GENERAL NEWS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 178, 24 September 1879, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

| Though we hear so much just imw About hard times, commercial and a-ri- \ ultural distress, and so op, it wi.md ; e?m us if people had still plenty of ' .i,')iiey to fling away upon any | ivhich appeals to the fancy or caprice of the ,mblie-, and becomes the fashion of the hour. Everybody has noticed the prominence given m the newspapers to Ba %> snbject of the Comedie Francaise, :S;;|d the performances of this famous company of Parisian players during the kja-st few weeks in one of the London theatres. The lessee of the theatre in question has just published a statement to the effect that the forty-two performances have yielded the sum of £19,805 14s 6il. If, by some skilful or lucky h ; t, the power and influence of fashion can he enlisted on the side of an enterprise, it is astonishing to notice how eagerly and lavishly prople will lend their help an! pay their momey, and so make success succeed yet more abundantly. The fashionable world of Loudon followed the Prince of Wales the other ray like a flock of sheep to the French Fete, in aid of the French charities of the metropolis, and flung their money about with the "which bazaars seem specially, suited to provoke. And now it seems as-if there w r ere to be a rage for subscribing to ■" a memorial"- of the poor Prince Imperial, the chief reason for which appears to be that Royalty has made the object " fashionable." Fashionable charity, fashionable amusements, and fashionable expenditure, generally seem to move with strange caprice, inconsequence, and eccentricity. Speaking of the prospects of oil production for the coming year, the Titusville Moraing ' Herald' says: " It would appear that the number of wells about to l>e drilled in the Bradford tiistricts is liable to increase the production to such an extent that 6,000,000 barrels of tankage viil not be sufficient to hold the surplus stock which will accumulate during the fir&t half! of the current year. Nearly every pro- ! ducer who has money or credit threatens to tske a hand in the grand rush, and it would not be in the least degree surprising to see 2500 or 3000 nrw wells sunk before the Ist day of-June, with an increase, in yield proportionate to that of last year." An English paper says:—" A school for hangmen has . been established j l-ccently at St. Petersburg, the plan of •organisation, drawn up by General j <Gn-rrt.«'ln, having received the signature j ot the Emancipator, Alexander 11., I himself. The object of the founders is. to provide an efficient staff of hangmen ! Ifor the wholesale execution* that are likely to take place all over Russia. The pupils for the School of Hangmen k are to be selected from the ranks of * -intelligent ami deserving men' in the arniv. and for the present the, number, is j ; . exceed a dozen." It is said that the rec nt election for Waikoiiaiti cost, tie winning imniher ;i verv large sum of money, variously .stated at L 5 00 and upwards, On» Jioteikecpcr's bill sent in to the comsniltee represent: <1 the moUJjst sum of LI 20.

In a recent mimlvr of the Medical ' Record' l)r Hammond says that when you poke the end of your finger in your t-ar, the roaring noise you hear is the sound of the circulation in your finger— Tvhich is a fact, ns- any one can ■demonstrate for himself by first putting his fingers in his ears, and then stopping them with another substance. Try it, and think what a wonder of a machine your body is, that even the point of your fingers are such busy workshops that they joar like a email Niagara. The roaring is probably more than the circulation of the blood. It is the voice of all the vital processes together—the tearing down and buiHing up processes that are always going forward in every living body, from conception to death. The following paragraph is from a Brisbane letter :—We are thinning out the marsupials in several parts of the Colony at a great rate, and scalp-hunting has become quite a paying game with really good shots ; as for those who are not, it may amuse them, but they won't make money of it. The war against the marsupials commenced by battues, in which scores of sportsmen and their helpers took part, and the day's work ran tip to several hundreds, but that is no longer possible. The "tripods" have become not onl) very much, scarcer, but so wild that they require to be carefully ■stalked! The grey of the evenings and mornings, or moonlight nights, arc the times for knocking them over, and in the Old Country men travel far for much less exciting and invigorating sport, I can tell you.

