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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 149, 24 June 1881, Page 2

■■■ - ' ' '-■' — ■ The Auckland Star thus describes the recent eclipse of the moon :— Her lunar majesty appeared smilingly above the eastern horizon just as Sol was shooting his level golden beams across the scene, preparatory to withdrawing his glowing countenance behind the distant' Waitakerci ranges. The satellite, clear and full, advanced, higher and higher up the heavens in pursuit. Then the contest commenced. The penumbra, in accordance with astronomical directions, came into contact with the moon's face at the proper time, and the shadow followed bard behind. Before 5 o'clock our attendant orb had begun to exhibit signs of distress, and at half -past 6 she was almost completely effaced. At this point she rallied. Putting out a fresh effort, she emerged gradually from the gloom, and before 9 o'clock she had triumphantly re-asserted her position, as queen of the night. During the period of " Totality " the sky appeared thickly bespangled with stars, but when the moon reappeared the great majority *' paled their ineffectual fires " in her resplendent presence. The eclipse seemed to have observers everywhere, and were the truth known it would doubtless be found that the expected celestial event had greatly to do with the phenomenon of sparsely attended church services Dr Wallis, in a letter to the New Zealand Times, complains very bitterly of the quality of the Parliamentary reports. After referring to instances of inaccuracy, he • says, in reference to aforesaid reports: "Onb is falser the other is misleading. I beg to say that I do not attribute tbem to malevolence, but oqly to sheer incompetence and, stupidity. I have long observed—^indeed it is notorious— that your reports of tfhat is said in the House are as unfair as ihey are imperfect. Ii do not say that your reports are lies, but that thty seem to me cooked so as to serve some personal or selfish purpose or the purpose of some faction or clique, and that they usually contain just exactly that Bmall amount of truth or half the truth wbich renders them mora misleading and mischievous than absolute and systematic falsehood." The railroad net, woven all over the globe, consists of 200,000 miles. Asia, Australia and Africa can claim only the fourteenth part, the other thirteen-fourteenths being nearly divided between Europe and America. The rolling stock' in use over this railroad net consists of 66,000 locomotives, 120,000 passenger cars, and 1,500,000 freight cars. 12,000 steamers and over 100,000 sailing vessels assist. The tonnage of these vessels amounts to over twenty million tons. Telegraphic communications is maintained by 500,000 miles of wire, of which about fiveeighths fall to Europe, two-eighths to America, and fully one-eighth to the submarine telegraph system. There are 40,000 stations, from which 110,000 dispatches are sent annually, or on an average over 30,000 daily. On the last day of the Adelaide' Birthday Meeting £6108 passed through the totalisators. The best dividend of the day was that on the City Handicap, won by Miss Harriet, the investors of £1 receiving ro less than' £20 6s. During ithe four days £21,410 passed through the machines, and the Club netted thereby!

The Right Honorable the Minister of Justice in the Dominion Parliament called an opponent "A foul, false, malicious, and a convicted slanderer and liar." "Tbo "Imported Governesses" are the rage just now in Brisbane. One of tbem had a big offer last week, but it was. looked i upon as "etealiug a march" by the lady ' wbo brought them out—but not for that purpose. Soldene Ins not a small mouth. A San Francisco paper speaks of her haviDg replied, to somebody 'fl question with a smile that opened like the Yosemite Valley on a fine May morning. The Australian "Insurance and Banking Record" says :— TakiDg the Government. Statist's first comptit tion of the census of Victoria just compiled, it appears that the 855,796 persons of all ages and both sexes in the colony possess average bank deposits of £23 15s per head." A well-known auctioneer in Wellington threatened ito bring an action for slander against an equally " well-known" contractor unless the latter apologised and handed over £100 to some local charity. The cause of the trouble is that the knight of the hammer had bfeen absent from Wellington, and the contractor had been telling people that he was afraid to come back. The contractor, however, " caved in," made an apology, ard deprived the lawyers of a glorious Court case by paying the £100 to a local charity. Here is the tale told by the " boots "of a leading Sydney hotel:—" I've been in this billet five years. Witch I started, I had £1 per week, aud not a shilling iv my pocket In those five years I've made £350u— aud what's more, I've made it honestly, every shilling of it. Into the bargain, I've got the title-deeds of a £750 house. Men, big swells, who threw me half-a-sovcrcigu or £1 when I first came here have since been glad to borrow a few poui.ds— rr even to get a drink from me: h Tls a mad world, my masters ! —Sydnty Bulletin. The British rough (says tbe Saturday Review) is probably actuated less by a spiri. of cruelty and ii justice than by a misguided sense of humor. Au incident at a fire as reported by a street loafer aptly illustrates the feeliog which seems to animate tbis class " On the roof," said he lo a friend, " was an old man among the flames. 