It is Town Talk

Free Lance, Volume I, Issue 21, 24 November 1900, Page 17

It is Town Talk

— That there is a lively time in front of the Conciliation Board. — That Tokomaru holds a record with '60 births to one death during the past twelve months. — That a man who advertised for a wife a short time ago got replies from three -sisters and their mother. — That kerosene is being sold at the present time at a higher price than it was ■before the duty was taken off. — That the schoolmaster at Belvedere has quite enough to do without being -asked to act as postmaster also. — Tnat a black-haired lady who left Wellington for Sydney some five years ago has returned with cobwebby tresses of shimmering gold. — That as banks won't take mutilated .coins, pious tradespeople religiously flop them on to church collection plates with an air of great liberality. — That a Christchurch woman was told rby Beetham, S.M., lately to " always get her house rents in advance." She rejoined that she was lucky to get them at any time. — That the visitant of a local doctor told him she thought she had the phylloxera. Madame thought her knowledge of high sounding words would stagger him, and she was right. — That Ohura Eoad, Taranaki, must be in a pretty mud-pie state for one storekeeper to lose eighteen bullocks and thirteen pack-horses in four months. Go on the land, young man ! —That the relatives of a society youth intervened and prevented his marriage to .a rustic country milkmaid, who speaks 'orrid, and seldom wears boots. He is now sailing to Africa.

— That a notorious sly -grog seller in the Auckland district was shot in a liquor saloon at Klondyke a few months back. — That Fisheries Inspector Ayson is proving an enthusiastic official. He will put much salt upon many finny tails yet. — That that hardy old veteran, Captain Jackson Barry, is still lecturing in the North with all the vigour of a youthful Parliamentary debater. — That a Nelson man possesses a cow which thinks her weaned calf is part and parcel of him, and is extraordinarily affectionate in consequence. — That the Premier appears to work much harder during the recess than when the House is cogitating. There's no rest for the peripatetic politician. — That prohibitionists the world over went into ecstacies when Lord Roberts appealed to the British people not to fill his Tommies up with beer. — That the Wellington man who was able to take out a trout-fishing license, although in receipt of charitable aid, is the most humorous '• sponger " up to date. — That local tradesmen predict that poor people will suffer greatly owing to the passing of the Debts Recovery "Bill. A great many won't be able to get credit at all. — That it cost a gay Mastertonian a cool fifteen sovereigns in the shape of blackmail as the result of a twilight incident when up at the Paknerston Show. — That a certain comely but well-known widow, who went Home recently, will shortly be the bride of a London manufacturing chemist. — That according to a practical Masterton business man, Premier Seddon goes one better than the Bible. Latter prescribes six days' work a week, Seddon five and a half. — That hospital committees are pointing out what they consider the unutterable foolishness of Dr McGregors edict prohibiting the charging of " paying " patients in private wards. — That the handsome sum of £58 odd dropped in the hat the other day by the casual wharf labourers, for the benefit of Mrs Wilson (the drowned hulk-keeper's widow) shows how the poor help the needy. Where are the rich ?

— That, according to a Masterton agriculturist, the codlin moth is now devoting its attention to the fragrant rose. — That Wanganui rejoices because it can show more horses at the A. and P. Show than can Palmerston North. — That autograph tablecloths are the latest female craze in Wellington. People pencil their names on the white damask, and these are then embroidered. — That a certain lady appealed to for help in connection with the formation of a Prisoners' Aid Society haughtily said she didn't believe in pensioning criminals. — That a sprightly boarding - house keeper discovered in a discarded pair of mouldy knickers, found in the lumber room, when she took the premises over lately. — That the prominence attained by Maorilanders in the Boer war and other things lately may prompt the Queen to institute the Eoyal Order of the Huia Feather. — That a certain country paper didn't report a race meeting held in its own locality lately because the secretary (editor of its reptile contemporary) hadn't sent it a ticket. — That a local fancy goods man is endeavouring to secure the latest Scriptural toy from America — the model of a whale, inside which is a miniature Jonah reading a newspaper. — That, by giving his "forty-pounds-steal " cheque to the Otaki Hospital, M.H.R. Field really benefits the institution by .£BB, as there is the 24s in the £ addition from the Government funds. — That the newly-wedded wife of a somewhat eccentric city man had a most successful " spring cleaning " last week, finding money planted in all sorts of peculiar places right through the house. — That this good thing was heard to pass between two chums on the Quay — " I was mad to find the wife had bought another hat ! " " I'll be madder when my wife sees it, for she'll want to go one better ! " — That, as the example was set last week, not a few anti-vaccination people mean to take advantage of the conscientious clause of the new Health Act. This will be all right — until another plague scare comes along.