Notes and Events.

Manawatu Herald, 19 November 1892, Page 3

Notes and Events.

It is 'bad to holler before you are tiut ot the bush, must be impressed upon the minds of two " scientific " burglars, who got caught hid up and locked in an outhouse, in a London , dwelling. They made so sure of . a successful evening's amusement, having provided themselves with the following miscellaneous stock-in-iirade — to wit— one dark lantern, ispauner, coil of rope, candles, '"jimmies," chisels, adjustable ceutre bits, drills, etc., that they had left, on the hall table a letter which was 'as follows " Thanks, Boss, tor what we have got. Yours very truly." They will not be able to complain on being sentenced. We have no cabmen in this town, but dwellers in larger towns and older countries will appreciate the following satirical comments of a Judg* on the class. In a case which was being tried the other day in a ■ Vienna law court, a cabman who drove a one-horse chariot was called \ as a witness. To test the trust- ' worthiness of the evidence he was j about to give, ho was asked by the judge if he had ever been punished ! fof any misdemeanour. —Witness : i I was only punished once, many years ago, and that was when I was detailed by the police for twentyfour hours. — The Judge : You have never beon sentenced to any term of imprisonment by a judge for any very serious breach of lhe law ?— ; Witness: Certainly not, my lord. - j The Judge (shaking hia head) ! A j cabman ! And never been prosecuted. How loug have you beeu a cabman ?— Witness: Since the day before yesterday. — The Judge, (smiling): Ah! That will do. Let the case proceed. Lord Eoseberry iv opening a Polytechnic Institution in London made some happy remarks. He said these institutions were the outward expression of the desire to raise and unite the different classes of tjiis great city. Such institutions competed with the public house, and also met the demand for intellectual occupation as well as for material recreation. He could not help finding fault with one of the rules— that which forbade smoking. How, then, were they going to com pete with public houses on favourable terms ? He could conceive of nothing more dangerous to effectual competition than such a rule. They raised a great building to attract people to enjoy rational evenings, and then, by this rule, took tha best of. possible means to keep many out. Further on Lord Roseberry remarked that he was glad to see there was to be a shorthand association in this institution. His very first act pn entering the Foreign Office was to make shorthand one of the subjects in the competition for clerkships. He believed his homage to the art was chiefly due to his entire ignorance of the subject— but he believed the time would soon come when all who wished to play a useful part in life would have to know shorthand.