MISCELLANEOUS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1893, 18 May 1889, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Under date London, April 11th, the following cablegram was published in Australia:— u Sir Hercules Eobinson retires from the colonial service with a fortune made by investments and i speculation in the South African Diamond Mines. He will endeavour to obtain a seat in the British Parliament as a Home Euler.” Not to he had -.—Wife (who wants a tailor-made suit, but has only hinted at it)—Did you notice Mrs de Pink’s figure! Husband (who smells a rat) Yes, poor woman; she has no figure at all, and, like other women of that sort, has to depend on tailor-made suits. Now, you, my love, are a Hebe in everything. —N.Y. Weekly, . Mr W. Courtney is doing a good work over here, says the European Mail, advertising New Zealand through his fifty interesting lectures. He has now been in nearly all parts of the United Kingdom, and with such success that his presence is eagerly sought by those who are desirous of furthering a better knowledge of that colony. The latest maritime curiosity—at any rate, in British waters —is a torpedo boat burning petroleum of tar refuse instead of coal, which has been put through some experiments at Portsmouth recently. This vessel will have something to say for herself evidently, for she has made nineteen knots an hour without emitting any perceptible smoke, and is said to move quite noiselessly. She is 187 ft in . length, and her full crew number only • seven men. Her builders are Messrs i Doxford and Sons, of Sunderland.

The man who smokes need never hope to be a good butter-maker. The odour of tobacco clings as tightly to a smoker’s clothes as hair to a cow, and the butter absorbs the smell. A strike among the unemployed is the newest phase in this question. Last week about 200 of the Sydney unemployed, for whom work had been provided in reclaiming land at Shea s creek, threw down their tools and declined to work for payment by piece instead of a daily wage of 5s 6d. It is stated that the 6d a yard offered is insufficient to keep them in food; but the Public Works officers declare that the rate of pay enables the men to make fair wages. A number of men have been found willing to take the places of the strikers, who are still idle,