GLEANINGS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1754, 2 October 1883, Page 4

GLEANINGS.

A Norristown man who couldn't live within his income was advWd to dispense with a few luxuries. Ho immediately sold his gun and limiting dog and bought a share i » a yatch. Many a man would have smoked a cheaper cigar, and m.ido his wife wear her last year's dress. W i ikn' an old toper irad that a law just p ;ssod in Denmark provides thatall d unken peiM»is shall bj taken home in carriages at the expense of tho landloul who sold thorn the last glass," exclaimed, "Now, that is civilisation. " T Swow," exclaimed a bucolic voter at the Caucus "it Iwals all what Squire Wirepullei knows ! Divrn if he didn't tell mo, fust minute T come into the hall, just who I want to vote for, and I didn't know myself, nuthei, and my mind am't more'n half m.ido up yet !" A roioUKi:!) ]).)rt;r in a Louisville stole a-kod the pvopiietcr f'-r a days leave of absence. " What's up now ?" " Dar's a uiggah gw iue tai git man ied, and I oughter be piesent toi sec him fiu." " Who is thin j coloiued man at whoso wedding you have to be pie->ont .'" " I's do niggah, boss." An Ameiicin and an Englishman weie discussing tlie relative size of the Thames , and the Mississippi. The American finished tho argument thus--" Why, sir, there ain't enough water in tho Thames to make a gargle for tho mouth of the Mississippi !*' A nj:«ho passing under a scaffolding wheie some lepaiis were going on, a biick fell from above on his head, and was broken in two by the fall. Sambo veiy cooly raised his luud and exclaimed, " Hallo, i you white man up dai ! If you don't want yuui bucks hi ok, just keep 'em off my head." A <ii:\rr,i:MAN .sent his coachman with a favoinite setter, to h.ue the animal photographed. When tho man leturned and piescnted the pi oof, his master obseived . : " This is a good pictuio, Mike, but there is a good deal moie of you in it than of Mom." " Yes, hor,"' lotmned the coachman, " but vij see, sor, .she was listless, an' I tho t she'd be moie contint if she knew I was there."— Bait News. J J \\ X com agu enough to leview your own conduct • to condemn it wlieie you detect fi wits; to amend it to the best of your ability ;to make good resolves for your futuio guidance, andto keep them. Speak kindly t<> all —to meni.ds and dependents. Novel slight noi neglect the humblest individu il. Vnu h ive no right to hurt the fooling-, (if any poison. Fin' s.— The SI. Jamoi' (Jazette says :— The a\eiage value of piopoity annually de <-tioyerl by fiie langv's from £70,000,000 to £00,000,000 sterling in Km ope and Noilh . \ nioi ic.i, oi tlnee times tlie \alue of all ships and cargoe-. lost at i-ea. Tins statement will probably surpiiso many people, foitheioissuchagonei.il fooling of indiffoience on the subject ot hie that nobody thinks it woith while to study tho statistics be.v ing on it or loam the lesson they would to.ioh. Little is dune to pre\ont firos, oi oven to check then incioasing i.itio, although much tiouble is taken to reduce nsks at sea ; so that, while the number of shipwiecks is dimmishmg, that of files is nici easing. Tho public have a \.igue idea that nisinanco companies aie a safogiuul. When people say that " the companies ha\e lost heavily," they oveilook tho fact that all loss ultimately falls on tho public, and that the expense of eai lying on the companies has to be added to tlie loss by file, ff wo take tho pi mcipal Loiinti ies and examine then 1 fire letiuns, we ii iid as follows . — United Kingdom — Premium to companies, &(>,i)00,000 ; assurance i.i to pel £100, 4s (id , lo,s, lusmed and uninsuiod, Ci), 100,000 ; loss ])cr inhabitant, ns 2d ; Fiance -ft*, 770, 000, 2s, £3,200,00, Is (id, iesj)ecti\ely ; Goimany — £<i,(> 00,000, Is 2d, C(i,200,000, 2s !)d, lospectively ; Russia - £1)00,000, !