Miscellaneous Items.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1622, 30 January 1886, Page 4

Miscellaneous Items.

. „.-:. .i-.; i ■ •- , — — • — --.: ■ ■ : ' ,<i A Paris' conre«pon<lent tells a curious • s< ory of the vagaries of the. fickle goddess A mysterious indSvid--1 "ual; who gave himself oitt as a jnricon '' .sult.ar.a holitooif many p;ther dignities, died suddenly m a public hath the other day . Upon the local Magistrate. ' / 1 • irivestio^ting the ca*e, he was sur:'■■•■'■'i prised to find m the deceased an V, individual who had baen repeatedly 1 brohglit before him for mendicancy. —^--No-trace of- friends or relations being ■ .^.fonndj.^be. Magistrate .sealed up th«^ room, and set inquiries on foot, -v^hich ■—-resulted m • the , appoarance of a , trespecl able workman, who stated; that Ilie deceased was his uncle, who. had, ,' dis*ppeard some years heforje.; A closer examination of the . shabby looking room led to the discovery of ! ! securities to the value of half a nVillon , francs m an old basfj ! f aiid. about .150,000 more stowed away m small . canvas » ass, m varioun corners, m : ' frahcs ' ■• ■an d hal f-f ranc piece'fe. '■ Th c'• nephew was overjoyed. at his sndden elevation to fortune, but his gratification was . soon damped by thi» too' ' ihqnisitive constable, who, unfdlding a table napkin wrapped m a corner^ brought to light a dnly regulatedi will, bequeathing the whole of the false mend icantV wealth to the Academy of Paris Secton of Science. : ' A correspondent — <; The Bocle" — /m a letter to the Dnnedin Evening Star on the Prumier'a Exhibition pppeeh, says:— "While Mr Stout told \ < \ • Ms' 'Wellington fiwdience of the inf '■■cto&mns; population, railways, traffic, . iand inxprovements; ,m - yaritius iways^ he avoided giving a single figarti from ij£i/(tlie.de.bit,si<ie|«fjfche -ledgfir. He did not tell them that 500.000 people • owno* something like £34.000,000 of a public debt, and that the jprini 1 ' cipal merchants m New; Zealarid are' , insolvpnt, or fast drifting m that dfre'c ls ' „'■'. tiqn; that, almost every thing available is mortgaged, land, hoiwes cattle, etc., etc. ; that, m fact, we are only living ; here on sufferance; the real owners of the 1 estate beihe our creditors at Home. .No wonder there is 1 depi'es,-? won, caused by our being heavily handicapped. . Every man, woman; 1 and child is yearly taxed to the extent of £7 per bead, the result oi exjrava■{v and blun<ierj|ng . Government. Had .1 the same, incentive as the Premier 'l.,- 60u1.d draw a picture as black as his is white, and probably . w^th m >re truth m it . But for the present I nope enough has been said to f set earnest men thinking. The. Pall Mall Gazette savs:j— An. experiment which should be high ■ • interening to the pu blip at j large recently took place at the Thames at : Westminster. Several persons, in-, • . eluding a lady, a clergyman and ! military and tiaval office'-s, all clad m the garments of their everyday life, embarked m a small boat, and on arriving m midsti-eam proceeded to .jump m the. water. When there they appeared to be perfectly at their ea^e, and making no movement, rented calmly, with their heads appearing abo^e tHe ; surface. ' The explanation of ;the phenomenon was that the 'clothes worn .by these bathers were, made rof a fabric m which fine threads of cork ;werb .interwoven with other material. Mr Jackson, the inventor, is to be congratulated on the complete success of this ingenious device, whicli is a vast improvement on the unwieldly Boyfcon dre-s. Timid seia travellers can now equip ihemselves m , garments which, while being indistinguishable from those of ordinary niortals, will make death by drowing an impossibility.