A LADIES’ GAMBLING EXCHANGE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 966, 11 June 1883, Page 4

A LADIES’ GAMBLING EXCHANGE.

fSSI'J-TIIS'vrUTOS !estaSlishcd a Female Stock Exchange.which * the name of the “ Ladies’ Bucket Shop.” It is thus desribed in a letter written- by ar residentCom-’ modious apartments, pleasantly arranged on Randolph street, are crowded daily during ’Change hours with middleaged and young ladies, who congregate 38 tlrt* &uftua‘tibns m grain and provisions as indicated oq tjie, of the ‘ticker’ and on a large black-board. Probably fifty chairs are filled with wives, widows, daughters, and sweethearts, while several groups wearing anxious faces are discussing the prospers of ‘ May pork ’ in the corners. ‘March corn, three quarters,’ pipes the musical voice of a blonde moustached; clerk behind the bank-looking counter .where the cashier and liis assistants are taking frMDstfe# fah‘’*S^dat6'ti’fcofttratits for the purchase and sale of futures’ in hog products and the cereals. The lady MSfiM 'i . establishment are fashionably, but modestly, attired as a rule, many of them moving in the highest circles, and,, the faces .of all bearing the unmistakeable stamp of those who accustomed to risk money in’ - A wellkHOwn^e^cHKe^wha■ fluently; visits the'pecuexpression of,|he feaas that of immobility. Their, were calm, and deeply thoughtful and determined, but their faces gave no outward sign of the consciousness of inner thoughts. One lady bearing, \Vith‘ W costume of rich black silk, enveloped iira'seaLsacque of most ample dimensions, is the heaviest operator. She is the wife of a Board of Trade commission merchant, and has become throroughly imbued with the spirit of speculation from the operations of her hjisband, whd makes a-practice of * talking shop ’at home. She gained about 8,000d015., on the January corn corner. Miss H— j-, who, formerly resided in St out asa bold and daring operator, having been known to handle 50,000 bushels’ofcorn in a single day. She is Relieved to be generally successful.,/* Ofte sad case is pointed out in the. person ,of a very pretty young widow, attired in the' deepest mourning costume. About ten months since .her, husband suddenly died. Tlrey badlived extravagantly in an elegant mansion in Dearbourne AvengCi3flie/'df fashionable thoroughfares, and when the estate was settledonly about lo.oopdols.cQuld be cleared up out of the property of the deceased, As the annual expenses of the -family had grown enormously, the widow com--menced speculating Within three months the unfortb’nate woman’haVhad her capital wasted away, and has aged rapidly. The last ffetetoant bf her fortune she has invested in May wheat., Speculation Jias growp ( to ; an , enor T mous.eitcit Vithln a few-Vears. 'There are 5,322 principals doing business in the city as commission merchants qnd brokers in grain and provision ‘ futures of a Speculative character. 7,'hese include regular legifeSate.*hienfber/ of the Board of Trade and the call board, besides the open board, the bucket; shops, and curb-stone brokliKfAThCse persons transact business for not. less, than 475,000 people, who invest money with a desire to gain. Their half-mil • lion customers reside in Chicago, and in nearly every efty and hamlet of the great North-West, and many are found in every State of the Union. The an-nu4L-buslness...transacted - for- these people aggregates the enormous sum of 180,000,000 dollars. investments , of ■megrJat majority are swallowed tip in the maelstrom of the street, while the number of those gaining fortunes is '• m * u ‘B’wain.H WMi • ■

It appears, from a telegram received in thftf Mr -A;. Firth, whose sad deatnby drowning was recorded in our jColumiiS ithe other’ day; was, witnfour other Europfeansand a Maori, att||9|ptingto swiM.acirossa; small* lake at Ohinemutu. They all, with the exception of Mr Firth/sdcddeded in getting’safely across; but when he was within a short distance of the whs' observed to throw up his hands and sink. The Maoris attempted to recover the body by diving,' but were unsuccessful till the following morning. Mr Firth was the son of the late Mr Mark Firth, one of the largest steel manufacturers in the Sheffield District, and be was travelling entirely for his amusement.

Daring the lasfowfiitebait season, says the Ghey fil ffivex t yjirgus, a gentleman conceived the nappy thought of surprising a few oftP friends in Scotland by sending thero.iao doupldof tins of this little piscine delicacy. Mr Foxcrofr, of Greymonth, prepared, a number of cases last year in the 1 way 'that salmon and other canned fish ■ are made a marketable commodity.. , ( A,couple of these tinswere th«q. trusted. to . the mjsroy of- the. parcel Venture ; but they had to chMcbr J They were delivered iaHbright, hud %' little knot of did jnet.ito discuss their merii^-nh^ tft advices, they didwmn great fetish. The fish turned out as firm, solid, flavored as if they hSij fret been' cooked.. „ One enthusiastic old lady, frae “ the land p’ cakes,’ - ■aid they tasted! just' as sweet as “ toea,”fWifttßyer they ihaybe:- , The -of .Canada, has boeoCthq Bnbjcct’ofunnidasared praise, but 4hdPai)ifl a, reversd 4o'-'tho pleasing pictures so plentifully drawn of that region. Thiai&whfttrjthe pttawa correspondent df the acotaman, no unfriendly critic,-says : —“ Th®,preoftutions that; were taken.bj the udvef undent* fo warn the new-settlers in the. North-weqt against the rigors of its effect of "causing the majority of them to provide, as far as possible, against it, and no doubt prevented much suffering., not withstanding all that was doney tliefe have been a number of fatalities recorded in .the Press, such as families freezing to death in their huts for othersovertaken on the phyup and th e finding of their corpses' wee’ks afterwards Fingers, toes, and limbs have suffered terribly, if all recorded is true, and it can easily whence .thermo-, meter mnghriFomifdeg. to fifideg. below zero, with a fierce north-west wind blowing, human life has to struggle hard .to keep up Jts vital wajemtb.,. perhaps, as the dflflmry‘beiiditieß settled and planted, the intensity of the winters jpoay be moderat&ffjnßut this is doubtful, and the of the winter.wiUi alwayk be themamdrawback to the other advantages.”