THE LOAFER IN THE STREET.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1286, 3 May 1878, Page 3

THE LOAFER IN THE STREET.

[FEOM THE PBESS.I I am glad to observe that the question of supporting colonial industries is receiving attention in other places besides Chriatchurch. A deputation recently waited upon the Mayor of Dunedin for the purpose of ascertaining whether the recent order of the City Council to import 100 Limp Posts from home could not be rescinded, with the view of getting them manufactured in Dunedin. The Mayor considered that the question of importing the Lamp Posts should have been very carefully considered by the Council, and would inquire whether the order could not be countermanded. This is as it should be. I can quite believe we can manufacture lamp posts here as well as in England, and I know many towns in New Zealand, Christchurch included, which can supply any amount of people to lean against them, who are not fit for anything else. The Mayor of G-len Innes has peculiar views on the efficacy'of prayer. This gentleman was recently asked to set aside a day of prayer for rain. He declined on the ground that he thought it was great presumption to ask the Sublime Creator to alter his organised arrangements of what he has,'created, to suit the convenience or rather profit of squatters who have overstocked ther runs.

" James Mander, Horse and Cow Leech, begs to inform the inhabitants of Akaroa, that he has purchased Mr Edmondson's Chimney- sweeping Machine, and solicits orders for chimney cleaning. Horse and Cattle Medicines prepared." Happy Akaroa! Let us hope she possesses many more such useful colonists as the above. Does it strike you, by the way, that the combination of the medical profession with the artisan makes the advertisement a very lustrouß one ?

" While his Excellency and party were at Whakarewarewa yesterday, the big geyser started spouting about 60ft. The geyser has been silent since 19th February ; it has been spouting to-day, and is likely to continue for tome time."

The above telegram is from a North Island contemporary. As it will probably be quoted in other journals, I should like to say that from enquiries I have made I am enabled to state positively that Sir George Grey was not present, and that the Premier was not, as might perhaps be supposed, the spouting gay sir alluded to.

" The ' Forbes Times' says some colonial writers are very fond of twitting English journals about the queer blunders they make at times in Australian geography ; but when the Minister who presides over the Department of Justice and Public Instruction in New South Wales officially states in the ' Government Gazette' that Canowindra is in the police district of Dubbo, 'twere better that we attended to the mote in our own eye than meddling with the beam in our neighbour's."

I don't know anything about the " Forbes Times," but I slould judge that the editor's knowledge of geography must surpass that of his scripture. There is a Cruden's wanted in the " Forbes Times " library. At the Barnsley Police Court recently, a married woman was charged with telling fortunes. A young fair-sex witness stated that the fortune-teller said she could bewitch her mother, and advised that a toad should be got and then filled with pins. This would hare the effect, the fortune-teller agreed, of wasting her mother away. Witness' father repeatedly sent witness to look for a toad, but she never could find one. With the fate the toad was to meet it's perhaps as well he had gone away for a holiday, but I mention the incident by way of a suggestion to the Acclimatisation Society. There may be many dutiful daughters here wishing to dispose of their mammas, and it seems a pity we should be short of a toad or two. Put a '-y" at the end of the word and you have an animal we have herds of. But that, of course, has nothing to do with the question. Sir G-eorge Grey's starring tour will be long remembered by the burgese« of Akaroa and Kaiapoi, not to mention civil dignitaries in southern townships, where, with short funds, the luncheon bill of the Premier has been a matter of much serious consideration. At Kaiapoi the Mayor said that he considered that when a public body invited a public man to visit the town the public ought to pay the expenses. Cr. Mathews agreed with this view of the question, and stated that the repast was given on the principle of casting bread upon the waters, which they expected would come back after many days. I now see a great future for Kaiapoi. Reckoning the " many days " at the rates of ordinary statesman-like promises, I should calculate the £7 4s thrown in the elWpe oi lunch at Sir George Grey will

in a hundred years, at compound interest, amount to somewhere about a billion of pounds. At that epoch this sum will .be at the disposal of the Kaiapogians. This view of the case ought to raise the price of land in the metropolis of the North. Some curious Maori burial caves have recently been discovered near Kaipara, and a correspondent of a North Island contemporary says that the most curious thing yet found there is a skull with a portion of something like a horn attached on one side. It has been part and parcel of the skull, is about 2in. long, and rises from the side just above the ear. "Is there any history of the Maoris," says the writer, " that would throw any light on the subject, and where could I obtain the same ?" I should sny that a perusal of the doings of Tito Kovraru, Te Kooti and Co., with the merest smattering of Darwin, would easily throw as much light on the horned Maori as any one could desire. It is needless to add that a gentleman who is much respected by many of your readers is always depicted with horns. The Russian Naval Engineers hope that certain alterations which are to be made in the Popoffkas will render them at least fit for active service. At present they are in the harbor of Odessa, where they are to remain for the winter.

The above enigmatical paragraph I clipped from a contemporary, and am much exercised to know what it means. Does any Russophilologist know what is a Popoffka, and if so whether its normal condition is a passive or active one, and if the former, what are the proper steps to be taken to fit it for active service ? Are Popoffkas engines of war, or are they slippery debtors ? In either case it's comforting to know they are likely to remain in Odessa harbor for the winter, and not pop off at a moment's notice.

" Commencing on the verge of the southern horizon is Achornar, below the Pole ; tracing the meridian above the Pole, we come to the Southern Cross ; proceeding north is Beta, in the constellation Corvus, and not far distant on the east is Vega in Virgo; the meridian line terminates, or nearly so, in the constellation of Coma ; Berenices surrounded by small nebulso and double stars ; in the west Orion is sinking beneath the horizon ; crossing the Equator Regulus is seen in the north-west, and Arcturus verging to the north-east. In the morning, from four to five o'clock, both Jupiter and Venus are considerably elevated, and the latter is in about her greatest brilliancy." A perusal of the above bulletin of planetary gossip which lately appeared in your columns has rather stunned me. lam indeed horrified to learn that Jupiter and Venus have been considerably elevated, but as it is their first appearance in these columns in the character of inebriates, they may perhaps be discharged with a caution.

There is a gay old shearer up North who has been constantly brought up for a too strong partiality for the demon drink. Repeatedly warned by the Resident Magistrate, he promised a faithful and enduring amendment of his ways. The R.M., travelling on circuit some months after hearing the last solemn declaration of the drinkist, found himself in the same coach with him. The reformed one was clearly under the influence of potent waters, and there was an aroma to that effect all about him. The Magistrate once more reproved him, reminding him at the same time of his promise to join the Good Templars. "So I have, sir," responded the shearer, " and I solemnly assure you that I have not tasted ardent spirits since I last saw you. I have only taken medicine once and again, and I find that nothing suits me better than Dr. Wolfe's prescription for disordered livers."

You may talk of the advantages of sheep farming, high class cattle breeding, or any other yeomanly industries, bat commend me to rabbit-running. A gentleman who is fortunate enough to own a bunny farm of 100 acres was asked by a rabbit shooting club what he would take for his annual shooting. His answer was on payment of a good fee the shootists could come around, on condition that the furry pests were not to be disturbed more then was necessary, that no more were to be shot than was required, that a score (under affidavit) was to be daily rendered, and that no strong drink or profane language were to be consumed on the premises. And yet they talk about rabbits being a pest.