Here and There.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIX, Issue XX, 15 November 1902, Page 1229

Here and There.

A New Zealand war medal has been issued to Mr. S. Hill, of New Plymouth, for his uncle, the late Sergeant S. Hill, of the 57th Regiment, who was killed in the Wairau fight near Oakura (Taranaki) on May 4, 1863.

The first portion of the -steel-work for the railway bridges over the Ongarue River, on the North Island Main Trunk railway, arrived at Ongarue from Christchurch, via«Auekland, a few days ago. The erection of these bridges is necessary before the Auckland trains can run to Taumarunui.

It is feared that there will be a great dearth of fruit in the Waikato this season. In the Carabridge . district, with the exception of a ifew very sheltered situations, the «rop will be almost nil, unless it is apples. The late frosts have denuded the peach trees. The apricots, pears and gooseberries seem but little better.

Are any New Zealanders ■ hankering after big game shooting?; According to a sporting correspondent in “West Africa,” there is still plenty of work for big game hunters in. •the French Congo. “Don’t believe the yarns you hear,” he writes, “about the elephants behig all dead. There are thousands within twenty miles of the set- beach, -and a great many not ten mites away. I killed one myself within sound of-the surf.” So plentiful are elephants in the district, says this enthusiastic sportsman, that the natives would give anything to have them killed off. What with wild buffaloes, elephants, deer, and other game, the farmer has a lively time. The desire of his life is to find the man who can make an unbreakable fence. But the list of the sportsman’s good things is not exhausted. Not only are there elephants in herds-, “playang havoc with the plantations,” but .one may expect visits from numerous; families of chimpanzees, in search of bananas, with an odd 6ft gorilla or two thrown in. “Owing to the depopulation of the district from various causes, the animals are increasing at a great rate, and the bush being dense they can hide themselves from the wily hunter. But one animal does not care a hang for the bush, and that is the elephant. He simply sails right through as if it were so much growing corn. “I have come to the conclusion that the elephant is the most brainy bimte in Africa,” adds the correspondent. “He seems to have thinking powers nearly akin to man, and you would be •surprised did you see how agile these apparently huge, clumsy beasts can be.”

In ,-n article on the revival of the sailing ship, a San Francisco paper says:—“While the steam fleet of the world continues to increase in tonnage, the sailing ship has not been driven from the sea. On the contrary', a great revival in its favour has taken possession of ship-owners during recent years, and a recrudescence of the building of ships to be propelled by sail has set in, not only in this country, but in other maritime countries also. The multimasted schooner of big tonnage has become a favourite type of sailing vessel in the United States. A seven-masted steel vessel, with a cargo carrying capacity of 11,000 tons, which was recently launched in Maine, is to- be followed by others of the same-rig and tonnage. Pacific Coast shipyards are turning put four and -five masted schooners for the Innorber trade, in which they are able to compete successfully with the steam craft.”

One of the dangers of the “painless extraction” method pursued by seme dentists was shown by a Sydney District Court action the other day, when a patient recovered £l5 for injury caused by the use of an imper-

feciiy- sterilised syringe to inject a cocaine mixture. The “painless extraction” method consists in the production of local anaesthesia by the injection of some form of cocaine, and has other dangers, in addition to thut. arising from the use of dirty instruments; so the method is rejected by most dentists, though familiar to all who learn the rudiments of the business. Nevertheless, it is very popular among people who don’t know the risks they are running. The “Bulletin's” advice to people whose teeth are faulty—and that is to practically everybody'—is to avoid extractions as much.as possible, and, when they are absolutely necessary, to take “gas.”

Mr George Ball, an old and respected settler of Opotiki, died a few days ago, aged 73. He was, when a young man, in the London police force, his father being a superintendent. He came to Melbourne about 1849, and joined the police there. When volunteers -were called for to do active duty against the Maoris in 1863 under Colonel Pitt he was among the first to join, and served in the First Waikato Militia. He came to Opotiki with his contingent immediately after the Rev. Volkner’s murder in 1865, and did military service there, taking an active part in every engagement and expedition.

