Here and There.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXII, Issue XIII, 26 March 1904, Page 13

Here and There.

The 1000th performance of “A Chinese Hneymoon” took place recently in London. This probably constitutes a record run for a musical comedy, even if “Dorothy” is included, though both “Charley’s Aunt” and “Our Boys” did better.

At a birthday dinner given by a lady in the Boulevard Montmartre, Paris, the discovery of a dead mouse in a bottle of wine from which the guests had been served caused the gathering to break up in considerable disorder, says the “Journal.” Of Mr Chamberlain’s father, who, like the ex-Colonial Minister and a dozen other members of the family, was a member of the Cordwainers’ Company, the beadle of the company has said “he was an immoveable man—nothing would turn him when once he had made up his mind; he was very pleasant and quiet in manner, but not to be moved from what lie said by anybody.” Mr Maarten Maartens, the well-known novelist, whose real name, it may not be generally understood, is Van de Poorten-Schwartz, says that he chose this pseudonym for the purpose of his English writings because it was Dutch in look but English and simple in sound. It is thus, he says, easy to pronounce,, and yet there is no doubt as to its belonging to a foreigner. Six thousand actors are stranded in Chicago, and the number is being increased daily by the closing of the theatres and the counter attractions of the neighbouring cities and States. Chicago, because of the Iroquois Theatre disaster, is now the centre of the greatest panic which has ever overtaken amusements in America. Millions invested in theatres have been swept away, and it is feared that worse is to come. An engineering feat of no small importance will be the razing of the Eili'el Tower, in Paris, for this renowned structure is doomed to disappear from the Champ de Mars. The concession for the building of the tower will expire in 1910, and probably nothing would be done in the immediate future, if it were not for the fact that, like the famous Tower of Pisa, it is beginning to lean to one side and is considered unsafe. A remarkable postal curiosity is described in the “Wide World Magazine.” In Lake Wabigon, Ontario, Canada, at a point where the water is not very deep, a strong wooden stake has been driven into the ground. On the top a box has been securely fastened, and there you have the Lake Wabigoon Post Office. The little steamer from Rat Portage drops the mail here on her outward voyage, and a canoe goes out from the shore and collects it, depositing the outgoing mail at the same time, which is picked up by the steamer on her return trip to Rat Portage next day. Tn a comparative table of stature, arranged according to nationalities, the United States Indian stands higher than any other race of the world, though the Patagonian runs him very close. The white citizen comes next. The United States negro ranks fourteenth in the scale, and of all the countries of the world considered the Portuguese are found to be the shortest. It has always been proverbial among anatomists that blond nations are greater than their darker neighbours. This is due to the geological positions of the blond races. They are characteristic of the north, and on account of the lower degree of temperatitro are induced to take more exercise, which throws them more in the open air. At the top of tlic list of countries, arranged in order of stature, the first seven after the United States white men are Norway, Scotland, British America. Sweden, Ireland, Denmark, and Holland, all northern nations.

