General News.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3817, 23 March 1881, Page 2

General News.

An exceedingly interesting experiment in home colonization is now being tried in Cheshire. Mr Binney, a Manchester solicitor, with firm faith in the saving virtues of a peasant proprietary, was impelled a year ago. by a suggestion made by Lord Derby to put his theories to the test, of practice. He bought an estate" of 150 acres at Whitley, in Cheshire, and resold it in small lots of one, two or more acres to men who were willing to settle on the land. About half the estate has been resold, and twenty habitations hare already been run up for the accomodation of the small landowners. Each settler owns the fee simple of his plot, and as the colony is within easy distance by rail from the great industrial centres of South Lancashire, they can command a never-failing market for their produce. If this colony of market gardeners or peasant proprietors should prove a " trade sucf ;ss," a practical step of the first importance will hare been taken to solve one of the most difficult problems of our time.

Mr Gladstone, being one day in the London office of Mr Lindsay, the ship owner, making a note of some shipping returns for his budget, a brusque and wealthy Sunderland ship owner, who was watching him, was struck by the industrious and intelligent way in which he went to work, without discovering who he was, said, " Thou writes a bonny hand, thou dost." lam glad you think so " was the reply. " Thou does ; thou makest thy figures well; thous't just the chap I want." "Indeed." " Yea, indeed," said the Sunderland man. "I am a man of few words, now; if thoul't come over to Sunderland I'll give thee £120 a year. Now, then." "I'm much obliged for the 1 offer," was the answer, and when. Mr "Ijradsay cornea, in I'll consult him." Mr Lindsay, wTien Eo-cHnißiiioi^kejfc up the joke, saying he would notlitand in the young man's way, and the sooner they knew each other the better. " Allow me, therefore, to introduce to you the Right Hon. W.E. Gladstone.of the Exchequer." There was much laughing.—Exchange. The' following is an unusually good illustration of Yankee cuteness, and is authentic enough to be retailed by the facetious (?) observer. Towards the close of the celebrated Tichborne trial £100 bonds could be bought for 10s each. A Yankee, who was noted for his lore of the almighty dollar, and an Englishman were overheard discussing the subject thusly : —Said the Englishman: " Now, in what country in the world would any Government have exercised such patience and gone to such expense in order to arrive at a just verdict ? Do you think they would have done it in America ?"• Well, lemme see," said the Yankee, with his finger en his forehead, " I'll tell you my opinion of the affair. I consider the jurymen were twelve of the durndest fools that were ever packed together in a box." " How do you make that out?"-asked the Englishman. " Why, in America they would have bought up all the bonds they could have laid their hands on, and at once returned a verdict for the plaintiff." The Englishman collapsed after that. At Oamaru a freethinker in the local Court stated that the oath would not bind him. His evidence was not taken! After the taste Riven for astronomy by Mr Proctor's visit, our readers may bo interested by the following paragraph from the New York Sun on the astronomical events of 1881: -"The sky will not present such a brilliant pageant again this century as it does during the present year. Among the phenomena are a remarkable series of conjunctions, and double and i triple conjunctions. The most interesting of these is the great 20-year conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in April. As this conjunction occurs in the sign Taurus, which astrologers say rales Turkey and Ireland, they feel safe, on account of recent occurrences, in predicting very momentous effects in those countries frctfn $he conjunction. There will also be~ibonjunctiong of Jupiter and Mars, Venus and Jupiter, Saturn and Venus, and- the far away giants^ Uranus and Neptune will play a part in the planetary levee. Venus will reach her greatest brightness, and her delicate crescent should be a favorite object in the amateur astronomer's telescope. Saturn opens wider its wonderful rings and Jupiter is remarkably brilliant. Mars will begin to brightenin the latter part of the year, and then his snowy poles and shadowy continents will again become the admiration of those who gaze through telescopes. In short there will be no end of attractions in the starry heavens, and all the pronostications of soothsayers will not be able to darken the sky of 1881."