PARIS.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 419, 14 October 1876, Page 2

PARIS.

(FROM OCR OWN COIIKBSPOXnaNT.) The Funds and the thermometer are running a race ; as yet the five per cent! have much the best of the struggle, as they have risen to 107. while the thermometer has not succeeded in reaching ninety’; but this figure is in any case higher than Spanish Bonds and Turkish obligations, in which ladies, even of a certain age, have had the imprudence in France to largely speculate ; there was a time when Doreas institutions knew nothing but the sweet simplicity of the three per cents; but the Empire, apart from other misfortunes entailed on French society, infected the fair sex with a positive mania foe becoming rich by speculating in public funds au<l stocks, and the remnants of the old Adam are still but too visible. Well then, the French ar« proud of the two figures 107 and 90, as already mentioned ; the first indicates national prosperity aud the second promises a fine harvest. Our neighbours, the Prussians, have tried hi vain to raise a loan of 120 millions, but when the town of Paris asked last week for the same sum, the bankers offered her iu one day, sixty times that amount. A host of cooks, coachmen, costermongers, and clerks, spent a whole night waiting outside of the town-halls, of which there are twenty in the city , their turn to subscribe; the crowd was greatest at Montmartre and Beeleville, two quarters reputed to be inhabited by penniless red republicans, who are sup|>osed to occasionally feast upon, cold clergymen sud hashed royalist. To while away the tedium of waiting, the men played call's on the pavement, by the light et a tallow candle, imbedded iu some sand ; the women knitted as if they were at their own fire sides, aud the children brought their parents food front the nearest cook shop. Occasionally a fiddler appeared and sometimes a providence in the shape of a refreshment man, selling ices, at one sous the glass, which the purchaser emptied by his teeth, and collected the fragments by a twirl of the index finger inside the glass ; the latter then was refilled without further preparation, so the French do not stand on ceremony . At each town hall two policemen were sufficient to keep the crowd in order; people with pockets full of money are never eager for creating fights ; the next evening when the office doors closed ut live o'clock several persons had to return unable to secure a slice of the loan. There are not very nuiuy “awfully’ rich” men in France, but the masses have so much money, or securities, as to deserve the epithet of wealthy; the people are always working, ever devoted to saving ; if a sous cannot lie put by, a centime can, and so the " leetle" becomes in time the “muckle.” Front their earliest years, children are impressed with the duty of being economical, of trying to do without sujx-rfluilies, and to be satisfied w’ith a low priced, instead of a high priced commodity. It is by this scraping aud hoarding that France has now’ in her national bank two thousand millions of coin. This economy neither interferes with the comforts of home nor the pleasures out of door; the French have alone the knack of being happy over a dinner of herbs, and by their admirable science and skill iu cookery they’ make half the quanity of food go as far as the double in other countries, because they pel niit none of it to be lost and impart an appetizing flavor to every dish. Well then in spite of the war iu Servii, aud the rumours of further complications, we think of little else than passing the warm season in some country nook. The operations of the two contending armies would have been followed with interest, but the puzzling names, and unblushing fibs of our newspapers, have driven many to view the whole struggle as a hoax. The hecatombs during the German invasion have spoiled us for little wars. Theotlier evening on demanding from a newspapt r vendor, a journal with the latest intelligence, he asked me as a matter of course aud with the best desire to be obliging. “ which side are you for? If you wish the Turks to win, take any paper out of the left hand bundle ; but if you stand up for the Servians select one from the other heap.” Perhaps this classification of the sheep and goats wa« altout right. The Senate continues to play its fantastic tricks against the constitution it was chosen to defend, so the grave aud reverend seigniors -but not happily, potent, will be allowed rope enough, the Chamber of Deputies is occupied voting supplies at an express rate, so as lobe able to entcron the holidays, there is only an occasional pause to allow the Bonnpartist deputies to show’ the depth to which they have fallen, and to permit Gambetta to sink them still lower by his withering eloquence. These attractions do not. however, prevent every one interesting three sousin the new toy, generally called ■ a eric ; under every doorway this new- torture is sold, and recommended by eloquence in every form, “ Ladies and gentlemen, it is the most stupendous thing ever invented and the cheapest, it is the joy of infants aud the tranquility of families —only three sous,nothing, Mesdauies and Messieurs.” The cheap Jacks of Paris are making a golden harvest out of a Hat piece of crinoline wire set in a leaden socket; w’heu pressed between the finger aud thumb it emits a grasshopper c/ieXCl ick . For a good month, this toy, said to be of American origin, will be the pastime of Parisians, and then some other hobby will make its appearance. Last week quite a celebrity was buried, one Lion, the owner of the little pastry shop, near the Porte St. Martin ;he was the discoverer of the petit cake or brioche, that was sold for one sous, and despite the price of flour or tile reign of hard times, it never varied in price or volume. It was impossible to pass by the shop without buying two, each a mouthful, and where three buxom girls in white, worked like niggers, putting the delicacy smoking hot into a tiny paper bag. People had to form a queue before this establishment in cold days. Lion amassed a fortune exceeding a million and leaves a business worth as much more. This M. Lion also invented a cheap thermometer for half a franc, aud now-a-days all the good bourgeois consult one of these little instruments to ascertain if Paris be not as warm as Senegal. The annual distribution of prizes is at present taking place i i all the schools throughout the country ; boys and girls arc coming home for the holidays, from aud convents, and as town apparlincnts are very small and children rather noisy, you find married friends busy packing up and making arrangements tor a trip to the sea side.

. The Wellington Argus says : —Captain 1 Russell, Sir Donald McLean’s colleague in the representation of Napier, has certainly treated his constituents, his party, and the House with great discourtesy. By the last mail steamer he left on a visit to England, without, we believe, even informing his constituents of his intention, and without taking the trouble to secure a pair for the remainder of the session. Extraordinary Telegram. —An extraordinary telegram by Sir George Grey to the Secretary of State has been read in the House, as sent down by the Governor. It says :—“ Disturbances are imminent. Some threaten employment of Queen’s ships. I earnestly pray telegraph to prevent disturbances. Tixe Abolition Act should be disallowed if Provincial Legislatures are not consulted.” The Wellington Argus says : —Fifty thousand people are prepared to pay onethird of their passage money from the State of Pensylvania to Australia. Such is the announcement made to the Government of New South Wales by Mr Morris, its executive commissioner at Philadelphia, who adds that information respectthese colonies is being sought for by , number of persons, and that “ many first-class mechanics, mostly farmers, with from £2OO to £lOO are anxious to emigrate at their own ™iense to Australia.” Mr Roberts, the champion billiardist of the world, played a game of billiards at the Club on Saturday afternoon with Mr. Weston, the Australian champion. The game was 750 up, out of which Weston got 300 points. Roberts was the winner by a few points. In one of the games of pyramids which he afterwards played with Weston he pocketed the whole of the balls in succession. There was a good attendance of spectators. In the evening both champions played together at the Post Office Hotel, when some brilliant play was exhibited. The game this time was 1000 up , and Weston was defeated as in the former game. Argus.