A crusade has been started by an English paper against one of the most popular dances of the ballroom—the lancers. Indignant letters from correspondents have been published protesting against what one writer calls “the indecency and indecorum of the modern lancers.” Every mother, it is asserted, must feel ashamed of the scenes now witnessed in every ballroom, where, “instead of pretty frocks—-which are almost torn off the backs of girls in the mad grip of rough young men —golf cloth or sacking will need to be worn ” “It is an insult to girls to bang them about and whirl them often off their feet,” says another correspondent. “Henry Seton Merriman.” or Mr. Hugh Stowell Scott as he was in private life, the well-known novelist, who wrote “ The Money-Spinner,” “ The Sowers.” and other works, left estate which has been valued at £53,20.3 gross. By his will he leaves the whole of his property, with the exception of one or two legacies, to his wife and children. Gue legacy, that of £5OOO to Evelyn Beatrice Hail, has a peculiar interest, for the testator says it. is “ in token of my gratitude for her continued assistance and literary advice, without which I should never have been able to have made a living by my pen.” Like many another successful fii.it book, '‘Some Emotions and a Moral ” did not meet with immediate acceptance. The first publisher it went Io (let his identity be spared!) returned it with a llattering letter, but, said he thought it would not suit the public taste, unless the author made certain concessions to that puzzling factor. Mrs. Craigie’s artistic soul rose in arras against such artistic Philistinism, and she declined in any way to tamper with her work. Then Mr. Fisher Unwin seized the golden opportunity, and “John Oliver Hobbes” was the most talked of “man'’ of 1891, for none—save Mrs. Labouchere alone—'suspected his feminine identity. When General Grant, was in London on his trip around the world he was invited to Windsor Castle by Queen Victoria. Her Majesty received the party in one of the private audience chambers, and chatted with the General for a few moments before dinner was served. Jesse Grant, then a small boy, was with his father, and stood just behind him. As the General was talking Jesse pulled impatiently at his coat-tails a number of times. Finally the General turned half-way. and the lad whispered: “Pa, can’t I be introduced?” “Your Majesty.” said (lie General. “I should like to present my son, Master Jesse.” The Queen shook Jesse's hand cordially. and that young man, thinking it incumbent on him to say something, glanced approvingly round the room, and said. “Fine house you have here, ma’am!” A learned German professor authoritatively declares that the reason why so few men marry, and why so many engagements are broken off, is simply and solely owing to the modern woman’s love of strong scents. The average man detests artificial perfumes, particularly those of which musk is a principal ingredient. The professor admits that floral scents—rose, violet, lily-of-the-valley—may be. used innocuously by fair woman, but if she really wishes to bring an eligible parti “up to the scratch” she must renounce the innumerable “auimal” scents which have recently been so much used. The professor solemnly describes instances of severed lovers whose parting was entirely brought about by the fiancee's devotion to the scent of musk. It is no doubt true that many mon have an unaccountable dislike to scent, and that women nrc apt to carry their love for up-to-date perfumes to extremes; but that nny latter-day Romeo ever renounced his Juliet for such reasons is hard to believe.

West End greengrocers have been c • siderably astonished of late by a p: digious demand which has sudde sprung up for celery, remarks London daily paper. The explanat • is a curious one. A large section smart and pretty society women, gether with an equally large sec’ who are not so conspicuous for g, looks, have created a celery-beauty < ' Experts have declared that no d: ng the world has the potency of celery producing a clear complexion ami I.r eyes. It must, be eaten raw, say the c perts. It is not only a beaut itier, cording to its devotees, but it pion: t health in various ways, and also in spires energy and good temper. President Harper, of Chi.ago I". versify, having doubted the advise!, lit of admitting women to the Umversitie. on exactly equal terms with men, having asserted their distinct mentil inferiority, and this having aroused i lengthy controversy in America, M. Must Iras collected, in "La Revue,” inc opinions of three German, two English, one Austrian, one Belgian, one Danish, eigiit French, one Dutch, one Hun garian. one Italian, one Russian, one Swedish and eigiit Swiss authorises, all of them University rectors or professors In rending these opinions one is chiefly struck by the fact that— (1) every authority consulted recognises as beyon 1 dispute the need of university education for women; (2) that all agree as to the benefits of co-education; most, indeed, being emphatic in praise of.it. On the whole, the consensus of opinion is that women are a blessing intellectually as well as morally; though not a few professors think that they tend somewhat to lower the standard of good work . This, however, is a ' ’y to be due to their inferior preliminary edmalion- The r nits of the university education of women snow t'rat the change has neither done "hat t.io feniini-'ts nor Wlrat the an! i-fennnrat.; expected. It has revealed no brvlbna. feminine genius: but neither ’.is it unfitted women to be good wives am mothers. M. Santos-Dumont, giving his most 4n--1 ercstii’.f’ experience.', on the question “How it feels to navigate rhe air.” in the "Pall Alall Magazine.” remarks that aerial is more like river n"-.gation with a steamer, than like sail navigation. When there is no wind, it r: sendilenavigating a smooth lake or pond. '' e air-shipmon nrc steamboat captains, raid not sailing yachtsmen.” As to whether one is sea sick in an air-ship. M. CantosDumont says that he never Ims been, though lie Iras been told that, his air ship has sometimes pitched considerably. This, however, ho says, may bo because he is rarely ill nt sea. and also bee iu.se in an air-ship there are non? of those multifarious smells that, on a steamer are so large a factor in sickness. Tira liner pitches quite differently, and inn far more disconcerting way than the airship ever does. What the aeronaut found surprising, to the verge of shock, was the utterly new sensation of movement in an extra dimension. "As all our sensations of movement are practically in two dimensions.” he says, "this is the extraordinary novelty of aerial naviga tion, that it affords us experiences—not in tlic fourth dimension, it is true, but in what i“ practically an extra dimension—.the third; so that the miracle is similar. Indeed, I cannot describe the delight, the wonder and intoxication of this free diagonal movement onward and upward, or onward and downward, combined at will with sharp changes of direction horizontally when the air ship answers to a touch of tlic rudder! The birds have tins sensation when they spread their great wings, and go tobogganing in curves and spirals through the sky!” After five years’ experience. M. Santos Dumont thinks the danger from tire practically nil. The problem ef speed is now of paramount importance. Speed, he says, must always be the final test between rival air ships. Il is No. 7 may be driven at fully fifty miles an hour. He says: “In it tlic speed problem will be attacked definitely. . . . Tn a word, Hie speed of my No. 7 will bring us very close to practical everyday aerial navigation: for, ns we seldom have a wind blowing ns much, even, ns fifty kilometres (31} miles) per hour, such nn air-ship will surely be able to go out daily during more than ten months in the twelve.”

