MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 286, 12 March 1874, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

A good story is told on undoubted authority, as showing the intense anxiety of the Agent-General to encourage the establishment of new industries in this colony, and to provide a supply of skilled l&bour. Amongst the persons who applied to him somo timo ago as being dosirous of emigrating wero three men who described themsclres ai toothbrush manufacture™. They enquired whether thero was likely to be any opening for a toothbrush manufactory here, and were informed that a mosfa brilliant prospect lay before them. The atmotphero of New Zealand was statod to be highly dctr « mental to the due preservation of doutal appendages, and it was only by the most vigorous use of toothbrushes that people could possibly aroid availing themselves of a dentist's services constantly until they had not a stump left to operate on. The consumption of toothbrushes was therefore stated to be enormous, and by no means confined to white inhabitants, as it was assorted that the Maoris were vory proud of the whitenws of their teeth, and had to use brushes incessantly in order to obviato the ill effects of civilised diet. A manufactory of toothbrushes waa likely to prove an immense success, especially as the imported article was subitct to & heavy protective duty. Fascinated by thn brilliant prospects thus opened to them, the men oame out, and ar» now doing pick and shovel work on the Hutt railway, -while we afcill have to depend on English manufacturers for a (supply of toothbrushes.— Evening Pdii.

A. decision of soma importance to members of tourial aooitties was given recently by tbe judge of the county court '• at Stourbridge, in the owe of " The Executora of James Brown v. The Lily of the Valley Lodge of Odd ieUowi, when the plaintiff's claimed the 3um of £14 lls 9d the funeral money of the deceased, which money, haying no widow, he hnd left by will to a distant relation. The tooiety admitted that the claim was duo to lome one, and the quettion for the judge to- decide was, whether the money was due to the esoc-iorg, ot to the brothers of the deceased ; in fact, w bofK-. a member of auy burial tociety could bequeath hi* olub money. The rules of the avoietj provided that at the death of a member his widow or relative was to receive » certain pecuniary donation, and it was argued against the assertion of the claim to the funeral money on testamentary disposition that the rulos provided tho mean* of disposing of the money by nomine©. Tho judge decided that tho money claimed was for retted interact, and by common law erery yetted intorett might be autyeot to tettainentary disposal, and the fact that meant were provided for deposing of tho .money by tho rulet of the society did not override the right <5f common law. fie, therefore, held the interests of members of benefit societies such as " The Lily of the Valley Lodge of Odd Fellowt might be dispoaed of by will, and therefore gave judgment for the plaintiffe for the full amount. Considering how many difficulties men L have to. contend with in spending their life income according to their own inclination, it certainly teemi only just that they should bu allowed to do what they like with tho " funeral money." Their chief objaot should be, under any circutnitanoes, to let as little as possible of it go into the pocketi of the undertaker. Rather, a touching incident it related by tho Geelong Ad' vertiser as having recently occurred near Colac. Some timelast week the wife of a wood-splitter, whose vocation calls him away from home for days at a time, called her four young children to her, and got them to assist her in pulling, the mattrass from off the bed on to the floor. Tbii done, she embraced them all round, begged them to be fond and dutiful children, and told them sho was going to dip. She then lay down on the mattras3, and, as they thought, went to ileep. All day the children kept quiet, to at not to wake their mother, aud almost went without food. The night passed and the morning came, ttill their mother slept, and/ the eldest child went to a, store where tho family was in the habit of dealing, got a loaf of bread and tome butter, and quietly fed her younger brother and sitters. Throughout the day tho mother slept, and the children kept at quiet as possible until evening, when the fathen came -home from his work. Then the eldest child told him what the mother had said, and how long she had been asleep. The unfortunate hutband then found that his wife was dead. An inquett was subtequently held* and a recdict wat returned that the deceased died from natural cautes, it is supposed from disease of the heart, and it it thought that the woman died directly she laid down. The Sydney Umpire tayt : — " What promised to becomean unseemly fracat took place in the pavilion in the- Albert Ground at the conclusion of the All-England Eleven* in* nings. There was tone ducuision at to the time for the renewal of the match on the following day, the agent desiring play to be returned at two o'clock, in order to let the excitement culminate in the afternoon. To this Mr W. €h Grace objected, and he stated his intention to tend his men into the field at the appointed time, 12 o'clook. The agent uaod tome uncomplimentary language, and reminded Mr Gracethat the Eleven were paid to play, when the English captains seized him, and a scene was only prevented by the interference of some of the bystanders." So far as names of places are concerned, the Singhalese language certainly stands in the front rank of all spokentongues. In the Voyaloowa district there is a village termed) ' ' Galliappoconduracirrhacoomhera. " And another hamlets, close by is styled "Keenloolagagollepoodama." A fewmore are- "Ousekellapoodamakanda," " Boodoogeykondegp* mowa," "Kittoolanebaderangalle," " Poodemartournecapella," " Ginegattoocapellaamblom," " Poolgahagederagamwa," " Kandettemankaddegamowa," " Galendacapeilakoorooweceole," " GallapudicheUacaddawatte," and so on !' An economical lowan who had had a toothache, deter*inined to remove hit tooth in the Indian fashion. Accordingly he bent down a taplin in the wouds, lay down himself,, and attached a stout cord to hit tooth and the saplin. Then. he touched the spring, and the next he knew he had jumped over a grove of about forty small trees, and was trying to • get out of a small pond that be happened to alight in. A land tax association is likely to be formod in Melbourne. The purpose of- the promoters of the organisation is to ripen public opinion on the need of the nolders ofc large tracts of land contributing more equitably to the revenue of the colony. Several well known liberal pohti* ciana have promised to join the movement, and it is expected that an influential society will be formed Bach's great Passion Music has lately been announced 1 , for performance somewhere. Tickets to be issued — " There and Bach, two-and-six." — Punch. .. It is a paradox, perhaps, that great feastera often exhibit the devotional habits of exemplarv.*fastera, in fhat they, liberally " mortify the flesh," — that is, they hang up their, game till it is — well, what they call "high."