AUSTRALIAN GIANTS. A WONDERFUL FAMILY. INTERVIEW WITH THE FATHER.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 364, 1 May 1889, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN GIANTS. A WONDERFUL FAMILY. INTERVIEW WITH THE FATHER.

Wis reconfcly gavo our leaders fcho benefit of a chatty interview botween the Australian Tom Thumb and a Stab representative, a>ul now propose to treat them to the other extreme, in the shupe of an interview with Mi W. Snell, lather of the Australian giant cliildion now on exhibition in a Queen -street shop, opposite the Market entrance. Mr Snell has in his possession a large collection of press notices of his. prodigies-, the most amusing of which is clipped from the Sydney " Bulletin " as. follow* : — ft Tho giant family, which is now exhibiting its adipo«o tissue, is a. combination which live-* on its own fat. The pride and glory of the show is a. girl who owns to 16 years and weighs 26 stone — in other words she is sweet sixteen, and probably has never been kissed, for any rude admirer who tried to embrace her would run the chance of being featherbedded »o death when she 101 l against him. When she rises it is suggestive of Chimboraxo taking unto itself legs ; and when her brother, anothor va'-t mountain of human wobble, elevate. 1 - his noble bulk beside her, the eflcct is stupendous, and the noonday is eclipsed. There is no deception about this pair. The vi&itor is invited to tool tho boy's legs and the girl's shouldeis, and ho needn't be alraid of tickling the young lady ivhiie experimenting, ior befoio the sensation has had tuno to go through her fleshy tabernacle hoism tho next street. The te>t of the family aie thin and ordinal y, and, as is u^ual in tho wot Id, tho thin ones ate «or\antfa to the fit ones-.' 1 The lather of dm inteteoiin<; family called upon us yoterday afternoon. He is not a giant I") 3' any means, but a man ot ! ordinary height, thin rather than Ho-hy, and a man who ha.> hadmoie letraikabie experiences in the family way than any othei showman we have oomo acioss. "' My name," he said, "i a William Snell. I am a nativo ot Devon, and t>o is Mr.Snull. I was m bu-me.->s in Exeter beloie i came to Yicto.ia." '• You might tell me about your jomailiable family." " Ye-«. I buried fi\e children before [ came to the colonies. [ brought hve out with me, and four were bom in Victoria. We ha*, c had tout teen childicn altogether, and tin eo out of tout born in Victoria aic the giant children I have with me." " Well, what arc the ino&t rcmaikable points about the children now on exhibition ?"' " My big daughter, Clara, weighs 29=t 21b. She was liftcon last December. She stands sft i)in high, measures sft bin round the waist, 24in tound the caii of the leg, and I9in round the thickest part ot the arm." " The next largest it- a boy, I believe ?" ''Yes. Tom was 10 years old on May Ist of 1888, and will bo 11 very soon. He weighs 15fct 51b, measures 44 inches round the waist, 18 iuohe,-> round the call of the lep, and stands 3ft. 3in. high. He is said to be the finest model of a youth in any part of the world." '■^'ow for the baby." •'Anna, the baby giant, was 8 years old last June. She weighs 13ot 101b, and stands sft high. All tho children have incieased in weight considerably since 1 left Oippsland." "Have these children always been remarkable tor their st/.c ?" " They have been increasing in size in a remarkable manner ever since they weie ten Or eleven months old." " Were they abnormally large a? infants?' 1 " Tom was the smallest born of the fourteen children, but I cannot tell you the weight of either of them as infants, for the subject was of little interest to me then." " How long have the children been on exhibition '! ' " I ha\e been exhibiting for three yenns. When we started, Clara weighed 17-t ■ilb ; Turn, Bot 41bs ; and Anna, Bot ; and they have been increaoing in size and weight ever since." " Do you think they will go on increasing in weight ?" "A doctor in Melbourne told me that Clara would weigh 32 stone bctore she was 16 years of age, and she will, without doubt. She is still growing, and I do not know what .she is coming to. ' " Where weie the children born ?"' " In Bunyip, (Jippslatu!, in Victoria.' 1 ''Always heen healthy?'' '• Ye*, perfectly healthy, and pronounced by medical men to be very long livers. They wcic bi ought up in the country, and my big daughter Claia used to walk two and a-halt miles to and from school every day." "Do you .-.dopt any plan for inct easing the r \ ciuht?" '•Not ac all. The family li\c very plainly , and I find they do best on plain food."' " Do they indulge in athlelic excici-3c?" " Tom doo^ a litllc with the dumb-bells, but. I was advif-ed not to let him use them before ho was twelve ycais old, as his bones would not be foimerl yet.' " Are the childien accomplished ?'' " My big daughter appeals to bo musical, and Tom, a-< one ot the papers says, is learning to whistle. All ha\e a very fair education." " \Vheioha\e you been since you commenced travelling?" " We have been showing in the ptincipal Australian colonies, and ha-\e been through the principal cities in New Zealand. V* o also paid a vHc to London, but leturncd to Victoria after a vety short stay on account of the death of a daughter left there."' " And, fiom Auckland—" "From heie we go to Sydney, then to England, on to Pa rib and back to England, where I propose to settle down." " Is there nothing remarkable about your other children ? ' " Yes ; two of them are double jointed in all thoir joints.'' " They are not in Auckland, are they ?" "None with tho oxcepbion of the three fat children and Kate. Kate is 18 years old and weighs about Bst, stands sft 3in high, and she is one of the two with double joints." " Were your parents heavy- weights, Mr Snell?" "No; both of my parents, and the patents of Mrs Snell' also, were ordinary people in build, and 1 cannot in any way account for the abnormal proportions of the children now on view." The interview terminated with mutual acknowledgments. — Auckland " Star."

A return laid before the Legislative Aspembly of New South "Wales shows that during tho year 1888 there were 3,368 licensed public-houses in the colony, of which 858 wore in the metropolitan licensing district. There were also 457 wine houses, of which 140 were in the metropolitan district. There wore 78 licensed brewers, 302 licensed wine and spirit merchants, 51 licensed distilleries. Beside these there were six scientific distillation licon&es granted, four apothecaries' distillation licenses, and one license to distil spirits.