MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 453, 13 April 1875, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

A very stern lesson to jurymen not to trifle with the responsibility of their position wus given the other day by Mr Justice Fellows, wiites the Melbourne correspondent of the •• Otago Daily Times." A cane was being tried before him in which th« prisoner was charged with stealing a coat. The cisc was left to the jury, who w.-is unable to agree, there being eleven for a conviction and one fur an acquittal. The jurymen complained to the Judge that the twelfth juryman, in^the minority of,one v had del'ired before the evicfcpnoe was taken that the prisoner was not guilty. The Judge' said that he had remarked some conduct of the juror in question, which seem to prove that he had made uphisuiind about the case before enteiin^the box, and to mark his sense of thegroas contempt of Court that he hail committed h<> would send him to gaol for three months. The oii'-nding juryman was a bookseller .and a respectable man, and the severity af the course

UXtOtta* waft'reo&ttfiytJfte -OOene 1 ra tuagiauttim proceedings in c »n e^u^nce of the viair of the parish,' the Rev J. Col y,* refusing to bury a man named Frederick Merrett, who had been dead eight days Application was made to C hro \3rou W -dnesday, and* Loo S turday, to allow the dc.cc.ls 1 d to b> buried ti. t e pirish churchyard, but he refused the request. He all j g«d as a reason that they d-sce s<d had led a notorious life. After the children's ser vice on Sm' a »' aitemoi the sons aft J brother of M ;rret went to the church to ask pei'missionof Mr i^olev to allow another clergyman to officiate, but h^llfefiis *d to s>p them aid locked himself in the chur-h for abo-ittvo hours, until a polioeman arrived. Iv th ' mea tmea » r >wd of s veral hundred per ois asstm led aruidth; cl.urch an I h<.o ed Mr Uoley, and when he left in company of a policeman, the crowd followed him to his house at Oxford, about a mile distant, hooting and yelling all the way. The Bishop of Manchester was named in Mr Buskin's " Fors Clavigera, "for January as .one who had spoken wisely, but in generaliti s, concerning fraud, and was challenged t; s.y whe^h r the pu*able of the P larisee aud Publican or the Ist uud 15th Psalms were read to certain classes. Th\ Bishop, p " aching yesterday, allu \*JL to this challenge ami to Mr Raskin's inquiry wko were the true Israelites of the M mchester Exchange. He said he had tried to speak plainly since he was Bishop of Manchester. Through people being ready to take offence at plain language, times and 'opport unites hid to be watched. He believed his clergy were not afraid ro tell the people the true character of righteousness, and he did not believe people who stretcned clutu or gave short measure could go away comfortable from their sermons. Hearers had the responsibility ot applying to their consciences a faithfully delivered message. It was not for the clergy to pick them out by name, t e spoke resentfully of Mr Ruskin's allusion to the clerical profession as one of the choice of which in these days implied generally that sentiment had over powered intellect. One of the great nec3ssities of the French army is to persuade the sergeants and corporals to serve double time, and even longer. If all the men draughted into the army to-day take their departure in five years time, how are non-commissioned officers to be formed 1 It requires at least three years to make a sergeant, and after two years' service as sergeant he throws up the active army and retires the Reserve. This is very hard upon officers. ■Te induce sergeants and corporals to remain in the service the Assembly decided to place at * the dis posal of the War Minister a certain . number o civil appointments to be tilled up by old non-com-missioned officers, but this bait has 'not answered ; the position occupied by sergeants and corporals <lurin<* their time* of service is not such as to tempt intelligent men to remain in the army ; they have $ad pay and" wretched quarters. A project rel-iting to the accumulation of civil pay and mi' itary pensions has just been drawn up, and we see that the united rewards of sergeants, corporals, and soldiers are not to exceed l,ooor. (£4O) a year ; sergeantmajors and adjutants, 1,200f. ; sublieutenants, 2,200 ; lieutenants, 2,500 ; and . captains, 3,000. jk. Watcher a French military writer, is highly indignant at this proposal to accord such paltry advantages, if, adxaitages they cm be termed, to men who have served 15 or 18 years. There is Lardly a clerk in a mercan lie hjuse who does not receive £40 on commencing his career. " Can one imagine, writes M. Watcher, " a captain, who has been in command of one of the new companies, 250 strong, retiring from the service, his constitution ruined by wounds and hardships ; and, what with military pension and civil employment, he is not to gain more than .£lO a month]" Alas ! what is a Finance Minister to do, with War Estimates daily increasing, and already exceeding what even France, with all her wealth, can stand without grinning? The army costs already over £20,000,000 a year, and new forts, arms, and the Territorial Army will soon greatly increase the expenditure. — " Army and Navy Gazette." Them is an amusing story of the Hon J. Vogel which /we heard lately. The originator of the Wan Francisco mail service received a perfect ovation in America. He was feated everywhere, regarded as a genius by some, and by all as a " smart man." Si ver-Palace Dining Cars were among the honors he received. He was the admiration of a horde of retired generals and colonels, ad Iwc genus homo. When he reached Washington the Senate was in Session, and he was accommodated with a seat of honoiv and the House rose earlier than usual to allow the dignitaries of th United Sates an opportunity ofe interviewing the great man. Anon he was the centre of a circle of senators, whose legs were variously disposed upon mantel pieces and the backs of chairs, and he was subecjted to a running catechism with reference to the resources, climate, and people of New Zealand. One inquisitive senator desired to know how far it was by railway from Auckland to Melbourne, a^id another addressed Mr Vogel as " President." But the absurdity of the thing was capped by a tall Yankee whose feet were gracfully dangling over the back of a chair. Drawing the attention of the rest of the company t« Mr Vogel by a graceful sweep of his arm, he exclaimed in nasal accents '• Wall Mr VoyW #w-sidering you come from a //epical climate I must say you look considerable be.ilthy" It is recorded that Julius was suddenly afflicted with deafness. The trial of what is announced " Bowman's Improved Reaper " has taken place in South Australia j and has received high commendation by a portion of the press in that colony. This, we submit, is much to be deprecated in the particular instance under notice. The so-called improvement consists in attaching a cleaning apparatus to the present Ridley machine, known here as the " Adelaide stripper." By his patent Mr Bowman claims to be able to effect a still further reduction in the labour required in harvesting by this machine, but this, we fear, is being obtained at too high a cost in another direction. One of the leading drawbacks to the stripper at present consists of the foul condition it haves the land in, by grain being dropped in the stripping and left in the straw. Stubbleburning and the growth of wild oats are effects imolved in the use of the Adelaide machine, sufficiently pernicious ; Bowman's patent, however, proposes to aggravate these evils by blowing out all the drake and other weed seeds, and distributing them over .the field as the stripper proceeds. Puerperal fever is very prevalent in Melbourne, the deaths averaging one in eighty cases, whereas the ordinary proportion is only one in 600. The " Te'egraph " censures the medical profession for virtually ignoring the contagious nature of the malady. Phtr. Evans.a stuttering joker, Inrert in Cincinnati a? long in the time when it w.js considered capital fun to ?end a countryman from store to store inquiring for thing* lie would be 1 ertain not to find at (he place to which Tip uas sent. One Hay a country ie low ciime, as he hud been directed, to Platt\»B ore to buy a je>%s-l.arp Plitt was a niercliai.t tailor. H' was busy with a r-usto<ner as the man appeared, but, obs.rvin>/ ti.at severnl ol the " bo\s" had dropped in »t the door, just to see what Platt *ould do, he * g tock" tit once, and res, onded to the inquiry for the iniwi'-al lnsirumei t, " W- w- wail a minute." Having wv*A hU- customer, hepick j d up a pair of glove stretcl c s »nd iwppfenrched the rural melodist with" L I let me m-in-roraßure your m-m-mouth, " and, introduc ng the stretchers manipulated them bo as to transform the aperture into a horizontal yawnawlu! to ccc, and enpucioua enough to hold » dozin jews-harpo. Kemoving t ha apparatus, he examined it car.'lul'V and deliberateby, 08 O)e triglu scrutinise a thermometer or pocket -com pas-8, ard then diemi timed the uneucct-Btiiul «*»irch«r (or j-pvdarps, as he ainl, i 1 a tune of of well-feig'ied disappomtujout, '• W-W'WW JUiu'& g-g-getj •ny your 8-s-sixtf."

