Notes and Events.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 10 December 1891, Page 2

Notes and Events.

» A Home paper says :— " The sen sation of the Bisley Rifle meeting this year was the appearance of a ; lady shot, Miss Leale. Miss Leale j hails from Guernsey, and is a calm and deliberate hand with the rifle. Firing, squatting tailov-fashion, in a competition of six shots to be fired at 200 yards within two minutes she succeeded in securing 29 points with 25 sees to spare. She was equally successful in the kneeling position, and altogether made an aggregate of 59, which, if not the best, was a great deal better than many of the men's scores. Miss Leale is the daughter of a doctor attached to a Guernsey Militia." A newspaper in recording her prowess says : — " She only began tc run her charming eye along a rifle 18 months ago, but now she is dead on the bull up to 800 yards, ahd she gets on to her target with the coolness of a cucumber." It is indicative of the immense production of the butter factories in Victoria at the present time, says Australasian that there was shipped by the -Agricultural department on Saturday by the X.M.S. Orizaba for London 215 tons of butter, packed in 8,674 cases, as the output for a fortnight. This is the largest consignment that has left Australia in one ship, and probably the largest sent to London at once from any part of the world. The estimated value of this two weeks' gathering from all parts of the colony is £25,000. " Diogenes " in the Press writes : — A certain Minister of the Crown met the other day with an experieuce which can hardly be supposed to have afforded him unmixed satisfaction. It was this way. Some years ago he had , joined himself unto a company of business men who had allied themselves for the purpose of doing a little gamble in land; because, outside the walls of the house we are all mortal. And the syndicate in due course purchased a piece of land. Sad to relate the spec was not a profitable one ; and who so loud in his denunciation of land speculators as our Minister. But a day arrived, not so very long ago, when he wanted to sell his interest in the Company. Perhaps he has at last begun to see that there is something of inconsistency in his position as a speculator on the one hand and a denouncer of speculation in land on the other. Perhaps he wants the money to put into a more promising concern ; perhaps he wants to realise and send his capital to some country where it will be safer ; who can tell ? What we are permitted to know is briefly that the other day he sent instructions to sell, and that the managing director replied with brutal frankness—" No chance of selling land while present Ministry holds office," This is another yarn of" Diogenes." The other day a " Picturesque Atlas." agent called at a farmer's house in the Taieri district to deliver a or ;n---plete set of the " Atlas " parts. The agent was rather surprised to be cordially received and invited into the best room, instead of, as he expected, being met with a firm refusal to take delivery and probably having the door shut in his face. The books were handed over and accepted in good spirit by the farmer who laid them past. When the agent asked for payment, the farmer with a twinkle in his eye; said the agent must apply to the Official, Assignee fpr that, because the state of his affairs had compelled him to file his schedule a few days previously. Therefore he could expect no money from him then. The agent then begged that the farmer would give him back the books.

This the farmer oould not possibly see his way to do. After a good deal of persuasion, the farmer ultimately agreed to return the beoks on one rendition, that the agent gave him a clear receipt from any future liability in connection with the work* should he be able to get through his bankruptcy all . right. This the agent willingly gave, and the books were handed back. At his hotel that night the agent related his transaction with the farmer. The words that wicked agent said when he was told that the farmer in question, far from being a bankrupt, was worth thousands of pounds, are too expressive tor reproduction. The farmer's little dodge to get ahead of the "Picturesque Atlas" man is much admired •in the Taieri. i Diogenes owes the above excellent story to an esteemed brother soribe in the South, to whom he wakes his best acknowledgments.

Fifty years ago the French were always looked upon as the regular foes of England, but the last generation do not clearly grasp why it was so. The following figures will do more to justify the feeling than longer explanations. England's lasfc 7 wars with France, commenced in 1688, and continued till 1697 ; the next started in 1702 and ended 1718 ; the third broke out in 1740 and ended in 1748 ; the fourth started i ight years afterwards and ended ; n 1768 ; the fifth commenced in 1778 and continued till 1788 ; the sixth started ten years later and finished in 1801; only however to break out in 1808, and continued till 1815. An unfortunate record for both countries, that from 1688 to 1815, a period of 127 years, just half was occupied in fighting one another.