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Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 59, 7 March 1902, Page 3

The most unobservant citizen cannot fail to notice the wonderful change which has been made in the police force of the colony since the Royal commission on the force completed its investigations and Commissioner Tunbridge was placed "in charge. Instead of the old style policeman, whose chief aim was to keep himself out of mischief and retain his position, young and alert men constitute the majority of the police force, and we doubt whether a higher standard of intelligence and probity could be obtained in a similar force in any other part of the world. —" Manawatu Standard." A find of coins was recently made at the Chatham Islands on the WTharekauri Estate, evidently belonging to a Maori who.had been trading with a whaler. The coins, twenty in numberwere all silver, and ranged from a 4d piece to a 5s piece, and from 1750 to 1830 in date, and including English, Spanish, and American pieces.

The women of Perinton, New York, have determined on vigorous measures to control their husbands who stay at the club too late. They have banded themselves together in a club of their own, and have leased the premises immediately over the men's club. Ac cording to the Evening Press Agency, each lady member has a brass check bearing her husband's initials, and when she wants to go home she drops her husband's check in a slot and it falls down into the men's club below. There it is read out to the husband, and the members of the ladies' club see j to it that he responds promptly to the summons.

. The London Daily Express is responsible for the following "statement :—A gigantic scheme for the raising of the price of wheat is on foot in Kansas. It is proposed that the farmers of the entire wheat belt of America should agree not to raise any wheat in 1902, but to grow other crops in its place. By this means an artificial dearth of wheat would be brought about, and this year's surplus stocks could be sold at an enormous advance. This proposal is said to be seriously considered by the farmers. Some men take a lot of killing. A correspondent of the "Cape Times", writing from Bloemfontein, says :—"lt is a marvel Colonel Damant was not killed, as he had eleven bullets through his tunic, two through his trousers, and two through his boots. The gallant colonel used his rifle as long as he could and then threw his revolver and let the Boers have five shots, killing FieldCornet Van der Merwe, before they put him out of action. He had a softnosed bullet through his hip, a frightful hole being the result." It is related of a clergyman who was the happy father of a charming and beautiful daughter that one day, while preparing his Sunday discourse, he was suddenly called away from his desk on a mission of mercy. The sentence at which he left off was this :

" I never see a young m'an of splendid physique and the promise of a glorious manhood almost realised but my heart is filled with rapture and delight." His daughter, happening to enter the study, saw the sermon and read the words. Sitting down, she wrote underneath : " Them's my sentiments, papa,

exactly." To the steamer Ping Suey, which has been iri Australian waters on , several occasions, belongs the distinction of having broken the world's record in travelling from Liverpool to Seattle (Washington, U.S.A.) in fifty days, making the voyage from Shanghai to "Vancouver in fourteen days. The Ping Suey is one of the largest vessels owned by the China Mutual Steamship Company. She was built in 1899 by the Workman and Clarke Company, of Belfast, and is an all steel ship. She is 450 ft long 53ft 2in beam and draws 35ft of water,-with gross register of 6,558 tons. Ser carrying capacity is 9,253 tons.