A Frenchman recently propounded through the columns of the Liverpool “Daily Post” a problem which may not be. without interest for colonials. At any rate it involves a principle of rhetoric which ought not to be disregarded.

1 am in Liverpool since a month, writes the French gentleman, and I saw many things the which I stupefy; but of these this most amaze me. On your tramcars one writes: “Passengers are requested not to board or leave the car while in motion.” “Board” I comprehend not. My friend say it is “aborder” to go on ship, therefore one me demanded not to go on car and not go off whilst in motion:

How can that be? I see thousand passengers since four weeks go on and go off a car, but they all go whilst in motion. Shall one explicate how passengers whilst not in motion have power to go on and off a car?

Of late there has been a revival in the whaling industry of New Bedford, U.S.A., owing to the abundance of sperm whales in the North Atlantic. Of New Bedford's once famous whaling fleet only’ a few are now in commission, but these have had very profitable voyages recently. The barque Canton, 226 tons (the oldest whaling vessel afloat, she was built in 1841) lately returned there from a sixteen months’ voyage, which yielded 2200 barrels of sperm oil. The barque Sunbeam got 650 barrels in two months, and the barque Morning Star 1300 barrels in twelve months.

The universal language crank is on the stump once more. At the recent meeting of the British Association Sir Frederick Bramwelte-took down from a high shelf that out-worn debating society topic, “An Universal Language,” dusted it carefully, and tried to set it in a new and attractive light. The learned Baronet eschews Volapuk, and that must be accounted unto him for wisdom; but in point of practicality his suggestion that England, France, Germany and the United States should agree upon one language, such as Italian, for universal use in commerce and literature, is not very much in advance of the proposal that the nations should discard their own tongues in favour of a common gibberish, however scientific cally based and built. We cannot, in our mind's eye, picture the pushful bagman of Chicago studying an Italian grammar in his spare moments at a quick lunch counter, or his Glasgow rival taking evening classes at the Athenaeum. Are we not frequently advised that the Latin races are mori-

bund, and that their languages are doomed to extinction? So far as the language of commerce is concerned, is not the rivalry between English and German, to the exclusion of other tongues, with the weight of American influence thrown into the English scale? It seems probable that the considerable audience attracted te the learned Baronet’s lecture by curiosity went empty away from a purely academic discussion, which invariably walks round the primary philological principle that language is a growth and not the product of any, process of manufacture.

Mr William Diamond, whose death occurred suddenly recently at Collingwood, was one of the early pioneers of the Nelson settlement. He came out to New Zealand in 1859 as third officer of the Intercolonial Company’s steamer Prince Alfred. In 1861 he joined a survey party under Messrs. James and John Rochfortv who were engaged by the Nelson Provincial Council to take soundings at the Grey and Buller estuaries, and made an adventurous exploration of the West Coast. He was once employed to take a life-boat from Nelson to New Plymouth, but met with a succession of heavy gales, and though he managed after three days battling with the wind and waves to sight the Sugar Loaf, he had to return to Nelson, having found it impossible to land and having run out of provisions.

Queen Alexandra has taken a kindly’ interest in and shown practical' sympathy with the family' of extrooper Benge, Second Life Guards, who met with an accident while in South Africa which affected his brain. The consequent lunacy, it is feared, may prove permanent. On June 26 Benge presented himself at Buckingham Palace and behaved in sueh a manner that he was placed under control and admitted to Hanwell Ayslum, where he is now an inmate. He had a delicate wife and two children. The circumstances were made known to the Queen, who promptly gave Mrs Benge and one of her children a nomination for the general lying-in hospital at Lambeth. Following this practical sympathy', Her Majesty inquired about the future prospects of the family, and ascertaining that the Strand Board of Guardians could claim a portion of Benge's pension in part payment of his maintenance in the asylum, caused representations to be made to the guardians to forego their claim on the pension in order that the wife and children might have the full benefit of it. The guardians have given the Queen great satisfaction by’ complying wit! the request.

