MAIL NOTES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4384, 8 April 1875, Page 3

MAIL NOTES.

The Dundee Advertiser says that Netherley, like otherplaces, has been visited by the heaviest snowstorm felt for many years. On a late occasion the local postman did not make his appearance at his usual hour, but his nonappearance at his usual hour did not create any alarm, until a traveller who had passed the dreary and exposed road between .Stonehaven and Netherley brought the news that the postman had passed the toll-bar and taken the open moorland section of the road at his usual hour early in the afternoon. As it was now nine o’clock, and the wind had risen to a hurricane, great anxiety was felt for his safety, and five or six stalwart fellows, rolled up in their mufflers and armed with sticks, set out to look for the missing postman. This search was a most arduous one, for the snow rose in sheets of blinding drift. Nevertheless they pushed on, examining every ■wreath and corner and black speck for a cohsidcrable distance on each side of the road, as also every lonely dwelling, but without success. To make their search complete they pushed on through the sheltering woods of Ury towards Stonehaven, and at midnight reached the toll-house, which gave forth a cheerful light. On entering they found a happy party playing at cards, with the pnstman—mails and all—seated in the midst. The functionary, considering discretion the better part of valor, had made no attempt to reach his destination. The postman, who did not regard his deliverers in a very friendly or thankful light, delivered up the letters to them, and, leaving him in his snug quarters, they took the hill again, reaching home at an early hour in the morning. “ Easting girls” have been common enough in Europe of late, but a dog in a trance is a novelty. This phenomenon is a Parisian spaniel, which has been sleeping ever since the 11th of November, thirty-two days, when it had been engaged in a hard day’s sport. At a meeting of the subscribers to the Edinburgh Infirmary lately, a proposal to elect two ladies as managers was rejected by 150 to 110.

In order to prevent the accumulation of pestilential matters in the river Garnock, the Kilmarnock Town Council is considering the propriety of storing 40,000,000 gallons of water in an old quarry, to be used in flushing the river channel in summer.

There are certain tribes who bury their dead by exposing them on the branches of trees. A few mornings ago some soldiers discovered a package hanging from a tree, and apparently enveloped in toy balloons ; on further examination the parcel was found to contain the dead body of a new-born child. Later in the day the body of a woman was found in the Seine ; on calling where she lived, the police discovered the poor woman kept a toy bazaar ; and her books related she had just attached the child to a balloon, hoping it would he able to join its Father in heaven. A judgment worthy of Solomon has been rendered by the tribunal of La Domhes. A debtor gave his bill for 150 francs, payable on “St. Fortunat’s Day.” As no such Saint exists in the calendar, the day for payment could not, therefore, ever arrive. The Judge decided that after examining the Calendar of Saints, the name of the one in question could not be found, nor had the Court anything to do with that ; the Church had appointed one day in the year, Ist November, as the anniversary of all the Saints, and the bill thus fell due at that date. Halo accordingly. As mementos of critical moments two pistols lie on Prince Bismarck’s table— those of Kallmann and Blind. It was the latter, says the Posener Ztihmg, which recently went off accidentally during a Parliamentary reception at the Prince’s house. The revolver of Blind is a present of Hen- Delbruck’s, who had purchased it at the regular auction of objects sequestered by the Court. In the same way the Prince tried to get Kullmauu’s pistol. He addressed his request in the first instance to Herr Budel, the State Attorney, who, finding he could not give it up on his own responsibility, applied to the Finance Chamber at Wurzburg, and the latter in its turn, referred to the Ministry of Finance at Munich, which finally decided that the pistol might be handed over to the Prince at the market price of such articles. Thus the Chancellor came into possession of Kullmauu’s murderous weapon, and the Bavarian treasury of 1 thaler 20 silvergroschen. It is said that M. Thiers would like to unburden his mind by writing a reply to certain disagreeable allusions, and direct aspersions upon himself, which .appear in the documents read at the Amim trial.