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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 67, 18 March 1880, Page 2

An Irishman bedazzled by the appearance of a magnificent officer of hussars, turned awe- stricken to a companion, and whispered, " Begorra 1 shouldn't I like to pawn him 1" This being leap year the following extract from " Notes and Queries " 1856 may perhaps prove interesting to some of our readers •: — ' If a young lady should so far forget herself as to suggest a union between herself and a bachelor acquaintance, who should be uncivil enough to decline her proposal she ould thercu. on demand from him the gift of a new silk dress. But to claim this dress with propriety, she must at the same time be the wearer o£ a scarlet petticoat, which, or the lower part of which, she must exhibit to the gentleman, who, by the law of leap year, is bouud to present to the lady a silk dress to cover the scarlet petticoat, and assuage her displeasure at the rejection of her proposal. The New Zealand Accident Insurance Company (says the Herald) have had their first claim in the person of Thomas Brown, who wag injured at the Whatipu Mills Within a few hours after the man's arrival iv Auckland, he was in possession of tl c company's cheque as compensation for the injury. The company's prompt settlement is worthy of notice. The following incident happened at an hotel not a hundred miles from New Ply mouth, a day or two ago, and deserves to be kept for posterity. A party called for a glass of spirits, and the jolly landlord, as ia his wont, placed the bottle and a glass before his customer, iv order to allow him to help himself. After having filled the tumbler with part of the contents of the bottle, our, friend put down 6d in liquidation of his debt, but was astonished at receiving back one penny. In reply to an enquiry, the landlord informed him that he always allowed discount in wholesale transactions. The following appeared in the Auckland Herald of the lOlh instant: — Perhaps one of the biggest " booms," as the Yankees say, in | mining stock that has taken place for years in thi9 city and the Thames is that of the ! New Whau Company, which, during the last few days, has advanced at an unparalleled rate. Three weeks ago they were not worth more than 13s or 14a per share, and last night they closed at £3 7s 6d to £3 10s, sales having been effected at the latter figure. Shares in the Old Whau Company were sold freely in October last at 4s to 6s ; and as these old shares represent six of the New Whau, or present company, the real advance is from Is per share to 70a, a rise that has been seldom witnessed iv mining circles for I many years. The prospects of the mine are of the most encouraging character, and we sincerely trust that thej- may long continue so. Business on the Miniag Exchange was I very brisk, aud stocks iv all the principal mines have participated in the general improvement. One of the very funniest cases that ever appeared in the records of a civil Court is reported in the latest number of the London Graphic:—" A lady who has unfortunately a very shrill voice and little ear for mu9ic was summoned for ' vexing, troubling, and disquieting' the Vicar of St John's Parish Church, Hampstead. by joining in'the choral portion of the service 'at the utmost pitch of her voice,' the annoyance being so great that at one time he thought of closing the church altogether, and leaving the churchwardens to write to the Bishop. The defendant protested that she had no intention to annoy, her whole heart was in the services, and for 27 years she had sung in the church, aud no complaint was made until the choir came. She had never been complained of at other churches, and at the parish church they broke down a great deal more when she did not sing than when she did. The summons was ultimately adjourned for a mouth to see i£ the annoyance ceased, the defendant being liable to a fine of £5, or two mouths' imprisonment." The London Hospital authorities were on December 27th the recipients of a splendid Christmas Box. A lady was seen to leave a letter in the box at the porter's lodge, adI dressed to the secretary, which, ou being opened, waa found to contain £5000. The writer left no clue to her identity. A Califcrnian paper received by the last mail has the following :— " Captain Thomas O'Malley Baines, of Fenian renown, has gone to Australia by the steamer City of New York, for the purpose of raising a treasure of £60,000, buried by Fiank Gardiner, a notorious Australian bushranger. Gardiner, prior to his imprisonment, had buried the swag obtained by countless robberies about half a mile from the Fish River, in a clearing between Goulbourn and Bathurst, New South Wales. After his release he came to San Francisco, tho vigilance of the Australian police compelling him to leave his booty behind. Here be has become a total wreck. The only person who befriended him was Baines, and knowing that he had but a short time to live, he confided to him the whereabouts of the deposit, which is said to consist of gold coin, bills, and jewellery. He has furnished Baines with accurate plans and diagrams of the buried treasure, which is to go entirely to him, with the conditions that he shall provide for Gardiner during his lifetime,'*

