MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

Lyell Times and Central Buller Gazette, Volume VI, Issue 268, 10 April 1886, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

The wife of George Foster, of Llanel'y, a working man recently died in great agony through blood poisoning which resulted from the scratch ot a cat. The poor woman received the scratch in t'ie pa'm of the hand, and the wound became filled with washing blue while perforiniug her household duties.

The following is a literal copy of an announcement by a publican in the town of Douulan, Massachusetts,

United States : —" To all whom it may concern —1 am, by payment of 225 ols., pel mitted to retail liquors at my saloon in thi* town. Let the wife who has a drunkard for a husband give me notice, and he will be excluded from my place Let fathers, mothers, sisters arid biothers do likewise, and 1 will regard their requests 1 pay a heavy tax for the privilege of selling liquors ; but I want it to be understood that 1 have no desiie to sell to drunkards or minors, or to the poor or destitute " A boy cannot frame or map out for himself a caieer; but he can feel that something is to be tried for and • hing won, and he can imagine for him self some of the glorious sensations of victory. So writes Walter Besant lie adds : —Behide*, the boy who accustoms himself to think ot the world as something to be conquered, and ot hmself as a soldier of the future, has already won hrJf the battle. For him t here will be no false mode ty. When the time comes, he will step into the front rank as ore whose place is there, and that by divine right it^eif. The Government of Queensland has received from the Ageui-Genaral the following copy of a letter from Messrs Peacock and Co, Madeira, containing a proposal for establishing assisted emigration from that island to Queensland. The letter states that " tor the last four years there has been a ti«'e ot emigration from Madeira to the Sandwich Islands, nearly 5000 souls having sailed thither under contract with the Hawaiian Government. It is computed that the population of the island maj yet be reduced by 30 000 with beneGt fo the community. These people are inHustrioua aud frugal, and are highly spoken of as colonists aud labourers, and they all have a primitive knowledge of the treatment of cattle, vines, and sugar cane. We have been told thas these are the kind of immi grants required in Queensland, and, being Europeans, there could not be the objection which exists with regard to coolies. We take the liberty of calling your attention to these state ments, ahd ask if you think that the Government of Queensland would feel disposed to contract for labourers from this island on similar terms to those offered by the Hawaiian Govern m n- 1

Bronpon Howard tells a good story of his sojourn in the wilds of Michigan, where he was tins summer writing " Ore of our Girls " for Miss Dauvray He was domiciled in a farm house, miles away from railroads, mails, or telegraph stations. The farmer and his wife had but the dimmest notion of plays or players. They had never teea one or the other in their lives, and only read of them as something mysterious and far away. There reverence for Mr Howard when ihey discovered be was a playwright was unbounded. One day the farmer's wife was talking to Mrs Howard of the wonderful—to her—mysteries of the drama. The conversation drifted around to the length of time plays ran u And to think," said the rural lady, 11 tha' Mr Howard ptays here three months to write a play which is all over in one night." u Why, no," answred Mrs Howard. " my husband expects his new piece to run a very long while You know his ' Young Mrs Winth'Op' was played one hundred and fifty nights ?" " Good gracious," was the astounded answer, as the knitting fell to the floor, and the steel-rimmed glasses dropped info the rural lady's lap, "you don't tell me so ? I should haye thought the actors would have lost the thread ot the story. A New South Wales newspaper, while referring to the South Australian Commercial Bank affairs, says:—The Bank was largely patronised by a number of investors and shareholders on account of the eminently religious character of the Directorate and management; in fact, it was the religious bank of Adelaide par excellence The Chairman of Directors (Mr K. A. Tarlton, M t LO), is an ex-Baptist minister. Mr Maurice Saloni, M L.C. another Director, was among one of the strongest oponents of the Aboli tion of Maths Bill last sessiou, and all the other members of the Directorate ar* regular churchgoers. Mr A Crooks is a prominent Wesieyan, occupying a high position in his church.