All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 39, 26 September 1907, Page 38

All Sorts

In making • a thing go as*"far as possible be' careful not to stretch the truth. A woman's way out of an embarrassing' position is hysterics ; a man's the door. It is better to do with less than you can use than to want more than you need. " The only way to keep happiness is to give it. We save it when we scatter it everywhere. Official figures show that from April, 1906, to April, 1907, the emigration from Italy was 786,977, compared with 726,331 for the preceding twelve months. Floor. Walker— ' Gloves, miss? Yes, you will find the kids' counter on the right ! ' Rising Fifteen (witheringly)—' Really* ! And where, pray, shall I find the ladies' counter 1 \ ' A kind old gentleman, seeing a small boy who was: carrying a lot of newspapers under his-'arm^ said : ' Don't all those papers make you tired, my boy ? " 1 Naw, I don't read 'em,' replied the lad. Conductors on the German State railways are to be discharged unless they can pass an examination in the English and , French languages. Some of them have been twenty years in the service: * The interest paid by New Zealand on its national debt tots up to about £7000 a day for every day in the year, Sundays included. In addition to this are all the debts of the local bodies, harbor boards, etc., probably mounting up to at least another £1000 per day for interest alone. - ' Look here,' shouted the irate neighbor over • the fence, ' j r our youngest son has been stoning my cats and. pilfering my apple trees. He is a scamp ! ' ' Dont talk that way about my son,' blurted the fond parent, ' Why, he is considered the cream of my family.' 'The cream., eh? Well, I'd like to see him whipped*'! ' Twenty-four miles of warships were inspected by 'King Edward on August 3 in the Solent. The King, who was accompanied by Queen Alexandra and other members of the Royal Family, passed on his yacht clown the lines formed by nearly 'two hundred war craft, comprising battleships, armored cruisers, torpedo boats, gun-boats, destroyers, etc. This immense force was manned by 35,500 men. * A gentleman was introduced at a reception to a charming lady, who, his friend said, -was a countess. The next day the two were passing through some city offices, when the young lady mv.question was discovered with a pile of bills in front of her. ' I thought you said she was a countess, 1 remarked the gentleman. ' I did, and she is considered one of the quickest countesses in the department.' Sir Robert Ball has an amusing story of ,a Chinarrian who entered the bridge over the Niagara Falls. He started from the American side with the idea of crossing over to Canada. On arriving,, at the Canadian end, however, he was met with the inftfrmation that there was a toll of ,£lO on all Chinamen coming into Canada. John had not ten cents. i« his pocket. So he started off back again. Arriving once more at the American side, he was stopped. No Chinamanj under * any circumstances, they told him, was allowed to enter the United States. Now the pjoblem, which Sir Robert Ball professes hinrself unable' to answer, is, where is * that Chinaman now ? Is 'he still on the bridge ? If not, by. what process of .circumnavigation were the laws of two great nations circumnavigated ? • ' , The first banks* of which we have record were established in Italy so far back as 808 by the Lombard Jews, who had benches or counters erected in the market places for the exchange of n*oney and bills. It is from their banco, or bench, that banks have taken their name, 'ihe earliest bankers were also goldsmiths and dealers in precious stones, but, with tf the advance of civilisation ' banking became a distinct "business. Merchants had deposited their cash in the mint in the Tower* of London until Charles 1. laid hands upon the money in 1640. In 1645 -traders agreed to lodge their money with ihe goldsmiths of Lombard "street, who had strong chests for their own valuables, and this was the origin of banking in Britain. The chief banks- in Europe were established as follows : Venice,* 1171 •; Genoa, 1345 ; Hamburg, 1619 ; Holland, 1635 ; Bank of England, 1634 ; Scotland, 1695 ; Ireland, 1783 ; France, 1803 ; United States, 1816. '