MISCELLANEOUS.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 7074, 21 February 1893, Page 1

MISCELLANEOUS.

j Mistress—l never saw each a fearfal j looking kitchen. How do you manage to accumulate so many dirty dishes. CockSure mum, the young ladies wee, Inst efts® showing me how they roasts a potato at theft cooking schools. 1 * The young father stood over the orodle, critically inspecting his first-bom. “Of oonwe, it’s a healthy, well-formed baby, Looy, be said to bio wife, and will be a credit to the family when it grows older, bat it’s awfal homely just now.” 11 Doar little thing I** cooed a neighbour, who happened to oomo in a few minutes later, “it’s the very image «f its papa.” It is said that the ship-breakers, while taking to pieces the French wooden thirdclass cruiser Volta, which was bniit in 1867 and recently condemned, have found in her timbers a loaded shell, which, it is Assumed mu>fc have been fired into her daring the bombardment of Foochow in 1864. The Volta on that occasion carried Admiral Coubert’s flag, and was m the thick of the action, but no one seems to have suspected that she came home with a relic of the engagement sticking in her ribs. An interesting experiment is being tried at the works of Messrs Peters and Co., of Nevigos, Prussia. This firm makes a gift of a certain proportion of tbe annual profit, under the form of a bonus, to those who wish to become owners of the dwellings they oooapy. For this purpose houses have bees constructed by the firm, at an average cost of 2000 marks (£100) eoeb, and made ready for occupation. When an employee wishes to come under the arrangement he pays down a deposit equal to 8 per cent on the agreed purchase price, and undertakes to fiod the same sum annually. These amounts, after interest at four per cent is paid, go to establish a sinking fnnd. The bonuses allowed by the firm are credited to this sinking fund. They vary from 20 to 40 per cent on the annual payments, according to the length of time the workman has been employed. This experiment is as yet too new to have much of a record. The motive is to encourage good steady men to make a permanent home in Neriges, and to attach them to the business. The Channel tunnel scheme is again before Parliament (the Argus correspondent writes), and with it a scheme for the construction of a bridge over the channel. This l&st is influentially backed by France, and Lord Wolseley has written to say that he finds it much less open to objection than the tunnel. Concerning this latter there was a meeting lately, and Sir Edward Watkin seems to think that the Government of Mr Gladstone will favour bis project. What they will do, perhaps, is to leave the Honso of Commons free to vote om the Bill when it comes forward, bat that means little. The borings in Folkestone have been carried to a length of 2250 yards under the sea, tbe tunnel being 7 feet in diameter. The same amount of work bae been done on the French end, hot there things are now at a standstill, and Sir Edward Watkin is talking of floating a new company to work the coal found during the borings, the shareholders in the tunnel scheme to have the first offer of tbe colliery shares.

The chief spectacle at the ceremony of nnveiling a statue of Peter Lalor at Ballarat was (says “ Woomera " in the Amtral*sian) the living Speaker, not the dead one. Mr Bent came late in his wig and his robes, and when, after a great commotion, ha got through the crowd and stood there glittering and sweltering in the sun, the brass quite outshone the bronze. "Any one of you," said Mr Gillies, "may rise to high and honourable position if, like Mr Lalor, yon render distinguished services and display great knowledge and great virtues." " How much greater am I," one could fancy the living Speaker saying, "who. have risen to high position without any of these qualifications!” ‘‘Ton may rise by merit," said Mr Gillies. “ Yon may rise without it," testified Mr Bent. The ingenuous youth of Ballarat had both courses placed before them, and they must be excused if they felt a little bit puzzled which to take. When Mr Bent raised his bands to heaven and prayed for and blessed them, it was felt that the scene bad reached a fitting termination. It is something novel, says the Argus, to bear of the nndue multiplication of deer in any portion of the colony, bat such a contingency seems to have arisen on Philip Island. A resident, writing to the Secretary of Customs, states that the herd of deer originally placed on the island has increased to such an extent as to become a nuisance, especially in the neighbourhood of Cowes, where the animals are earning much damage to the crops of the farmers. He therefore asks whether it to lawful to bill deer, and, if not, why it is that they are sometimes exposed for sale is Melbourne ? The answer which has been supplied by Dr Wollaston is that if the deer are wild (hey are protected all the year round, and anyone killing them is liable to a penalty of £lO, in addition to paying £l6 for each animal destroyed. Deer belonging to individuals and running on private estates are, however, not exempt from the sportsman's gun, and it is to be presumed that the game offered for sale in Melbourne has belonged to this category. As the law stands the farmers of Philip Island may not dispose of the wild deer which visit their holdings, no matter what damage they do. ** Where are you going my pretty maid P" “ To the store for some Biscuits, Sir," she said

“ Whose Biaouits my pretty maid ?'* “ Why Auxsbbbook’s Oswegos, Sir,” she said, —[Advt J Complaints are made by farmers at Home of unfair advantages given by the railway companies to importers of foreign produce. One writer says The English railway companies which grant such splendid facilities to the foreign producer in the_ shape of rapid conveyance and cheap transit, demand their full pound of flesh from the English farmer, and give him no quarter. Foreign meat is brought from Liverpool to London at 25s per ton, but 45s is demanded from intermediate stations. The great fertile plain comprised in the Norfolk, Cambridge, and Lincolnshire fens produces annually about 1,000,000 tons of potatoes, and at the present low prices the railway companies will demand the value of about 400,000 tons for carrying them to market. If these potatoes were in Northern Italy or Southern France they could be brought to London much cheaper than they can from Lincolnshire. It is not too much to say that the preferential rates on foreign produce amount to a handsome bounty granted by the English railway companies to trader in foreign agricultural produce —a bounty which is granted by the railway companies out of the enormous revenues derived from the pockets of English passengers and English producers. Were it not for those revenues the companies could not carry the foreign meat, fruits, and cereals at present rates, so that the English farmer sot only has to compete with bis foreign rival, but also has to pay patt at hla railway Mfyi ifrcfta th* English port to thf Biggish otom.