MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 405, 20 June 1849, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

Lieutenant Munro, late of the Blues, who, suffered twelve months' imprisonment for the fatal duel with Lieutenant- Colonel Fawcett, of the 55th Regiment, is to be appointed riding master of the 7ih Hu-sirs. Steam Line-of-battle Ships. — The Lords of the Admiralty are so convinced of the utility of steam guardships, as tested in the successful i&sue of the trial of the Blenheim, that they contemplate ordering the construction of two line-01-hattle ships unon the screw principle of tlu most approved lines, and sending one to the Mediterranean, one to South "America, and one or oilier of those already adapt- d, to ihe East India station. Solicitors' Ciiargfs.— lt is staled that the isolators' bill of 'he South Eastern Railway contained 10,000 folios, occupied twelve months in taxation hefore the master, and amountpd to £240,000. Tl c Times says happily : " Cleanliness is the vaccination of cl olera."

The way Petitions are Signed. — At a Cluni^t meeting in Aberdeen, Mr. Shirron maie the following statement : — Mr. Cuffey was present in the Land Office when Mr. O'Connor cime in to ask what number of names were to the national Clurtisl petition. The reply was, tha. the signatures were "' less than two millions." On hearing which, M.. O'Connor said—" / have stated to the country that there will be five millions cf signatures at if, and I'll declare it! 'J hey will never count the signatures — they did not do so in the case of Duucombe's — and you all know that 'hat petnijii contained le>s than three millions, which was ihe num'u-r that it was represented to the countiy to contain." Tin: Prince of Wales in Disgrace. — At the -jnnual meeting ol the York Auxilialy to tne hlble Society, T. J. Bourne, E-q., one of the domestic agents to the ' Parent Socieiy, with respect to the disturbed state of ihe continent and the comparative- quiet which we have enjoyd in England, said he had been much stiuck with an incident which had occurred in the Royal Palace, as illustrative of the source whence the happiness of our own country is derived. He had h&d the case to which he alluded brought under his notice on good authority. Some time ago, Miss Ilillyard, the governess of the Royal Family, sreuig the Prince of WJes inattentive to his stu lies, said, — "Your Royal H.ghness is not minding your business, will you be pleased to look at your hook, an.l learn your lesson?" His Royal Highness replied that he should not. " Then," said the governess, " I shall put you in the corner." His Royal Highness replied that he should not learn his lesson, neither should he go into any corner, tor he was the Prince of Wales, and, as if t> show his authority, he kicked his little foot through a pane of glass. Surprised at this act of boid defiance, Miss Ilillyard, rising from her seat, said, — "Sir, you miusi learn your lesson, and if you do not, though you are the Prince of Wales, I shall put you in the cornei ! ' However, the threat was of no avail, the defiance was re-peat-'d, and that too in tie same determined manner as before, his Royal Highness breaking another pane of glass. Miss Hillyard, seeing her authority- set at nought, rang the bell, and requested that his Royal Highness Prince Albeit might be sent for. Shortly, the Prince arrived, and having learned the reason why his presence was required, addressing the Prince of Wales, and pointing to a footstool or ottoman, said, — " You will sit there, Sir !" His Royal Highness then went to his own room, and, returning with a Bible in'his hand, he said to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, — " Now I want you to listen to what St. Paul says about people who are under tutors and governors," and having read this passage to him, he adiletl, — ' It is undoubtedly true that you are the Piince of Wales, and, if you conduct yourself with propriety, you may some day become a great man — you may be a king, in the room of your mother; but now you aie only a little boy — though you are Prince of Wales, you are only a child, under tutors and governors, who must be obeyed, and must have those placed under them to ,do as they aie bid." " Moreover," said his Royal

Highness, " I must tell you what Solomon says ;" and he read to him the declaration ihat he wlu loveth his son chasteneth him betimes, and then, in order to show his love for his child, he chastised him, and put him in a corner, sajing, — "Now, Sir, you will stand there until you have learnt your lesson, and until Miss' Hillyard gives you leave to come out, aud remember that you are under tutors and governors, and that they must be obeyed !"

The America^ Harvesting Machine. — The peculiar ingenuity ol the American has supplied the want of labourers in a country where agriculture is canied on by wholesale, especially in cereals, by an instrument of the most singular and elaborate construction. This machine is drawn by sixteen or eighteen horses, attached to it laterally, so as to work clear of the standing grain, and who move the whole fabric at a moderate but steady walk. A path is first cut with the cra>lle on one side of the field, when the machine is dragged into the place. Here it enters ihe standing grain, cutting off its bends with the utmost accuracy as it moves; folks benea'h prepare the way, and a rapid vilnatoiy motion of a great number of twoedged knives eff-ci the o' ject. The stalks of the grain cmi he cut as low or as high as one pled es, but it is usually thought best to take only the heads ; afterwards, the standing straw is burned or fed off, upright. The impelling power which causes the great fabric to advance, also sets in motion the machinery within it. As soon as the heads of the grain are severed from the stalks, thew pass into a receptacle where, by a very quick and simple process, the. kernels are separated from the husk*. ThV.ce al! goes into a lannimr machine, where the chaff is blown awa . The clean grain falU into a small bin, whence it is raised by a screw elevator to a height that enables it to pass out at an opening to which a bag is attached. Waggons follow the slow march of the machine, and the proper number of men are in attendance. H.ig alter bat; is renewed, until a waggon is loa led, when it at once pioceeds to the mill, where the grain is soon converted into flour. Generally the lusbandman sells to themnler, but occasionally lie p.iys for making the flour, and sends, the latter off, by railioad, to Detroit, whence it fin is its way to "Europp, possib'y to help to feed tite millions of the O.d World. Such, at least, was the course of trade the p.ist season. A* respects this ingenious machine, it remains only to .say that it harvests, cleans, ami bags from twenty to thirty acres of heavy wheat in the course of a single summer's day. Al'o^pther, it is a gigantic invention, well adapted to meet tlie necessities of a gigantic country. — Cooper's Beehunter.

Sharp Practice — Scene at Chambers. — A client ot mine had his declaration on a Ml ot exchange (iemuned to, because instead of the words "in the year of our Lord 1834," he had written "A.D. 1834." I attended ttie late Mr. Justice Linledule at chambers, to en.leavour to get the demui rer set aside as frivolous or leave to amend on payment of a shilling ; hut that punctilious though very able and learned Judge refined to do either. Your client, Sir," said he, " has commuted a blun !er, Sir, which can be set right only on the uMial terms, Sir. ' A.D.' Sir, is neither English nor Latin, Sir. It may mean anyth.ng or no'hing, Sir. If is plain, Sir, that here is a material and traversable fact, and no date to it, Sir;" and so forth; whereupon lie dismissed our poor summons with costs I That demurrer had been spun out by a pleader to an inconsiderable length in ringing the changes on that one objection ; and my client had positively to pay, out of his own pocket, between seven and eight pounds. — Warren s Social and Professional Duties of Attorneys. A correspondent of the Suffolk Chronicle recommends smearing" a trapped rat with phosphorised oil, and then turning him loose into bis hole, as a certain means of frightening away the other rats.

Cheating a Widow. — Ahandsome young Yankee pedlar made love to a buxom widow in J ennsylvania. He accompanied his de^ claration with an allusion to two impediment's to the union. " Name them," said the widow. " The want of means to set up a retail store." They parted, and the widow- sent the pedlar a cheque for ample means. When they met again, the pedlar had hired and stocked his store, and the smiling fair one begged to know the other impediment. "< I have another wife."