Notes and Events.

Manawatu Herald, 28 December 1893, Page 3

Notes and Events.

There is something very interest ing in an old newspaper. We have before us a copy of the Times of 3rd October, 1798, very close upon 100 years ago. In the advertising columns appear some enrious notices evidencing the altered state of the times. Thus £200 is offered for the apprehension of a highway robber, the advertisement stating — " The Post-boy, carrying the mail from Bromley to Sevenoaks last night, was stopped about 2 miles from Farnborough, between the hours of 10 and 1 1 o'clock, by a Bingle high wayman, who presented a horse pistol and demanded the mail which the boy gave him. He offered the robber half-a-guinea, but he declined taking it." The robber is described to be a young man, middle size, had on a drab colored great coat, and rode a horse with a white face.

Banelagh garden was the place to spend a happy day then, and an announcement appeared about a " Grand gala in honour of Lord Nelson's glorious victory over the French fleet at the mouth of the Nile. The proceeds to be devoted to the relief of the widows and orphans of the brave men who fell on the occasion."

We notice also an advertisement " For sale by the candle," of a live elephant, elephants teeth, tortoiseshell, &c. This is a very old and curious custom, sale by the candle, it being a form at which persons were allowed to bid while a small piece of candle was burning, and the moment it expired the property was adjudged the last bidder.