ONE THING AND ANOTHER.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 307, 27 June 1879, Page 2

ONE THING AND ANOTHER.

(Collated from our Exchanges.)

On Wednesday morning, says a New Plymouth organ, a young man "waited on us and said he could furnish a good "local.' We expressed our gratitude, and invited him to proceed. He did so, as follows :•— On the previous evening,. about eight o'clock, he, accompanied by Inspector Bullen and a few daring friends, proceeded to the site of the native ploughing match at Tapuae. On arriving there they- set to work and dug a number of holes close to where the natives bad left off ploughing. Into each of these holes they inserted a ' bomb-shell, fitted with a percussion cap, and then neatly covered them over. They next hid themselves in the fern to await the arrival of tin natives, who put in an appearance shortly before daylight this morning. In a few moments the ploughs were set going, and foot by foot they neared the hidden bomb-shells. After half an hour's patient watching the concealed men were rewarded tor their ingenuity. A loud explosion was suddenlyheard, and for a few seconds nothing was to be seen above them but a confused jumble of broken ploughs, bullocks, and Maoris. In a state of excitement he sprang to his feet, and found— : —himself on the floor of his bedroom. It was only a dream. One of the young men belonging to a choir had his hair cut by a generous barber on Saturday. On Sunday he sang a solo, " Cover my defenceless head 1" and blushed like a lobster while doing it.

A new penny satirical paper,"called the thus describes the passage of the Marquis of Lome and his spouse to Canada;—«« What a sweet thing in passages the Lornes had. The Princess never found her sea extremities Jill land was sighted ; and the Marquis was so sick he thought at one lime he should throw i:p the appointment . . . The 500-i<uineß swinging beds broke down directly, and the young couple had to go to bye-bye in the ordinary berths. In the first telegram dispatched to the Queen the Marquis wrote: , Louise passed bravely through the ordeal of a berth at sea. It was a very little one, and .' < Lor, Lome ! don't say that,' whispered the Marchioness. 'If they make a mistake in the spelling, ma will fancy I don't know what!' . . . The Governor altered it at once. He explained that his consort was 'cabined-cribbed,' but not'confined.' . . . I wish the young people health and prosperity in their new rule. I don't for a moment anticipate they will want to stay very long, but I cordially support the policy which sent them. To recognise princes and princesses as articles for export is a matter of import.'' The English newspapers generally have copied a short article from the Whitehall Review, making a comparison of the incomes of four of the richest men on earth. These are the Duke of Westminster, who is credited with an annual income of 4,000,000 dollars ; John P. Jones, with 5,000,000 dollars ; Rothschild, with 10,000,000 dollars ; and John W. Mackay, with 13,750.000 dollars. The revenues of the English and French millionaires are doubtless approximately correct—the property of the first being valued at 80.000,000 dollars, and of the latter at 200,000,000 dollars.—but John P. Jones, if common rumour is true, is not. one of the very rich men. Street gossip in San Francisco accredits Mr Mackay with an income a little less than attributed by the Whitehall Review to Rothschild.. In the event of Lord Chelmsford accepting a balloon equipment, as prof-erred by the Government some time since, a start of aeronauts and several balloons are ready to proceed at once to the scene of operations. Tbe adoption by tbe Government of the balloon as a warlike agent has created a new industrial department at the Royal Arsenal, .Woolwich, as well as introducing another branch of study to military officers. The Royal Engineers and workpeople engaged in the manufacture of the war balloons have had placed'at their disposal a long loft near the inflating platform, which forms an admirable workshop for the purpose. An unusual! v large balloon, to be called the Saladiu, of 38,000 cubic feet, is nearly complete, while two smaller, the Talisman 19,000 ft, and the Saracen, 15,000 ft, have been finished and already made ascents. The Vedete, 1400 feet, is ready for trial, and the Pilot, a small supply balloon of GOOft, has been tested to good purpose. A great many aseentsjhavebeen made to aheight of 14,000 feet at which position the balloon is held by a rope, and signals by flashes and discs have been exchanged with the earth, practice at which the sappers who form the balloon class have become expert. Arrangements are now being made to establish telephonic communication with the car when aloft by means of the mooring rope. The practicability of sending up a fresh supply of gas to a balloon by means of the little Pilot haa been demonstrated.—Morning Post. The compositor who made it read, " In the midst of life we are in debt," wasn't much out of the way. A wife can always make home attractive to her husband by hiring a pretty chambermaid. There is a man in Tennessee with such big feet that if he gets them wet in December he doesn't have a cold in his head until February. Said the little pet of the household on her birthday.- " It's lovely doll ! dear grandma and grandpa. But —but—I'd been hoping it wonld be twins ! " " No," said tbe smart boy baby, when the pretty young woman wanted to kiss him. '-But why not?" asked she. "O, I am too little to kiss you ; papa will kiss you ; papa kisses ail the big girls." He was permitted to play with his toes. A Yankee photographer presented a revolver at the head of a gentleman who was sitting for his photograph, with the cheering remark : " My reputation as an artist is at stake. If you don't look smiling I'll blow your brains out." He smiled.