'Jump, you stoopii,' I cried ; and jump he did, and brokf hi< blessed neck. I never laughed so much in all my life !" Atlas in the World writes :— I hear that, oue of the mnst remarkable pictures in the coining Academy will be a portrait of two sisters by an eminent painter, and that the mesb noticeable feature iv the portrait will be the young ladies' hair. It may interest some people to know that these flowing tresses owe their gloss and beauty to be'ng Wahed every morning in champagne. At the present price of good brands, this new toilette appliance must be rather costly. But perhaps after" the wihe has done its duty it is rebottled, to be again used, The late Duke of Cambridge had a queer habit of thinking aloud, and particularly manifested this singularity during the performance of divine service. In the preliminary phrase from the pulpit, "Let us pray," he would add muttoringly and unconsciously "by all means," "very proper." :He- would respond : to the commandment "Thou shalfcnot steal," "Certainly notvery wrong to steal ;" and " Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day' received a commendatory response— " assuredly very right." It is recorded that on one occasion, when " prayers for rain" were about to be offered up, he exclaimed, "No use, no use ; the wind's easterly." We have heard a very laughable storj which emanates from a small town betweei Dunedin and Oamaru, where tbere jives » man who appreciates cheap coal, and whos< mode of securing it, is one more illustration of the prt. verb, " necessity is the mother oi invention." Engine drivers are a hearty race of men, and it was on this fact that tht " inventor", to whom we refer baaed hi? stratagem for obtaining cheap fuel. H< fixed a wooden image of the "Aunt Sally" pattern, close to the railway line, and itt comical aspect so tickled tbe fancy, of the engine-iriver that he invariably threw Bomr choice lumps of coal at it, which our "friend in need" picked up when the locomotive wbf out of sight. This is how an accomplished society renorter, on a Dakota Territory paper, gave his reader? an idea of a social gathering with thia description of the costumes worn by tbe ladies at the party : "Mary Monroe, red frock white sack, and bair bunched ; Emma La trobe, yellow dress and high-heeled slippers; Marion Willougbby, some kind of thin stuff, white, and tied up with blue tap?; and hair frizzled; Jennie Murchinson, black clothes and a feather in her hair; Ella Wexford, red hair and grey suit flat ip front and stuck out behind; Pauline Tresley, bigger'i. a tub, and dressed to the top branch; she had on a velvet outfit a mile long, and sixteen rows of teeth on her gloves; her bair was » dead yellow, tied up like a bun, and a lot oi vegetables in it; Florence Ross green dress flipped with velvet, and hoisted up at tht side with a white check-rein; Vinnie Hammersley white net work with red streaks, walked with a limp, and bair frescoed." A Burmah paper reports a case wbich is probably unique in the annals of law. . A tattooer, named Sayah Oung Ban, offered to tattoo three Burmans with a certain device which would render it impossible for any om to hurt them with sticks or stones, or to bind them with corda. They accepted the offer, paying four rupees and f urnishiDg an offering of cocoanuts and plantains for the Nats. To render the charm effectual it was necessary that the tattooing should he done on a running stream, and for this purpose the party went into a boat lying on the Kyouktan Creek. When the operation was finished Oung Ban and another tattooing professor who were with bim told their dupee that they were quite safe; tbat even if bound with corda and thrown into the river no harm could befall them, as the cords would nn doubtedly come adrift themselves. Two or three dupes were very sceptical about this, but tbe third said that if Sayah were sure they could try it on him. Oung Bah then bound tbe man hand and foot, and pushed him off the prow of the boat into the creek, there about 10ft. deep. They watched for his speedy re appearance, but were disappointed naturally. Getting frightened at the poor man's lengthened stay at tha bottom, one of tbe Sayabs, Taan Win, made off and has not since been heard of.

