Page 4 Advertisements Column 3

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 99, 30 March 1885, Page 4

An Excited Farmer. ■ — « " Tell me, good man,"" cried a farmer, m a high state of excitement, rushing up to the station agent at a little country village, " hasn't the train due here at 12 o'clock run off the track ? " " No," calmly replied the astonished railroad employe. '* Hasn't she broke an axle ? " " No ! " Nor collided with another train ? " "No; but why do you ask? Have you friends on it ? " " Oh, yes," replied the despairing man. " Well, you needn't be alarmed ' came from the innocent station man," " they're all right ! " ** Needn't be alarmed ! * exclaimed the granger, mopping his brow, well I guess I need be. I've got seven sound non-dyspeptic, eatevery thing they-can-get city cousins on that train, who expect to spend two months at my house, and if they're not blown up before the train reaches here I lose all faith m m the efficacy of prayer, that's all ! " I<etter From Mr Gladstone. The following is a copy of a letter which Prince Edward, eldest son of the Prince of Wales, received from Mr Gladstone on the attainment of His Royal Highness's majority : — "Hawaiden Castle, January 7. Sir, — As the oldest among the confidential servants of Her Majesty, I cannot allow the anniversary to pass without notice which will to-morrow bring your Royal Highness to full age, and thus mark an important epoch m your life. The hopes and intentions of those whose lives lie, like mine, m the past, are of little moment, but they have seen much, and what they have seen suggests much for the future. There lies before your Royal Highness m prospect the occupation, 1 trust at least, appears the most illustrious m the world, from its history and associations, from its legal basis, from the weight of the care it brings, from the loyal love of the people, ! and from the unparalleled opportunities it gives, m so many ways and mso many regions, of doing good to the almost countless numbers whom the Almighty has placed beneath the sceptre of England. I fervently desire and pray, and there cannot be a more animating prayer, that your Royal Highness may ever grow m the principles of conduct and may be adorned with all the qualities which correspond with this great and noble vocation. And, Sir, if sovereignity has been relieved by our modern institutions of some of its burdens, it still. I believe, remains true that there has been no period of the world's history at which successors to the Monarchy could more efficaciously contribute to the stability of a great historic system, depending even more upon love than upon strength, by devotion to their duties, and by a bright example to the country This result we have happily been permitted to see, and other generations will, I trust, witness it anew. Heartily desiring that m the life of your Royal Highness every private and personal may be joined with every public blessing, I have the honour to remain, Sir, your Royal Highness's most dutiful and faithful servant, W. E. Gladstone. His Royal Highness the Prince Albert Victor, &c." Mr Gladstone has received the following answer to his letter: — " Sandringham, Norfolk, Friday, Jan. 9, 1885 Dear Mr. Gladstone, — I wish I were better able to answer your very kind, letter, conveying, as it does, not only the best of good wishes, but carrying with them reflections on the past and advice for the future, for which I wish to thank you. I assure you the letter shall have that attention which words from yourself must deserve, it admirably describes much which demands my most earnest thought on this, perhaps, the most important birthday of my life. Believe me, I am very grateful for your remembrance of me this day, and that among the many efFerings which have reached me I prize nothing more than the letter which you have so kindly written, for which pray except my most sincere thanks. I am glad to believe that your health is restored and I trust your many friends will have no cause for renewed anxiety on your behalf. With my most kind remembrances to Mrs. Gladstone, believe me, yours very sincerely, Albert Victor."

A notable instance of the disposition of Judges to treat with greater severity offences against property than they do offences against the person has been furnished by Judges Holroyd, presiding at the Geelong Assize. A defaulting bank manager received a sentence of two years 1 imprisonment with hard labour for embezzliug the sum of ot J IBO from the bank, while a brutal husband who killed his wife during an excess of drunken frenzy was only sentenced to eighteen months'' incarceration. A simple sum m proportion enables us to arrive by this means at the exact value placed upon a woman's life by thejudiciary; provided always that the punishment awarded is m all cases adequate to the offence. The penalty for killing a wife is fixed at 25 per cent less than that for embezzling .fISO — e>y/o a woiaan's life is worth .£IBO, less ,ox i? 135. Q.E.D, Husbands (rp<mariks (he Melbourne correspondent of ; a ,€KMi£emporary) desires of dissolving stfee marriage tie m a summary vW.ay vwijtjbput the intervention of the Divorce £.wjrt can, now that the tariff has :hee,i3 authoritatively fixed, reckon befor.elyi#4 what the luxury of knocking out ; siwf wives' i»sin# will evat,