GLEANINGS FROM THE PAPERS.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 61, 30 November 1878, Page 3

GLEANINGS FROM THE PAPERS.

In the annual report of the New Zealand Volunteer Force, (lolonel VVhitmoro in commending the native voluulcei corps at the Thames says:—" 1 may mention that 1 received oilers on the part ol a considerable body of natives to enrol themselves for service at the Cape during the recent disturbances, and again during the excitement in connection with tin threatened war with Russia an oti'er ol services of a whole regiment was received from the natives." The wifo of a tinker recently gave birth to four children, three boys and c girl, in a cave off tin- road leading: along the shore, about two miles fr.,i; Oban. Amongst the" promotions " which recently been announced as having ■ place at the Phoenix depdt of the li Irish Constabulary, we read, • Acting Constable Sir Thomas Eohlii Bart." This means in plain words that Sit Thomas Kchlin, Bart., is now enlist' dn i-l serving as a common policeman, anil surely it is a strange instance of iVk vicissitudes of families. The Kchlim have been amongst the English-in-Ireland, and amongst the aristocratic English-in-lreland, more than two ant a half centuries, as Sir 11 liurke remain! us. One of the family, or the founder ol the family, went to Ireland, like number; of his countrymen, to be a Protestanl bishop at the rime when dames 1 was enriching Protestant bishoprics colleges, and schools out ol Catholic confiscations. The bishopV grandson became a Baron of tl* i Exchequer, and the first baronet of tin family, in l-V.'l. From 'hat time the housi .i high ~1101 ■ , .1,10 ill'' o I ol the Echiin:., with its heraldries am blazonries, stood high in geueulogiea birth roll*. The case is another instance the l''i" man's Journal observos, of tie collapse and desc.eul which are overtak iris :,< i yof the Enoliah Emilia which .l.Mnes l. planted here mid an< 1 ri he I ,ut "i trilh theft and spoliation |; KM.iie, lUM to 1« , :',,,, f,,,,,, the KVhlins. Tin 11 Hcern in it Lht ■ veuth bnroa t.

Proceedings of the Itoyal Colonial i Institute. Nol.lX. (Linduii: Sampson Low, ilarston, Searie& Hivington.) With the greater portion at least of the contents ot this interestin'' volume 1 our renders arc already generally faiui--1 liar. The various papers bound with the t Transactions are all really valuable eon- . tributiuns to colonial literature, and re--1 fleet in every ease the highest credit on the attainments and industry of their respective authors. We have among the essays one on Queensland, by the AgentGeneral for that colony’; Indian Famines, by Mr. K. Elliot; a sketch of New South . Wales, by Sir Daniel Cooper ; England’s Colonial Trade contrasted with her , Foreign Trade, by Dr. Forbes Watson; New Zealand and the South Seas, by Sir , Julius Vogel ; Canada, by Mr. S. Fleming; , and several other interesting essays, among which Mr. Thomas Brassey’s pro- , posal for a colonial naval volunteer force , must not be overlooked. One of the most interesting heads in the new volume is [ that relative to the assumption of the I'residency of the Institute by the Prince of Wales, which marks, wo trust and boi i lieve the beginning of a new epoch of . I further progress still in the annals of this I admirable association. —European Mail. The model for the monument to | Luther which is to be set up in Eisleben, the birth-place of the great reformer, in honour of the fourth hundreth nnuirer- ’ saiy of his birth, is now completed, and has been sent to be east. The monument represents Luther clad in a long gown 1 and wearing a barret. With his left hand he holds the Bible to his breast, and with his right he hurls away the Papal 1 Hull. The pedestal of the statue is four feet square, with a design on each side, the foreipost showing an angel, with a shield bearing the name of “ Martin Luther,” n , jiy si a recumbent devil, while the ibree represent scenes in Luther’s lie. Toe first shows him arguing with Dr. Eck, the second in Iris study translating the Bible, the third with his family and Melanetlion. ' j The master of one of our Sydney trading vessels, makes a statement to us of lan extraordinary proceeding on the pait of one of the Anglican missionary teachers in the Solomon Islands. It appears that 1 when our informant was at the Islands of Ysabelle, he was trading with Bora, King, of the native village of Buokatoo, who is well known to readers in those parts. Bora made a complaint that two of his tribe had lieen shot, and one wounded in the month of April of this year, by the Melanesian teacher of the I place, who resided there with a Murray Island boy. The chief was very disconsolate at this new form of Christianity, and when the teacher came on board, he was questioned about the shooting, and denied it. Our informant then brought the king and the teacher face to face, and upon the latter being accused of the crime" he shrunk away in a manner that tended to confirm the accusation made against him. The King was advised to represent the affair to the mission vessel, Southern Cross, when she next called, and it was reported that the latter vessel afterwards took the teacher away from the place. —Town i Country Journal. The young men of Portugal have one occupation more important than weaving tight boots, and which almost, in fact, goes with it that of making the very mildest form of love known among men. The young gentlemen pay their addresses bp simply standing in front of the house occupied hy the object of their affections while the young person in question looks down approvingly from an upper window, and there the matter ends. They are not within speaking distance, and have to content themselves with expressive glances and dumb show, for it would bo thought highly unbecoming for the young lady to alow a billet-doux to flutter down into the street, while the laws of gravitation stand in the way of the upward flight of such a document, unweighed, at least, with a stone, and this, of course, might risk giving the young lady a black eye, or breaking horfather’s windowpanes. So the lovers there remain, often for hours, feeling, no doubt, very happy, but looking unnaturally foolish. These silent courtships sometimes continue for very long periods before the lover can ask the fatal question, or the lady returns the final answer. The United States may justly he regarded as the groat Tobacco-growing country of the world. The crop of last year, LS77, will sum up in the aggregate over 400,000,000 -pounds, worth in its unmanufactured condition in the homo market about I!:!, 000,000 dollars. The reader will ho surprised to learn that this immense production of tobacco represents an iierciigo of only 500,000 acres.