PICKINGS AND CLEANINGS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 266, 28 February 1877, Page 3

PICKINGS AND CLEANINGS.

ECHOOL-EOOM "W^SDCVT.j. Repeated experiment- lias proved that in school-rooms lighted by windows on both sides, t!ie children sufilr mure or less from injured vis:on, and so important J:j»3 t;c subject been considered in Germany that a law has lately been passed forbidding such windows in schools. ADVA>:Ci: OF TH3 SAIIOAXS. In a recent letter from Tonga to the Auckland Star the writer says : —* £ The Tongans are now* beyoud question the most intelligent islanders of the Pacific, and their mode of li-'s is more and mare asslmil sting itself to t!;;.t of Europian?. iving (Jeorg; is having a magnificent pulnee built at Nukualone. Tfe i* to cost £3300, ami is being constructed of Australian hardwood. The king has given the Itev. Mr. Baker a commission to purchase £I2OO worth of furniture in Sydney. The Auckland limber which has been sent here is by no means uniformly good. Some of it has turned out wretchedly, and many of the Tongans swear they will never order another post from ISTew Zealand. Your timber merchants will perceive from this that it is very poor policy on their part sending their refuse down here. AVe know bad timber from good as well as they do at Lyttelton and Port Chalmers, and if you want to trade with lis you must treat us " all same as white men."

ISLCE-GUMS IX ITALY. An Australian, when visiting Europe by the overland route, will see in Italy more blue-gums than ever he taw smith or the s line. Hitherto its cultivation has been the work of amateurs ami experimentalists but henceforth the work is-to be taken in hand as a national one. The Italian Government has determined upon giving away supplies of slips and plants to all applicants : the tree is to be grown along the boulevards of the cities and the various lints of railways Throughout the kingdom. Landholders find that it is a profitable tree and are sure to respond to the invitations of the Government. ; JOHN COLLINS. English visitors (writes "ißgles") enchanted with the delights upon a hot-wind day of that seductive beverage known as "John Collins, I '' repeatedly ask—" Why John Collins !" The Daily Telegraph, in a pleasant gossiping ar.icle on Lirnnier's Hotd, answers the inquiry :—There are few now living to remember the first and most famous of Limmer's waiters, whose i:ai}ie is perpetuated on both sides of the Atlantic by a still favorite drink, in which gin, soda-wader, ice, lemon, and sugar are tile constituent elements : "ily nains is John (.'oiihis, lleatl waiter at iJ-nai-.-r's, Corner of Coiulaifc-streeilaimver-stwiafc ; Sly chief occupation i.- iiiling of brunmers For all the young gentlemen—iruquenters there. Peace be to the ashes of John Collins ! His name is better remembered than that of the inventor of the sewing macliine. A ■WEALTHY TSRIDTC. L >rd liuseberry, the handsome young noi.'l'-inan wlio married the only daughter of rise late Baron Meyer de Rothschild, will hp.ve the handling of the 33.000.000 dollars .inherited by his wife. He is a, Christian, twenty-nine years of age, and she a Jewess of the straigiitest sect. KIP VAIf "WrXKIiE. A contemporary says : We were shown by Mr. Cronipton a live lizard, which had come out of a log of iron wood whilst it was being chopped. The lizard is about nine inches in length, and appears to be none the worse for the many years of imprisonment it evidently has experienced.'' eve's curiosity. The following amusing story, wherein figure ladies of high local pedigree as well as a foreign Knight, who resides in Christchurch, is going the rounds of the Southern press. The scene is laid in the Christchurch Museum. Says the correspondent :— l: The Christchurch Museum possesses a statuary room, and among the many copies of classical works there displayed is a Yenus di Medici. A party of ladies, 1 aiders of ton. having heard so much of il>; perfections as the beau ideal of the female form, made up quite a little party, at an early hour, one morning, to study, admire, and compare notes. They saw, and criticised, and were unanimously in the opinion that there was no such very singular perfection after all, and expressed with consentient voice, the conviction that they could severally compare with the model, to no disadvantage. Thus far good, but alas, a gentleman of fpi'iiign accent had been in an subjoining lobby, and had overheard, and unable to restrain his feelings, burst out with 'lt ees imposseeble, I vill not believe it ontil I see se fats'. Tableau ! A rustle of skirts, and 10. the lady critics had incontinently disappeared."