The Japanese have set apart 100,000,000 yen -for war purposes. These figures seeni stupendous. But “the man in the street,” it may be suspected, has a very ■ vague idea as to what a '.‘yen” is. Although Japan has a gold standard, the yen is silver- currency, and fluctuates with the price of silver. But, roughly, a "yen” equals 2/; and any given quantity of yen must be divided by ten to bring it into pounds. At the present rates of silver 100,000.000 yen equals £10,000,000. But even this is an immense amount in a country in whieh the wages of a skilful artisan are often not more than three yen a week. The Japanese currency system is decimal. Thus the yen or dollar is divided into 100 sen or cents, the sen into ten rin, the rin into ten mo, the mo into ten shti; and the shu, finally, into ten kotsu. Government accounts do not take notice of any value smaller than a rin, but estimates by private tradesmen often descend io mo and shu, which are incredibly minute fractions of a farthing. No coins exist, however, to represent these microscopic sums.

It is proposed to. abolish the existing system of franking letters, parcels, ami telegrams on public service in New Zealand, and in lieu thereof such letters, parcels, and telegrams are to be paid for by means of official stamps, the eost of which will be charged to an amount to be appropriated. Each department is now being requested to furnish a statement giving the estimated cost of postage for next financial year, calculated on a postal rate for letters of one penny for each half ounce, and for book post matter (printed papers, etc.) of three pence per pound, and also the estimated cost of telegrams during next financial year, calculated on the rate charged to the public for ordinary and urgent telegrams.

At last tlir-re has emerged a competent critic who has the courage to prick the Tolstoy myth, and tc tell the plain truth about that windy sage. Says Mr. George Moore, in “Lippincott's”: “Tolstoy’s writings may be described as long-drawn out paradoxes, each uglier than the last, until he reaches the ultimate ugliness—■Resurrection.’ This book is Tolstoy’s worst book, and it is perhaps the ugliest book ever written. It is without truth or beauty; it is written like a scientific treatise.” . . . "A naked mountain

lake reflecting a few birchen trees and morose, wind-driven clouds is, I think, a true picture of Tolstoy’s mind, a mind from whieh all beautiful and sensuous images have been banished. His mind has become like a mountain waste, where nothing flourishes except theory—theories as harsh as the pines and birches that grow in the waste —an awful place, haunted by many spirits, and if he were asked the name of the spirits, be would answer, ’Their name is Jjegion.’ ” — "Life.”

The American "Bookman,” it is alleged, has made a very curious discovery. It is that a well-known sketch of Charles Reade, and an estimate of his writings, which appeared in “Once a Week,” in 1872, was written by’ Charles Reade Ivimself! It is an essay in sclferiticism. Charles Reade evidently thought that no one was so competent to pronounce on the merits and defects of a novel as its own author. Here is Charles Reade's criticism of his own works. He compares “Romola” with his own greatest work: “In ‘The Cloister and the Hearth’ you have the Middle Ages, long and broad. The story begins in Holland, and the quaint Dutch figures live: it goes through Germany, and Germany lives; it picks up a Trench arbaletrier, and the medieval French soldier is alive again. It goes to Rome, and the Roman men und women live again. Compare with this the narrow canvas of ‘Romola,’ ami the faint colours. The petty politics of medieval Florence made to sit up. in the grave, but not to come out of it. . . . There is a dearth of powerful incidents, though the time was full of them, as ‘The Cloister and the Hearth’ is full of them. There you have the broad features of that marvellous age, »o full of grand anomalies; the fine arts ami the spirit that fed then*—the feasts—the shows—the domestic life—the laws—the customs — the religion—the roads and their perils —the wild beasts disputing the civilised continent with man, man uppermost by day, the beasts by night—the hoatelriea

