OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2895, 8 September 1909, Page 3

OMNIUM GATHERUM .

Senator Mtuzantini, the famous Spanish bull-fighter, has, during s career of 25 years, killed 3500 bulls with one weapon. - Intemperance is decreasing in Wales; there are now 40 parishes, containing in all 10,212 inhabitants, which have no public houses. A burglar who broke into a house at Loewen, in Prussia, has been traced through teeth-marks in a bitten apple be left behind him. A Swiss lady has just completed a journey of 10 years round the world, in which she worked her own way, only taking the sum of £5 with her. Simon Bildstein, of St. Louis, U.S.A., is now 100 years old. He dnuks on an aver-

age a -gallon of whisky a week, and both smokes and chews tobacco • At the conference of the Welsh Congregational Union at Pontardulais it was stated that one in every three of their pastors received less than £80 a year At the instance of the Hon. A. R. Guinness the Acting Postmaster-general has agreed to open the Greymouth Telephone Exchange for two hours every Sunday. It was Rtated at a recent meeting of the Strand Guardians that a patient at the Central London Sick Asylum who had been supplied with an artificial nose had sold it. The rogue's gallery for transatlantic liners (says an American contemporary) is

a brilliant idea. Suitably complete, it would sweep the ocean clean of professional gamblers. The proprietor of a fashionable New York , hotel has been condemned by the United States circuit court to pay a. fine of £200 j for having' imported a 1000-a-year French chef under contract. Street betting in Birmingham has caused the police to resort to all manner of devices to keep it in oheck-. A constable , disguised as a clergyman was on the lookout for some days. The microbe of smallpox, it is claimed, has been discovered in the course of bacteriological researches carried out at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Rio de Janeiro, j It is said to be of animal origin. | - A resident of Nelson, who has been occupied during the past 12. months in making a ■ tour of the world, said (according to the Colonist) that the Nelson streets were the worst he had seen since he left Siberia. The .Leicester Corporation is about to bring into use a new pattern of drain trap, as it has been discovered that many of the poorer inhabitants have been using the old patterns for saucepans or potato boilers. Whitebait have made their appearance in the Wangapui River, and a few small catches have been made. The fact that they are being retailed at 2s a. pint inda- j cates that fhey are not over-plent.rful yet. I Cartloads of fish are being taken from ! the Picton beach for garden manuring purposes. The small boys of the town are reported by the local journal to be making 6d a- sack by gathering up dead herrings. A young woman named Sdhmidt, whose hatpin injured a man's eye while she was alighting from a tramcar in Vienna, Causing him to lose the sight of it, has offered to marry him, and he has accepted her offer. A contemporary states that the process of Oaneoli-dating - the Statutes has resulted in unintentional but important amendments, one of which i 3 the reduction of the annual license fee for publicans in town districts i from £40 to £25. Chr'stian Eadeavot-rers from all parts of New Zealand will assemble in Wellington on September 7, 8. and 9 to hold one of the largest conventions vet held in this country Among the speakevs will be the Chinese Consul (Mr Hwang). At the School Committees' , Association banquet in Christchurch last week one of the speakers said '" he did not suppose that the sun on his beneficent course around the earth beheld a sturdier or more promising nation than th© New Zealanders." The English Miniature Rifle Association is promotim'g a competition for teams of 50 ' men in all parts of the Empire next year. I The Canterbury Association intends entering a team if it is able to comply with the conditions, which have not yet been received. In consequence of ruinous prices, growers in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire have started to plough up stiawberry plants and put the land back to ordinary cultivation. Scores of acres of strawberry plants are being ploughed in with the fruit still on them. Fifteen piec?s of skin were grafted from one leg on to the other of a boy who Bued in the City of London Court for damages against a motor *bu3 company. A cancerous^ disease called keloid supervened, of which only one previous case had been known.. A young donkey girl of Llandudno found on the sands a purae containing over £7 in gold and silver. She was taking the money to the police station when she met the owner looking for tho purse. The finder was rewarded with sixpence ! The residests of Kimbolton were | afforded an unusual sight a few days ago, when two Chinamen passed through the town from the back-blocks in search of work. They were carrying the orthodox swag and were in all respects, similar ' to swaggers The Disco's load of fißh from the Chathams amounted routrhly to ]5 tons, mostly blue cod and h&puka. The former were frozen and packed in cases, while the hapuka were loose On Monday the vessel discharged her freight and it was cairied away to cold-storage premises." American papers report that, although Mr Charles Varlen, an actor, suddenly became blind just before a performance at the Grand Opera House, Cincinnati, he tool; his part as usual, and it was not until after the performance that the audience learnt of his affliction. During the floods of February 27 and 28 some hundreds <,i tons of turnips were washed down tho Aparima River (3ays the Western Star) The beaches on North and South Riverton were strewn with these for many miles. Rabbits got a great clearing on the low-lying grc un>! The War Office announces that a number of King's and Queen's South Africa war medals an<l clasps for non-commis-sioned office-re and men who served with various Imperial &.nd irregular corps in South Africa, arc still awaiting claimants, whose addresses cannot be ascertained. A woman was found guilty at Sydenham last week of stealing a small sum of money, and was sentenced to 12 months' , hard labour in the Bathurst Gaol, it was