The following telegram was received by Messrs Dick anil Stewart, M.H.Rs., from the Hon. Mr Macnndrew : —" I have 'communicated with Blair with a view of providing immediate employment to those on whose behalf you have wired me. I apprehend that unemployed in Dnnedin now consist largely of those who would desiderate the possession of small holdings of their own, which could 60 far place them beyond the vicissitudes of the labuur-niarket l, v affording the means providing food for themselves when net working for others. It. is

therefore purposed to he sought from the Legislature to lay off at once village settlements adjacent to some of the railway lines, on the construction of •which employment will be found. Tam in hopes that by this metns we may largely remove the anomaly of unemployed in a country in which the term should be practically unknown.—J. MACANDRKtr."

jVspite Turkish wars, Asiatic expeditions,- 1 and Nihilistic troubles at home. L'Mssia not only attempts but 'successfully accomp ishes a great number of pui-iic v-'orks, :-.1l more or less of a stupendous character. Next year tin land of the Moscovite will possess the largest bridge in Europe. It will cross the Volga in the government of Samaria, on the Siberian railroad'line-. The Volga, at the point of the bridge, is about four miles wide in the spring season, and in autumn is 4692 ft. the bridge will be supported by 12 piers 85 ft, high, with icecittters 35ft. high at a distance of every 364 ft. The ice-cutters are covered with granite. A temporary colony is established for working men employed on the bridge; it occupies about 55 acres, and has 60 different buildings insured at 100,000 roubles. Two thousand men are employed, and among them are 100 Italian masons. Three steamers and seventy barques are used constantly for forwarding wood, stone, iron, and other materials, The bridge will cost 4,630,000 roubles, or about 3,500,000d015. .

An aged millionaire in an American Eastern city has played a sad trick upon his heir and relatives. He invited them all to gather round his dying bed, and when they were assembled there, sprung a notary and a whole stock of legal foolscap upon them, and made them all "take affidavits that he was perfectly sane and clearheaded and so on—and then died. When the heirs came to rummage in his desk, they found a will dated in 1875, bequeathing most of nis property to an idiot asylum : and, furious at their deceit, they one and all began an action to have the will broken on the ground of insanity —all swearing that, though he was quite sane on the day of his death., he was madder'n a whole litter of March hares in 1875. Then his executersmiled a grim smile and pioduced a later will, made and signed about half-an-hour before the heirs gathered around his dying bed, precisely to the same effect as the first one. This sad event has cast a gloom over the community of heirs. Another of the lately created magistrates has distinguished himself. ("Created" is a good word, signifying tu make out of nothing.) He was lawfully in debt a f;w pounds to a manufacturer, but he habitually postponed payment. At length a summons was taken out against him, returnable at the local court of petty sessions. With the summons in his hand, he at once sought out his impatient creditor, and the following' occurred: — His Worship,—" Look here y.-.u\l better withdraw this!" Creditor. — • I won't do anything of the kind. I've waited too long already " H ; s Worship.—" Then, if you go on with it, I'll have to sit on the bench, and dismiss the case." Creditor. —"That, would be very bad taste." His Worship.—"'Taste be damned ! A man must protect himself!" -•-

An action for libel against tin* Wnnganu.i ' ChrmiieY'. and tin- writer of the letter si-n--'! ■ " WaL.tara," lias been instituted I>v Mr Ralhuici', M.H.R. The libel as contained in the charge that Mr Ballanre h»d filched L2()H from the colonial treasury to enable a co-partner (Mr Larnaeh) in a land company to go Home and gull the Engl is) i public. Five ewes had five lambs each, or a small flock of 2o between tliem. Tin's is unprecedented as far as we know.

"Sarah have any of those misehevous children been playing with the piano while I have been out of town? Some of the keys wont sound at all." "Please mum, I don't know nothink about it, leastwise Master Tom said there was something wrong with it, which he was sure there was a mouse in it. So he got Joe to hold up the cover, while he put the dog and cat into it; but instead of catchin' the mouse, mum, they took to fightin', and did make such a funny noise in amongst the wires—so maybe, mum, the mouse is there still, mum!"

Somebody wrote to the editor of a village paper to ask how he would break an ox. The editor replied as follows: If only one ox, a good way would be to hoist him, by means of a long chain attached to his tail, to the top of a pole 40 feet from the ground, then hoist him by a rope tied to his horns to another pole. Then descend on his back a 5 ton pile-driver, and if that don't break him, let him stait a country newspaper, and inist people for subscribtions. Oneoi the two ways will do it sure."