•—the Tobbers—the strange .vows—the convents —shipwrecks, sieges, ' combats, escapee—a . robber’s slaughterhouse burnt, and the Are lighting up.trees ehul with snow. And through all this a deep current of true love — passionate, yet pure—ending in a medieval poeni;' the battle of ascetic religion against our duty to our neighbour, whieh was' the • great battle of the time that shook religious souls.”

It was decided at last week's meeting of the Auckland University Council to make representation to the Cabinet regarding the establishment of a School of Mines in Auckland- The subject was raised by the Hon. J. A. Tole, who referred to the Premier's reply to Southern deputations that he would have the question laid before the Cabinet. He thought the Council should follow up the matter, for there was every possibility, in face of the impeeuniosity of the Otago authorities, that the school would be located in Auckland- Sir Maurice O’Rorke promised to make the necessary representations to the Cabinet.

Writing on the question of animals committing suicide, a correspondent of the “Sydney Bulletin” says: “I travelled from Walhalla to Aberfcldy (on a 3ft track cut round the Gippsland mountains) with a packer and 13 pack-horses. One old horse was in a terrible state after the heavy, cold winter, and when we got to the half-way house he, with the rest, laid down for a spell, and couldn’t get up again without help. He lagged much behind during the afternoon, and had several whip-thrashings (in spite of my intercessions). At last about sunset he stopped short, looked back towards the dreaded whip, then wheeled suddenly across the track, and, with a horrible scream, threw himself over the side of the mountain. IVe found him at the butt of a big gum with hardly an unbroken bone in his body. The packer told me that was the third horse he had seen suicide thus in two years’ packing. I have seen horses go out of Walhalla with their tails almost cut through by cruppers, holes on their backs stuffed with wool or hair, and a raw half circle in front of them from the shoulder-straps; but the police only see them with their harness on. Harness covers a multitude of sores.”

In passing out of existence the London School Hoard leaves behind a record of which any representative body might well feel proud. During the 34 years of its existence, though it has made mistakes, it has done a mighty work. In 1870 there were 574,(593 children of school age in London, with only 261,158 places in school for them. Today, there are in round numbers 900,000 children of the elementary school class for whom 789,049 are provided, while in a short time there will be provision for 831.842 scholars. There are already 509 schools open under the control of the Board, 45 more are in course of erection, and sites for 17 others secured. In addition to this vast army of children, the old Board will band over to the new authority the control of 3769 masters. 7832 mistresses, and 3019 pupil teachers, besides 350 instructors in manual training, 370 instructresses in cookery. laundry and domestic economy, and a clerical staff of 827, the whole involving an annual outlay of upwards of a million sterling.

Why should a small, lean man pay as much to ride in the train as the bulky individual of large girth and weight? The man of much adipose not only takes up more room, but it certainly costs more in coal to haul him. Then why not make him pay by the pound? The innovation would be warmly welcomed by thin suburbanites in these days of “ six a side.” These questions have been asked since the beginning of railway development. The unfairness of making the lean man pay as much as the fat man is readily conceded, but railway companies have l>een slow in evincing a willingness to correct the inequality. But at last we have a railway manager who is willing to put his lieliefs into practice, and to set the pace for the timorous ones who adhere to the old practice of hauling sheep and cattle by the pound and human beings by the piece. The president of the new Pueblo and Beulah Valley Electric Railway, in Colorado, announces that wlien

the road is completed eayh person will be required to. step on-an automatic registering scale "at the ticket and -the. elerk wilt charge for transportation at the rate of three farthings a pound. The decision is a hopeful augury of the good time coming when there will be a “levelling-up” of all the inequalities . and unjust discriminations from which man suffers, when the man who has a chin beard or side-whiskers will not pay as much for a sliave as the man with a smooth face, and the man with a No. 7 foot will not pay as much for shoes as the man with a No. 10 foot.

