CLIPTOMANIA.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 97, 11 April 1885, Page 5

CLIPTOM ANIA.

« Dancing at twenty o'clock.?' Bo the new invitation for evening parties runs. Ift jest, at all events, the new time is being adopted. What begins in jest will probably end in earnest. The Mormon emissaries show a preference for Switzerland, where the sectarian tendencies of the people greatly favour their propagandist purposes. The authorities have, however, had their ire aroused, and in the District Court of Zofingen two of the Mormon apostles were recently sen* tenced to a fine of 100 francs, and for a second offence— for preaching their abominable doctrines— each of them got twenty-five days in gaol, and were forbidden to enter the canton again during tho next three years under heavy .penalty. In the course of the trial it transpired -that there was a regular Mormon recruiting office at Berne, through the agency of which two elderly spinsters were quite recently , despatched " Utah ward, but whoso ptogrees was promptly stopped by the subagenpy at Basle on the ground that they were " not yet sufficiently inspired.' ' The annual Christmas sale of fat stock belonging to the Queen took ' place last month at the Windsor farm. The catalogue included fifty-two Shorthorn. Hereford *t Devon bullocks, 480 Hampshire Down ,and half-bred wethers and ewea, and 105 bilcon hogs and porkers. \H the stock was in fine condition, and excellent prices were realised, the bullocks and heifers ranging from £25 10s to £50 each. A handsome Devon steer, from which the royal bacon of beef was supplied for the Queen's Christmas sideboard, was purchased by Mr Webb, the royal purveyor, for 38£ guineas. The Hampshire down wether sheep fetched from £3 5s to £7 eaca. Eleven fine Shorthorn or Devon bullocks, fed on the estate of the Duke of Connaught, at Bagshot Park, were likewise included in the royal sale, the animals selling at from £28 10s to £40 each. An association has existed in Mulhausen, Alsace, for several years, the ' object . of which is to provide the artisans of that place with suitable dwellings. Up to the present time the association has built l{o4ol { 040 nouses, representing a total value of £114,000, and they have all been sold. The conditions of the sale are that each house, with a garden, shall be paid for in fifteen yearly instalments, the average price. being £132. The association has also built baths and washhouaes for the inhabitants of these houses, for the use of which a small charge is made, and it has a number of lodgings for single men, the price charged being about 2d a night. There is also a bakehouse, which retails about 50,000 pounds of bread a month, and a restaurant and grocery, in which goods are sold at a trifle over the cost price. There i8 also a library, which has 400 subscribers. A " state of siege " in an only too literal sense of the term appears to have come into existence in part, at least, of the county of Kerry. Most of the landed proprietors in the neighbourhood of Tralee have felt it necessary to take up their residence "in the County Club House in that town, and a large force of police is niphtly engaged in the protection of that building. A complete cordon is drawn round the house, and an archway at the northern side of it is filled with constables armed with rifles and buckshot, It is to be hoped that the apprehensions that have led to so extraordinary a etate of things go beyond the realities of the situation, but after the evidence afforded by the atrocious attempt to blow up Mr ■ Hussey and his family that there are ruffians about who are paid to promote the "national" cause by wholesale massacre, it is not to be wondered at if there has been something like a panic a(iong the landowning class. . •• , " One of the worst about -Russia is the extent to which it has outgrown its gaols, which are most inadequate to the needs of the increasing population. In spite of the annual expenditure of £143,600 for repairs and the building of new gaols, the Administration is much exercised now to find room for the evergrowing number of prisoners, who amounted in 1882 to 95,509, and in 1883 to 97,337 In Siberia especially great suffering is caused by the want of accommodation for the ! (2,000 convicts distributed over the mining districts, especially as the enormous number of exiles, forming what the " Novoe Vremya" calls an "organised vagabqndage," crowd the houses of correctioa in every part of the country. The " Novoe Vremya " is of opinion that it would be a good plan if those authorities of districts who send the scum of their population into exile should be compelled to find subsistence for them during the first two years. The recidiviste plan has undoubtedly broken down badly in Siberia. Impropriety is charged against a certain young and pampered daughter of a swell member of society. A mania of the moment is to give variety entertainments for church and philanthropic purposes. Fashionable, persons act in small comedies, sing, dance, and perform a crobatic feats. The audiences are a matter of careful selection, usually, but in other respects the amateurs let themselves down to the humblest professional achievements. It seems that this lady, however, struck a reprehensible stratum. She and a young male companion in offence volunteered to sing the familiar cat duet. They did it with much novelty. Their heads were protruded through a black curtain, which hid their forms, and from their necks extended the figures of t*o cats, standing on a sect ion of a fence, and 80 arranged as to be movable by the two singers. Very funny cats, with visible backs and practical tails, but with human heads, were thus shown. The beau and belle interpolated some artistically excellent pantomime to accompany and embellish the characteristic utterances cf the feline sweethearts, and getting an encore, struck paws and kissed each other. Mrs Grundy is tremendously excited about it. One result of the depression of trade in Paris is that even the leading confectioner and purveyors of sweetmeats are unable to keep their heads above water. Last winter Reinhardt, who succeeded the celebrated Siraudin in the Rue de la Paix, was compelled to put up his shutters, and now Charbonnei's firm has failed for £30,000. People in Paris, it seems, no longer have money to waste on expensive bon-bons. I would recommend to the purveyors of these sweets large sales and small profits. At Siraudin's, apound of bon-bons, worth about two francs, in a basket worth, perhaps, three francs, used to be valued at a napoleon. A lady writes, " The moat abnormally modest girl I ever beard of came to town a few days ago. I was in her bed-room. Some, handsome flowers that I had previously seen there were gone. * Did you send them out for fear that, as some say, they might have a bad effect on your health while you sleep ?' * Oh, no, my dear,' she murmured. 'Botany was my hobby at school and I became familiar with the fact that there are actually sexes in plants— males and females in every species, donftyou know ? Well, I found on examination that the flowers in this room were masculine and they didn't seem quite proper in a lady's chamber. Really, I couldn't disrobe comfortably, nor sltepro geace^ t