"’Eave 'arf a brick at ’im.” This pleasant little phase of London town (says . outspoken Christchurch “Truth”) should be emblazoned on the gates of the great city. When the London crowd went mad over the Boer generals we thought they had sunk to the lowest level conceivable —the level of the brainless whooper. But there are depths lower still, after all. On the return of the Boer generals to London they were coldly received, and that was well. A day or two later the generals, as guests of the city, were doing homage to the King. What, they had been doing on the Continent does not matter—during the Royal procession they had suspended their agitation. Then the London crowd showed its true metal. They mobbed the generals with rage as disgusting and revolting as the slobbering delight that they had exhibited a few weeks before. Dignity, sense of shame, loyalty, man hood, respect for the King’s and the country’s hospitality were thrown aside. It was a revulsion of feeling, inexpressibly shocking to anyone above the brute level, a scandal and reproach to England. We ourselves think England has been unwisely kind to the generals, whom we regard as dangerous and insincere firebrands. But, not being a London crowd, we stop short of bonnetting De Wet, we refrain from the ‘ ’arf a brick.”

What is said to be the only antiseptic, microbe-proof barber’s shop in London is thus described. The first impression is rather grimly suggestive of a private operating surgery. The walls are tiled. There is no upholstery anywhere. The

■hair* are of metal, with head-rest* of pneumatic indiarubber, which are ■objected to frequent disinfecting. The basin* are made with pedal taps to avoid the contaminating touch of human fingers. Everything your eyes rest on seems to say. ‘“There are no germs on me.** The barber is clad in sterilised overalls. He explains that that is to prevent any of his own personal and private stock of microbes from migrating to you. Before beginning to operate on you he dips his hands in some germ-destroying solution, and he assures you that the razor is sterilised afresh for each customer. From a capsule he empties into a sterilised vessel just enough soap powder to supply the lather needed for one shaving job. It seems that danger may lurk in soap that has been used to shave some other fellow. The price charged for the operation is sixpence.

In the precincts of the London Stock Exchange, just after the House closed on the Saturday previous to the leaving of the “Frisco mail, much excitement was caused by an audacious attempt by three men, said to be foreigners, to obtain a cast in wax of the key, opening the pillar-box in Draper’s Garden. The poetman was collecting the leters; one man took the key out of the lock, and passed it to another, and the third tried, by engaging the postman in conversation, to distract his attention. The postman, however, noticed the key was gone, and raised an alarm. One man got. away through Austin Friars. The other two bolted into Throgmor-ton-street, throwing away a box filled with wax, in which an impression of the key, it is asserted, had already been taken. A man is now in custody at the Guildhall Court. At the Guildhall on Monday afternoon, Henry Conrad (.51), a welldressed man of gentlemanly appearance, who described himself as an agent, and who refused his address, was brought up in custody, charged with being concerned with another man not in custody, in unlawfully obtaining an impression on wax of a key of a post-office letter box in Copthall Court with intent to steal letters therefrom.

Mr Arnold prosecuted on behalf of the Post Office authorities. He said that a postman was engaged on his collections in Copthall Avenue on Saturday afternoon, and as he was about to open the letter box the accused came up to him, and on the plea of having dropped half a sovereign in, offered the postman sixpence if he would find it for him. The postman opened the door with the keys, and the door swung round with the keys in the lock. At this time a man dressed as a painter came along, carrying a pot of paint. As he passed he upset some of the paint on the keys and apologised, saying he would wipe it off again. He took the keys out for that purpose, and whilst he was doing it the prisoner tried to attract his attenion from the keys. He, however, saw the painter taloe a small lox from his pocket and press the key of the letter box into some wax in the box. He returned the keys and walked away.

