South Africa.

This novelty- opens up a vjsta of infinite possibilities for the publisher, who should not miss such opportunities as these:—

Book to be Company. Advertised. Weis bach The Light that Failed. English Sewing Cotton..lt’s Never too late to Mend Chartered Co..... Great Expectations P. & O. C 0... The Seven Seas London and Globe.. The Hunting of the Snark

A humorously-inclined questioner at Mr. Russell’s meeting at Riccarton the other night asked the candidate if it was true that the Government had turned him over to the Opposition, but the Opposition would not have him. “Well,” replied the candidate, “I have no doubt the Opposition would have been very glad io get me. Courteous hints were given that I should take a seat on the Opposition benches, but I never could see my way to do so, and I don’t expect I ever will.”

On the other side of the Tasman Sea. the Women’s Christian Temperance League has passed a resolution condemning dancing and placed the 1 social,” which is so popular in all grades of colonial society under the ban. One potent argument against dancing was chat it did not aim at bringing husband and wife closer together. There is much truth in this, as cruel husbands have been known to remark that dancing with one’s own wife was about as exhilarating a performance as eating cold boiled veal without salt, or any kind of sauce or seasoning. The Convention also pronounced against “the religious drama,” as an amusement, and in this connection expert opinion was quoted,. It seems that “an undertaker” has stated thaU'.'if the Church people could swallow ‘The Sign of the Cross’ they could swallow anything.” This statement has our sympathy. The man or woman who could derive amusement from “The Sign of the Cross” would And recreation in a waxworks. But, we may ask, why accept an undertaker as a dramatic critic, in preference to the followers of any other occupation? The history of the drama only contains one instance in which an undertaker displayed anything like the critical instinct. That was when an undertaker witnessed a performance of “Hamlet,” and remarked that it afforded internal evidence of the prosperity of his particular trade in Denmark. In addition to the moral work mentioned, the Convention, it may be noted, “intends to undertake to keep the police ‘above suspicion.’” As Mr. G. H. Reid might say, the Convention may here find itself “biting off a bigger piece than it can chew.” It will have to be particularly careful of those of the sex to which its members belong, and against whose blandishments, as cook, in goods places, the police are proverbially powerless.

A Maori tangi, on a small scale, took place on the Christchurch railway station the other morning, but it was only a very faint echo of the mournful dirges in which grief was expressed, often in poetical form, comparatively only a few years ago. The occasion was a parting, a number of natives having come to the station to see some friends leave by the express train. The tangi, or rather, the echo, was sent forth by an aged Maori woman, who seemed to belong to a bygone time. On her head she wore a garland of green leaves in place of a hat. She sang only a line or two, and the tears ran down her

cheeks. The lament having been concluded, the old Maori custom of rubbing noses was adopted as a final leave-taking.

There is a trite truism which a>ppears in many forms about never putting off till to-morrow anything that can be done to-day. We are all pretty well aware, however, that this wise advice is very universally neglected, and that it is, in the majority of cases, usual never to do to-day what may by any means be put off until to-morrow. We have had an amusing, and really excellent, example of this in the bonus offer made through our columns of “Brett’s Colonists’ Guide.” For the first few weeks our subscribers who availed themselves of it were fairly numerous, but it has only been during the past few days that the real rush has set in. The books have to be bound, and therefore it is not possible to issue them without some Mttle delay. The main thing, however, is to get your order in and make certain of securing the volume, for there can be positively no extension of the bonus offer after the 31st of - the month. Neverthless, in spite of all we may say on the question, we are pretty confident that absolutely the last day on which the bonus is open will see dozens of orders come in, and even then there will be many who will miss their opportunity, altogether and .subsequently regret it.

A case of cruelty to a husband on the part of his better half was mentioned recently by the Mayor of Wellington at the annual meeting of the Society for the Protection of Women and Children. Mr. Aitken said he did not know if interference in such cases was within the society’s domain, but he knew that the case he spoke of was one in which the man had been hardly dealt with. The suggestion of the Mayor evoked a ripple of laughter, but at a later stage of the proceedings Mrs. E. F. Allan assured His Worship that if a clear case of cruelty on the part of a wife was made out to the society, there would be no hesitation about interfering in the interests of the oppressed male.

Trout are very plentiful in the river near Kaiapoi, and good baskets are being secured. One angler caught a trout a few'" days ago 121 b in weight, and several of 61b each have been captured. Whitebait are very scarce in the Waimakariri, half-pints seeming to be about the average catch of most men this season. The number of whitebaiters is greater than in previous years, and it is rumoured that the quantity of trout is the cause.

To superstitious people—and who is not sometimes superstitious?—the account in “M.A.P.” of the King’s “Tuesdays” is curious:—“The principal events in the life of His Majesty King Edward VII. have happened on a Tuesday—viz., on Tuesday, November 9, 1841, His Majesty was born; on Tuesday, January 25, 1842, he was baptised: on Tuesday, March 10, 1863. he was married; on Tuesday, December 8, 1863, he was appointed a member of the Privy Council; on Tuesday, November 21, 1871, it was definitely ascertained that he had contracted typhoid fever; on Tuesday, February 27, 1872, he attended the public thanksgiving service for his recovery; on Tuesday, January 22, 1901. he succeeded to the Throne; on Tuesday, January 29, 1901, the Royal Standard was hoisted at Marlborough House for the first time; and on Tuesday, June 24, 1902. His Majesty underwent an operation for perityphlitis. As an exception to the above-mentioned cases it may be stated that it was on a Monday (July 18, 1898) that the King sustained a fracture of the left patella through missing his footing whille descending the spiral staircase at Waddesdon Manor, during a visit to the late Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild. And of course he was crowned on a Saturday.”

