THROUGH Our EXCHANGES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 33, 7 February 1913, Page 8

THROUGH Our EXCHANGES.

A table composed of 8200 pieces of wood gathered from every part of the world has been made for Mrs I). S. Lewis, a Detroit curio collector. One of the Wycliffe preachers smashed images of the Madonna and the! Child at a Sheffield High Church, knocked off the Madonna’s crown and the Child’s head. He afterwards sent a telegram to the Archbishop of York protesting against the practice of permitting idolatrous images to be erected in churches in his See. The Wycliffe preachers are a self-consti-tuted body of men who object to High Church practices.

An interrupted honeymoon seriously perturbed a young West Coast couple on the Nelson wharf a few days ago. They had come up by the Arahura, and were so deeply engrossed in conversation while walking up and down the wharf—no doubt discussing plans for the future—that they did not hear the final warning from the steamer, and soon saw to their chagrin that the boat had left the wharf . Nothing remained for them but to keep their arrangements as near as possible by catching the next boat—the Nikau.

The story of how an American pastor extricated himself from a difficul Ly in which he was suddenly placed through his choir going on .strike comes from Battlecreek, Michigan, states a New York cablegram to the Sydney Sun. It was at the local Methodist church that the choir refused to sing. Occurring as the stri ve did shortly before Sunday evening’.? service commenced, there was no time for the church authorities to procure substitutes. The minister, however, was equal to the occasion. He secured a gramophone, and with the records of hymns and other religious numbers that were available he was thus able to provide the musical portion of trie service. The congregation were puite satisfied, and voted the innovation a distinct success.

On the occasion of a recent lire in Waverley, between Wanganui and Patea, the captain of the fire brigath had the manual engine drawn up to s well on private property, but a servant of the owner of the well objeotcc to the water being used, and threaten ed divers means of preventing a re currence of the operations. The United Fire Brigades’ Association advises that a duly appointed fire brigade, sworn in under the control o the local governing body, with a Jin inspector whose appointment has beer gazetted, can commandeer such watoi as may be needed, and power is ab.c given to demolish or destroy any fenc.i or buildings likely to cause the fire i( spread.

At the Magistrate’s Court, Foxto.i on Friday, the Inspector of Scaffold ing proceeded against Thomas Runnier for permitting the use of a laddci that did not extend at least five foe, beyond the level such ladder was in tended to afford access to, and al: witn setting up or erecting scaffoldhu over the height of sixteen feet from the ground without first notifying ii writing the Inspector of Scaffolding for Wellington district. Mr Lolland Inspector of Scaffolding, briefly nut lined the case, and the defendant die not appear. The Magistrate said ii was tne first case of the kind locally and no doubt the provisions of the Scaffolding Act were ■ not generally known. Defendant was fined 20s, with costs 7s, and witness’ expenses £1 T7s 2d on the first charge, am; £1 with 7s costs on the second.

Railway officials often derive amusement in the coarse of their public' duties. Some days ago (says the Timaru Herald) a man walked to the booking office at the Timaru sttion, and asked for a ticket to Waihoa Downs, patting down a pound note The'clerk took the money, and will: the usual courtesy advised “change a( Studholrne.” He proceeded to get t. f

ticket. “No fear,” ejaculated the purchaser, as he banged his list on the counter, “I want my change here.’ 1 Another humorous incident hails from Waimate. An elderly lady wishing to despatch a hag of apples was brei.’j engaged endeavouring to weigh the fruit. She wondered why the weighing machine refused pr» work, and sought the aid of the clerk, who was amused to discover that the woman had her parcel on the penny-in-the-slot machine.

A rather amusing incident happened on the train last Saturday morning between Pahiatna and Woodville.Three men, who it transpired had been running a side show at the Pahiatua show, boarded the train, presumably as strangers to each other. One sugger feed a sociable game of euchre. But no one in the carriage, excepting the confederates, seemed anxious for a game. One of the three passed into another carriage and found a young fellow, and the game started. “To make it interesting,” said the showman to the new chum, “PH back my hand' against yours.” But the new chum didn’t bite. A further offer was made at a later stage at longer odds—“just to make the game interesting.” But the new ehum had been given the wink that lie was in warm company. Getting desperate, one of the sharpers tossed a half-sovereign towards the new ehum, and said ho would hack his hand against any other player’s. The coin rolled off the coat and down the spittoon and on to the permanent way. Of course, the bet was not covered, and the sprat thrown out to catch a mackerel had gone to gladden some ganger’s heart. The incident created a good deal of amusement among the passengers, and the game ended abruptly.

