BRIEF MENTION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVI, Issue 74, 29 March 1902, Page 3

BRIEF MENTION.

Fine Easter weather. Very heavy fog this morning. Mushroom parties were early abroad yesterday. The Spion Kop incident is again furnishing subject for controversy in London. The Government, it is reported, contemplates retiring a number of Civil Servants over sixty years of age. Two expert pluekers have been secured from Melbourne by the Department of Agriculture for the Christchurch poultry export depot. A MangatoM dairy, which covers several square yards of country, is turning out seventy tons of butter daily. So the adjacent paper says. They must churn cows and all! The Department of Agriculture proposes to take steps to add hemlock to the list of weeds which local bodies may declare to be noxious weeds under the Act. A Wellington lawyer declares, as the result of much court practice, that the worst cases of incompatibility of temper are those in which both parties have the same kind of temper, and plenty of it. Complaints have been made at Tauranga during the last week or so of an unusual influx of rats into houses and stores. Several officers of the police force are on the move just now, in order that effect may be given to recent changes by the 31st instant. Twenty-five of the best known theatres in London will seat 28,600 people, representing a nightly earning of £6000. According to evidence in the Magistrate's Court, the average takings of Masterton cabmen range from £4 10s to £6 per week. He Got in the Way.—Jimson: " You say your wife threw the poker at a stray dog, and hit you instead ?" Jester t "Yes, but it was my fault. I had no business standing behind her when she threw." Melbourne boasts of «au exclusively Chinese newspaper, edited by Mr Thomas Chang Luke, whose sympathies are with the reform movement and Christian missions. A young woman named Emma Davidson, whilst walking out with a young man at Melbourne, died very suddenly from heart disease. Pat: " I've just 'card that my woife's very ill, sorr, and I think I'd better be going home." Employer (doubting him): "Why, Pat, I met a man to-day who told me your wife was well." 4tPat (anxious to score): "Sure, then, I've got no woife at all, sorr. So wemnst both be liars." Sir Hector Macdonald has, since his visit to the colonies, been appointed to command. the troops in Ceylon. Ha takes up his new duties this month. Farthing breakfasts, consisting of coffee, bread-and-butter, and jam, are now being provided by the Salvation Army for poor children in Newcastle. At a theatrical performance in Eketahuna the other evening, the audience bestowed floral honors, in the shape of ancient and decayed cabbages, upon the principals. The local journal says it was dead fanny." Dr Carl Peters says he can prove that the ancient Egyptians as well as the Jews of King Solomon's period got gold mainly from .South Africa. South Africa was the Eldorado of the most ancient nations of history. " Look here, Dawgins, what do you mean by telling me that this dog is as gentle as a woman? Why, he's so savage that I can do nothing with him." "Well, guvnor, I told you he was as gentle as a woman, and my missus is the only woman as I knows anything about." * An Irish paper prints an advertisement of what is probably meant to be a home fo» inebriates. The announcement, however, is somewhat hazy, for the man who drafted it tells the world that it is a " Private Residence for the Excessive Use of Alcohol. No Restriction on Guests." Sir Thomas Fitzgerald, the wellknown Melbourne surgeon, says that in San Francisco the people have no idea of ventilation. In certain hotels the dining rooms are lighted day and night, and the heated air has no outlet. It is stated that the Rev. L. M. Isitt \ has accepted an engagement with the United Kingdom Alliance for four years prohibition work in Great Britain. The salary attaching to the position is stated (according to the Press) to be very large. An Irish lady, having had some angry words with her husband one day, had occasion, a few hours later, to send her servant for some fish for dinner. "Bridget," said the mistress, "go down town at once and get me a plaice.'' "Indade, an'l will, ma'am," said Bridget; " and I may as well get wan for myself, for I can't stand the master bo more than yerself," Fur-topped Kid Gloves, lined throughout in the best quality, all sizes, to be cleared at 2s lid pair; usual price is 5s 6d.—B. Allen.