It is Town Talk

Free Lance, Volume I, Issue 22, 1 December 1900, Page 17

It is Town Talk

That Kruger's head, on Transvaal coins, is now being sold in Wellington. That rumour states that the vacant Attorney-Generalship is almost as good as filled. —That the Government will soon be giving Marconi's wireless telegraph system a trial in this colony. —That Wellington has had an active lady canvasser in theatrical business " doing " the city this week. —That inviting one's friends to a golden wedding by newspaper advertisement is rather a new idea here. —That a sporting female who made money at Christchurch found on return that four of her nice crisp notes were bogus. —That a New Plymouth man, pricing some land lately, said he had no money, but based his faith on four tickets he had in Tatiersall's sweep. That a certain "somebody" at a recent political social spent most of the evening industriously manicuring his finger nails. A matter of habit, apparently. That Dunedin artillerists are laughing consumedly at the joke of the Defence Department in sending them a 50-year-old gun from one of the Auckland parks to drill with. —That the Mines Department is rightly insisting on the rigid observance, by dredge-owners, of the life-protecting regulations. Buoys, belts, and lines must be supplied to workmen. — That, according to Beetham, S.M., constables and others who obtain " tote odds " from a bookie, in order to obtain a -conviction, are as liable to be gaoled as the layer— the Act doesn't protect them.

— That " ohl providers'" was the linoliar's way of spelling " olla podrida " in one of our journals the other day. — That the public are beginning to kick hard against being shunted into cattle trucks when travelling on holidays. —That the soldiering industry is going to be a big thing in this colony. And it will cost a nice penny to keep it up. — That, according to a Masterton agriculturalist, the codlin moth is now devoting its attention to the fragrant rose. — That re a certain gilt-edged marriage a week or two ago, paterfamilias didn't give his son a cent — said he'd get the whole show some day. — That a lady who attended an "At Home " here not long ago, and was introduced to her one-time housemaid, hasn't got over the shock yet. — That the Arrowtown Bench has convicted some church art-unionists for raming an easy chair and a painted panel as works of art. — That the relatives of an unfortunate Wellington woman forebore putting her into an asylum until she manifested a perfect mania for spectacles — 104 pairs were found in her boxes. — Thac odes of welcome to the Duke and Duchess are now in process of manufacture. " Coi-k," unfortunately, rhymes with " York," but esthetic bards will keep that vulgar word bottled up, so to speak. — That a shrewd woman up North is working her selection with the aid of three other female Amazons on the profitsharing system. Mere man has no chance of a job there. — That a Carterton paper alleges that the manager of the Bank of New Zealand there gives every accommodation to a certain clique, but puts the '* screw " on others. Who has been refused an overdraft now ? — That one prohibition faddist has, during the last few months, visited fourpenny bars of hotels, disguised as a navvy, so as to acquire more knowledge of the working of the great "bung" business. — That magistrates believe there should be an option of a fine in indecent-language cases. They don't like gaoling first offenders, and, consequently, merely convict and discharge.

— 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 prominent citizen thrashed in mistake by two women on the Terrace looked on arrival at home as if he'd just emerged from a twenty years' war. — 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 a man accused the other day of " knocking his wife about," when charged with assault, urged as his defence that he had simply been •' reasoning with her !" — That onion is stiength, as not a few men in the crowd at the Supreme Court found the other ds<y. We wouldn't breathe a word as to the man who wore the onion. — That Christchurch people were extremely annoyed at the Palmerston Agricultural Association topping the record Jubilee Show entry list by a couple of hundred odd. — That a deserted husband, on ascer tain ing the address of his wife and her paramour, sent his three children along to them, sold his business, and tripped to South Africa.