Untitled

Temuka Leader, Volume 2, Issue 138, 19 April 1879, Page 2

An ingenious means of robbery has just come under the notice of the police. A man dressed like a peasant, and carrying on his back an apparently heavy burden, was the other day passing before a shop in the Hue du Chatoaud’Ean, in Paris, when he fell and broke a sheet of plate-glass, worth at least 500 fr. The proprietor seized him, but he averred that he had no money to pay with. Two passers-by advised the shopkeeper to search him, which was done, and on him was found a bank note for lOOOfr. He averred, with feigned grief, that it . belonged to his employer ; but the master of the shop insisted- on paying himself out of it, and to that effect gave him yOOfr. and sent him away, sobbing bitterly. The note was forged, the advisers were confederates, and the shopkeeper not only lost his plate glass window, but 500 fr. into the bargain. A rather unusual military incident is thus narrated by a Tasmanian exchange. Our contemporary says:—“ As the members of the rifle regiment were parading the street last evening a scene occurred which was provocative of no little amusement on the part of those who generally follow the gallants on their march. At the corner of Elizabeth and Liverpool streets a number of people were stationed to Avatch the volunteers go past, and among them were a subordinate Government officer of military pretentions, and a companion, who scrutinised each file as they passed. Perceiving at the rear ' of the column that one of the riflemen was out of his rank, the pseudo military man rather incautiously ventured the inquiry as to what he was doing. To his intense surprise the ‘ irregular/ dropped his rifle, and straightway made use of his fists in a rather promiscuous manner about the body and head of his questioner, to that gentleman’s intense discomfort. His friend attempted to prevent further damage being inflicted, and kindly interceded, but the enraged redcoat was evidently not in a mood to brook interference, and immediately turned his attention to the stranger, and forcibly impressed upon his mind—-or rather his mouth—the necessity which existed for his retiring from the scene without delay. • His advice, it is almost needless to remark, was readily acted upon, and the noble defender of his country shouldered his Snider, and rejoined hia comrades.’": / In fheTlouso of Lords’ (nfljaba home ■ paper) 4s somrtSmes to fie seen an elderly p-ontleman quietly seated at the table, or timidly walking in and out, .counting his t steps lest peradventure they might lead him to tread on the toes of a noble lord. He does not claim attention, and, to tell the truth, does not receive it, .Nobody notices him, and no one would guess from any data of personal resemblance that he is the brother to the puissant carl who has had a good deal to do with the direction of the destinies ot England during the last four years. History, ancient or modern, scarcely supplies a parallel to the twin phenomena of the obscurity of Ralph Disraeli, anu the contemporaneous fume of his brother Benjamin. The one lias always lived in the

bia/e of iiohi: Uly ; tin.- utbcr has "V;Uoinatically shunned public recognition in any form. Ralph Disraeli’s circle of acquaintances is limited in the extreme. He lives in the quietude of Onslowsauare, and may sometimes be met strolabout the private garden, or seated with book in hand under the obi dm that faces the church which overlooks the most secluded corner of this bit of green in the heart of London. But be gives no parties and accepts no invitations. He lias no ambition beyond the desire to he left alone, and no wants beyond what are simply supplied by the emoluments of the office his brother thrust upon him. Nobody knows exactly the date of his birth, or even the epoch of his marriage. It is sufficient for him that he was born and married, and he thinks that in these matters the world might well be satisfied with what contents him. The Australian and Now Zealand 4 Gazette,’ a London paper, in its issue of the 18th November, reviews at considerable length the extraordinary progress being made by New Zealand. The concluding portion of the articles is as follows: —“ And all this mighty bulk of mercantile enterprise must be the work of, at the very utmost, less than one quarter of a million of persons, whose exertions have thus lifted the colony to a position of commercial power and -opulence, which, doubtless, is secretly envied by more than one of the old-established States of Europe. Competent authorities. who are intimately acquainted with the material capacities of New Zealand, tell us that the two principal Islands will, eventually, support with ease a population of at least fourteen or fifteen millions ; several millions more, indeed, might be maintained.”