Untitled

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5035, 14 May 1877, Page 2

An examination for provincial scholarships at Christchurch lately produced rather curious answers from some of the candidates. According to the h eal papers, on being asked to give an account of the examination, and of the manner in which it was being conducted, one of the candidates wrote thus : “Rear Mother, — We have had two days' examination, and have dined at the Clarendon.” One whose tendencies were undoubtedly classi-

cal and yet mystic, gave a list of the heathen deities mentioned in the Bible, thus: —“ Jupiter, Minerva, Neptune, Bagou, and Pagou.” A young lady candidate, with the peculiar state of mind common to her sex. somewhat prema* turely developed, was asked to name the engagements that had taken place during the Wars of the Boses, and naively described how princess somebody or other had plighted her young and ardent affections. Nor are the youthful candidates alone in such gauclicries . A gentleman who was striving to win the honor of a first* class certificate thus expressed himself on the subject of electricity:—“A galvanic battery is a machine composed of zinc and electricity, and when water is poured in at one end the electricity flows out at the other.” As a final example, a sample of Latin construction may be given, which is at any rate ingenious. The English sentence given 1 was —“ The Consul spoke for his family;” and it was thus rendered :—“ Consul radius nam ejus familia.” The Lyttelton Times of Eriday has a sub-leader intended to have sarcastic reference to this journal, in consequence of a telegraphic mistake rc the war news. In the same issue our | Christchurch contemporary gives its own view of the European situation, and in the most solemn manner hopes that war will continue, and become general in the Northern hemisphere —because such will increase the export of butter, cheese, and bacon from Canterbury, : as well as raise the price of these articles. Like Mr. Middlewiclc, the Lyttelton Times hopes doubtless in time to be able to salute a • pig as the author of its fortunes.