>s <Sd, €21,000,000 "i-.,ies]u'cti\elv;UmtedStatos— £l], COO, 000, ISs, £>'$,000,0C0, 9s, lespectively ; Canada ei,")l),000 Is 2d, £-1, 000,000, IKs 2d, lespecth ely Tot.il — I'lemiuiji to companies, x j:H ,320,000 ; 10-^s, insmed and uninsiued, £<il>,.">oo,OOD. It h.is been said that insurance could bo done hotter and cheaper by Government; but 73avaiia, Saxony and othei countiies of (lei many h.ue painful recollections of the losses to the Treasury when the Government had a monopoly of nisiiiiincc. The annual losses in (-heat ]Ji ltiim aie almost I per cent of the national earnings —say tlneo days' work of the whole p >pulation. it i-> ccitain Lliat a Luge numboi of fiies aie the lesult of gioss neglect, niosth on the p.u t pf individuals, but also of our municipal authonties. Tho London Ooipomtion have foi yeais tinned a deaf ou to Captain Shaw's lepiosontations, and th° uche-t city m tlie woild giudges a few ])ounds foi its own better protection. The consequence is, that w e have to pay two or thieo tunes hea\ lei in auothei way. The pio]>eit\ msuied in London Jast year paid no loss than€l,2")o,ooo in piemmms. This is thiiteoii times tho sum annually allowed for tho maintenance of Captain Shaw's Fire Rriyado ; and it is manifest that it is a very false economy to keep the Biigade allowance so low. JL'i.wij.ls-, AiusrociiUN --Discussing the haul tunes just now, awell.known writer loinaiks :— Jt is not only the commercial and industiial classes who aie hard up; the landed propiietms aie on their last legh, and the ai istoci acy are in a bad way. One well-known nobleman has just started making lam to sell in oulei to get a living, and e\en dukes aie hi caking up their homos and selling oIF. Theio is really veiy little diffeienco between the oue-ioomed labomei who sells his chau and his table to buy dinner with when times aio bad, and the duke who soils one house and fmuitme to a club, and gets the auctioneer to knock the contents of his country seat dow n that he mly pay tho tradesmen's bills and ha\e moat e\ery day. 1 don't suppose in oiu time we shall see a duke applying foi pansh relief oi a marquis habitually fiequenting the casual w.ud. Most of them have pensions for the services tendered by their ancestors to tlio soNoioign of tho poiiod, and this will keep them fiom the workhouse. But some of tlio most famous of the noble houses are ieall> in sorj stiaits foi the .smews of war, and establishments aie being cut down light and left. It will be an odd case of \ice\oisaif the whhligig of time gives us a duke m silk stockings and plush breeches, earning an honest living behind the chariot of a lethed poik butcher's good lady. KxiiiMr, French, Goiman and other Euiope.ui exchanges to hand, are so full of heated discussions in regard to the lecent negotiations between M. De Lesseps and the British Government, in reference to the building of a second Suez Canal, that it is vei y certain that the telegrams which had pieviously reached this country altogether failed to convey an adequate idea of the intense feeling that is entei tamed in Europe upon tins question. The whole commercial nitoiests of England have risen in opposition to the terms which the Gladstone Government was willing to make with De Lesseps, and the " prolimmaiy agreement" has had to lv abandoned, causing much loss of piestigo to the picsent English Cabinet. It is obvious that Biitish shipowneisand exporters mean to have a canal under their own control. They say that they pi o vide 82 per cent, of the tolls, and declaies that, if left alone, they can find the money and build another canal, and declare they do not see why their Government should loan £8,000,000 to an opposition and foieign company. The German papers', with exceptional unanimity, declaie that the Bnti.sh merchants are entirely right. On the other hand, the French press, in tho words of the Debats, declaies that " never will the French Government consent to the spoliation of (die of France's most precious jewels — a work which reflects tho greatest honor on the spirit of initiative of tho nation." That sounds very pretty. But if somebody else likes to build a canal with their own money, and for the accommodation of their own ships, it is hard to see who has the right to say them nay. Mr Gladstone has succeeded in postponing the consideration of the subject for a season, and that is well. French susceptibility will have time to cool down.

Fauewell. My fairest child, I have no song to give y<>». No lark could pipe in skies so dull and prey ; Yet, if you will, one quiet hint I'll leave you For every day. I'll tell you how to sing a clearer carol, Than lark who hails the dawn on breezy down, To earn yourself a purer poet's laurel, Than Shakspoare's crown. Be good, sweet maid, and let who can be clever, Do lovely things, not dream them all day long, And so make Life, Death, and that vast For Ever, One grand, sweet .song. 1 , Rev.'C. Kingsley. ' Bats and Mice.— lf ypu wish to de- 1 stfoy them pet.apacket of Hill'sMagiC Vermin, Ktllkr in- packett. Gd, 9d, and It, fo.be obtained ; ofaU storekeepers,- or from T. B/Hjili. byoVi slQilnKaftPstrfa^m^ < < -;. V* '