More than once the meaning and origin of the often used word “viking” has been the subject of newspaper correspondence. Mr. Karl Blind, of the Society for Northern Research, writes to the “Times” as under: “For many yean., since the foundation of our Viking Club (Society for Northern Research), I have endeavoured to make the meaning better known, and to have the proper pronunciation (veeking) adopted; but I regret to say that the error still generally prevails. The simple fact is this. The “vikings” have their name from .the word “vik,” which means a bay, a creek, an inlet from the sea. “Ings” signifies the sib, the clan, the band of men. Vik-ings are bay-men. They lie in a creek with their ships, until they rush out for adventures. Among all Germanic nations, Scandinavian as well as Teutonic, vik, wiek, or wick, sometimes also written wyk, means a bay. The name is found also on the'German coasts of the Bailie and of the German Ocean. I will only mention the Trompcr Wiek, the Swan Wiek, and so forth. People, thinking that in the Word viking “king” means a Royal personage, vaguely, assume that “vi” has something to do with water, the sea. It is very difficult to root out- this error in England; but writers and poets might at least be expected to steer dear of so amazing a mistake. Among the vikings there were, no doubt, often aristocratic chieftain?, but the mass were simple freemen.”

Horsley, in his “Recollections,” thus describes Huxley, and the dread his rejection of the Christian faith awakened in him. “No more devoted husband, father, or friend than Huxley ever lived, I believe, but, notwithstanding my admiration for him, I could never feel quite at ease in discussion with him, dreading always an explosion upon questions I hold most dear and vital; but I look back with devout gratitude to the fact that, though we have walked together over moor and fell for miles and miles, and have had days ami nights of talk, we never once drifted into subjects upon which we should have so widely differed, and upon whieh I could not have kept silence when my heart was ‘hot within me.’ But I thank God that the need of fighting for the faith that is in me never arose, and I had hours of supreme enjoyment of his really splendid talk and facile speech in pure and eloquent English. He was the object of endless adulation from adulators of both sexes. I remember a scene at the Athenaeum, where, at the opposite end of the room in which I was dining, I saw Huxley’ and a party of

.eminent scientific men seated at their 'repent.* The animated as -interspersed anti th -peals* of ringing laughter, evidently raised by Huxley's wit. Another important scientist came bustling in, and, failing to find a seat at-the table, already crowded, he eventually . squatted down on the carpet at Huxley’s feet, where he remained worshipping ms idol, and joining’lir~the general conversation as best he could from his lowly position 1 ”

The death of the nonagenarian Earl of Devon, whieh deprives the House of lairds of one more of its fast-diminishing band of clerical peers, suggests, a reflection on the curious circumstance of an earl and a dnke both taking their title from the same county (says “M.A.P.”). The explanation is found in the extraordinary vicissitudes of the earldom of Devon, which has-been extinct at least five times since its creation, and was finally ■ dormant for nearly three centuries—from 1566 to 1824. During this long period of slumber, the earldom and dukedom of Devonshire were conferred on the Cavendish family. Exactly the same thing happened in the ease of the title of Stafford, which became dormant in 1762, and was recreated (as a marquisate in favour of the LevesonGowcrs in 1786. Some thirty years later the original barony was revived, the result being that there arc now two Lends Stafford, just as there is both an Earl of Devon and a Duke of Devonshire. Curious as it is that the .Duke ■of Devonshire- should derive his title from a county’ with which neither he nor his ancestors have ever had the remotest connection, he is far from singular in this respect among his brotherpeers. Taking the dukes of England alone, a full half of them —it is sufficient to mention Manchester, Richmond, •Newcastle, Marlborough, and Fife—have no connection at all, either territorial or residential, with the place titularly associated with them. More singular still, there are Scottish peers, even’-re-presentative peers for Scotland in Parliament —for example. Viscount Falkland—who are of purely English descent, and own not a single acre north of the Tweed: while there are Irish peers, such ns Viscount Valentia, quite unconnected with Ireland, and sitting in the House of Commons for English constituencies. The aged peer just deceased, though well ever ninety, was not, as has been said, the oldest member of the Upper House, for Lord Gwydyr is his senior by- nearly rt year and a-half. Lord Devon did not succeed to the family honours until he was past eighty, and he continued to live at (he rectory of Ponderham, hard by his ancestral castle, and to discharge the duties of parish priest with the unpretending zeal whieh had always characterised him.- The castle, with its long stately front, six towers, and park adorned with oak woods growing down to the very edge of the estuary of lhe Exe. has been let for many years. The rent-roll of the earldom, once a very large one, had been greatly reduced, and a considerable portion of the extensive estates sold, at different periods, to the late Mr. W. H. Smith. Lord Devon's grandson succeeds him as fourteenth earl.