The Japanese man-of-war Ruijo is still at Jlobart. « Society" is delighted, for the vessel carries a whole ship-load of officers — One for every girl in the city. The great ball at Melbourne Exhibition building resulted in a loss of £400 owing to the large expense incurred in decorating the hall. However, tho decorations will serve for the festivities when the Princes arrive. Mr F. R. Spofforth, the " demon bowler," did a plucky thing the other day. A horse attached to a waggonette, with a young lady in it (in the vehicle, you know, not in the horse), bolted furiously. "Spoff" caught the trap, got in at the back, and pulled the brute — that's to say the horse— up just in time to save the occupant from a smash. The fair one is a Sydney lady, and that she is beautiful "va sans dire." We trust soon to be supplied with further information, so that we may be enabled to wind up the story in the orthodox manner.— ty''"*-" Bidlttin. Those who heard Mr Varlcy, the Evengelist, preach when on a tour through the colonies, do not require to be told that his style is vigorous. He lately, according to the writer of " Town Talk " in tho Argus preached a sermon in Mr Spurgeon's Tabernacle on the occasion of the London butchers' fiftieth jubilee. Apparently recognising tbat the little weakness of butchers is gambling, he grappled vigorously with the matter. Of the bookmakers who infest the meat-mar-ket, it appears, like bluebottle flies, he is reported to have said, "If you would knock half-a-dozen of them over, ray beloved brethren, Iwill gladly pay any fines that may he imposed upon you for that virtuous action " This advice seems to me a little strong, but I daresay it was justifiable. The butchers ought to know what is meant. Some of those whom the seductive advertiFementsof the "Rodanow Watch Com pany " induced to speculate their money in the purchase of watches are beginning to receive replies to their communications, but the fortunate ones are only those whose letters happened to have reached their destination after the arrest of the swindlers who designed the plan of operations. About the end of December last Mr B. Braun, of 83 King-street, Sydney, forwarded au order for a Rodanow watch,* addressed to the Company, iv Boston, and accompanied by a sum of money. By the last mail Mr Braun had the satisfaction of receiving from the dead-letter office the letter he had forwarded, together with its contents. His letter was returned by the postal authorities in America marked "Fraudulent. "— " Sydney News. " The LyUelton limes of Friday last has the following :— A most alarming incident, but one of a character which fortunately is not of frequent occurrence, took place yesterday. Mr Beatty, proprietor of the Palace Hotel, and his guests were seated at luncheon, when a loud explosion was heard, shaking the room, and blowing a large coal fire completely out of the grate. This was accompanied by a bliuding flash of light. The burning coals, which were pretty liberally scattered about the legs of the luncheon party, tended to increase the alarm which was naturally felt, and for some little time, none of those present were enabled to appreciate what had happened. A subsequent examination led to the discovery of tbe fact that a bottle of brandy had been placed at the back of the grate, either for the purpose of concealment, or as a practical joke, and tbat this had been exploded by the heat of the fire. The blazing spirit was forced through the crevices of the mantel-piece and about the fireplace, but the chief force of the explosion seems to have gone up the chimney. Hence those in tbe room escaped injury, though one lady was seated right in front of the grate. Perhaps the most pathetic epistode of tbe recent catastrophe at Nice was that of which one Giovanni Bettoccbio, a master saddler of Turin, was the hero. This unfortunate man. having been summoned to Nice by some busi nees engagement, took with bim thither Lis only daughter, an intelligent child of seven. to whom he was passionately attached, and Whose fondness for music prompted her to pprsuade her father to purchase seats in the doomed theatre for tbe performance which terminated so tragically. He secured places io the front row of the gallery, and was occupying them with his little girl when the alarm of fire rang through the house. Snatching the child up in his arms, he erdeavored, and socc3Ssful!y, to break throueh the panic-stricken crowd to tbe gallery door; bnt dwriner the struggle his darling was torn from his grasp. By an almost super-human effort he contrived to re-enter the gallery, by that time plunged in all but total darkness, and, while groping about among the overthrown seats, caught hold of a little girl, insensible from fright, whom he earned out into the street, fully believing her to be his own daughter. She proved, however, to be a strange child. Hastily setting her down upon the pavement, he desperately fought his way for the second time into the burning theatre, from which he never again emerged alive. His charred corpse was found, two days later, among the ruins of the gallery stairs The stenographic machine, which was presfuted on March 11 to the Societe d Encouragement, meeting under the presidency of M "Dumas, is a small instrument, about 1 foot and a half long and 1 foot wide, _ placed on a stand 2. feet high, on which it is easy to play with both hands. The number of elementary signs is only six, which by mutual combinations gives seventy-four phonetic letters. It has been worked with astounding velocity, reproducing the words pronounced by a man reading a passage from a book. The limit of velocity is stated to be 200 words in a minute, which is more than sufficient, no speaker having uttered more than 180. The signs are very neatly printed on a paper band passing automatically under tbe types. They can he read by any person conversant with the peculiarities of the system, which requires the teaching of a very few months. The work of the stenographer is more difficult, but m little more tban a year he can be educated; Women and persons who have an acute and correct hearing can practise it with success. Blind people, generally having very delicate hearing, will be most useful, the reading and translation being done by other people. The sarre machinery is available for every language in existence. The system is so perfect that it can be used for reproducing a language tbat is neither spoken nor understood by the operator. But under such circumstances the orator must speak slowly and in a very distinct manner. Tbis machine WBB worked by a young lady belonging to the stenographic staff of the Italian Senate, Where the machine is in constant use.