Clippings.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7832, 26 May 1905, Page 4

Clippings.

The Wtyadham Herald states that as a sequel to the recent prosecutions under the Noxious Weeds Act in that district a petition is about to be circulated amongst landholders to have ragwort eliminated from the ■Act. Farmers, it is stated, hold that as sheep eat the weed readily, it is more a benefit than'a nuisance. There are, however, differences of opinion on this point.

. A seizure of diseased poultry was made at Auckland on Friday last, at a city auction mart, by the (ii.sti'ipt health officer. The birds were |(sa,vs the Herald) suffering from a particular offensive disease, and were about to ba removed to a boardinghouse. When they were seized, the birds were killed, and the bodies cremated in a factors' furnace. The seizure was made under the section of the l'ublic Health Act which empowers officers of the Health Department to seize any article of food that is deemed to be unlit for human consumption.

The Ihinedin Star says It is nearly 18 years since Mr James Allen I created a sensation throughout tho colony Ihjy- defeating Sir Robert Stout, who was Premier at the time, in Uunedin East. Manifold are the ironies of cause and effect, and it might be plausibly contended that Mr Allen's notaWle achievement in .1387 prepared the way for that prolonged Seddonian predominance which he heartily deplores. If the present Chief Justice had retained- bis seat on ilu> occasion, it is qiuite possible that neither Jlr Bullancc nor Mr Seddon would ever have been at the head of affairs.

An unusual brief was held liy a father lor his daughter at the Christchurch Court the other d;ty. Sho was charged with having ridden a bicycle on a footpath, but did not appear. " What docs your daughter do?" asked Mr 11. W. liisiiop, S.M. " She is in an independent position," the father replied. "Are thieve any mitigating circumstances," en([iiirai the Magistrate. " None," was the. answer. " I am gUwl the police have taken tho action." He had no syi>ipatliy, he added, with the practice of footpath cycling, v Well, .if that is the case," concluded his Worship, " she will he fined 10s."-

The varities of usage in tho niattei' of punctuation are amazing,, ranging from the refusal of an emin-. ent Cambridge scholar to recognise full stops to the free distribution of the semicolons in which the New Testament revisers indulged. On tho wliolo it is better, perhaps, to be generous, rather than stingy with one'n punctuation mark's-. In Washington the lax use of' commas is doubtless discouraged after the painflit blunder which cost the United State Government a. lii&tter of £400.000 sterling. About thirty yeais ago, the United States. Congress, in drafting the Tariff Bill, enumerated in one section the articles to be admitted to the free list. Among these were " all foreign fruit-plants." The copying clerk, in his. superior wisdom, omitted the hyphen and inserteel ai comma after " fruit," so that the Clause read, " all foreign fruits, plants, etc." The mistake could not be rectified for about a year, and during this time all oranges, bnnnnas, lemons, grapes, and other foreign fruits were admitted free of duty, with a loss toi tho Government of at least fcIQOjQQQ fcjj: tfcaii j-gajj