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Manawatu Herald, 15 June 1899, Page 2

The annual meeting of the Foxton Amateur Dramatic Club will be held to-morrow night at the Public Hall at 8 o'clock p.m. The Premier was confined to his house by a severe cold on Monday. The Rev. L. M. Isitt is expected in Wellington on the 26th inst. He is a passenger by the Gothic from Plymouth. Fried wasps and bird-nest soup are considered great delicacies in China. It is stated that they are quite an acquired taste. The Premier has arranged to speak at Woodville on Friday evening, in order to reply to the Leader of the Opposition. Late on Saturday night at Christchurch the police, under Sub-Inspector O'Brien, raided a house in Tuamstreet occupied by Chinamen. There was a suspicion that gambling was largely carried on and the police effected an entrance quietly. They found a number of Chinamen and Europeans seated round a table on which " fan tan " had evidently been played. They succeeded in arresting 32 Chinamen and four Europeans. They secured the bank bag containing several pounds in small coins and the apparatus. An experimental issue of New Zealand frozen meat was made some time ago to the crews of the Channel squadron. The men have now been asked whether they would like the same rations continued, or whether " shore meat " — of the Mediterranean variety — should take its place. By an overwhelming majority, Jack has resolved in favour of frozen mutton to alternate with his beef. Judge Edwards was indisposed on Monday, suffering from a cold accompanied by an attack of bronchitis. In consequence of his condition he was not allowed to go to the Supreme Court. The hearing of the Myers case in the Supreme Court has been postponed for three weeks. A tigor with a glass eye is in a menagerie at Stuttgart, and looks as fierce with his glass eye as with the real one. The Prussian Government . earns £5,000,000 a year through lotteries ; the Italian Government about £3,000,---000. In the libel case, Jellicoe v. Blundell Brothers, the defendants have paid the sum of 40s into Court. The result of the poll for the seat of the headquarters of the Pharmacy Board of New Zealand has been declared. The result gives a majority of six votes for Wellington. The voting was— For Wellington, 126 ; for Christchurch, 120. Only a few votes were given for either Dunedin or Auckland. It was stated at a meeting of fruitgrowers at Hastings, on information received, that very few auctioneers in Wellington gave correct returns of the fruit»sold. This was a matter which was admitted to be of very serious importance to fruit-growers. One gentleman present asserted that he had received three shillings per case difference in fruit plucked from one tree at the one time. The Engineer to the Manawatu Land Drainage Board reported as follows on the protective works erected by Mr Saunders at Oroua River : — The lower line of piles against the bank, and the wing extension into the river, have caused an accumulation of sand and driftwood to accrue, which so far has succeeded in preventing further erosion of the river bank at this point, this being the spot where the lagoon is in dangerous proximity to the river. Taking the work so far the protection sought has been attained, and the promised subsidy to Mr Saunders from the Board is now fairly payable. A prepossessing young American lady makes a good living getting married. She may justly be called the champion bride, and, according to her own statement, has been married about 200 times. A number of the great merchants of Chicago adopt this method of advertising their wares, j The bride stands in the window with her husband, and a clergyman performs the marriage ceremony. This, of course, attracts a great deal of attention, and the exploit is published by every paper in the United States. The merchant reaps a golden harvest, and the blushing bride is paid £4. The marriage ceremony takes place about three times a week, each time for a different firm, and so the lady makes a very good thing out of it. Nearly 600 cats were exhibited at London's last cat show. The price asked for some of the finest animals ran from £64 up to £375.

The Daily Chronicle's Washington correspondent relates the following story of Admiral Dewey, told by one of the sailors just returned on the Raleigh. Just before the battle of Manila, when the order was given to strip for action, the smallest powder boy on the flagship dropped bis coat overboard. He asked permission to jump after it, but was refused. He j went to the other side of the ship, dropped overboard, recovered his coat, and was promptly arrested for disobedience. Admiral Dewey spoke kindly to the youngster, who broke down, and iaid that the coat contained h'"mother's picture, which he had jusi kissed, and could not bare to see it lost. Dewey's eyes filled with tears, he fairly embraced the lad, and ordered him to be released, saying : " Boys who love their mother enough to risk their lives for her picture cannot be kept in irons on this fleet." It has been calculated that something like 1,250,000,000 pints of tea are imbibed yearly by Londoners, and that the teapot necessary to contain this amount, it properly shaped, would comfortably take in the whole of St. Paul's Cathedral. In consequence of the repeated annoyances of a young fellow outside the doors of the Salvation Army Temple at High Wycombe during the progress of worship, the female " captain " left the building and unceremoniously boxed the ears of the offender, who endeavoured to retaliate in like manner, and also attempted to kick her. However, the " captain " proved herself more than a good match for him, and eventually the interrupter was induced to leave the precincts of the Salvationists' hall, evidently a sadder and a wiser fellow. Swimming manoeuvres torm part of the drill of the Dutch cavalry. The men swim sometimes beside their horses and at other times on them. At first they are exercised in swimming dress, but after a time in full marching order. The difference of a farthing a pound in the total trade turnover of sugar in the United Kingdom for a year means no less than £3,000,000. A tourist writes the following in reference to a hotel in Guatemala : — " The system of calling the guests entitles the hotel to the name of the queerest on earth. You are called by flies. The flies down there are nearly as lirge as a sparrow, and they sting like a hornet, though the bite is not poisonous. They never kill them, but brush them away. The halls of the hotel are filled with these pests in the morning. Over each door is a window that opens with a pulley. Now if you say you want to be called at 7 o'clock, your window is opened at 7, and the flies get in. Do they wake you ? I should say so. In five minutes from the time your window is opened you are downstairs looking for the proprietor, with a bootjack in one hand and a wet sponge in the other." The " Berlin Post," in an article headed " The Question of the Future of England," discusses the capacity of Great Britain to defend her colonies and possessions in all parts of the world, and comes to the conclusion that there is a time of danger ahead for the British Empire. " Owing to her Parliamentary system, no European Power will be inclined to effect alliance with Great Britain. The talk of an Anglo-American alliance is nonsence. America will use England as long as she has need for her, and no longer. In her need England may not find her fleet of much use. The fleet can aftord no succour in Afghanistan or the heart of China." The " Post " conies to the conclusion that the only salvation will be in resorting to universal compulsory military service. It states emphatically that it cannot be longer delayed. No people can maintain their position in the world unless the entire effective manhood serves with the colours. From time to time (writes a London paper, of April 22) reports have appeared announcing the release from prison of John Lee, the man convicted of the Baddocombe murder, who escaped death on the scaffold in consequence of the drop refusing to act. Such reports are entirely unfounded. John Lee is still a convict at Portland. Lee was sentenced to death for the murder of an old maiden lady, Miss Emma W. Keyse, to whom he had been butler at " The Glen," Babbacombe, Devonshire. He was to have been hanged at Exeter, but when placed upon the drop the latter would not fall, and he was taken off the scaffold while the sides of the drop were cut. Then he was placed on the drop again and again it refused to act. Re moved a second time, the drop was cut and planed until it fell easily without the convict. Yet when he was placed upon it for the third time it was immovable as before. After this he was reprieved, his sentence being commuted to penal servitude for life. It has been said that the convict carpenters who put up the scaffold had arranged the drop so that it should not act. No really satisfactory reason has, however, ever been given, but Lee's escape was certauily one of the most remarkable oh record. He is looking forward to being released on license in 1905.