Stated that she had been convicted over j 200 times ' although only 36 years of age. Her,", first -offence was ..committed in .1901. Co-operative experiments " are being arranged in the Pahiatua district. A halfacre in the .north of the borough, the property of Mr Wakeman, is- being fenced and divided into six plots. Further experiments will be conducted on an acre of Mr J Matthew's property at Mangahao. i Advices received by the' mail indicate that action has been taken by a European • and. American syndicate of jewel merchants to secure the output from the gem mines in Ceylon, which will have the effect of increasing the price of sapphire*, I rubies, cat's eyes, Alexandrites, and other ! stonos. A lady entered a railway carriage on the Wairarapa line with two boxej andi a sugar bag. Nearing Feathsrstdne it. was foand that she possessed quite a menagerie, the bag containig a pet lamb, one box having canaries in it, and the other 1 two- sucking pigs. All reached Wellington safely. ' . Speaking at the Caledonian Society s ♦gathering in ■ Wangao4» last week, 'the " Hon. Trios. Mackenzie -tihat although | he .was to a large" extent a stranger to i Wanganui. 35 years ago .he camped for a ] week on the banks of the Wanganui River | whea he was en - route tP the "Parakaretu i < district. f We're .ill living the champagne life on o beer income,'* philosophised -'-Mi 4 Wilford at a_ creditors' meeting at Wellington the other day, ii£ corTVmeriting on the assertion | of a 'creditor that the', twjakuupt./had boen -• living very extravagantly. The philosophy," f hotveyer, Jid not appear- to give the .credit tors mijch .comfort. , . During the first three weeks in August the shelter department of the Salvation Army in Auckland supplied the following meals and beds : — 304 meals at Id, 192 at 2-d, 17S at 3d, 241 at 4d,. 336 in return for labcur, 365 on orders, and 247 tree; 976 beds at 4d, 114 in return for labour, 225 on orders, and 114 free beds. A desperate ' fight between outlaws and United States cavalry and other troojps ' took place near Ratia'n, the Philippines, last -month. It resulted in 'the death 6f Jikiri, the famous Moro chief, and the extermination of -his band. A United States private was killed, and three officers, and 20 privates were wounded. It is expected that a Diocesan Girls' ( High School will be opened in Christ- j church next year. Invitations were extended to the Kilburn Sisters tq visit Christchurch for the purpose of opening a school, and were accepted, and the sisters will arrive in Christchurch towards the end of the present year. The school will i be conducted on similar lines to St. Hilda's , School, Dunedin. • ' Mr James Sole, of Takapa, New Ply- \ mouth, celebrated his ninetieth birthday on ' August 28. He landed in New Zealand by the ship Oriental in 1841, in which vessel | the future Mrs Sole arrived. Mr and Mrs j Sole have been in residence at Takapa i for nearly 60 years, where (states the i Taranaki Herald) they are looked upon ; with the greatest respect by all classes ' of the community. Mr C. H. Green, M.L.C., of landra, . near Forbes, New South Wales, is building a 90-roomed mansion, which is being ' constructed on the most modern plan. On the estate is also being erected one of the largest «ilos i>j Australia, circular 'in shape, 45ft high, with a diameter of 420 ft. On tne top is a tank, to hold 750.000 gallons of water, which is constructed solely of reinforced concrete, containing- 80 miles of wire. The late Mr Whittle, wiho died recently at Awahuri, in his ninety-fifth year, had- , an adventurous career. He once took ft oargo of flour to San Francisco. It was in 1852, when the gold rush was at its height, and flour wa* selling at £112 a ton. He shipped the flour at Melbourne, but when h« arrived at his destination the large pupplies of flour brought in caused a drop in prices, and he made a great loss on the shipment. An eel (tuna nui) weighing some 201b. and measuring- between five and six feet, was caught on Sun-day (says a Dominion correspondent) in the Mangapouri creek, a stream one can almo6t step across. Re- ' cently some local Chinese endeavoured to catch a similar " big fellow." but the ordeal, after the eel was hooked, seems to havp proved too much for the Oriental fishermen. At all events, they failed to land the creature. Munshi Ahdu.l Klarim_ diod recently in Agra, at the ag° of 46. He was an interesting figure, having- been the chief of the late Queen Victoria's Irxdian servants. It Ti .Mi-Jii! who taught her how to speak and write Husdustarii. and Le was among- ; the little crua'-rl of honour who watched over the body of his Queen. He had his ; rewards in a liberal pension on which h© lived in comfort on his return to India. ■ and be was a companion of the Victorian Onder as well as of tho Indian Empire. ; Cseful hints for those who arp about to be run over were given in the Wandsworth County Court recently by Mr Arthur O'Connor, a professional strong man. Mr , O'Connor v.-as cycling in the street, when , a baker; 1-oivv fart 'cnoekcl him down, i \s lie fell beneath the wheel of the cart i •

he considered what, was the beet thing to do, and in a flash fie recollected his graining in sustaining weightft*"on"~ his . chest. "I raised myself on my arms, sola .to take the strain of the weight on the muscles, of ' the arm," he said. ' : Thus I i^sayed my . «hS3t." . The wheel passed over his ohest a*»d* bujnpad off on the other side. Then Mr O'Cdhnor arose, sound in rib *n« , wind, and received the congratulations of the admiring 1 spectators. He was awarded £1 5s damages for injuries to his chin and his bicycle. A German workman recently fined at. one of our police courts (says the London Chronicle) probably considered that he nad a genuine grievance when he complained that, in addition to the fine, his compufecwy att>end*noe. at the court ha 3 lost him a day 'a pay. For they do these things better— at any rate, from the delinquent's point of view-rr-in the .fatherland. "For, 1 what may be described as a trivial offence, the. worker, ja noi compelled to attend .the, court, and v the amount of the fine _is , collected from him a* hia house by a I policeman. In the event of a more,6erkras, though" still comparatively venial, breech " ' of the law, (punishable by a short term of- -hnpTisoranen*, justke is satisfied -#• 4* works off . the time by instalments; on Sundays and holidays- ' . • ? • '