MISCELLANEOUS.

Mt Benger Mail, Volume 17, Issue 854, 5 September 1896, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

The royal maids of honor have a salary of between £3OO and £4OO per annum, and during the time they are in waiting, each about two months in the year, they reside in the palace, and usually take their meals at the royal table. At the Pimlico army clothing factory an ingenious machine simultaneously weighs and measures each piece of clobh, while another machine tests the breaking strength of small samples. Scraps of scarlet cloth are boiled to see if the dye is permanent. The expression "a grass widow"* has several fanciful explanations; bat is most probably a corruption of the French expression, veuve de grace, a widow by grace or courtesy—that is, a woman who has left her husband or has been deserted by him. "Posthaste" recalls the days when everybody who was in a hurry and could afford the expense travelled post—that is, with relays of horses at the end of every five or ten "miles of the journey, the fresh animals thus enabling greater speed to be made. There are several vessels among Liverpool's cattle fleet that carry with perfect comfort and safety 1,000 head of cattle, and the average loss all the year round is but one-half of 1 per cent., or, in other words, one beast out of every *2OO dies on shipboard.

It. is 900 years ago, says the ' Lady-,' since the fork made its appearance in Europe. Like man, it was born a fdatherless biped, and each has worked out his own evolution, the man into being on two legs and two wheels, while the fork has developed extra prongs. " By the holy poker " is a popular abbreviation of an oath which became common during the Crusades. "By the holy sepulchre" was in the mouths of all Englishmen during the two centuries that the Crusades went on.

A medical commission examined not long ago into the cause of the alarming increase of insanity in Ireland, and came to the singular conclusion that tea-drinking was a most potent factor in inducing the prevalent type of melancholia. "To haul over the eoals" recalls the former legal custom of trial by fire, the accused walking barefoot over a bed of glowing coals, and his innocence or guilt being deduced from the'condition of his feet after a certain number of days elapsed. Bishop Wallis is an accomplished Maori linguist—in fact, he rather prides himself upon his skill in this respect. On Sunday, at St. James's Church, Lower Hutt, he preached in the Maori tongue. —' New Zealand Times.'

A notable Maori woman, known all over the Taranaki coast as " Old Kate," died at Waitara last week, her age being stated at over 103 years. She is popularly supposed to have been the cause of the Taranaki war of 1860, through obstructing a survey. An elderly man, who was refused assistance by the Benevolent Trustees at Wellington, stated that he would let the general public know how he was treated, and finished by stating that he had swallowed seventeen dictionaries, and was quite capable of doing what he intended. The Auckland City Council have passed a motion to frame a by-law with the object of suppressing assemblages of men in the streets for the purposes of betting, this practice having become a great nuisance.

The Auditor-General has written to the Auckland City Council stating that the Council have no power to make a compassionate allowance of £75 to Mr Smith, of the City Club Hotel, whose premises were damaged by the bursting of a water main. The following letter, dated Mangawhare, Northern Wairio, August 23, 1896, was published in the Auckland papers:— M We, 1 the undersigned, saw to-day on the west coast, at the back of Mangawhare, at about twelve o'clock, a very strange sea monster about half a mile outside of the breakers. It appeared to be the shape of an eel, and reared straight out of the water to a height of about 20ft and then fell like a tree, sending up spray to a height of about 40ft or 50ft. We saw it rise about a dozen times, and the last time it rose it turned back* wards, showing a tremendous open mouth as it fell. It was black on the back and white underneath. It appeared to be about 4ft of sft thick. We watched for some time after, but saw no more of it. About a mile further out we saw a large whale sponting at the same time.—We are, etc., Jambs Evans, Charles Flavbll, Thomas Bryan.'? The currency question as viewed by a rational New Yorker, who, writing to a Dunedin resident on election prospects in his State, says" The'currency question is the one of the hour. The silver men demand that all debts, whether domestic or foreign, shall be paid in silver as well as in gold, and in such a ratio that the debtors will have an enormous advantage. The papers say we shall then be able to discharge a debt of Idol by the payment of 55c. This will be a fine thing for the owners of the silver mines. The question of the injustice in paying creditors at that rate is scarcely alluded to in the rage for relief to the oppressed farmers suffering under mortgage obligation B.it There ■is in this question a serious cleavage, between the -East and the West, which looks rather otqinous for the future. j/Thje Republicans will go for higher protective dutifcs and ' sound money.'" When the poll for Wellington was taken at the jasb General Election there were 16,497 names on the roll, but, as provided by the Act, all those not voting were struck oil', and the number was greatly reduced. At present there are upwards of 15,000 on the roll, and tl e number is.daily increasing. Sundays: and fixed holidays . excepted, £20,000 worth of fiabaYe daily dragged out of the sea by the fish6|fnees of Great Britain. In Italy.there theatres in proportion to population than in any other country. Mr May " What character will you as sume at our masquerade ball ? " lyirs Maud " I think I shall impersonate my maid. I would so like to have my husband enjoy himself, you know." Uncle: "I'm just reading that l'rofcssor R has discovered microbes on a hundreddollar note." Nephew (medical student): " Lend me one. I would like to investigate the case myself." " What makes that hen in your back yard cackle so loud ?" " Oh, they've just laid a corner-stone across the street, and she's trying to make the neighbors think she did it."

Uncle Josh: " I see where some of them fellers that makes wheels say they have a bicycle plant that " Aunt Fanny: ' Land sakes! You don't mean to sav they've got to growin' 'em ?" " Say," said the fat man with the red tie, " that ain't a bad idea of Edison —a yacht with gas-bag sails, is it ? I wonder where he got it ?" " Probably," said the lean man with the yellow vest, "it was suggested to him by Dunraven." Mamma: "Did you have a nice time in the park ?" Boy : " Yes." Mamma : " What did you do?" Boy: "Oh, lots of things. Run on th' walks, an' made faces at th' pleeceman, an' dodged the horses, an' fired stones at th' 1 keep'off-th'-grass' signs, an' everything!" A prince went to inspect a rare collection ■of books in a little town. The mayor accompanied him. To his great amazement the prince discovered that all the books were placed on the shelves the wrong way about. " What made you arrange them in that fashion ?" " I could not permit the volumes to turn their backs on your highness."