MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 359, 27 October 1898, Page 8 (Supplement)

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

The growth of the passion for amusemeut is at this moment the most noticeable thing in the life of the nation. It is visible not only in the limited class who make the pursuit of pleasure tbeir sole object, but in the middle classes and the working classes, too. People demand more holidays. People of comfortable means must go away from Loudon, not oniy for a summer outing, as the old fashion was, but at Christmas and at Easter, and at Whitsuntide, and whenever any pretext or opportunity occurs. Working people no longer remain at home on Sundays, but travel as a matter of course to see their friends. Servants no longer put by their savings against a rainy day, but spend tbem in tiking a j holiday at Margate. All classes alike exj pect more variety and amusement in their i lives. Sunda7s are become holidayc, in the sense in which they were holidays before the Puritan Revolution brought the Jewish Sabbath into favour with the English people—days when the Thames, from Goring downwards, is a vast regatta, and every road beset with whirring wheels. Theatres grov, and the demand for them increase. Novels pour'out upon the market, and the public for serious literature declines. Even in religion there must be something new and start- . ling, and the result is the growth of ' ritualistic practices, to meet the restless appetite for change.—Speaker. A great haul of fish made by Victoria fisherman is thus described by a Melbourne paper : —An enormous sboal of deep sea trevella entered Lady Bay, Warrnambool, and the magnitude of the haul made was hardly fully realised at the time. Indeed the veritable goldmine which has been opened for the fishermen can even now be scarcely understood. The fish lie packed together like haddocks in the space of about 100 yards, and looking at the mass of them from the side of a boat it seems as if it would be possible to walk over a solid floor of fish. Although 200,000 trevalla have been caught during the past few weeks there is no perceptible diminution in tho numbers. The operation of catching them is conducted with a line and bait, and a man standing in a boat can simply haul the rish in one after the other as fast as he pleases. Boats from Melbourne and all parts of the country have been transported to Warrnambool, and daily large numbers of baskets of the trevalla are despatched to Melbourne and various towns throughout Victoria. Some of the fishermen have earned as much aa £IOO per month, and a number of fishermen and Portland join in the piscatorial harvest. Some amusing stories are told by Captain Philip Trevor in his article in the Nineteenth Century on the " Catholicism of the British Array." Perhaps the best is the following:—"A new parson who joined at a large home station was roost anxiou3 to improve the general conduct of the parade service. Amongst other things, he decided to adopt the eastward position during the recitation of the Creed. Only the choir, who in a garrison church are those members of the band whose instruments are unsuitable for church music, would be affected, as they alone occupied fide-pews. Theie was no aggrieved parishioner to consult, and the matter could be easily arranged at the weekly practice. But the chaplain was disappointed. Tho effect, however mnch it might have satisfied him as an ecclesiastic, displeased him as a soldier. His idua was to repeat tho first two words himself and make a pause ; then, as he spoke again, the choir were to turn as one man and proceed with the declaration of their convictions simultaneously. But from the chaplain's point of view the rehearsal was most slovenly, and he confided the fact to the sergeant- major, on whom he was paying a call next day. Then the sergeant-major advised. ' I I might suggest, sir, I'd just let things be ' as you wire ' this Sunday, and I'll step vap next practice.' The chaplain gratefully acquiesced, and at the next practice the sergeant-major accordingly stepped up. No possible circumstances or set of conditions eradicate or even dull the military instincts of a sergeant-major. He had a short conversation with the chaplain, and then addressed the choir. ' Now men ' The mere found of bis Voicii was electric. ISo little band boy lolled on the choir desk. The third fingers of tho hand were on the seams of the trousers and the heads erect. Even the man struggling with tho bassoon sat to attention. The sergeant-major proceeded. ' When you 'ear the 'oly man say " Hi believe," not a move—them words is only cautionary ; but when he starts on " Gord tho Leather," round yer goon yer'eels.' Then to the chaplain : • Now, sir, you try.' The chaplain was wise enough to note that the sacred words had been uttered and received in perfect goud faith and without a .semblance of profanity ; so he thanked the sergeant-major and 'tried' forthwith. Success was instillt.incous." Theic is an absolute necessity for advertising ; there is a great eag/ruess to compete for attention, and no one gets it unless it is by giving, as it were, so many strokes of the hammer, one after the other, to compel people to notice what is going on.—W. E. Glad tone.