ROUND THE WORLD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1778, 3 September 1884, Page 2

ROUND THE WORLD.

The House of Lords lias passed a private bill to enable the executoraand surviving trustee of the will of the .late Augustus John Smith to surrender existing leases and accept n new lease ot the Scilly Isles. The late Augustus was a benevolent despot j under, his rule, the said islands were most prosperous—no {axes, no licenses, no panporism. He founded schools, at which he made attendance compulsory; libked , the isles to the mainland with a sub- A marine cable, and generally was a'progiessive, cheery old sort. Ho'had purchased a lense of the islands from the Crown in 1830. Athelstano won them from the Danes in 928. Henry Beauclerc granted tlieni to Tavistock Abbey,, with whose possessions they passed to the Crown tempo Bluff King Hal. Elizabeth leased them.to' the Godolphins. Blake captured them, 1651, for the Parliament.. Although " King" Augustus Smith was a r good fellow, the principle by which hews granted practically despotic powerjpover a population of more than 2000 was essentially a bad one.

A country clergyman who recently preached in an Austin Church" is an admirer of the writings of Charles Dickens, and quotes from his novels almost as often as lie does,from the Bible, He surprised his congregation by winding up a gorgeous peroration with, "It is thus, you see, my brethren, as the Scriptures say, ' Barkis is willin', but the flesh is weak.' " '

An American exchange lias the following illustrative, annecdote MiEmory Storrs, of Chicago, was dining recently in London at Minister Lowell's iiiid near him sat the Dub of Argyll, who during the conversation expressed surprise tliat Chicago slid# have treated Oscar Wilde—" a man whom we think nothing of, if we think of him at all"—so well. "IPs all a mistake, ■ your grace," • replied Mr Storrs; "we had nothing to-do-with Wilde in Chicago." " But I certajjiy read in the New York and Bdfftn W papers long .accounts, of his reception in your city,"'. "True, your,grace," answered the Chicago lawyer; " but the recent growth of Chicago has made it the metropolis of the United-States, and all the seaboard citices are jealolis of her, and say spiteful-things about her." Mr Lowell, of Bostoi), was about to interject a reirark jiis't here, but Mr Storrs silenced" him "with a significent look. After.lhe meal, and on the way upstairs, "the American Minister touched Mr Storr's arm, and whispered : " You got out of that very well, Storrs. Sinful,' but patriotic." A very sudden death occurred in the Congregational Sunday School, Paramatta (N.S.W.), on the 21st instant. Mr Charles H. Edgell, superintent of the school and deacon of < the church was in the act of reading out a hymn when he staggered back and died immediately, The deceased was well known m Paramatta, where he had taken a prominent part .in. matters for the past twenty yearsr^ In Her Majesty's navy, during the year 1883 there were 172 men died through falls from aloft, 1060 were drowned, 48 committed suicide, and 423 died from the effects of wounds and injuries. Ihe British riavy consisted of 246 ships in commission, manned by 46,616 seamen and marines'(including officers and boys); One war vessel j foundered during the year, three were stranded, and there were 33 collisions and other accidents.

G. B. Studd, the well known cricketer, has heen in very bad luck. Last year he had a severe attack of typhoid fever, with lung trouble supervening, and was laid up for four months in the spring of this year. He broke his right arm, and now, on recovering, finds that the bones are set out of line, and the member partially uselesss, His brother, J. ,]L K. Studd, captain of the Cambridgjbven this year, is the eldest of the three T cricketers (of whom C. T. is the youngest), and they have all been captains' in successive years.

Mrs Dutton Cook, widow of the late distinguished dramatic actor, who as Miss Linda Leates' the pianiste, won all the honors the Koyal Aoademy of Music could give her, has returned to the concert platform.

A{. the end of June the population of South Australia was 322,000. The percentage both of births and deaths deaths during the quarter was the highest known for several years. Fever was especially fatal, chiefly to children. What next?—A . journal called Orange Blossom is announced in London. The feature, as 'tho title denotes, will be accounts of weddings, and it is promised that eacii number shall contain photographic portraits of : prominent brides. •<;: A i roposition to impose a tax on wax matches in YictonVias been abandoned at the instance of the miners, who protested thaf they , carried wax matches, whea.at work, v and that these matohes we(s often the r means of saving life, . • ?; jfli TomP, M'Kay, the champiWrailway agent of the world; ha4 : ;'been paid « high compliment by the Marquis of Norinahby. Tom now says that if he could only get Queen Victoria to travel over the Burlington : route; he would die happy. ...

Early ■ Cramming,-Fond Sydney mother (with a son of a'Wy open countenance); "He's a pretty good hoy, but he don't take to his letters." Old friend: "Well, lie ought to do so, for his mouth is like the slit of a post office box." ■ ■ . More honors for Australians! Elphinstone M'Manoh Moore, eon of Mr H. Moore, of the Under-Secre-tary's office, Melbourne, has obtained wranglerahip in tthe Univeisity of Cambridge. He was educated in the Weslley College, Melbourne. A thoroughly pradcal effect is to bo** made to find petroleum at Gishorno by the South Pacific' Company, whose V head office is in Sydney.. ....A practical 1 oil-well borer, who hasjiad tffeear'a experience in America, is to p™down a. bore of 1000 ft. ■.

If you would be in fashion burn or f bury all your popket-handkerchiefs on ' I which your crest is embroidered in the left-hand corner. The-crest, like the diamond, - Bbjrt front soiifaire of the masher, must now be in .the middle o( the handkerchief or nowhere,

Cubed of Diunkino.-"A young friend of mine was cured of an insatiable thirst for . liquor, tlmt had so prostrated his system , that he was unable to do any business. Ho ''waa entirely cured by hop bitters, It allayed ' all that burning thirst, took away tho appetite for liquor, made his nerves atearly, . and he has remained a sober and steady man for two years, and ho lias no desiro to return to his cups,"—From a leading K.ll. Official. ' Bead