The three great ivory markets ot.tti® world are Antwerp, London, and T4vcrpooL ji'or-tho past six or seven years • Antwerp has forged ahead of London, for it controls most of the great new fields of the Congo. Since 1895 its ivory receipts have invariably exceeded those of Jiondon, excepting in 1898. The rereceipla last year were 323 tons for Antwerp, 208 for London, and 40 for Liverpool—a total of 571 tons. The total receipts of these markets from 1894 to 1902 ranged between 524 and 620 tons a- year. The receipls of

London are slowly declining, while those • of Antwerp are rapidly increasing, although it is probable that the height of its trade will be reached before many years. Liverpool cuts a small figure in comparison with its rivals, its receipts having varied in the past nine years from 32 to 60 tons a year.

A telegram from Brisbane, published some days ago in the Melbourne papers, stated that a punitive expedition, led by the Acting Administrator of British New Guinea, had been despatched to some district in the interior of New Guinea, with the following, amongst other, objects: The recovery of the skull of Mr Tomkins, a Presbyterian missionary, who was murdered in 1901. The Secretary for External Affairs puts, however, a somewhat less romantie interpretation on the message than it appears to bear. Mr Hunt says that no punitive expedition has been authorised in New Guinea. In tlie course of one of his ordinary visitations to various parts of the territory, the Acting Administrator would visit a district in which it was. hoped the skull of the deceased missionary might be recovered. It is the practice of some New Guinea tribes to keep skulls as fetishes.

* The United States are making experiments with a view to growing their own opium.

Deadly nightshade, monkshood, henbane, foxglove, jimson weed, and wormwood are among the plants which are being cultivated by the American Government in an experimental garden patch, about two acres in extent, close by the city of Washington.

The plants selected for- culture in this garden arc those that yield the deadliest of known poisons, which are, at the same time the most powerful and valuable drugs employed by medical science. “We import,” says an American. journal, “something like B,ooo,ooodbls. j( £ 1.600,000) yearly of Tach drugs, (including raw materials from which they are extracted), and it is believed that most of this money might be saved by producing the toxic weeds for ourselves. “Up to the present time no attention has been paid to this kind of gardening in the United States, but the Department of Agriculture is making a study of it in the manner described, and proposes .to devote extensive areas to the purpose, with a view to ascertaining the commercial possibilities of the industry. A large tract in Texas will be planted with the opium poppy, and the juice obtained from the seed vessels .will be prepared in tile ordinary way, and manufactured into refined opium of first-class quality, for sale in the market.” i ■ :

The expulsion of clerical orders from France by the French Government has had an interesting sequel in one respect. 'A number of- the- fexpelled members of one order—that of the Holy Ghost—are about to settle in Southern Nigeria.

This order, which is almost exclusively one of missionary work, had. seventeen houses in France. All but three of these have been closed, with the result that about 300 of the members have been driven to seek other places in the WdWd in which to work. The Government of Southern Nigeriit has given notable aid to the scheme, the African Association has leased a valuable .farm at j,hp nominal, rent al qf, £ 21 a year, and Sir Alfred Jones has promised a subscription of £5O towards the (expenses of the settlement. ' Tift I'eas&h Why all,, the ’.West African authorities arc so willing to aid the coining of the brethren of the Holy Ghost is that they form a community of workers'."'

The main ideal of those missionaries is that the natives must first be taught hpw to live in this world before teaching ithem how to live in the next. The brethren are, therefore, a community of smiths, masons, and agricul-

turists, who train the natives in the arts‘of the husbandman without too great insist cner on the Xtogmatlc Meal • which usually is the first object sought by less wise iniasionera.