A pretended Boer got into trouble In England the other day. The police got information that a young man who had taken up his quarters at a farmhouse near Stonehaven was representing that he was the son of a Johannesburg farmer sent to this c< untry by his father to look out for the best market for the produce of the farm. He said he arrived in Inverness in a ship, and had a large quantity of tea. coffee, rice, tobacco and other samples; but, unfortunately, on his arrival he met two obliging men who showed him around the place, and at the same time relieved him of all his money, so that he eould not get the Custom House clearance, end was forced to leave his goods behind. He then tried in vain among the farm servants to get 30/ to send a cablegram to his father for money, promising that when the cash arrived he would give them £lO. He also tried to obtain 8/8 to clear the Custom House. He told the farm servants that hia father had a very large form, and had 100 black ser-

rants; that he wanted men from thia country as overseers to look after the blacks; and offered the cattleman £3 a week and a free house, which the latter thought was too sweet an offer to be wholesome. The visitor also gave a pawnticket to hia “landlord” ut the farm for a watch lie had pawned in Aberdeen last week. On Monday morning Constable Davidaon paid a visit to the farm, and saw the young “Boer,” who repeated the same story to him. The constable then conveyed the man to headquarters, where he still persisted in his story, giving his name as William Henry Herman. The Chief Constable, however, suspected the “Boer" wsus wanted in Linlithgowshire on a charge of obtaining some 35/ under the name of Ernest Paul. His description was wired to the police there, and an officer arrived in Stonehaven, and charged the young “Boer” with being Ernest Paul, which he admitted. He was escorted south, and on Tuesday he was brought before Hon. Sheriff-Substitute Turnbull, at Linlithgow, on a charge of having, on September 1, obtained 30/ from Daniel Haggerty, engineman, Broxburn, by false representations.

Auckland is particularly fortunate in the way of testamentary bequests. To the long list of benefactors to whom we are indebted for many of our public institutions has to be added that of Mrs Mackechnie, wife af the late Edmund Augustus Mackechnie, solicitor. Mrs Mackechnie, who died this morning, after making legacies to personal friends (she leaves no relatives), in pursuance of a wish expressed by her late husband bequeaths his valuable library to the Auckland City Council; £2OOO is bequeathed to the Auckland Institute, of which the late Mr Mackechnie was one of the most enthusiastic supporters, it being provided that the interest accruing on the investment of this sum shall ba expended annually in the purchase of scientific works of repute, not less than 80 per cent, of them in the English language, to form a useful library of reference or study in scientific subjects. There is a further bequest of £5OO for the general purposes and objects of the Institute; £2500 is bequeathed towards the erection of an art gallery by the Society of Arts to be used for the exhibition of pictures and allowing such works to remain therein on sale when the gallery or building is not required for exhibition purposes. There is a proviso attached to this latter bequest, that if the Society of Arts cannot obtain a site for the proposed art gallery and the City Council is willing to set apart a site for the same the money shall go to the City Council for the same purpose. Mr O. Nicholson, Mr Mackechnie’s partner in the firm of Mackechnie and Nicholson, solicitors, is sole trustee under Mrs Mackechnie’s will, and will see to the due carrying out of the wishes of the testator.

Commandant De la Bey is 54 years of age, Louis Botha 34. De Wet is not yet 40, Kemp, one of De la Hey’s best lieutenants, is only 26, Fraser about 27, or 28, and the ages of many of the Boer commandants range from 21 to 39.

The detectives of England are a little—just a very little—sharper than the Auckland article, who have failed to “nab” the burglars there. An English contemporary tell how detectives came upon two thieves in the act. The thieves made off in a dogcart; the detectives followed and captured the horse and cart, though the thieves escaped. The detectives thought the situation over for a little and they took charge of the dogcart and an old grey horse. They put him on short rations for a couple of days and then harnessed him to the cart and gave him his liberty. He turned carefully and made his way to a certain farm, and entering by a back gate drew up near a barn door. The police secreted themselves within the barn and waited. Presently a man came through the barn, and going into the yard cried, "Why, here’s old Bill! Come back home, did you? You old rogue!” The old horse whinnied and rubbed his head against the man’s shoulder. Him the police arrested, and on being examined at the police station he was found to be an old convict. Three waggon

loads of plunder were in the barn. .