I In researches on different methods ( of preparing food, a physician has j proved tiiat both beef and fish are I more digestible in the raw state than when cooked, that beef is in general better digested than fish, and that I fish is more digestible smoked than in I any other form.

The editor of the Woodville Examiner (Mr John Grant), took first prize at the Woodville show in the judging of a cow, beating the whole of the farmers of the district. This is not

surprising (adds an exchange), for newspaper men as a rule can tell which end of the coir the milk comes from.

A flask was picked up on the Beach on Sunday by r a local resident (says the Manawatu Standard). Inside the bottle was a portion of presumably a Danish newspaper, and written in pencil on the bottom margin, as far as can be deciphered, are the following words:—“llejst fia Danmark lb Juli 1912. C, L. Larsen, Frederjeia.

The latest issue of the “British Printer’ contains the announcement of the results of the recent printing competition held by that journal. Out of the 43 entrants from all parts of the world five were awarded equal first places. mong the five are Messrs William Bashford and Harold Goldsborough, of Hastings.

A frequent source of trouble to drivers of motor cars with fixed wind screens is the collection of rain on the glass in small globules, which are very detrimental to the vision, and, in consequence, necessitate frequent stoppages for the purpose of cleaning the glass. An effective method of preventing this is to carry a bottle of kerosene and glycerine mixed in equal parts, and on the commencement of rain, to rub a few drops over the surface of the screen. The rain will then spread over the glass in a thin sheet, enabling the drive to be continued in comfort.

New Zealand has no longer a monopoly of boiling lakes. There is now one on Niuafou, an outlying island of the Tongan Group. Captain Wallis, of the steamer Atua, which arrived at Sydney on Thusday week stated that he called at Niuafou on January 12 and landed a mail. The volcano on this island, which was previously in eruption, had subsided, but the white people there reported that the lake, which is situated in the centre of the island, and which is said to he an old crater, is now beginning to boil. This phenomenon has considerably impressed the native residents, who consider that it betokens disaster, and they assort that there is a;likelihood of the island subsiding. , . t . n

A good yarn is told of () Colonel Roosevelt and his recent unsuccessful Presidential campaign. It seems Theodore has a knack while speaking of demonstrating his political position with any object that may be handy. While on the stump somewhere in lowa he used a walqu ( t. , “Take this walnut which I hold in fny hand,” he declared from t-he platform. “This walnut represents the political .position. The hull of the walnut is of no value whatever. The hull, then represents Taft. Next we come to the shell. The shell after the nut is cracked has served its purpose. It is of little use even for fuel. The, shell, then, represents Woodrow Wilson. Now we come to the kernel, the part of the nut which is of real value. It represents me and my politics.” Roosvelt stopped and cracked the nut. The kernel was rotten.

Mr G. R. Joyce of Timaru, formerly of Invercargill, has just received an interesting letter from his eldest son, who is at present at Naraguta, Northern Nigeria. Mr Lionel Joyce, says the “Timaru Post,” is a young man of much courage and enterprise. He was at one time on the Gold Coast as a surveyor for the British Government, and then went to Siberia, where lie spent 12 months among the miners looking for copper. He is now engaged at Northern Nigeria surveying the tin mines, which cover an area of 12 square miles. Mr Joyce’s life has its exciting phases. He writes: “The pagans are fairly quiet just now, but now and again they take a notion for a feed of white man. Their last victim was a man I knew well on the Gold Coast; they tortured him to death, but were well punished, losing about 500 men and women over the deal.” Mr Joyce also mentions that they were to have a race meeting at Naraguta on Christmas Day, and that the population is about 20 whites and “goodness knows how many niggers.”

Not many people can claim to possess a letter which has travelled round practically tho whole world. Such, however, is tho history of a letter received hy an Auckland resident hy the last English mail. Seven years ago ho was an engineer student in Berlin, and while there his friends in Xew Zealand forwarded him a letter from the Christchurch Exhibition. While the letter was travelling to Europe, however, the addressee received a situation in China, and from | there he took up a position as engineer j on various tramp steamers. His calling led him to all parts of the globe, and the letter continued to follow him. The last place at. which ho stayed for any length of time was Rio de .Janeiro, and after he left there the letter lay waiting for some two years. A friend came across it in some way, and readdressed it to New Zealand, where it arrived hist week enclosed in another envelope. The original one, however, was intact, and it is a curiosity. It bears the postmarks of no fewer than nine countries, three of i which are British possessions. |