MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 336, 3 September 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

There is no doubt says an eminent doctor that most drunkards can bo cured by a simple and very pleasant oourse of treatment—namely by eating apples at every meal, Apples if eaten in large quantities, possess properties which entirely do away with the craving that all confirmed drunkards have for drink.

A Bill has been introduced in the New South Wales Legislative Council to legalise the totalisator, It provides that the clubs shall be allowed to deduct 10 per cent, ot the amount invested, aquarter of which shall be handed to the Government for distribution among charitable institutions.

The Hawera Star reports a painful accident which happened recently to a young man, named Joseph Whiting, son of Mr Whiting, South Road. He was driving a large nail into a wall and was some distance above the ground. When in the act of striking the nail he slipped, and strik ng hia thumb with the hammer he drove it on to the nail, and was left suspended until assistance came.

One of the largest jewellers and silver smiths in Birmingham, as a protest against the system under which income tax is levied, allowed the revenue officers to seize a valuable portion of his stock, refusing to pay the amount of tax demanded- The revenue authorities declined to admit the accuracy of the figures which he had supplied, and he refused to disclose his affairs to the Commissioners, who, he saysj are fellow citizens and possibly competitors. The captain of a steamer which recently reached Newcastle (N.S.W.) from Wei-hai-wei, on being asked by a press representative what was being done at the port lately acquired by Great Britain, replied that the first efforts of the naval officers after occupying the place were directed towards the establishment of all descriptions of recreation grounds. They had a lawn tennis court, football grounds, and a variety of canteens in all directions, but not a single gun on the forts.

The chaplain of the Gordon Boys' Home, at Chobliam, Surrey, has received aii interesting letter from General Gatacre in the Soudan, in which he says that should the troops advance he shall make a point of seeing that those Gordon boys who may be in his command at the time get early into Khartoum, It was impossible to say first, because most of them were bandsmen or drummers, and if they have to take the place some bayonets must go first.

The Bulgarian Government has conceived a scheme for increasing the population of tho country which, since it is essentially an agricultural one, requires more workers to develop it, For every son born aftsr a certain number the State will pay tho father 20 francs a month, the mother also to receive a consideration, In devising this scheme the authorities have taken tho case of married soldiers into acoouat. Thus we are told that the soldier who presents the State with a family of a dozen sons will not only have his livelihood assured, but ho will receivo a medal or ovon a decoration, the same recognition to bo shown to hi 3 wife.

Mr Kenny,.S.M., has again been called upon (says the Post) to comment severely upon the prevalence of theft by children in Wellington. The offences wero, he said, committed to a great extent by children of respectable parents, showing that the mothers and fathers did uot keep their offspring under proper control. In tho majority of cases, said his Worship, it was simply professional stealing—nothing less, for the young thieves" stole with the merely sordid object of taking their booty to sell-a shocking state of affairs. He urged that parents should be more strict with their children and not allow them too much liberty. The' Russian Government have invited Mr Scott, the San Francisco shipbuilder who built the battleship Oregon, to visit St. Petersburg, with a view to entering into nego< iations for doing work of the same kind for Russia. Although U.S. Atlantic fleet has been in service continuously for over two months, cruising, bombarding, chasing merchantmen, etc., there has been no breakdown of machinery of so serious a character that it could not be repaired speedily by the machinists ou board. This is regarded as a very guod showing, and it may be noted that the company who constructed