For many years many of the original French settlers on the Akaroa Peninsula have been growing wine grapes, the progeny of the original stock brought with them from the vineyards of sunny France,

and much of the Otago Central region is better suited to the crop than Akaroa. There is less moisture aud plenty of sunshine to give the fruit a full flavour. In view of these eircumstances, it is to-be hoped (remarks the “Otago Daily Times’’) landholders in the Otago Central will lose no time in bringing the matter to a practical issue by planting vineyards. Although it is an argument that is not likely to commend itself to the extreme prohibitionists, cheap wines constitute a factor in the temperance problem, and it is a wellknown fact that the people in the principal wine growing districts are noted for their moderation, while, in regard to the commercial aspect of the matter, it is to be observed that there is a wide market for light wines, and we see no reason why New Zealand should .not reap the benefit of her natural endowments in that direction.

Despatches from Odessa (in the “Daily Express") state that Princess Helena Zulukidse is working in that city as a common labourer in the building trade. She mixes mortar and carries it on her back up to the scaffolding where the bricklayers require it. Her working hours are from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with two short intervals, and her wages amount to three shillings per week. Princes't Zulukidse, who lost all her wealth through no fault of her own, has been entirely deserted by her numerous relatives, and is thus compelled to earn her living in this humble way. Recently she had succeeded in saving about twenty-five shillings towards a short holiday in the country, but some of her fellow-workmen robbed her of the amount. In reporting the theft to the police her real name and rank were discovered. Her ret latives, however, still refuse to do anything for her.

The case of the bookmaker who, in the Bankruptcy Court the other day, attributed his insolvency to having given up gambling on the turf for speculation in the sharemarket points a sharp moral for the rising generation. Evidence showed that as a professional layer of odds the bankrupt made a large fortune, which he “invested in various companies” and lost. When he returned to the betting business, however, he was not able to do so well, hence his financial collapse. “I suppose,” suggested the court, in explanation of this fact, “there -were not so many fools about.” Perhaps so. The fools whose folly is manifest in the ease with which they and their money may be parted are like fish. Sometimes you catch them in one place and sometimes in another. In the mining boom they swarm round the Stock Exchange to an extent never known in the saddling paddock. A land boom will cause them to congregate in another direction, but it does not follow that because they happen to be scarce in one place at any particular time that the world is getting any wiser. Besides, the man whose business it'is to prey on fools in one place may himself beamongst the victims in another. The bookmaker takes the fortune won from the betting fools and plays it up with the company promoter. The share boom-

.ter i* a cute man ’Change, and the bookmaker has the wisdom at the serpent as loug as he sticks to the turf. But let them change places and they are both fools. The Ijboiuster, as experience proves, will unload his very rottenest scrip to the bookmaker who ventures near the Stock Exchange, while the stiffest horses are generally reserved for the eroukest company promoters when they are caught backing their opinions on the turf. In politics, again, the levelest headed business man will be taken down like an infant by a professional player of the game, where as in The market place the said politician would have as much chance with him as a pigeon with a hawk. Wherefore, young man, whatever your book is lay to it, for therein is wisdom's root.

One may be forgiven for wondering whatever is going to happen next. We are getting more or less accusytomed to the behatted horse —and that in spite of the fact that scores of experts seoff at the idea of equine millinery being even useful—but the dog in a sun bonnet is certainly a novelty. It argues little for the common sense of many dog enthusiasts to read that during a recent spell of hot weather in London it was by no means unusual to see in the fWest End pet dogs with hoods, looking exceedingly comfortable, trotting alongside their fair owners. Why it

was necessary to take the unfortunates out in “dangerous” weather does not transpire, but no one with a proper respect for “the faithful friend of man” can help resent this affront to canine dignity. As adding to the gaiety of the nations, a mas-

tiff in a sun bonnet and borzois in a pith helmet may have their uses, but for other purposes they can only be regarded as unhappy victims tu maudlin sympathies of their devoted owners.

Johnnie's mother always declares that the boy has such a beautifully open disposition—no sense of secrecy or subterfuge about him. The quality was shown when Johnnie was invited to a children's party. He took part in one or two games without any particular zest, then suddenly remarked to the hostess, “When does the party begin?" “Why. it’s already begun,” she said. “Haven’t you had games?” “Oh. I don’t call that party,” Johnnie said, scornfully. “When does the cake and nuts and lollies and things begin?"

Transplanted eyelashes and eyebrows are said to be the latest thing in the way of personal adornment. Only the brave and rich can patronise the new' method at present, for, besides being painful and costly, it takes a long time to accomplish it. It is stated that there are specialist* who make a handsome living out of the process of transplanting hair from the head to the eyebrows or eyelashes. The specialist works by putting in. not on, the new eyelashes and eyebrows wherever they are absent or grow thin, and so cunning is he in his work that not even the closest scrutiny can detect any difference.