ROUND THE WORLD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2319, 12 June 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

ROUND THE WORLD.

In otlier places besides Melbourne, literary, philonunliieiil, and debuting societios have the samo difficulties and the sßinu foe, apathy, to content with, Plenty of people will join and subscribe. The problem is how ti> keep up the interest ami persuade members to attend. As far as debating societies arc coiwornutl, uiio of the most remarkable developments of modern times in Great Britain has been the invention and rapid growth of " parliamentary debating societies." The oldest of these has existed in Liverpool for more than twenty years, and now every fair-sized town in England, and Scotland has its "House of Commons." They have completely taken the place of the old-fashioned' sleepy debating societies, and it is found that the " fnn" of having a speaker in the chair (sometimes with a ■real wig), of forming Ministei's.iinci voting on divisions, giv.es genuine permanent interest to these affairs. Several members of the present House of Commons haze graduated m these mimic Parliaments,—Melbourne Argus. A four-year-old hoy. while making a morning call at the house of a neighbour, overheard the servant girl talking emphatically to tiie eat in her endeavor to g'fct it out of the kitchen- Among other things the girl said to the cat was this:— i "If you don't get out of this I'll shako the liver out of you !" This remark struck the listening youngster favorably, and lie treasured it up for future use. ■Next morning he chanced to bo at the same neighbor's, and the smaller members of the household announced to him that they were going to have liver for breakfast The youhstor put two and two together at once, ami reached liis own conclusions; then, to confirm them, he turned to the girl, and asked anxiously, "Did you shake it out of the cat'!"

It is not often that one is in a position to read his own obituary notice, but such an opportunity has been afforded to Captain Dundas, the well-known drill instructor. In tho Evoning Star of a recont issue appeared an extract from the World giving a. detailed account of the gallant captain's career, and of his " recent death undersomewhi.it painful circumstances." We are happy to state that Captain Duudag ia worth any number of dead men yet, he having been present and lent able assistance at tho Qanm-ra encampment so recently as Monday last, tie is a brother of the new Lord Melville, who has just succeeded to the title through the death of his uncle. A correspondent to'fche Lyttolton Timos says:—The Western Australians are rather inclined to fight shy of going to the Kimborley diggings at present of tho distance and the heavy expense necessary, Tho climate ho described as being so hot that to live there Would be a good apprenticeship to dwelling in Hades. No work can be done by Europeans between eleven in tho morning and four in tho aftoernoon.

One of the Queen's grandchildren r has been discovered is the anonymous novelist who, in "Lo Eiodo Tlieasallie." told the unpleasant history of the Battenbergs under the painfc of the P.tttonpohfs, and who wrote disagreeable things about the " Empress of India." The culprit, who calls herself' An Ecilaw," and who is tho daughter of Princess Alice and the Graud Duke oE Hesse, married the Grand [Duke Sergins tho youngest broihor of the Czar, two yearn since. The authoress's own father was not spared, Ignoring the questionable wisdom of further fouling her own nest and libelling her nearest relations, tho princess proposes publishing some rovelations about the Courts of Northorn Europe, not omitting i» English.

The Sydney Morning Herald est'-' nmted -'that over 10,000 Auatraliuna have kit for England during February and tho first ball' of March, mostly with tho object of seeing the Colonial Kxlubiiion.

: Senator Ransom is said to bo the subjectof a joke froui one of his. own little: saris.V; yoinebody- suggested to him thiit his. lather might be President some iky, .iiiii) how line it would be liying.in the./ White With a regard; for. .the welfare of the. nation's proptiity';. which Hlid','.-tlio yei.y : young' iijain. criiiliti ~hti shook .his hcad.arid said, :' ( No." ■ HeV..get. : lifi'd lieen tliero ut Week..'' It, wp.uld. never do." ■„■ ,'.• ;

We i'nak'o.ii.|Jow« : n.ce ; 'f6r'the, .■weak-; iiesses of human nature ;[says the Loiiv ■doncoimpoiideiitflt' the Argils], but we caiimu'-stiuul'&iiiwtrj-UHflSi "• rlerico. it is. that a person,: in spoil, pir.jiiiu stances,, in the n'oighliourhood of. Shemiws has suddenly found himself iii a' worse odoii'r *ith Jiis. 'ii'ieiids than ' jinsperous 'people, nsi'iilly'aro. He:waitsummoned to.tljtePpliceCpiirt for'- refusing' to : ' contriluiip. .to the; support of his' sick, soil, but dofiinded his conduct njion the ground that, ho, had married his deceased brother's wife, which thereby rendered, his ollspri'ng illegitimate. The magistrate, who had no alternative but to allow the plea, expressed his belief that, there was no other man in England who would thus "bastardise bis own children for 4s n \mk" Ho is, however, in the proud position of the Champion Sneak.

The Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, to which h attached the mining department, publishes llio offer of a priz-'of 10()(Mii,-ats(4Hi, r >) forliseovering a svstem of working coal by which s)iot,-hi'iii!> in liery mines may be. dispensed wir.li. The offer proceeds from the colliery owiiovs of the Ostruti mid Kiirwin mining district (Moravia), the (sysilbiii initst conform to the- (blowing conditions :-!. Its application, effect, must not ignite firedamp or coal dust. 2, It must not, tifter explosion of application, generate gases' mora injurious to iumi;i~ Lhu.se evolved by present methods. 3. Its application, chnr»iu!f, removal, firing, ifeo, must, not involve the use of difficult, dangerous, or time-wasting arrangements or complicated apparatus. 4. Tlie svstem must not he move, expensive than the present modes of blasting.

Herr Sjoberg, a Swedish engineer, has introduced a new explosive, which ho calls" comto," and with which experiments have just been made at the fortress of Waxltolni. The manufacturer claims that the explosive may be manufactured without any elaborate machinery; that it cannot explode even when closely confined,'except when ignited, and that it cannot freeze. While its strength is very great, its coal; is small. The experiments were carried out with a breechloader, discharging shells to a distance of 1000 yards, all thb shells exploding with great effect. The blasting operations were entirely successful. A number of engi< neers and military officers witnessed the experiments, which were declared highly satisfactory.

Two vessels of war, Viuilfc on the Tyne for fcliD Japanese Government by Sir W, Armstrong, Mitchell and Co., are about to lenv« for the fur East, says tho Newcastle Daily Leader of March 10. They are of so remarkable a type that their career way well be watched with cho keenest interest by naval men, There is no spring vessel of war aflij.it that can nidtcli them for speed. More than that, nil our torpedo vessels of the moat recent construction—those of tho Scotch class, as well as thoso in the French navy of the Condor typo—are inferior in speed, and even the magnificent sea going vessel the Panther, 224 ft long, 34ft'broad, 14ft draught, and 1,550 tons displacement, built for tho Austrian Government by Armstrong and Co,, from designs by JVir W. H. White, now chief constructor for the navy, lias been surpassed. Considering that Mr White also designed these Japanese cruisers, which are 3,700 tons displacement, 532 ft long, 46ft beam, and 20ft draught astern, the triumph of the private shipbuilding yards over any official shipbuilding in England ov elsewhere has been amply demonstrated.

For a time, an atheist populace may uphold the tattered banner of oorpßO-liko traditions which has been stolen from the rilled grave of Christianity, but it will never be long before it declares itself the enemy of tho Church, the enemy of tho family, the oneiuy of tho throne; never long before it toars down tho flag of decency and order, and uplioists in, its place, if not the red flag of Socialism, or tlie black of spoliation, at any rate, tho standard of material appetites and physical desires.—Canon Favrar.

Tho great problom of how women-clerks are able to work for lower wages than men has at last been wived by "tho iiaij Francisco Cjironiclo. They do not play billiards, smoke cigars, or drink cocktails'. When they go to the theatre somebody else pays. When they meet each other tit the street, they do not ''adjourn." Hence forty dollars are to a girl as much as sixty dollars to a young man; while, of course, to the employer they are just twenty dollars betto.i\

It is a mistake to suppose that the'rjoh! man maintains his servants, tradesmen, tenants, and labo'iiver. The truth is' they maintain him; It is their industry that supplies his table, furnishes ins wardrobe. builds his houses, adorns .his equipage's, provides his amusements; .It is not .the ■estate, but the labour .employed upon it,, that pays tlio rent. All that lie does is to; distribute what others produce; which is. fho leastpui't of life business.—Paley,

A school board oxamirter. lately asked, the following questions-of a.l.ittlogirj—- •' What is the plural of mail •}'"' " Men." ■"Very, well; 'and what isthe plural of. child?" -."Twins;," immediately-replied the little girl,