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Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1371, 23 February 1912, Page 5

It was rather a difficult matter (say; the, Melbourne "Ago") for visitors to s number of the Victorian State Govern meiit offioes not immediately under th< eyes of Ministers to secure n satisfactory settlement of their business when the bif cricket match was in progress the othoi day. The uninitiated visitor found on ar rival at the particular Department thai nobody was in, except n few junior clerks who explained cheerfully that cverybod) elso was at (ho cricket match. The) were prepared to givo him all the assistance possible, provided only that he would tell them what was t"he lutest score. Oi ho found that the remainder of the staff, which was not sufficiently advanced in th< public servioo to got away on every daj on which the match was in progress, was gathered round tho telephone, while oik of its number rung up to obtain the latest score from a reliable source. In om particular Department in which th< official head conducts all the interview; with visitors the junior clerk ir charge explained that, his superiors were all •at tho cricket match, and that he did not know anything, be causo he was not allowed to; but he would liko very much to know the latesl score. It was an indication, as one be lated officer explained before he hurried away, that the State service took f healthy interest in sport. The visitor die not find the explanation entirely satisfactory. A motor-boat made a dash on its own account in Hobson's Bay en February 12 (says tho Melbourne "Herald"), end its queer autics when left to itself provided a most exciting incident. Tho boat, which belongs to Messrs. Paul and Gray, ship chandlers, went out with the firm's representative on board, to the steamer Inverfay, which had just arrived from New York. It drew up close to the ship, and the occupants stepped aboard the Customs launch. How it happened i.= not clear. Apparently something had been left undone on the motor-boat; at any rate, it behaved like a live thing. No sooner was the boat left to itself than it darted silently and swiftly away, describing a curve as it sped on, as if to express joy at its new-found liberty. Warning shouts scon attracted attention to tlie boat, and Mr. A. S. Monk, of Port Melbourne, in his fast launch, the Curlew, and George Greer, another water motorist, in a boat belonging to Aneliss and Co., butchers, went in pursuit* What amused the spectators more than anything else was the manner in which the bolting motor-boat zig-zagged on ib course as its pursuers gained upon it. It looked as if keenly anxious to avoid capture. At last, after half-an-honr's chase, the "kill" look place, and the power being shut off the motor-boat, it was towed back to the ship. The new money which was struck at tho Indian Mint" and issued at the moment of tho royal visit has several inter csting features. In the now rupee pieci the King-Emperor is crowned, and i: shown to be "wearing the collars of tin Star of India and the Indian Empirf Orders. ! A<Ulre«in» the members of the In'sli- ! tution of Post Office Electrical Engineer" 1 (London) on "Precautions Against lire," ' Mr A. Stubbs (senior assistant engineer--1 in-chief to the Post Office) mentioned that t in tho British Isle* alone the annual des--1 tructimi of properly wax estimated at 1 something approaching ,£70,000,0110. I "What happen-.) tr. mer" a>l,ed, 111. G Hironi:- oplimi*' 'vhen h' 1 woke up m t ln T hesuital. "A shark bit vnur kg .■(].' ' jairl Hi. nuw- "Oh, «•"!.' h* niiwt ["I hod rheumatism ui that leg, anj-aow.