MISCELLANEOUS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 297, 9 October 1873, Page 6

MISCELLANEOUS.

It is said that William East, an English paper-nitiker,_once.upon a time set his men to -work, and weut away on business. While- the men were at din* ncr, Mrs. East accidentally let a blue-bag fall into one of the vats of pulp. Alar7i7ed~at the occurrence, she determined to say nothiug about it. Great was the astonishment of the "workmen when they saw the peculiar color of the paper, and great the anger of Mr. East when he returned and found that a whole vat of pulp had beon spoiled. After giving the paper made from it warehouse room for four years, Mr. Eiisfc sent it up to his agent in London, to be sold "for what it would fetch." "For what it will fetch!" said the ft^cnt, misunderstanding the meaning ; " Well, it certainly is a novelty, but he mnst not expect too much." He sold the whole at a considerable advance on the market price, and wrote to the mills for as much more as he could get. The surprise of Mr. East may be imagined. He hastened to tell his wife, who found courage to confess her share in the fortunate accident, and to claim a reward, which she received in the shape of a new cloak. Mr. East kept his secret, and for a short time supplied the market with the novel tint, until the de.mHnd far exceeded Che supply, and other makers, discotrerins! the means used, competed ' with him.—" Paper and Printing Trades Journal." Whenever the question of water supply comes to the front in the Legislative Assembly it appears to bring with it a quantity of ill -temper to circulate, through the systems of hon. members, and there was no exception to the rule when the Public Works Loan Application Bill, which provides for the payment of £113,000 odd for the service of the year ending next June on account of water supply, was brought up for its second reading. There, .being s >me opposition at first against the measure being proceeded with at so late an hour in the evening, Mr. Mackay waxed warm, nnd~ told Mr. Bent, who rose to call attention to the state of the House to sit down. Mr. Bent said he would not, and that ifthe Minister of Mines went" on in that way he would. not get the money voted that .night, whereupon Mr. Maekay remarked. "This larrikinism on the floor of the House is disgusting." Mr. Longmorfithen became abusive, and there were signs of a storm, but fortunately the clouds blew over and things went smoothly again, " GHve us one smile," said an lion, member to the Minister of Mines, '• and we'll pass the yote." Mr, Mackay did smile, and the bill was agreed to at once without amendment, and reported to the House. — Telegraph. A rather peculiar incident recently occurred at Eockhatnptori. A snake, about five feet in length, bad. apparently fascinated a lizard previous to covering it with saliva, as in tbe usual habit of these reptiles, but while in the act of performing the latter process, some person threw a stone with such an unerring aim as to cut the Bnak'e in two. This, strange to say, did, not immediately extinguish life, for the spake was subsequently observed to make a vicious

dart at a piece of timber, rind on examination the incisions of the reptile were found to be deeply imbedded in tbe wood. This snakf, which is one of the most venomous description, is commonly known in the district as the " red snake." " This morning we were invited to nspect in tae Mazagon Dock the bot;om of the David Aughtersen. " The ihip has been stripped of her , metal iheathing. On the port side, right on ho floor, about four streaks from the leel, and about 10 feet from, the foreftot, is a hole made by tbe Xiphias, or svordfisb. The sword was broken off aid remained in the hole, leaving four • inches projecting from, the bottom. Al attempts, however, to get it out faied, and they had finally to cut away th« wood and to loosen it, ' and they smceeded in breaking off a piece nine inches long. The point which has pie-ced right into 1 the. timber still remains imbedded, and judging by the dimensions of the piece extracted, it is twelve incheß long. When it occurred no one on board could tell, but from I the appearance of the broken sword it must have been done some considerable time. The amazing force of the shock may be imagined when it was sufficient to pierce through the copper 13 to 14 inches into solid oak plank and timber. From the position of the hole the swordfish must have risen up right under the ship. It is well known that it is in this way from beneath that the fish attacks the whale. The Xipbias is of tbe mackeral family. No doubt this was a case of premeditated collision, and it was not a ' case of either light or lookout. It is well it struck on the timber. Had it goue through a plank between timbers, the effect to the ship might have been fatal. — " Times ." of India, Mr Anthony Trollope has no very exalted idea of the financial condition of New Zealand. He g^ives a table of expenditure in proportion to revenue and population in several British colonies, and adds :—": — " This certainly gives to New Zealand a grand preeminence. With a population not quite a fifteenth that of Canada she can spend an amount of public revenue less than that of Canada by not quite ; a ninth. While Canada spends little more than £1 a-head New Zealand, spends more than £13 a-head. But Cunada with its partly French population may be thought to be ,a sleepy place. Victoria, however, is wide awake, and is supposed' to know, the value of stirring business. She spends about £4 10s a head ; and New South Wales, who flattered herself that she was certainly not deficient iv spirit during the year, spent something over £7 a head. Poor Jamaica had not even £1 a head to spend, and lacked the spirit to spend all she had. There can be no doubt that if audacity, dash, and a true adherence to 'go ahead ' principles will jnnke a colony, New Zealand ought to flourish." Did anyhody ever hear of the Rod Jacks Friendly Society? We « (Post)" confess to ignorance on they subject until, in a Greymouth paper, we lately met with a notice of the celebration of the third anniversary of the foundation of the society. They celebrated this event by a ball, and had, it seems a Professor Joseph to get 'up the decorations, and the reporter mentions the efforts of " George the Cook," as well as those of " the musician," in eulogistic terms. One member, in reply to the toast of " The Ladies," remarked " that very few of us would be here to-night, or in fact anywhere else, were it not for the ladies." It would be interesting to know something more about the Red Jacks. '• Our seamen," thanks to Mr. Samuel Plirasoll, are about to have tardy justice done them. Although it looks something like shutting the stable-door after the steed has been stolen. But the " Times " has taken the subject in hand, and there isu likelihood — even although good seamen are year after year becoming more and more scaree — that the country will soon be thoroughly roused to a sense of the duty it owes to those who go down to the sea in ships. Much has lately been said and written against trades unions — and douotless, like other institutions, thy have their failings — but it does not appear to have struck the "Times"— or, indeed, .any other journal that we know — that sailors would never. have come to their present degraded position had they been connected with a thoroughly organised union for their protection. It tells a decided tale against the anti-nnion arguments of the " Times " that the only extensive trade — for we suppose " tba sea " may be termed a trade — that is without a combination, is the only one that has retrograded in the social scale, and the only one whose members can receive three months' imprisonment for refusing to be killed in their own workshop. — " Sportsman." The Egyptians had a very remarkable ordinance to prevent people from borrowing imprudently.. An Egyptian was not permitted to borrow without giving to his creditor in pledge the body of his father. ,It was deemed both an impiety and an infamy not to redeem i»o sacred a pledge. A person whd died without discharging ,J;hat duty wa^. deprived of the customary honors paid to the dead. . A Pennsylvania editor lost a paying subscriber by death lately, and this is the editorial obituary that follows i^— " Death seems to lurk; behind every railfence and, hay stack in this vicinity, aid lie. in wait foe our prominent. and