movements might have been observed with advantage to science." A good story is told concerning a solicitor for nely in practice at Wolverhampton. A person who made a claim of*£2 15a against a debtor desired this solicitor to support the action when it was heard in the Stourbridge Connty Court. But it so happened that on the day when the case would come on for hearing there aas a certain '• meet," at which the gentleman of the law desired to be present ; and he endeavoured to evade his client's engagement by saying that it would not do for him to <*|)end the whole day at Sjsourbridge and put aside an important engagement" unless he had a heavy fee. But the client would pay anythingrather than not be supported by his solicitor. What did he want 1 ? £10. Oh, yes; £10 waS I nothing to him, and he would rather pay double he money than be " swindled " out of the amount due to him. So it was arranged that the solicitor should have a fre of £10 for ?oing to Stourbridge to support the claim for £2 15s. In the course of a few days the solicitor's clerk went to Stourbridge paid into court the money in dispute, and his employer (who was thereby enabled to pocket £7 5s and have his day's sport into the bargain) wrote to his client a letter, somewhat to that effect : — " Dear sir, — Hearing you had engaged ray services, the defendant has paid the £2 15s into court, and i there will be no further proceedings in the case." " Mark Twain " found it necessary to give description of an acquaintance once, and was especially desired that nothing in his description should he] understood as indicating prejudice against the subject — he should endeavor to confine himself to bare facts :—": — " A long-lega;ed, vain, light weight village lawyer, from New Hampshire. If he had brains in proportion to his legs, he would make Solomon seem a failure ; if his modesty equalled his ignorance, he would make a violet seem stuok-uw ; if his learning equalled his vanity, he would make Yon Humboldt seem as unlettered as the back side of a tomb-stone ; if his stature were proportioned to his conscience, he would be a »em for the microscope ; if his ideas were as large as his "vords, it would take a man three months to walk round one of them ; if an audience were to contract to listen a* long as he would taliv, that audience would die of old age ; and if he were to talk until he said something, he would have cheek enough to wait till the disturbance was over, and go on again."