Our Mercer correspondent writes: “Tire Waikato is now looking very picturesque, and great activity is apparent along its banks here, where the Maoris are busily engaged in fixing up their canoes for the conflng regatta. The large canoe events will excite keen interest, for the four noted rival canoes, the Paparata, Wao-nui-a-Tane, Matiu Hanata, and Whawhakia, will again face the starter for the two mile races.”

A city lady, being very hard pressed recently, was ill-advised enough to engage a domestic without a “character.” Before she had been in the house three days, this interesting maid-of-all-work complained of being Hl, took to her bed, and her mistress sent for her family physician to attend to the sufferer. As soon as he saw the girl’s face the doctor turned to her mistress and said, laughingly, “So she has taken you in too?” That was the fourth time, the doctor told the lady, that he had been called in by her charitable mistresses to attend to this same girl, with whom there was absolutely nothing the matter. Her ruse had evidently been to take an engagement and to fall ill almost immediately afterwards. The majority of mistresses so placed would be only too glad to pay the girl a month’s wages and send her about her business. Belying on this, the girl had been taking situations right and left, which she never meant to keep, with the result—to the doctor’s personal knowledge—that she had received six months’ wages in as many weeks.

A London cable states that the British War Office has ordered two thousand pairs of the patent pneumatic boot heels, invented by Mr W. Lingard, of New Zealand. Mr Lingard, who is an old resident of Wanganui, some time ago left the colony to push his invention, and judging from the cablegram appears to be well on the road to success.

There is far too much in these days of cheap sneering at the women of the world who constitute what is called “Society.” True, it springs from ignorance, but it is not less reprehensible on that account. Before talking of a thing, certainly before writing of it, wisdom should counsel a little knowledge on the subject if common justice does not. The truth is, says “Madam,” that the “woman of the world,” so far from being merely the butterfly of fashion she is so often considered, is usually a very busy person indeed. To begin with, it is hardly fair of the greater public to forget how much is owed to the efforts of women in high places by the charities from which it so greatly benefits. If it were not for the time, trouble and thought they do not grudge in helping hospitals and other institutions, many of these charities would long since have

had to practically close their doors. And many other examples of the work of “the woman of the workl” might be given—but it is beside our present purpose. What we should like to point out is that the wellbeing of thousands of needy workers in the East depends on the social activity of the fashionable women of the West. The considerable sums of money often expended in single entertainments in the fashionable world permeate through every one of the varied strata of society, from the highest to the lowest.

They tell this story of a military officer at a parade. He is apparently in the sweetest of tempera and discusses mildly the new drill-book with an instructor:—“Very good book. Mr. So-and-So, very good book Indeed. I practically wrote it myself 85 year* ago. Colonel Blank is a personal friend of mine and knows my views. He has embodied them in the book. . . Carry on, Mr. So-and-So.” Mr. So-and-So carries on. The officer, suddenly changing his position, “D , d , d , d , etc. That is not the way to do that movement, Mr. So-and-So. I won't have it done that way. D , dr=r—, d , etc.” The instructor: “But begging,your pardon, sir, the book lays it down, sir, that it must be done in that way, sir, and no other, sir!” The officer (with emphasis): “Well, d the book!”

