Miscellaneous items.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1606, 12 January 1886, Page 4

Miscellaneous items.

' ■ The'eustbm of salacing alaly by a raf>id ahd, iv nipst cases, apparently painfnl motion of the hand 'ton-aids tile hat, has beeasevereiycrrtiticised )»y connoisseurs iv the arts of etiquette and politenesb. This criticism, 'says an ; exchange* is not- Without good fonhdation, for the present mode of salutation is absurd to say the least. Fot iußtance, a gentleman meets a lady acquaintance. She recognises him just a« they meet, while he, with the patent, automatic motion of the arm Wore mentioned, lifts his hand and perhaps elevates his hafc By this time the lady is past, and she is forrunate ifjshe obtains a look of reco»nitio from the eyes pi* her gentleman friend. Possibly the gentleman bowa; if lie does it ia generally at vacancy, a lamppost, or perchance his bitterest enemy happening along at the same time. It. seems as if a radical improvement might be made m the method by -which the gentleman of to day salute their lady friends m. public. Fame awaits the gentleman or lady who invents and popularises a mode of salutation to take the present mode pf the hat. ; The New Zealand iferaW tplls \xt amusing incident which occurred lust week. An old country settler espied iv . Queen : streeb Constable Carrol i removing his spouse te the lock-up for being m a state of intoxication. He went up to the officer and tendered his services as a special constable, to take hear thither, as he knew how to manage her. The constable was nothing loth, as she was so helplessly gout; m liquor that ho would have hud an infinity of trouble m gotting her to the station, and he accordingly walked m r jar of tho couple, while the husbind" run her m." On reach ing Ihe station the husband, as a particular f iydr,' requested Constable Carroll to give her si <c months. It seems that she had come to town to lay an m forma' ion against her husband, and it was on reaching town to defend his case that he encountered her under the circau instances described. Owing to the drought which has so long prevailed iv Switzerland and Savoy^ writes the correspondent of a London paper, fires, Home of them of an unusual and alarming diameter, have taken place m various parts of the country. To months ago a ! great turf moor known as theGrosso Moss, never Witzwyl, m canton Freiurg,took fire, and U still burning, all efforts to put ic. out having proved abortive. The peasants of the neighborhood had; to get m their crops m alL haste, and remove their stacks and other easily inflammable possetions to a safe distance. Unless tuent . is soon a sufficient fall of rain to extinguish the fire, which, especially at night, makes a slrange and weird spectacle, several villages will be m danger. Last week a great pa>:t of Sfc Jeane de MaurinLe, ia Savoy, was burnt down. Tho College, the Palais de Justice, and some thirty other building were completely destroyed the fire-engines, owing to luck of water, being unable to act.