ENGLISH CLIPPINGS.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 115, 24 August 1877, Page 3

ENGLISH CLIPPINGS.

The followingclippingsare from "Atlas," in the World ;—'" Apropos of the reigning beauty of the day, I quote the following stanza from an old song by Mortimer Collins:— " But, 0, the daughter of the Dean ! The Laureate's self could not describe her: So sweet a creature ne'er was seen Beside Eurotas, Xanthus, Tiber. So light a foot, a lip so red, A waist so delicately slender; Not Cypris, fresh from Ocean's bed, Was half so white and soft and tender." '• If frock coats go on lengthening, we shall arrive at the Noah's ark of twenty years ago before the end of the season. The other day I saw a faultlessly-dressed young man nearly dislocate his back-bone on trying to reach his tail-coat pocket. It was a far more difficult' operation than that curious gymnastic entertainment that girls go through now always when they are anxious to take up their trains." " Now this was a real novelty! Last week the Chinese Ambassador and his suite were present at a pleasant entertainment in Portland-place, and delighted their host and his friends by an impromptu display of celestial vocalisation. A sudden rush to the spot of all the cats in the neighbourhood was the result." " There was a good deal of heart-burn-ing among bodies who were not included in the twenty-five invited to that select dance at the new club up the river."- " I don't want to go," said one, as sensible as she is charming. " Why should I ? Only to meet twenty-four ladies not a bit more proper than I am myself."

According to a New York telegram, the shipments of fresh beef to England from New York and Philadelphia in May were 7,291,7651b5. A young Indian girl, who had curiously watched the process of making barrelheads in a flour mill in Winona, Minnesota, stole in one day, and taking possession of the stencils, ornamented her blanket with the words "Ellsworth's Choice." and paraded the streets in great delight, but to the disgust of Mr. Ellsworth, who is a bachelor, and had made no such choice. During June a shoal of about 100 whales visited the island of Tyree. Boats put out to capture them, and succeeded in driving them towards the shore. When the whales found themselves in shallow water they turned suddenly and escaped, some of them diving beneath the boats. The scene is in an Irish police court. The case is a charge of exposing for sale unsound meat. The local inspector of provisions is giving his evidence. '' Crossexamined by Mr. Harper : Do you swear that the cow was killed, or that it died a natural death ? Witness: I sware she was killed to save her life."— World. The Irish agricultural statistics for the year 1876 present some interesting points. Of the total acreage of the country, one half, or 10,000,000 acres, is in grass or pasture. Within ten years a decrease has taken place of more than 250,000 acres in crops. The holdings of one acre have decreased 23 percent since 1851. These figures, it is said, point to the existence of a more substantial farming class than formerly. The average yield of wheat in 1876 far exceeds that of any of the previous nine years being 17 cwt. to the acre. There were in December last 535,084 horses in Ireland, or 8732 more than the previous year. Cattle numbered 4,117,440, an increase of 2152. Poultry increased largely, and is estimated to have been of the value of £1,120,800,

The following appeared in the papers of a midshipman undergoing examination at Portsmouth for his sub-lieutenancy :— "Q. Demonstrate the resistance developpd by a galvanometer when connected with a Daniel cell. A. The demensions of this most remarkable state prison have not been handed down to posterity. It is however, generally supposed to have been 40£t x 30ft x 20ft, and filled with lions. How the lions got there will probably never be explained. It is one of those things no person can understand, and is a remarkable proof both of the courage and scientific knowledge of these heathens. The lions are now dead. So are the folks who put them there. Sic transit gloria mundi." The student was plucked—which seems hard lines.