Miscellaneous Items.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1456, 16 September 1885, Page 4

Miscellaneous Items.

The value ot the fcav crop to the United Kingdom is estimated at one hundred million pounds per annum, including meat, dairy prodnce, and hay sold. Grass and grass products probably at present exceed m value the cereal crops. A. meeting of representatives of trade and industry has been held m Berlin for the consideration of the oroject of a Universal Industrial Exhibition, and has affirmed the wisdom of holding such, an exhibition m Berlin, and its opinion that the year 1888 is the fittest for the purpose. A cabman called out after a smart, dapper little gentleman who affects large hats, "Come out of that hat, will yer ? I know ycr m it, cos I sees yer feet." In these days of athletics it is worth while knowing what an authority says : — "The secret of muscular recuperation is m stopping when fatigue begins. He or she who is not the fiesher m body and mind for tho exercise taken has had an overdose of what m proper measure would have been a b^nwfit. . TU« gain m strength shown and felt m the increasing ability to do more ami more without exhaustion. The measure of success is not iv the greatness of the feat accomplished, but m the ease with which the ex-rcise is ii d ilsjed m, ami m tho a!isense of exhiUjtion after it. There arc occasions frequent enough m which people m the struggle of life are forced beyond their powers of endurance, and there is no neud . to .tarry iuto the pursuits of recreation the fatigue which ex- [ action work imposes." A serious accident occurred at the Thames on the 24th ult. Mr James Brownlee, foreman of the shaft at the New Prince Imperial mine, was engaged taking in' timber at a cage, when by snino inexplicable means he tumbled into the shaft, and was precipitated to the bottom, a distance of 220 ft. Ilia escape from instant death is most miraculous, and is only accounted for by the fact that about 10ft of water had accumulated m the shaft, and served to lessen the torce of the full. The Bank overdraft of the Tai.ri County Council (says the Advocate) has reached the respectable dimensions of £28pO. The question of glove fights was recently brought up m tho Honsa by Mr Rbss. who said he had read m newspapers that the gloved hand is capable of sanguinary work. The weaker combat ants came out of these contexts covered with blood. It was admitted that a man whose countenance ennuot be seen through the copious stream' of blood flowing over it, was not a pleasant object to look at, indeed these Bpec v .aclt:s are disgraceful. The Minister of Juaiico admitted that ■ they were brutal. The Hon. .Mr Tolc said that Government had under consideration the best method of putting down those glove contests, that caused such bloodshed. Mexico is m grave financial straits. The country. is so poor that scarcely any • funds are forthcoming to meet the annual outlay of thirty-nine rnillionn, though retrenchment is universal from President Diaz's salary downwards, Russia has hanged another Nihilist and finds her subjects very reluctant to take up military sefvicu. Over 50 per cent, of the Jews evaded the law at the least conscription, whilst many of the Sectarians starved th"iuselvos to reduce (lie size of their chests below the regulation measurement. Admiral Galiber, Minister of Maine and M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, have both expressed their app.-oval of an impsrtant project which has recently been submitted to the Public Works Office. This is no less an enterprise than the cutting of a canal through France^ which connecting tho English Channel with the Mediterranean, would be of sufficient depth to allow of the passage of the largest ironclads. The canal, beginning at Harve, would pass through Rouon, Paris, Lyons, and Marseilles, the waters of the Siine, Saon«* and Rhone being utilised for the purpose. If such a scheme be regarded as feasible m France, the waters of the Euphrates Valley might similarly be employed m connecting the Mediterranean with the Persian Gulf.

' A Virginia lawsuit about a fifty cent dog cost one party 290 dollars, Reid 1h« other 425 dollars, find resulted m one murder and a case of arson. However every American wants his legal rights. »'■* A horrible discovery has bfen m ado at Noumea m an uninhabitfd bouse m the Faubourg Blanc-hot. The remains ota newly-born infant, which bad been nit up into pi'-ces and cooked, were, found m an advanced state of putrefaction. Asa cab was conveying the relics to the hospital, it ran over a little girl and killed her on the spot. ! A justice of the peace m" Illinois, be'forn whom a citizen hail prosecuted bis daughter's lover for ejecting him from his ; parlour on the Sunday evening previous, solemnly decided as follows : — " It appears that this young feller was eonrtin' the plaintiff's *»al, m plaintiff's parlour, and that plaintiff intruded and ' was put out by defendant. Courtin 1 is a public necessity and it must not bo interrupted, Therefore the Jaw of Illinois will hold that a parent ban no legal richt m a room where courtin' is afoot, and so the defendant is discharged and plaintiff may pay costs."