choicest citizens. Today we see it, tomorrow we don't Ah, who can tell what a week may bring jforth in .such a blasted country as this. Death has again turned a flip flap, and come down flat-footed in our midst, and snatched from amongst us one •of the , best I advertisers and subscribers we, ever had. He possessed ttje' love. ,' confidence, and esteem of/all who krie^'him, and some ' who did ; hc/t,' ' arid save, a. slight poker debt to Mr.- — — l ,did ndt owe accent in the world." The "Wairnambool Examiner" publishes the following extract from a letter, dated Aug. 4, from a gentleman at •Port Darwin are anything but favorable and : at the present time I candidly confess there is no opening for individual- exertions. Up to the [present time 'nothing but reefs have been discpvered,:and the most of those are formed into companies, in fact 1 may say , that, up to the.present, there are. ,po private , individuals in ' possession of a claim. The coriseqq ence is that 95 per Cent, of the population are sjjnt over here tinder engagement to' the different companies. They all arrive cdmpletely equipped, with horses, <di?ays, tools, and provisions for the twelve months, and the result is that Hhere are neither stores on the reefs, nor aqcomodation houses on the roads ; hence you will perceive that it is impracticable for any solitary indivual to carry his swag and make for the diggings as we used to go in days of yore. No doubt if things turn out favorable this will rectify Jitself, but unless alluvial diggings are discovered I would not give much for the future changes. The climate is the hottest I have. yet experienced, and the mosquitoes and sandflies are absolutely maddening. Add to this the fact that a person dare not endulge in bathing on account of the alligators Things may alter for the better, but at •present any money that is made mus^| be got at the risk of health and life. The last season has been a very sickly one — yellow feyer and aj^ue being very prevalent, and several parties dying. There is no nourishing food in the territory. Live stock or fresh meat is not procurable, salt or preserved meats only being obtainable." • A curious story has just cropped out in Cassel, Germany, tonching a bet made between two officers there. One of the gentlemen, who was a count and an adjutant, laid down the proposition that a man of rank and title, could whenever he chose, marry a rich heiress. He proposed to bet, indeed, that within eight days he could get himself engaged to a certain young lady who possessed the highly desiable qualification described. The bet was accepted. This young lady was ! the daughter of a y/idower a man who had been the proprietor of a gambling, house, and s.ho was said to have half a million as her dowry. The count set to work to win. the girl's affections, and succeeded. Au engagement in Germany is a solemn affair, and it ia always published in the newspapers. However, as soon as the engagement was arrived at, the count claimed i his bet. and then wrote to the girl to say that, her father having been a gambler, it was impossible for him to marry her. The engagement was annulled, and the final results, it was thought, of this humorous affair were a large quantity of champagne and a broken heart. But, the Emporer William heard ofy this little romance and did not like the^ look of it at all. Probably before the large quantity of champagne hatf Feen drunk, both the officers found themselves under arrest. At present, according to the commands of the Ktnperor, they wait thei* trial by courtmartial; and it is-highly probable that they may find serious cause to repent of having engaged in that merry jest. There is a popular song whose title is " It's nice tp be a father," No doubt it is — under certain, circumstances, and in certain places. The Bay of Islands appears however, not to be a' nice locale to become a father. We are informed by a fellow who seems to be one that has studied in the bard school of experience, that in said locality the families are immoderately large, both in number and in appetite. Query — What dimension should a family reach in order to merit being called immoderately large ? I know some containing the full baker's dozen, and the fruitful pairs from which they have sprung would be rather riled at the mere hint that they had crossed the boundary of immoderate largeness. Other parents of my acquaintance imagine the possessson of eight to qualify for a first-class certificate from the society for the propagation of the species which is about to be organised to battle against the pernicious theory of Malthus, and his ardent disciple Stuart Mill. Again, when can a c&ild be justly deemed to have an immoderate appetite ? What is the limit of moderation in regard to this desire for food in the young human animal ? Seeing that immigration is costing the colony &o many precious thousands sterling, it would seem an economical method of procuring population to establish a State nursery in the Bay of Islands. The nurslings would of .course hare ;| appetites fearfully and wonderfully made." But these might.be blunjfced br abundant doses of treacle and brimstone, such as Mrs. Wackford'Sg liters was wont to thurst down the throarf of the innocents of DotheboysJ Hail.—".Diogenes" in the. "Gief/Tfeer Aigxut." i-. -.-J