ONE THING AND ANOTHER.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 247, 29 November 1878, Page 3

ONE THING AND ANOTHER.

9> (Collated from our.Exchanges.) The following is certainly a strange coincidence, if true. In Ceara, Brizil, Major Jose de Mello died recently on a Monday. He was born in 1835 on a Monday, married on a Monday, died on a Monday, had four children, who were born on a Monday and died on a Monday. In regard to tbe eldest of these children, a son, he sailed from Bahia on a Monday, died on a Monday, the news of his death was received on a Monday, and his body arrived at Ceara on a Monday. "Who, after this can deny ■the influence of the moon on sublunar tbeings.?

J We dbserve that Mr E. 0. Latter has been appointed Deputy Land Tax Commissioner fofthe Canterbury district. During the year 1877 no fewer than 69,953 letters were disposed of in the Dead Letter'Offiee at Wellington : 52,607 being opened and returned to the writers, 9,835 returned unopened to their countries, 94 re-issued, and 3417 destroyed, there being no trace of the writers irt tne last mentioned : case.' The carelessness of a portion of the public in regard to valuables is shown by ■ the following list of articles which were i enclosed in letters dealt with during the ; year in the Dead Letter Office :—B6 money orders for £342 5s 7d ; 68 bank drafts, j BffitftilkM. ; 55 cheques, £1049 4s 8d ;; 4 p-roMssorynotes, £414 3ssd; postage; stamps, £2 2s 2d ; duty stamps, ss; bank notes, £78 ; gold, £5 ; -silver and copper 3s 9d ; representing a total of £5442 Os 9d. In addition to the above, .7 gold rings, 2 | I pair gold earrings, 1 gold chain, 1 cornel- j ian gold-mounted pendant, 1 silver watch, 1 silver toothpick, and 1 parcel gold dust, ! were also received in the Dead Letter Office. As many as 43 letters were actually posted without any addresses, two of which contaiued valuable enclosures to the 1 amount of £100 18s 3d. The condition of mind in which the writers of the two lastmentioned must have been is by no -mean's an enviable one. Besides these 8 letters were detained for having obscene and libellous addresses, and night persons had attempted to defraud the Post Office by palming off previously-used stamps as the genuine article. Out of 404 letters detained for postage, only 16 were subsequently prepaid and forwarded to their respective addresses, ; and-an immense pile of 66G newspapers and 285 books were uuaddressed, and could not be delivered. In the Waikato the other day (writes the "Intelligent Vagrant" in the Bruce Herald), some one in authority on the railway th.re sent a train along a line, and it not being oertain whether another train would not meet it at full speed, said, " If you see the other train coming you can come back." The result was a collision, and a discussion lately in a railway carriage between Milton and Dunedin as to the curious things sometimes done on rail ways I remember two queer lines. One was that between Grahamstown and Tararua, at the Thames goldfields. The. engine used to get out of repair every half-mile, or so, and the. stoker used to put put it right by cutting liule pegs of wood with a clasp-knife and sticking them in certain places. Another was that which used to run between the coal mines at the Bay of Islands and the Kaw.-ikawa Creek. One very hot day a captain of a schooner and myself (tho only passengers, and they on the engine) wore travelling by it. Having remarked that a constitutional thirst of mine was aggravated by the hot weather, the engineer said, "I'll pull up presently, and we can go to a pub a few hundred yards off the line." Which he did in very deed ; and he, the stoker, the captain, and myself left the engine and' coal train (the engine fuzzing away quite happily), whilst we not only went to a hotel five hundred yards off', but played two rubbers of euchre with consequent liquors. People will hardly believe perhaps that a man was once killed on that line. "Atticus" tells the following story in the Melbourne Leader : —-The Sergeant, as most people know, i.s rather hard of hearing. When the crier was reading out a paper the Sergeant had several times to tell him to speak up. The greatest ornament of the judicial bench at length said severely: 'Hand me the document: I will read it myself.' But the Sergeant's face was turned to one side, as he sat with his hand to his ear, all attention ; and he knew not that the paper had left the crier's hands. Imagine the feelings of the spectators when, after the learned judge had read for a minute or two, tiie Sergeant testily exclaimed : ' Well my man, if you mean that for reading, I'd go to school again. Open your mouth and pronounce your h's'" An unusual sight has been seen the last day or two in the streets of Christchurch, in the shape of a company of " wandering minstrels." natives of Italy. They are three in number, and have recently come from Wellington and Auckland, having migrated from San Francisco by the last mail steamer. They perform very fairly on their instruments —two harps and a violin—and judging from the largesse the public bestow on them, their music is appreciated. The question of labelling hackney carriages was discussed lately in the Christchurch City Council.... Several members in speaking against such indications cf the .fact that the carriages were let on hire, said that many of the elite of Christchurch, especially ladies, had given the carriage proprietors to understand that they would not ride in carriages thus disfigured.— Signs of the times indeed ! In Lancashire, when a gentleman wishes to indulge in strong language without swearing, he says, " Godfrey, Daniel, blast and furnace maker," which, with the right • accents, sounds frightful. I remember at the university in my time there used to be some bad language, which being thought " Bad form," a fine was levied of half a crown for each indulgence in it. Somebody used a certain monosyllable, and was instantly asked for half a crown. " If you had only waited to hear the conclusion of my sentence," said he, " you would have found it was a quotation. I was going to say, " Blastus the King's chaimberlain."' And afterwards no one, thought he was •' fluked in " three times running, ever used any other expression. A Company is in course of formation with a capital of £20,000, for the establishment of coffee taverns in Melbourne i and suburbs. We have often wondered that this plan of rivalling the adversary has not been more generally adopted by the friends of temperance. Why should not the attractions offered by the " pub," in the shape of light, fire, amusement and cheerful society be also provided apart from the temptations of the former ? Depend upon it, this is a mor« efficacious method than diatribes from a platform on the sinfulness of drinking a glass of beer. A new Post Office is gazetted for "The Elbow," Southland. Like many men of letters, our Postal department will be out at the elbow. As one of the consequences of the British interest in the Levant, a railway is planned from Jerusalem to Jaffa. Think of a railway porter shouting Jerusalem 1 No more foot-Bg_re pilgrims after that. The iron rails will do more to advance Pales•ne than the iron mails of the Crußaders.

