ALL ROUND THE WORLD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1332, 20 March 1883, Page 2

ALL ROUND THE WORLD.

It was Mike's third appearance in' :• 1 court within thirty days, and in reply > to his usual appeal 'for clemency the ' magistrate impatiently observed, " It's' no use Mike; you're good for nothing."' "It's not my style to be braggin'," retorted Mike, " but if yer honor will borry a pair of shillelaha an' stip outside widme, I'll make it inconvaynient for ye to howld that opinion." Mr Hollingshead has just issued an address to the public, in 'which he states that the Gaiety Theatre has completed its fourteenth year of existence. "I opened it," he adds, "onDecember, 21, 1868, and I have kept it open every night with the exception- of ten weeks, or sixty nights, for fourteen years,, Against these sixty nights I have given 673 'matinees-or performances that are equal to two years and a-quarter incessant nightly work, I have taken from tho public at the Gaiety alone in the fourteen years about £544,000, I have paid the State, in rates and taxes, about I £16,000; literature, in the shape of dramatic authors, has received about £30,000 ; the Press, in the' shape of I advertisements, has received about I £40,000; and the dramatic profession has received from me about £300,000. It is generally believed (says an j American correspondent) that in the United States every farmer owns the land which he tills. The late census, however, proves that this belief is based on a fiction. In the Southern States the major portion of tho 'small farms are leased. This is accounted for by the presence of the negroes made free by emancipation. In the state.of Illinois, out of a total of 255,741 farms, 80,244 are leased, In Michigan'one-, > tenth of the farms in that State arp£u leased; in Wisconsin, one-elevcnthWfeV in Indiana and lowa, one-lburth; souri, one-fourth;-Kansas,-one-sixth; N Minnesota, one-eleventh; Nebraska, one-sixth; Ohio, one-filth. In the ten States there are; 1,680,533 farms, of ■ which 347,065, or one-fifth'of the whole, are loased to tenants. The conditions of payment are more generally a share of the products than fixed money rental This seems to be just;..,'-' and gives the most satisfaction, as in • in the case of a badseasbn the lessee and bssor suffers alike. The growth of tenant-farming in this country will be watched with increasing interest as the public lands are closed out. Then tho era of speculation will begin, and large ' estates will spring up in spite of no aristocracy and republicanism, no primogeniture nor entail, andnopolitical privileges attaching to ownership of the . soil in disttnctiOnfrom ownershipofany kind of property. The most fashionable perfumes just now are ' Opoponax' and that know as ' Edelweiss,'the extract of the sweet .' Alpine flower. Sachels filled with powder, scented with the same odors, are sold also; these'too are placed between the folds of dresses and mantles when lying in the wardrotle; but stress is to be laid on the fact that excesses in this, as in most other rejects,'is vulgar; a soupcon only is permitted. A kind of wife market is held in Naples in connection with the foundling hospital every year. Air the marriageable girls of tk institution assemble in a room, to which the young men of good character have access. A n offer of marriage on the part of any young man is conveyed by allowing his • handkerchief to drop before tho object of his choice as he passes by. If the girl picks it up she thereby signifies her acceptance, but her refusal if she allows it to remain.

Au extraordinary joke at a wedding breakfast was recently perpetrated. Just before the guests arrived a large centrepiece.was removed from the table' and in its place a live hedgehog was was placed, and covered with flowers. ' Ho had been dipped' in ice-water to make him roll up titfit and keep quiet. When he unrolled, scattered the flowers and went for the guests, there was just the acutest horror among the bridesmaids they ever felt up to date. Mr De L'Eau, of Auckland, writes to the local 'Herald' that it would be better to draw a supply of domestic servants from continental countries rather than from Britain. The countries lie names are:—Prance, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, : and Holland. He states that the female servants of those countries are far better than British servants; they are more willing to work; naturally more polite; and more obliging in disposition ; are faithful to those who employ " them, it being uoc an uncommon thing for a woman in those countries to spend a lifetime in the service of whom sho was first employed. He also states that the Dutch girls especially are patterns of cleanliness and tidiness, affording a strong contrast to many of the house- '. hold helps found in the colonies. There would be no difficulty in getting domestic servants of good character from these countries, and many would only be too glad to get an opportunity of coming here. An engagement could be made before leaving their homes as to wages and the period of service, .a, year or longer, and if such engagements ; were made Mr De L'Eau is quite. jHH satisfied that the girls brought out \...i would faithfully discharge'the obliga-■ tions they entered into. 'Even on the question of religion, he believes tha.t servants from.those countries could be ■, obtained, either Protestant or Roman Catholic, in any proportion which may be desired.

Contracts have been let on the Panama Canal works, of which the following are examples \\\ frances per cubic metre, for 6,000,000 cubic metre, llesbis, Huerne, Lynch and Co. j 1,000,000 cubic metres to M. Millett. According to the original estimate >the excavation was valued at 2 fiances 50 cents. It will thus be seen that, instead of entrusting the whole of the work to one 'the' company has divided it in a number of lots, in. accord' ance with the tenders sent in to it. In this way it has been possible to have " each particular descriptions of -work carried out by contractors-.especially qualified for it, and 'owing to tho diversity in the contracts thora is also a great varietyin the method of Betting to work, as well as in the maohinery and apparatus which baye bwii introduced, produoing, great improvements in the mechanical means, employed-uf the cutting or e' di/] , .