Americana have lately beeu called upon to take notice of the verse of a child of eight tender years, and now comes the announcement of a first volume of poems by an Englishman of 76. The unknown author has given many decades to the polishing of the rhymes which are supposed to reflect his life’s experience. It is much to 'be feared that the academic perfection of one poet will be as wearisome as the empty crudities of the other.. What stretches of correct, stale and flat verse are visible between these two extremes to-day! A well ordered kitchen garden are the Musses now tending. Here are trim paths, bean vines neatly bound np, cucumbers doing well, pumpkin heads rejoicing—but where are the wild, exquisite blossoms of the poet’s inspiration? In pretty book and decorated periodical we find poetry with all the elegancy and facility that Holofernes could ask us for —but where be the golden cadences? Why has mankind grown so unpoetic? The pursuit of material things does not explain it altogether. What has become of the lyric strain that is compensation for even rough metre and forced rhyme? Mediocrity, selfsufficiency, self-consciousness, imitativeness mark most of the poetry current in these opening years of the new century. Would that the rhymesters could be persuaded to turn to prose and let us wait with untortured ears and eyes for some master with the old time gift of “music and sweet fire.”

The faith the racing public have in dreams will be strengthened by the authentic dream of the Caulfield Cup winner published in the “Age” on Friday, the day preceding the race. This was the most emphatic dream <ip I remember. The dreamer, »> Colac man, saw in his vision a horse carry* ing a jockey in a blue jacket with yellow sleeves and a black cap win the race. These were found to be Lieutenant Bill’s colours, and the dreamer at dreams had so much faith in his foresight that he backed Mr M'Culloch’s horse, and Lieutenant Bill verified the dream. To be sure this does not even strengthen the case of those who believe in the efficacy of dreams, but it will go a long way towards convincing the illogical many that it does. Where there are so many dreamers, the scheme of chances is much in favour of one dreamer hitting a winner, and it ia much more remarkable that “The Age” should have spotted the winning dream than that the dreamer should have spotted the winning horse. However, the dreamer has gained a wager, and Colac has secured a new celebrity. For some years to come visitors to the western township may expect to have the residents point out one particular ratepayer with the familiar “See that man? You know who he is?” “No, who is he?” “Go on, you don’t mean to say you don’t know who he is? W’hy, that’s , the man that dreamed the Caulfield Cup winner in 1902!”

Sir Henry Irving’s dresser at the Lyceum Theatre is a young man who was recommended for the position by Clarkson, the wig-maker for the theatrical world of London. Soon after his engagement, says the London “News,” Clarkson noticed that he did not get as many orders for wigs from Sir Henry as he formerly did, and suspected that the young man sent from his establishment had something to do with it. One day. seeing him going by his shop with a bandbox, he called him in. “So you are malting Sir Henry’s wigs, are you?” he asked, sharply. “Yes, sir, sometimes.” “I suppose you have one in there now,” pointing to the box. “Let me see it.” The wig was produced. “So you call that a wig. do you?" sneered the irritated wig-maker. “Do you mean to tell me that you believe .that thing looks like a wig?” “No, sir, I don’t,” retorted the nettled servant. “I mean to say ar- it looks like the ’air of the ’uman "ead.”

An extract from a letter received by the Secretary of the Department of Industries from Johannesburg will doubtless be read with great interest by Aucklanders, showing as it does that there are possibilities for a trade in timber from New Zealand. The extract is as follows:—“I have placed an extensive order for New Zealand building timber with an Auckland firm for shipment to Durban and Johannesburg, but up to the present I have had considerable difficulty in getting at the freights from Auckland to Durban for this particular class of merchandise in bulk and specified sizes. The successful introduction of New Zealand timbers into this country and the Transvaal in particular depends largely of course on the freights and the cost of transport generally, and I should be thankful if you would send me per return mail the fullest information you can obtain on the subject. Could the Government be induced through you to quote low so as to encourage a trade in timber exporting? There is bound to be such a gigantic demand for building material over here within the next few years that the export of New Zealand timber once properly established will not only be good from a business man’s point of view, but such splendid woods as you grow in New Zealand will still further increase the enviable reputation which New Zealand has already deservedly obtained.”

The formal opening of the Auckland yachting season is to take place on Saturday, the 22nd inst. It is expected that the Government auxiliary screw schooner Countess of Banfurly, now in port, may take part in the 'evolutions and lead the procession of yachts.

