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Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1615, 21 February 1884, Page 2

The funds of the Queensland Government Savings Bank amount to £1,180,041, of which 1,G97,999 is invested in tho debentures of that Colony. This latter sum represents £725,800 to be received as the debentures mature, the bank having bought most of the stock below par. About half the money so invested represents 6 per cent, debentures, of which £254,000 worth were bought at par (a very good speculation). For about £150,000 in debentures at 4 per cent, the bank only paid £BB The Emperor of Russia ordered for the winter a cloak, tho description of which sounds like ono of Ouida's imaginings. It waa to be of sable fur, trimmed with gold and enriched with precious stoues, tho whole to cost £B6OO.

There is a bog in Queensland which has been burning for several years. It consists of vast quantities of a peatlike substance, which became ignited from bush fires,

The cathedral at Glasgow is shortly to be enriched by a monument, which the officers and men of the Highland Light Infantry—the old 74th regiment —aro about to erect. The memorial is to commemorate the part the corps took in the recent Egyptian war.

j Many charming stories avo told about Madame Ristori's great goodness and tenderness.of heart. Hore is one which is worth re-telling;—" Some years since; while in the very zenith of her popularity, Madame Ristori played one night in the largest theatre in Madrid, the Queen occupying the royal box, Having gone behind the scenes for a change of costume, she was returning to her place on the stage when a woman rushed forward and tlrw herself at Madame Risfcoro's feet, that womanly sympathy which is one ''

of her chief characteristics, the great tragedienne at once asked the poor woman what her trouble was. ' Oh, madame! do you hear these bells tolling? They are sounding the deathknell of my son, who will bo executed within an hour. You alone can save him! To you the Queen will grant anything you choose to ask this night. Oh, madame, I beseech you, ask for the life of my boy.' Madame Ristori's heart was touched by the mother's agony, and, heedless of the clamor of the multitude, uneasy at her prolonged absence, made her way to the royal box, where she was seen in earnest conclave with Her Majesty. The Queen was then observed to write something on a piece of paper and hand it.to Madame. Ristori, who curtsied deeply and left the box. The cause of the delay became known, and when Madame Ristori at last stepped on 'the stage the enthusiasm of the multitude knew no hounds, Handkerchiefs were waved, hats thrown up, and for several momenta there was