" Is there any danger of the boa-constric-tor biting me ?" asked a lady visitor at the Zoological Gardens. — "Not the least, raarra," replied the showman. "He never bites; he swallows his wittles whole." Scene.—Teacher with reading class. Boy (reading) :-»-" And as she sailed dowd the river—"-—Teacher :—" Why are ships called 'she?'"—Boy (precociously alive to the responsibilities of his sex) :—" Be- | cause they need men to manage them." I The following is from the Timaru Herald: —"A oertain farmer in this district, who prides himself on being a 'nipper,' had occasion some time ago to dispose of his surplus stock, amongst which was a three-year-old draught gelding. This particular animal, when put up to auction, did not meet with approval, being stated by experts to be gone in the legs. After the the sale, howerer, the farmer got hold of a ' new chum' oarier, and prevailed upon him to buy the horse for £40. The friends of the purchaser told him he had been regularly ' done 'in the transaction, and aftcT six months'trial he found the, animal was really all but-useless,. and resolved to get rid of it. Once more it appeared in the sale-yards, and was duly eulogised by the knight of the hammer.' Its original owner, the farmer, happened to attend the sale with a view ef buying some horses, and this one -came under his eye. He failed to recognise it, and finally became its purchaser for £75. On going to the auctioneer's office afterwards to settle up, he casually enquired hy whom the animal was bred, and then for the first time he learnt the truth. The look of disgust which settled on his countenance can better be imagined than described, and it will doubtless be some considerable time before he will again buy a horse before he knows his pedigree. A curious betting case was heard at the Resident Magistrate's Court in Dunedin lately. The" plaintiff (Robert Seward, commission agent) claimed to recover from the defendant (T. F. M-D'-noiigh, agent for the Government Life Insurance Department) the sum of £6 155.. being the cost of a suit of clothes alleged to have been won by plaintiff in betting that he had purchased certain sections of Burkes Township at public auction on bis own account, defendant alleging that plaintiff had been buying for Mr G. VV. Eliott. The evidence was very contradictory, defendant swearing that he had not made the bet in question. His worship (Mr J. Bathgate) held that the plaintiff conld not recover a bcLon a eerlainty, and a nonsuit was entered accordingly. Baden-Baden, the once brilliant water-ing-place, is now reported to be a gloomy and well-nigh deserted spot. The hotels are empty, the promenades deserted, and a general dullness prevails. The Figaro says that a Russian princess lately visited Baden who has not been there since 1869. Unaware of the changes, she took with her, as of old, huge trunks full of dresses. The first day of her stay she changed her toilette six times, the second she did not change it at all. the third she stayed at home in an old dressing-gown, and the fourth she fled. Mayoral election matters are get fug " warmish "in breezy Wellington. One candidate has already chared his opponent with bringing up three sons to the law so that they''may be billetted upon the country as residont magistrates. What next ! In tho Dunedin Police Court, a man convicted of drunkenness, addressed a note with a pound-note enclosed to the reporters, to keep his name out of the papers. The money was put in the poor box and the name inserted. The Victorian police appears as yet to have failed to apprehend the bushrangers who murdered the policemen at Mansfield. An exchange furnishes us with the following account: —When the last mail left Melbourne the pursuers appeared to be as far off the assasins of the three policemen as ever. Parties were out in all directions, and though traces of the Kellys were found they had been unable to catch sight of them. Any number of rumors were of cours. daily heard, but as the search parties were disguised and hunting in many directions, it is only natural that ill-founded reports should be brought in. Some ludicrous incidents have occurred in connection with this affair. The police parties, all dressed as bushmen, have fired into each other, and wherever seen have been reported as Kelly's gang. Tne men are all disguised as much as posible, and are all armed with rifles ands mounted.

in great