MISCELLANEOUS.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 83, 3 January 1885, Page 6

MISCELLANEOUS.

The roll-call.— The baker's cry. Is ft master of cerempnies a " hop ''merchant. ', , French fishermen catch £4,200,000 worth of fish a year, | There are now building in French dockyards eight torpodo ddspatch-boats. Wharfinger wanted by Auckland Harbour | Board. Salary, £300. i i Sir Julius Vogel again deferred Ins | departure for Waiwera. | It is the lawyer who believes in "the law j and the profits." , j London has a society to promote window- ! gardening. - Canton, China, with a population of 1,500,000, has not a single newspaper. # I Jenks, being asked how he came by his black eye, said it wap a sunstroke. W. W. Smythe has been appointed Inspector of Torpedoes at £350 a year._ Her Majesty approves of the late Ministry retaining the title of "honorable." The three " R's " : We are, you are, thoy arc. HNew Zealand Shipping Co.'s first call is payable January 31st. Going out with the tide : A wedding party leaving the church. When was beef the highest ? When tho cow jumped over tho moon. "I am not an author," remarked an accountant, " but I am, nevertheless, a righter of books." ; The Wellington victors in the senior outrigger raco at Nelson have gone to Lyttelton to regatta. Bandmann is playing " Shylock " in New York, and invites comparison of his impersonation with that of Irving. "My bow is all unstrung," warbles a fair poetess. Wonder if her beau had been out on a racket. The hearing oi the Vogel libel action has been postponed till after the Christmas vacation. The Union S.S. Company carry doctorson their Australian steamers as a precaution against small-pox. Judge Williams has decided at Dunedin that fruit pulp imported from Hobart is not dutiable under tho Customs Act. Fitzgerald, one of the alleged murderers of Meldrum at Newthorn, Otago, has been arrested. A man named Ivors is supposed to be drowned at Hindon, Otago, his horso and cart being found in the stream. What cabbies should bo popular with the girls? «Why the hansom men, of course. The Imps of Auckland aro unsociable. There was a small muster last night to form the proposed society. The King of Siam has 2G3 children. Discontented fathers of seven, think of it and be happy. Mr H. 11. llayr, agent for the overland route to the Hot Lake.s, reports that trailic has been brisk during tho holidays^ Mixing the nationalities — Hibernian sports took piace on the Caledonian Ground, Dunedin, Yen. Archdeacon Thorpe, in resigning the incumbency of St. Paul's, Wellington, was presented with €175 by his parishionei'3. Whon a boy of 18 runs away with a girl of the same age, tho proceedings may be called a verdant slope. Bishop Moran hopes the next Christmas Day services will be held in a new Roman Catholic Cathedral at Dunedin; £2,500 have been subscribed. " Papa's] Home To-nigh V is tn e title of a new song. It will be useful for the young lady, on such >eca,«ion.c, to «it by tho open w indow and sing to George as a pointer. j The presentation to Mr Nancarrow, Chief Inspector of Nachinery, of his portrait in oil, took place at Dunedin on Wednesday night. Dunedin Harbour Board liavc decided to j take no steps in regard to the construction ] of the eastern breakwater at the Heads at present. What it> the difference between a man at tho mast-head of a fchip and the ?hip itself .' The one pailt. over the seas, and the other sees over the sail". What is tho difference between a freight and a cargo ? A tram conductor says that the passenger makes the freight, but the horse makes the car go. Extract of a letter from An^elia : " Dear Henry, you ask if 1 return your love. Yes, Henry, 1 have no u^o tor it, and return it %\ ith many thanks.'' Theappeavance of tholibrary at Blenheim, the Duke of Marlborough's seat, is most dismal. There are miles'of empty shelve?, with no effort made to veil their ugliness. Paris proper made a better record in respect to crime last year than in 18S2, but the suburbs showed a largo increase of criminals. A man named George William Crabtree has been committed for trial at Chnstchurch on charges of horse-stealing and larceny of building materials, valued in all at nearly £200. Compared with other English counties, Devonshire and Somersetshire have suffered very little? from the agricultural depression, the' farming being dairy and not root crops chieilv. Christchurch boasts the largest church ; Dunedin the most commodious hotel ; Wellington the biggest wooden building ; and Auckland the largest printing office in the colony. Landlady : " It's singular but hue, Mr Gtos«grain, that all my boarders remain with 'mc.'' New boarder (at tirsfc meal): "Too v.cak to leave, I miess, after the first week." Recently in Paris, during tho session of the Congress of the .Freethinkers, one eminent thinker, striking an attitude, passionately exclaimed : "Gentlemen, I am an Atheist— thank God '" There aro threo chrysanthemum shows now open to the public in London without charge one at the Middle Templo ( lardens, another.it the Inner Temple Gardens, and a thud at Finsbury Park. MrG. Hogg, of the Boyt' High School, has been elected President, and Mr E. F. Just, East Christchurch Du-tricfc School, Secretary of the North Canteibury Educational Institute, which numbers 7."> members. Tho lunatic Patrick Monaguo has been " recommitted " to tho Asylum. This is to lcgaliso his detention, some doubt having arisen as to whether, during his recent escapade, ho was not absent from Avondalo more than 14 days. What should prove a popular idea in connection with the forthcoming New Zealand Exhibition at Wellington is A\hnt is called tho Industrial Home Branch. The woi;k in this branch is to be dono by the oxhibitora at their own homes, and com prises the following divisions : — Group 1. Works of children not exceeding thirtren years of age. Group 2. Worlw of children not exceeding sixteen years of o^e. Group 3. (1) Works of art ; (2) painting ; (3) drawing ; (4) sculpture ; (5) cawing; ((?) art furniture. Group 'l. Works of usefulness, or science, or at amuscmout, including philosophical apparatus and models. Group f>. (1) plain and art ncodlework ; (2)' dressmaking ; (3) millinory : (4) upholstering ; (f>) tapestry ; (6) embroidery; (7) knitting; (S) netting; (9) crochet; (10) laco;(ll) spinning; (12) weaving; (13) straw; (14) plaiting; (15) loatherwork. The Colonial. Treasurer intends that this branch should also be ; made to include the recognition of ex- f cellence by artizana and mechanics. '