There is in process of formation at Home a society to be known as “The Pedestrians’ Protection League.” Its chief object will be the suppression of reckless motor-car and horse driving, and of “scorching” by cyelista. With a parent society in London, there will be branches in some fifteen centres.

The numbering and licensing of motors will be advocated, and inspectors will carefully watch main roads. Advice in regard to compensation claims in cases of accidents to pedestrians will be a feature of the new league.

Inquiries were made at the Solomon Island recently by r the officers of H.M.s. Sparrow for news ef the missing schooner Sybil, but they heard nothing of the overdue vessel. The Sybil left the Solomon Group in April last for Queensland, and it is now considered certain that she has foundered with all hands. She had a shipload of natives on board for the Queensland plantations.

“Good fellows,” so-called, are among the curses of society. A generous disposition does not imply that its possessor has a proper equipment of moral qualities, or, indeed, that he has any moral qualities at all. Society is full of good fellows who give big dinners and other entertainments, the price of which is borrowed, without prospect of repayment, from men who dislike to refuse anything to a good fellow. Sometimes it is even abstracted from trust funds, or withheld from the necessities of the good fellow’s own family. The good fellow, as a rule, is merely a man of generous impulse who is too weak to say “No,” to himself or anyone else.

The scenic wonders of the upper reaches of the Wanganui River are but little known, but the opportunity of seeing them is now afforded, as the Tourist Department has made special arrangements with a Maori at Pipiriki to convey tourists and others to the upper reaches in canoes. The price will be for one person £1 10/ per day; for two persons £1 each per day; for three or more persons 15/ per day. Those using the service for more than a single day’s trip will require to provide food, tents, and other camping paraphernalia.

A well-known diplomatist, who is still the delight of many dinnertables, retains, as the refreshing heritage of a bygone day, a hearty admiration for woman. He often gave expression to it, but rarely with such applause as when he rose one evening to address a New York audience, and, looking up to the gallery that was crowded with fair visitors, exclaimed: “Now, I know the meaning of the Scriptures, ’Man was made a little lower than the angels.’ ”

A weird scene was witnessed by the officers of H.M.s. Sparrow at Auki Island, in the Solomon Group, lately. The Sparrow anchored there at night, and on shore the natives we-e holding a big feast. All night long they kept fires burning, and were screaming loudly and dancing, and the ship’s company were kept awake by the great noise. On landing next day a gruesome sight was witnessed. All round the chief’s house were many skulls resting on forked sticks, while others were secreted in small bags. It was not a head-hunt-ing plant, but merely the customary manner the natives had of stowing away the skulls—relics of their ancestors.

We Englishwomen, says “The Queen,” are often dull when compared to the Yankee women. We do not seem to have realised that the time has come when the women of England, like her manufactories, must wake up. We do not want our girls to be quite so brusque or quite so flashy as the average American girl, but it would be a good thing if the women over thirty copied their American sisters a little more.

The Union Company's annual summer cruise to the Sounds of the West Coast is announced. The cruise will be made in January, 1903, as usual,

and will occupy 14 days from Dunedin and back, giving extra time at Milford and other Sounds. The fine steamer Waikare will again be employed. She will take her departure from Sydney on Saturday, 3rd January, proceeding via Wellington and Lyttelton to Dunedin, arriving there on Saturday, 10th January. After a stay of three days the Waikare will leave on Tuesday, 13th January, for Stewart Island and the West Coast Sounds, via Bluff. After spending 12 days exploring the Sounds, she will “return to Dunedin, arriving there on the morning of Tuesday. 27th January. The company have issued leaflets giving all particulars.

A story is being told of a certain confidential clerk who formed the wicked habit of running out from his business each morning about 11 a.m. to partake of one glass of whisky. Not being very proud of this, his daily habit, he asked invariably for a few caraway seeds that he might chew them, and under this bushel hide his alcoholic light. For years and years this habit went on, and he apparently escaped detection. On one occasion he found that at his favourite hostelry there were no caraway seeds, so he was compelled to put up with a beautiful spring onion by way of bushel. Presently he returned to his desk, and went on with his work, his employer sitting at the desk opposite. Soon the employer noticed something. At first it was faintly perceptible, but presently it became less agreeable. “Look here,” he said, “I've stood whisky and caraway for twenty-two years, but I draw the line at whisky and onion.”

