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Manawatu Standard, Volume XII, Issue 1722, 1 June 1886, Page 4

A good many years ago.saysjEgles, the chief Secretary of the day, being greatly occupied with public business and having to attend some official en-c tcrtainment m the evening, made arrangements to dress at the Treasury. He had got so far as his patent lea theis,hU trousers, and frilled shirt, when the terrible discovery was mad« that the collar button was wanting. The orderly who wa* acting valet was equal to the oecasiou, and goon came to the rescue with Hannah from th»* basement story. Armed with needle and thread *he soon attached the button, but wheu that was done ■he found she had no scissors. Standing on tiptoe to bite off the thread, the great man started back in^snrprise, a« the girl's month was so close to his chin. Shi* severed the thread and ran from the room, the startled Minister as he struggled into hi? Windsor coat muttering, " I thonjrjjt she was going to kiss me." "Witfiin six month* lhat ready-witted youngj woman was an asylum uurse at £75 a year. That the Scotch are a real live people goes without saying. The wenderiul progress made by Scotland during the last forty years speaks volumes m favour of the vitality of its children. In 1841 the popnlatioh' of Scotland was about two millions and a half, and it is now nearly four millions. According to the well known statistician, Mr M. G-. Mulhall, Scotland possesses morn wealth for population than England, and though so poorly gifted by" nature, she mnks as one of the richest countries m the world. "We inny," observes Mr Mnlhall, "search European' annals since the time of Alexander of Macednn, and we shall find nothing to equal the rise of Scotland "during- the past forty years." 'J.tiS also a remarkable fsicfc that the criininHl convictions m Scotland siuce 1840 have declined nearly 50 per cent., renul ting m the closing during the .same period of sixteen prisons for Want of occupants.

An amusing 1 incident occurred at one of the receut elections m the Midlands. Two rustics who went to vote for the Liberal candidate took halters with them, each expecting to bring back a cow. Before quitting the polling place, they asked the returning officer whether they could make a selection from the animals .m a field close liy ; but he confessed his inability to advise them m the matter.

. A .curious' and interesting 1 discovsry is rejK>rteil to have been made m Columbia, which, if confirmed, will b"' valuable' to Burgeons. A shrub, which is called there "aliza," exudes a jnice which is so powerful a nemnstatio tbit when a knite is smeared with it, and used for opeiating purposes, the largest vessels may be severed without, any "hemorrhage. It is also statpd m the South American medical journal <h»in which we quote that hemorrhage ftpistaxis ? ) is produced by inhaling the scent of the female plant. — Lan\ ctt.