many of these ships (their yards are at Philadelphia) have recently been commissioned by the Russiau Government to ouild a large battleship, a cruiser, and teu swift gunboats of a novel type. It was stated at a meeting of the Wellington Benevolent Trustees this afternoon that certaiu Chin;ime;i in Wellington make a living by col'ect.iug tea leaves at the hotels and boarding-houses, drying them and selling them to the poor of the city. Mr H. W. Lucy relates in the Sydney Morning Herald two now stories about Sir Boyle Roche. Somo ladies went to the Irish House of commons to hoar a particular debate, which was postponed. " Indeed, ladiee," said Sir Boyle, "I am very sorry for disappointment. But why didn't you come to-morrow?'' One day Sir Boyle rose to order. "Mr Speaker,'' he said, "an hou. gentleman who sits behind me i 3 perpetually laughing in my luce. I beg to move that before he laughs at mo again ho will be pleased to toil me .what he is laughing at." In an address on old age pensions Air A. tl. Atkinson, of Wellington, said as to the qualifications prescribed by the Bill now before Parliament :—" A man could arrive in the colony at the age of 45, live a life of crime for 10 years, provided no conviction extended beyond that period, drink himself into delirium tremens during the next five, or go on the rates for the remaining five, desert wife and children during the first 16, and abandon the latter altogether when over 14—he could do all these aud emerge at the end of the 20 years as a ' deserving colonist,' who had borne the burden and heat of tlie day and was entitled to a pension ! " A serious outbreak of fire occurred in Mr John Duncan's cattle mart, Aberdeen. A sale was iu progress at the tune, and the byres were crowded with cattle. Efforts were made to remove the animals from danger, but the flames spread so quickly aud the smoke was so dense that little or nothing could be done to save them. The scene in the byres was terrible. The animals, maddened by paiu and fear, struggled desperately to escape, and raised piteous cries. Wheu the fire was subdued it was found that 56 head of cuttle had been suffocated, or burned to death, while 19 others were so badly injured that they had to be slaughtered, and 24 were slightly burned. The loss is estimated at £2,500. A butcher has been arrested on suspicion of having caused the fire. In one of his recent speeches, Mr Reid, the New South Wales Premier, showed how completely the civil service can be removed from political control. " We promised," said Mr Reid, " to go through the public service aud bring it within proper proportions, and raise it above the play of political patronage. So thoroughly have we done that by the Act of 1895, so thoroughly have I safeguarded the public against the influence of a Minister of the Crow 11 or the Premier of the country, that I assure you that to-day I could not put a single boy iu the service of the country at half-a-crown a week. Tne result has been a reduction of the public expenditure to the tune of £300,000 a year. In spite of that the public service has become more efficient." One morning recently, while a boy, accompanied by a cattle dog, was crossing a paddock in the ranges, about three miles from Dandenong, a large eagle suddenly swooped down on the dog, aud burying its talons in the animal's back rose in the air with it hefore the boy could come to the rescue. The dog howled, and struggled in a vain endeavour to get free, and was carried to a considerable height, when it managed to catch the eagle by the bony part of the wing. The bird used its beak with terrible effect : but the dog, with the instinct of self-preservation, kept its hold on the wing, and the pair, tumbling over aud over, like acrobats, fell to the ground. Here the plucky little boy succeeded in despatching the eagle with a stout stick. The dog, which weighed over 251 b weight, was badly cut about the body and head from tho attacks of the bird's claws and beak. The eagle measured 7ft, from tip to tip across the wings,, and was a most formidable-look-ing customer. In his speech in the financial debate Mr Scobie Mackenzie said :—' Immorality aud maladministration were inextricably mixed up in almost every tranaction that the Government did, and the Premier was a reduced aud uniustructed Walpole. He did not originate political corruption, but he hadsystematised it, and made it the normal process of Parlianemtary Government. A careful and inquiring mind would find a strong analogy between tho time of Sir Robert Walpole and the present day. Let them go into the highways aud byeways of the country wherever they would, and they would find the atmosphere thick with political corruption, •• Look at the appointment of J's.P. and things of that sort," he said. "There is one man I know of appointed who recently came out of the Supreme Court after the narrowest escape under a charge of sheepstcaling that any man ever had in this world. Then another J.P. was the other day arraigned for refusing to support his mother." The Zurich correspondent of the Times announces that an ancient Roman hospital has been brought to light at Baden, near Zurich, the discovery having been made in connection with recent excavations at Windisch, the Roman Vindonissa. At Vindonissa the two great Roman roads met, the one leading from the Great St Bernard along Lake Lcman and then by Aventicum and Vindouissa to the Roman stations on the Rhine ; the other leading from Italy to Lake Constance by the Rhajtion Alps, the canton which is now Winterthur, Baden, and Windisch. The last point was the station of the seventh and eighth legions, and close by tho Roman road the hospital has been discovered. It contains 14 rooms supplied with many kiuds of medical, pharmaceutical, and surgical apparatus, the latter including probes, tubes, pincers, cauterising instruments, aud even a collection of safety pins used in bandaging wounds. There are also medicine spoons in bone, and silver measuring vessels, jars, and pots for ointment, some still contaiuiug traces of the ointment used. The excavations have also revealed a large number ot silver and copper coins, the former belonging 10 the reigns of Vespasian and Hadrain and the latter bearing the effigier of Claudius, Nero, aud Domitiau. The Rev Osbert Mordaunt, rector of Hampton Lucy, Warwickshire, has told the Licensing Commission his experience as sole trustee of a beerahop under the will of tho former rector who loft it to tho parish. When witness became rector he was sore exercised as to whether ho ought to keep the publicbouse open ; but, feeling that if he closed the house another might be opened over which he would bo unable to exerciso any control, he camo to tho conclusion that it would bo hotter for tho parish if ho ran the house himself, and consequently for tho last 22 years he has dono so. Ho attached the greatest iinportanco to tho sale of wholesome beer. Drunkenness in his village has been reduced to a minimum, The man he put in to manage tho house was generally his coachman or gardener —oue of his own servants. Tho manager was allowed the profits on mineral waters and eatables sold, but not on beer. No spirits were served. As a consequence of his refusal to sell spirits, ho was of opinion that spirit-drinking among women had boon practically abolished. The profits of the undertaking nearly all went to the parish in some shape or auother. The turnover would bo about £IOO ani nually, and the net profit would bo about £3O. The house was kept open for about