MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, 20 January 1874, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

England's deficit in wheat, the Saturday Rev'mo observes is probably 12 million quaiteis, and that of France 6, or together*^ millions. England, the only buyer in the past year, has imported from all other countries, France included, nearly 13 millions of quarters of wheat. The two countnes now require that quantity and fully 5 millions more between them. The question is, can this quantity be obtained ? It ip too soon to give an accurate or a com. plete answer, but enough is knowu to enable us to aay that, unless America has a crop enormously in excess <f last year, the quantify cannot be obtained. America has a good crop — a better crop in the States on the side of the Atlantis than last year, though it is doubtful whether the States at the side of the Pacitic have so much ; it is too much howe\er, to expect America to moie than double her exportation of last year. It is improbable, if not impossible, that the can do so. Either France or England mupt then go short. There will be active competition between the merchants of the two nations wherever wheat is to be had, and the result of the competition will be to raise prices. Bread must be dear ; certainly dearer than in the past year, and perhaps very dear. There is only one encouraging feature in the prospect — namely, the probability that the potato crop will be the largest and sounSdst that has been, gathered for many yea s. Nothing reduces the consumption of bread so much as a plentiful supply of this vegetable, and it is to bo hoped that the promise that it will largely take the place of bread this y> ar will be realised. Whoever goes shorty this country will not staire; but we ohall have to pay a high price for our loaf. For pleasing excitement there is probably no spot in the world to equal Arkansas in the United States, where uncertainty of life seems only balanced by the almost absolute certainty of a riolent death. Some idea may be formed of the conditions of existence in the State by glancing at a small paper, the Greenwood (Arkansas) Standari, which, notwithstanding its limited spnee, contains sufficient sensational incidents in its record of the weed's history to satisfy the appetite of the most voracious. Judge Meers, it is stated, was shot on Wednesday ; Mr Ward, of Charlesville, met with the tame fate on Friday ; and a gentleman named Pigg was unfortunately killed in the same manner's few days before. Several othei' persons are n<entioned as having been slightly wounded during the week. In Johnson County " all is terror and excitement." Iv Pcryville they are organising, three military companies, " two white and one black." Occasionally when a warrant is out for the arrest of a murderer, ho organizci a military company, and declares war against the sheriff and all his deputies, and the Adjutant-general, in a letter to Governor Baxter, explains to his Excellency th&t " there is great difficulty in masing arrests." This is the. dark side of the picture, which is, however, not wholly unrelieved by gleams of light. There seems to be no lack of surgical assistance for the wounded, or of proper arrangement for the decent burial of the slain. The physicians, by their advertisements, inform the public that ' they attend calls day and night,' and an undertaker intimatrs that he ' keeps constantly on hand a good stock of metallic burial cases, walnut, velvet, and imitation rosewood coffins.' It is to bo regretted that the murdering classes in this country have no Mr Arch who will 'proceed to Arkansas and make arrangements for their emigration en masse to a district so admirably suited for the exercise of tin ir profession. When I heard that Washington's head-quarters at Morristown was to be sold at public auction, 1 determined to go and see it. It was my first intimation that it was still in existence. I had, perhaps often passed it without knowing the fact, for it is a peculiarity of this kind of property that its historic quality is always »Drung upon jou like a trap ; that you are hardly safe in anj old tenement; thntyou drop unconsciously into' the Washington chair, or imbibe serenely from the Washington mug, and that the fact is bronght sharply upon you lilts a pin in the. cushion or a fly in the milk. * In tho course of time this expectation naturally exoites a morbid activity of the intellect 5 but only once do I remember being mistaken in (ko result. It was in a Sierran solitude, whero I had encamped, and where I was solicited to take supper in the newly-built cabin of an Eastern immigrant. At supper I was supplied with nn ordinary looking china mug, of a pale blue willow pattern. 'That mug,' said my host, ' has a little Btory connected on it. It has been in our family nigh on a hundred year. Tt belonged to my grandfather. At tho piege of York,to»n he lived convenient to llie battle-field,' and the guna was posted all around the house- All 6\' a buddent— ' ' Iremcmber,' I interposed hastily. ' Suddenly a commanding form darkened the little doorway, and a dignified but couiteous voice asked for a drink of wnter .Your giandfatber rose — ' ' I was going on to say,' continued niy ho&t calmly, ' that the boomin' o' them guns bioke every bit of china in the house, and that grandfather liud to bin a new set next day, und this yer one 'is tho last of them.' I put down my cup and gazed long and earnestly at the man. His face was calm, thoughtful, and even tvd — a plight tremulousness of the leit eyelid, and a depression of the lower anglo of the inouih on the samo side, easily attributnble to historic emotion, were tlie only evidences of feeling. — Fiom ' An Episode of Fiddletown,' by Bret Hurte. The records of the British Weslej nn Conference which I has just held its annual session, give curious evidence as to tbd longevity attained by its ministers. It appears that among the dead of tho year 1872 are Thomas Jackson, who lived to RO years j Thomas Waugh, 88 ; Daniel Macafee, 82 ; William Shaw, 77 ; and 11 others whoso ages ranged from 74 to 90 years. Of the ministeis who retired permanently from the nnnitstry, Dr Stamp had tra\elled 50 years, John Loinas 53, and William Piggott 51 ; the majority of the other superanuates had seen 10 years of service. During the hearing of a case at the Thames Police Court, a woman stated that her husband had duiing their married ! life "given her 107 black eyeB " The brutal fellow was bound over to keep the peace for assaulting her on the pitmous day. The Druggists' Circular says that powdered nitre, moistened with water, applied to the face night and moo uing, will coon remove all traces of freckles.

J-i.e H^jjiutti'iiud o tuu iv n ui iii i . t on tiiu 111 a i lost disgraceful 3tit,«, nnJ n(Let uint'iing but credit upon tbe Boa^dii «hie.i Lava the inj.na. J e.».o:i' of tho towfl atFairt. A considertJjlo revonue ia duuv.-J I..ju> thij furmjmd (fre very l^ast Ij Lsefpectcd frogi the Eour U u Ih^w^ey will keep the f,i.'it Mid apjjivaCftC} 111 deiwnt »vi.rkm,: order^ I'liu waul clip Ihii sewou of oue of llio bt«tiooa ia tbd Wai. .. ijxi district, Wulhqgton, 13 l-i3,OJ>)ll>e>.