Orders for two new oil launches for Lakes Rotorua and Tarawera have been placed with Messrs Bailey and Lowe, Auckland, by Messrs,Palmer and Co-, of Wellington, who secured the contract from the Government Tourist Department. Delivery is to take place within seven weeks from date. The boats are to be built on the whale boat type. The measurements overall will be—length 40ft, beam Bft and draught 2ft 6in. An open well for the accommodation of passengers will extend nearly the whole length of the boats, and about the middle of this will be the machinery, which will be covered in by a small house. The boats are to -be fitted with 15 h-p. engines, and should develop a high rate of speed. Each boat. is to have seating accommodation for at least 40 people.

In “Cornliill” Lady Broome contributes furl her Colonial memories, this time of old New Zealand, and tells of having been snowed up and reduced to famine rations by a terrible snowstorm. She recounts how the Governor brought down to Christchurch some Maori chieftains, and how one of them,, “faultlessly clad in correct evening dress, but with tattooed face,” danced with her:—“He never made a single mistake in any part which he had seen. the top couples do first, and when I had to guide him he understood directly. It was a wonderful set of Lancers, and when it was over I told the interpreter that I was quite astonished to see how well Te Henare danecd. This little compliment was duly repeated, and I could not imagine why the interpreter laughed at the an: swer. Te ITenarc seemed very anxious that it should be passed on to me and was most serious about it, so I insisted on being told. It seems the poor chieftain had said with a deqp sigh, “Ah, if I might only dance without my clothes! No one could really dance in these horrid things!”

- It .is astonishing how difficult it is to quote an author correctly if.. one trusts to memory alone-. The more familiar, the verse, tjie greater the danger, apparently. Sometimes the very books, that profess to set matters straight only make confusion worse confounded. Recently Mr. Chamberlain quoted the words of Polonius: The friends thou hast, and their adoption t tied. Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel. But in some of the reports “hoops” gave plaec to “hooks.” It was Pope, I believe (writes a correspondent in “Modern Society”), who . first suggested “hooks,” and a few editors have followed him. But “hoops” it is,, all the same; and “hoops,” it was, I was pleased to see, in your interesting “Christinas Supplement.” “Fresh fields anil pastures new” still flourishes. In this instance the alliteration is so apt as to cause anyone in doubt as to whether it is “fields” or ‘■'woods” to make a wrong choice. One man I know fixed the right word in his memory by saying he “knew it was not the Bank of England solicitors!” (Freshfields). . - Again, a famous line of Congreve’s is remarkable for the many forms in which it may be found—even in books which are regarded as authorities. In one of these 1 find: Music “hath” charms to soothe “the” savgc breast. -. To soften rocks', or bend “a” knotted tilth. In another: •Music “)His" charms to soothe “a" savage breast. To rofteii rocks, or bend "Ilie” knotted oak. While a third varies it still further. Tn the play in which the words occur, however, “The Mourning Bride” —they are the very first words spoken in the play proper—l find: t Music has charms to soothe a savage breast, - ■ • . • To yoften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. Many other instances might lie given, but these will do for the present.

The fashion for Panama hats of the last two or three years has made people romnionly arquainted with the faet that the hats are not made in Panama, that . tne term Panama hat is only a trade name, and that the best of these hats come from Jipijapn, in Ecuador (says the “New York Suu-”). But there are other interesting things not generally known about Panama hats. Thus Senor Franco, who was a candidate for the President at the last election in Ecuador, had presented to him not Iqng ago by his friends a hat said to be the finest of its kind iu the world- It is said to be on exhibition at the St. Louis world’s fair, with other products of Ecuador. The other hat can be pressed so small that it can be hidden entirely in the closed hand. When the hand is opened tjie hat will spring back into perfect shape just as if it had never been touched save in the most careful manner.

All,the work is done under water. From the time when the two first straws arc jointed together to the time when the entire work is done, the hat never comes to the surface. Moreover, nobody but the half-breed Indians living near the west coast of Ecuador has the art down to the finest point. They have practically a monopoly in the manufacture of the very best hats. Ecuador is the only place where t he proper kind of straw grows. Varieties much like it can be found elsewhere, but they all differ a little from the grass of Ecuador.

Residents of New Guinea whom Mr Philp met at Thursday Island, says the Brisbane “Courier” of 23rd inst., report that in the Possession things are Very stagnant. The Federal Government has been sending round circulars to the white people to get their opinions as to whether land in New Guinea should be sold and- whether the sale of liquor should be permitted. The consensus of opinion was that both land and liquor should be sold. It is understood that several industries would be started in the Possession if land could be purchased. The Federal Government is already spending about £20,000 a year in the government of the place, and very little seems to be done in the way of trade development, or profitable occupation of the country. It is believed that coeoa and copra growing could be profitably carried out by native labour, while in the registration of native labour for the pearling fleets a good revenue could be derived.

