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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1271, 9 February 1883, Page 2

The curious fact (remarks a London paper) that woman do not grow old as rapidly as men —that ie to say that they did not have an annual birthday, and is customery with the male sex—is emphasised by the “New York Times”. A writer in that journal, after long' research, has discovered the manner in which years are reckoned by the feminine system of methematics, at least in America. The average woman if she is unmarried, rarely becomes more than 24 years old, although an occasonial woman of exceptional truthfulness and boldness sometimes reaches the age of 25. Married women have no fixed limit of age, but they grow old slowly. The woman who is married at 20 does not become 30 until 15 years later. It then takes her 20 years to arrive at the age of 40, and 25 years more to roach the age of 50. The compiler of these figures does not profess to understand precisely the law which governs the calculation, and the idea that “the age of a married woman varies invsrsely m the square of the total number of her children,” is rather a suggestion than an insertion. But the facts.are he maintains as set forth in the statement, and an Illinois court of law hM just decided that if women choose to adopt these arithmetical views, they are at liberty to do so. It was on a question of life assurance that the decision was reached. A woman has calculated her years on a basis which differed so widely from the usually adopted masculine standard that when she died at the age of 77 by the insurance offiice tables she was only 63. The insurance company supposed that she would live to be at least 70, and that her annual payments would consequently secure them against any loss. She died however, and the Company, on her real age, refused to pay the amount of her policy. A suit was brought and the company was defeated, the court holding that the poilcy had not been vitiated by the false representation made as to the woman’s age. This irf the first judicial recognition of woman’s inherent right to tell what is not mathematiclly true as to her age. Once more, therefore, have women s rights been gloriously vindicated.

The youagert boy on board the Vereen U hve. Poor little five-year-old. A bo'a'n'* tahwtle for a mother'! call. Someone suggests luminous key-holes. The ide* i* not * bid one. the only objection we c*n see to it is that some men, when they come rolling home in the morning, would insilt on unlocking the streets lamps, under the impression that they were key-holes. The Victorian return of imports and exports for the year ending list December last shows that the imports tor 1882 amounted to £17,639,178, as compared with £16,718,521 in 1881. The exports were £16,169,835 for 1882, and £16,252,108 for 1881. Some of our country readers may find the following remarks, which we take from the " Lyttelton Times," useful and inrtraetiv*:— It will be remembered that some months ago Mr E. Ivey, Director of the Agricultural School of Lincoln, drew attention to ths practice of some persons selling sulphate of iron for sulphate of copper (bluestone), to be used for steeping seed wheat. In order to prove the worthleesness of sulphate of iron for steeping purposes, Mr Ivey made a sat of experiments, and sowed three samples of Wheat, respectively prepared with sulphate of iron, with bluestone, and unsteeped. The result is very striking. That steeped with the real bluestone is perfectly free from smut) about 50 par cent, of that dressed with sulphate of iron is smutty ; while 75 per cent, of that not steeped at all is smutty. It may be mentioned that the quantity of sulphate of iron and of sulphate of copper used & the experiment was 2ozs. per bushel of seed. An acre of each sort of seed was sown, so that ths expsriment, being on a fairly extensive so*)*, may be regarded as thoroughly reliable. Specimens of the wheat are to be seen at the rooms of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association. Individuals (says the Melbourne Age) who are in the habit of indulging in debauches at night should be careful not to allow their feelings of remorse the next morning to lead them into extremes which, on cool deliberation, they may regret, the cure in some cases being worse than the disease, as was shown by the result of an application made in Chambers, before Mr Justice Holroyd, for the release of an inebriate from Dr McCarthy's Retreat, whither he had been committed for six months by an order of the County Court Judge. The patient was a merchant of Melbourne and New Zealand, and it appears that he has of late been in the habit of drinking to excess. Through the instrumentality of his wife and others, and apparently with his own consent, he was sent to the Inebriate Retreat for six months, of which sentence one month has already expired. Mr Hood, on behalf of the wife, applied for his release on the ground that the original application had been made under a misapprehension. His Honor said that he did not think that there was any authority to release the patient, who had been committed for a definite time, as the statute was not merely to suit the convenience of the parti** immediately interested, but it involved a public principle. The application was accordingly refused.

Two bookmakers, named Alfred Drake and Patrick Carey (says the Melbourne “ Argus ’’) were arrested and placed in the city lock-up on the 23rd Jan., on a warrant Issued upon an information sworn by William J. Quinn, a farmer living at Taramung, in the Western district, charging them with having conspired together to defraud him of a sum of £l5O. It is alleged by the prosscu- ' Hon that ho gave the prisoners £l5O on the 11th and 12th of January last, for the pornos* of starting a book on the Victoria Race Club Meeting. The money was deposited on the understanding that Drake and Carey Should deposit £l5O between them, and open a book for £3OO on the meeting, Quinn to participate in the results. After the event the prisoners told Quinn that they had lost £6O over and above the £3OO in question, but the Utter heard that they had really cleared £4OO, and thereupon instituted criminal proceedings for conspiracy and fraud. The prisoners will ba brought before the City Court, and remanded to allow of the collection of .evidence for the prosecution. A club in London has a rule—a rule adopted by other clubs—that a member who remains on the premises after the authorised time of closing is to b* fined ton shillings for the first half-hour, a sovuroign for the second and so on. In one of the West-end clubs recently, a short time before the hour of closing, a member want off to sleep, and slept peacefully for several hours. Then he woke up and want out all in a hurry, A few days after he received a little bill from the club secretary, carefully computed on the cumulative principle. From thia he learnt the pleasing fact that he was Indebted to th* club in the sum of £24,000 odd ? The story about the nails in the horse's shoe occurred to hi* mind, and he went with a rather heavy heart to the secretary, who turned the debt into a joke, and so settled the matter by a fine of five pounds,