There is no immediate danger of a whisky drought. It is officially stated that at the end of January last there was in stock in Scotland the appalling quantity of 109,260,191 gallons of “Scotch.” A quantity of water equal to this sea of whisky could float the fleet of more than one first-class European Power. And the stock of whisky tends to increase. In a year and a half it has been swollen by 5.500,000 gallons. Over-production, indeed, is the great danger of the Scottish whisky trade, notwithstanding the closing of many distilleries. But the worst aspect of the case is known by the trade to lie in the vast accumulation of stocks abroad. In Melbourne, for instance, there is lying enough whisky to meet Australian requirements for five years, and other countries are In a similar position.

Among the problems which have worried tool makers and mechanics for years is that of having a machine which will drill square holes in iron, steel, brass, stone, and wood, and so save the laborious process of filing which takes up so much time and labour. The distinction of inventing such a drill belongs to Mr Erhard Segitz, of West Norwood, who has patented a machine which drills a perfectly square hole. This tool is the wonder of all who have seen it, and is a “three-winged” drill, semi-round, which yet cuts four straight edges in its rotary motion. That is to say, the motion appears to the eye to be rotary, but there is of course, a cunning manoeuvre in the triple flange which produces the square cut, triangular, or other angu-

lar holes, with automatic regularity and machine speed.

1,000.000 dead letter*, 'fry to assimilate the magnitude of the figures, oh phlegmatic New Zealander. The British Postmaster-General repor;s that during the year ended March 31, 1902, the number of postal paeke’s delivered in the United Kingdom was 3,919,000,000, of which total 2,451,500,000 were letters. Last year the number of letters delivered was 2,323,600,000. Of postcards 444,900,000 were delivered, an increase of 6.2 per cent., due no doubt to the pictorial postcard craze, for the increase during the two preceding years amounted only to I.T per cent. The almost incredible number of 24,421,976 postal packets were undelivered for various reasons, including 11,523,272 book packets and circulars. Out of 10.000.000 undelivered letters nearly 9,000,000 were reissued to eoi» rected addresses or returned to the sender. Over one million letters therefore “died” last year. Still more incredible is the fact that 358,300 registered letters and letter* containing property reached the Returned Letter Office during the year, and the amount of property so missent ineluded £18,231 in cash and bank-notes, and £650,298 in bills, cheques, postal orders, and stamps. There were no fewer than 3782 let ters containing valuables and pasted without address. And the carele-s--ness of the nation in bulk further led to the discovery of 85.640 articles loose in the post, including coin to the amount of more than £lOOO. “A half-sovereign, which had evidently been used to seal a parcel, was found, still adhering to the wax, on the arrival of the parcel it London ! ” The conveyance of mails by motorcar remains in an unsatisfactory position, owing to the non-existence of a motor-van which will carry heavy loads with the regularity of' vans drawn by horses. Coming to the Savings Bank, there is a falling off in the amount added to the deposits. Whereas, in 1900 ti e sum so added was £5,431,040, last year it was £4,843,271. But against 1,029,154 accounts closed during the year, 1,376,846 new accounts were opened. The estimated profit on the year was £26,177. There is a steady increase in tbo number of telegrams, which last year totalled 90,432,041. The average week ly number of words contained in Press telegrams was 14,344,883. On Peace night 740,000 words were telegraphed from London, and on March 19 a business firm despatched a telegram to 7720 different addresses. A curious fact is disclosed by the report on the health of the Post Office staff. The proportion of sick absentees in the Metropolitan districts was 59 per cent, men and 75 per cent, women. On the other hand, the death-rate per 1000 w’as 3.8 men and only 1.3 women.