A private letter from Dublin makes the following allusion to the popularity of frozen meat in that city :— "Apropos of eatables, what do you think— we are now being supplied with New Zealand frozen mutton in Dublin. There is a shop in Qeorgestreet, near the market, where it is on sale at 8d per lb. for legs and Id shoulder. And the difficulty is to get into the shop at all. It is dreadful the crush — the crowd blocking the street outside. Takes an hour to get in at all, and another half -hour to get your turn to be served. The meat is deliciously tender — a great point indeed : not so much smaller than our home-grown. It assumes a very dark hue after a day or so, but tastes well all the same." " Artisan " writes : -" I am one of some hundreds in this town who have no relations or family ties, who are not partial to horse-racing, but on the Sabbath and holidays like this are anxious to make use of the Public Library as a means of withdraw* ing ourselves from grog temptations, and at the same time storing our minds with knowledge that may assist us in the every day battle of life. This morning myself and several friends went with the intention of spending the day. Judge our surprise at ~ the notice • ' The Library will be closed to-day and to-morrow (Boxing Day).' 'Curses, not loud, but deep/ Now, Mr Editor, I leave it to your powerful pen to advocate a thorough reform in this matter for the working man. The better class have works of reference and literature at their homes. I have met dozens of men to-day lounging about with money in their pocKets and no object in view, not church-goers — men who have seen all the surrounding scenery of Auckland over and over again ; and the only place of real rest and recreation is closed for the purpose of allowing one man to participate in a general holiday at the expense of the benefit of dozens. Are the ratepayers paying iov the wealthy or the poor ? I understood it was to be conducted like the Melbourne Library, which is a really noble institution.*' The following extraordinary description of Auckland appears in the Dunedin " Star." The writer is a man not only possessed of a lively imagination, but he can lie with a facility that should ensure his success at any calling in which mendacity is a useful qualification: — "Sir, — I hay« just received a most pitiable letter from a friend who went up to Auckland from Dunedin some six months ago, He says : ' I've seen distress, but for all the places for starvation and destitution, Auckland beats them ; hundreds of men out of employment. Young men of the highest respectability have had to turn to pick and shovel work ; I've had to do the same, or lie in the gutter and starve. Dunedin is bad, Sydney and Melbourne are badder, but Auckland is a God-forsaken hole— men with families begging from door to door. The shops are wooden affairs ; the best is only the size of Yates's, draper, in Dunedin. ! This place is all hills, bogs, and swamp. I am tired of it," and will soon be back in | Dunedin, with all its wet. Auckland is the I worst place for work on the earth ; the place is only starting. 1 Sir, if I w©re to tell your readers the one-fourth my friend tells me they mictht doubt my words. My friend admits Auckland has a glorious climate and grand harbour, but the air and the harbour will not fill a man's belly. He says : " Tell all who talk of coming to Auckland not to jump out of the frying-pan into the fire." — lam, &c, Caution." The Governor addressed the boys at the breaking-up of the Christchurch High School. During his speech he referred to the pleasure m ith which he had listened to the address of the Head -master, Mr Brown, and went on -.—"And here he could not help remarking that the Brown? were running away with the education of New Zealand. To begin at the North, there was a Brown in Auckland, then in Canterbury {as yet there was no college in Wellington) there were two Browns, and there was a fourth Brown in Dunedin— all, he thoroughly believed, and he spoke from some personal knowledge, moct able men, admirably fitted for the places which they occupied. And then there was one other peculiarity with reference to this family of BroAvns which ho could not help remarking upon, and that was that they -were not only Browns, but J. M. Browns. It was a positive *act that out of the four Browns in JSew Zealand in the Educational Department there was only one who had not the initials of J.M.8."

as the net value of any property he may become possessed of through her, less outgoings ; but the Act will wot alter the liability of husbands in regard to ante-nuptial debts in cases where they were married before the Act came into operation. Any dispute between husband and wife as to the title to or rossession of property may be decided in a summary way by a judge of the Supreme Court, or by mfmor Courts within the limits of their inrisdiotion. Kxisting settlements will not be disturbed by the Act. A married woman possessing separate properly will be liable for the maintenance of her husband and children. A wife may not enter into partneiship without, her husband's consent. She may appoint an attorney as if she wero nfemme sole. I lie gradual enfranchisement of woman, however, is in accordance with the spirit ot Ihe age, and the experiment now made l»? the New Zealand legislature, followin* the example of the British Parliament, will be watched with interest In one respect, in regard to which fears have been entertainel, viz., the remedy of tradesmen supplying goods to wives without the written consent of their hns- . bunds, we cannot see that, the law is much altered, except to facilitate recovery in c»ses where the wife has separate prope. ty. Several decisions at common law have already laid down that a husband may reFuse payment of a debt incurred by his wife when sue has been forbidden to incur such debt, even though the tradesman supplying the goods was ignorant of such prohibition. The Act renders a married woman liable to be separately sued if she has any separate property.* It would be.well, however, for tradespeople h-iving extensive dealings with the fair sex to consult their solicitors as to the effect of the new Act.—