•Some of the most valuable triumphs of human effort and .thought have either never seen the light or ’have failed to reach the practical stage in which they would have become an important factor in progress. So says a writer in “T.A.T.” Many inventors have been too poor to pierfeet their ideas; others have given up in sheer despair at the want of practical encouragement from an incredulous world; others have died, taking their secrets with them. Thus, Dawson, the famous American inventor, was thrown into prison for killing his son-in-law, and refused to divtilgc the secret.' process for hardening copper and making it equal to Damascus steel‘The late Colonel-Ford, who died a few ■years ago in Denver. ‘ Colorado, furnishes a’still more striking example of the tenacity with .which inventors cling to their ideas, and also the strange fatality which appears to dog their footsteps. The head chemist of the great Carnegie steel plant remained night and day at Ford's bedside during his last illness, and stood ready, to give him millions of dollars for, his secrets, but the offer came too late.

Ford died without speaking. He had worked for twelve years on a process for treating ore of a smelting -grade without smelting it. and had achieved hrs object with brilliant aneeaaa, being able, by the use of a f»w inexpensive chemicals, to extract gold from ore of any richness without the employment of the present -expensive process of smelting it- He guarded his secret with the utmost care, conducting all of bis experiments in his own room, and making a confidant of nobody. When certain he had perfected his process. Ford wrote to some of the great metal manufacturers, and, as a result, the head chemist of the Carnegie firm hurried westward, armed -with full authority to pay.a fabulous sum for the secret. Ford would not reveal the method of his process, but permitted the results to be watched. Hundreds of pounds of ore were taken to his roof, and he quickly extracted the gold from it at a.comparatively trifling cost. The chemist, gauged at once the marvellous value of the secret, and drew up a contract on the spot, which Would have given Ford an annual income of £20.090. But. Fate intervened. The day on which lie was to divulge his secret Ford's brain gave way under the twelve years’ strain, and a stroke of apoplexy, from which he never recovered, rendered the execution of the contract impossible, and his secret was buried with him in the grave.

Mr. Pierpont Morgan has just Inflight two precious manuscripts in Englund. One is the original MS. of Byron’s “Corsair,” given by the poet to the present owner’s grandfather. The other is the MS. of Lytton’s “The Last Days of Pompeii.” The “Corsair” MS. is perfect in every respect, but that of "Pompeii’ i» bereft of four chapters. The price paid for the two is stated to be £2OOO.

Our supremcay as the shipbuilders of tha world.-although iissuilcjl, is not as yet. seriously- impaired. According to an interesting article which appeared in a recent number of the “Shipping World,” it costs 30 percent. more to build stcnmsh*s .in. the United States than it does in .?!‘alsh yards. Mr Morgan’s great Internattoilnl Mercantile Marine Company is building six ships of 64.200 tons tn American yards. If the order tiad gone to Great Britain the company Would have saved- half a million sterling. The “Shipping World" says: A little sum will make this plainer. Here are the figures: - British American Built. Built. £ £ Two 13.400 ton ships at £2l per ton 562,800 Two 13.400 tons ships at £29 15/ per ton —> 783,990 Four ships, in ail 37.400 tons, at £l2 10/ per ton 467.500 Four ships, in all 37.400 tons, at £lB 15/ per ton - 701 250 Totals £1.030.300 £1.485 240 1.030,300 Difference in favour of British built ships....- £154,940 But lite extra expense to lite owner does not end with Ute increased first cost of his ships. Inti-resl. depreciation and insurance mav eaeli be fairly put at 5 per cent, per annum, or 15 per.i-Cnt. for the three items. This in flu- ease of the six ships dealt with will- mean an increased yearly charge of. £68,241. or. say. £1 2/6 per toa. 'lf wo take tlie net revenue per ton of nine of the fleets of representative British companies, as given In their last annual reports, ns £1 10/8 per ton per annum, it- will he seen how d-epiy these Increased and unnecessary annual charges cut into the net revenue account. The difference is "O per cent, in favour of Britisli builders. As long as that is" the esse tiny will not have mtteli difficulty in holding their own.