xSurjpg the £Hinef||i rap§| SJLobo perajng lire tfofljifrry racis^rsX ' IJ^=' & \^^\ Miss Thomson is painting a large picture of the dofeuoe of Eorke's Drift, and for this piirpdde has tiad a miniature of Korke's Drift constructed in her garden". When ftiends Send Us copies of papers M contain fiora'etbinjr tbey wish,-.tiaparticy-_. tojfee, they willfHo ujfta f#orfto|jn%l wwjcb they desire t >«€riog«rb o'UrAltmAtion. We have , before n6w received iinmarked copies of papers, and spent tfme in Tooktnfr-thetTFnTrotl^to^n^fh^^ry-St^Je^ wherefore of their being sent, only to wonder Jin the cud what it could be they were sent for. Likely as not some day somebody on his dying -lieaPwill iFff^^'^EgjfestrsafcdiMfcua-jattiilioH-dollars In out 1 favor, and we shall never know of i| because the third^erson will be 80 to send ug; an unmarked n,ewspsp# containing the — Kome Subnet. ?• *' Ie j&Hij^L Tefegrpph says : — According to ou#tereyMHlg, from time to time, % wotikyleem that at evefjf place the membeWs&fS'^fhe Ministry have visited, the have deputationised them for the of asking some favor or another. stands out as the one exception to this persistent begging. The only instance that occurred here of a person asking for something frofri a Minister was that of Tareha, who applied to have fi native police man appointed to Omahu. Mr ilryc'e very properly refused the application point blank, saying that, as a rule, native policemen only spent their salaries in drink, and that they generally set a bad example to others. How different is thi3 to the late Ministry's administration 1 The sugar and blanketpolicy is at an end, and there is to be uo more sucking of lollies to the soft Soft Btrains of the concertina and jew's-harp. The Chancellor of the Exchequer having at the recent annual dinner of the Exeter Licensed Victuallers, pointed out the importance of temperance, aud advised them to show by their conduct that they were not insensible to the existence of the evil, the representatives of the trade have held a conference in the city, at which several speakers admitted the importance of making their houses victualling establishments in fact as well aa ia name. It was remarked that public-hdtlses possessed every facility for providing whatever refreshments customers might prefer. On January Ist the following resolution was unanimously passed: — "That in the opinion of this conference it is highly desirable that licensed victuallers should be impressed with the necessity of making the sale of victuals and non-intoxicating liquors, such as milk, tea, and coffee, a leading feature of their business." It is understood that a resolution in this spirit will be proposed at the annual conference of the licensed victuallars next month. Little EdieNeff, a flaxen-haired, seven year old Cincinnati girl, has a pet kitten that she carefully piits to bed every night in a closet. One morning recently, at about six o'clock, while it was yet dark, she was awukened by her protege jumping on the cover lid. She prose, and, taking it child fashion under her left arm, started out of the room for the cat's resting place. As ahe stepped noiselessly into the hall she came suddenly upon a roughly-dressed burglar, to whom she immediately put the question, " Who do you want, man ?" The stranger, startled at the apparition, turned and incontinently fled down stairs, followed as far as the head of the flight by the'little innocent, who stood there in bare feet with the cat in her arms, aud gazed in wonderment at the individual as he went down the stairs, four at a time, and vanished out of the front door. A military attache who lately returned to England has expressed his astonishment at the extent to which Her Maje&ty was informed. It seems that after dinner, to which he was invited one day, the Queen came to him in the Long Gallery, where it is the custom of Her Majesty to pass a short time after dinner with her guests, and began to question him in his work. To his ainnzenient, he found her better acquainted with the detail of his work, the typography of the country, the names of places, and dates, than auy oue at the Horse Guards, War Office, or India Office, and when he made mistakes he was speedily corrected. His opinion of Her Majesty was that she was the cleverest woman he had ever met. Not worth it. — • Well, how are you ? ' inquired a doctor, as he stood by the armchair of his patient, an old man, who was troubled with deafness. ( Oh, very bad!' was the reply; • I can scarcely hear a souud. 'Well,' remarked the doctor, 'you know bow often I have impressed upon you that you must give up spirits. Do that, and you will get all right. And away he went. A fortnight later he paid his patent another visit, and inquired after his ailment. ' You don't need to shout so, doctor/ said the old man irascibly; I have followed yonr advice, have given up my grog, and can "hear perfectly.' A week later the medical man paid his patient yet another visit, and found him almost stone-deaf once more. ' Ah,' said said the former, ' I suppose you have been indulging again?' ' Well doctor,' answered the patient, ' I must confees I have, for I didn't consider all that 1 heard worth a single glass of brandy and water !" The Oamaru Mail says : — " The prospect of oxts becoming even a greater drug in the market, owing to the vastness of the new crop and the large quantity of old oats still held, added to certain concessions made by the shipping companies, has had the effect of inducing a number of Canterbury farmers to ship parcels of oats Home. This should be welcome news to all holders of oats, as affording some amount of relief to an overburdened market. In view of the fall in prices which has been threatened in the Colonial markets, and the very evident determination of dealers to act in concert and to keep prices down to their own level, it would be well for our farmers to consider ■whether some means of shipping away a portion of the surplus stock of grain on their own account cannot be devised." [For remainder of News see Supplement]