CLIPPINGS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1890, 16 August 1884, Page 4

CLIPPINGS.

It is certainly much easier wholly to decline a passion than to keep it within just bounds and measures; and that which few can moderate almost anybody may prevent. " I don't see the bell," said a band some woman at the front door of a house, *o an Trishmau shovelling coal.—" Faith, ma'am, and ye wud though, av ye were to luck in the glass." At a school the master asked a class oi boys the metuingofthe word "appetite," and, after a brief pause, one little fellow said. " I know, sir. When I'm eatin', I'm 'appy ; and when I'm done, I'm tight." Leading thk Bund.—A begger now perambulates the boulevards in Paris, dragging a poodle after him, and droning in melancholy tones : " Pity the poor blind !" N.B. It is the dog that is blind, not the man.

Paterfamilias.—" Well, Jane, aren't you coming to breakfast at all ? You're an hour late now."—Jane : "It was so cold in my room I couldn't dress. I wish I was a lire engine horse ; it only takes them two seconds to dress, and there's a (ire ready for them."

Paper Makiw.—Some very curious statistics as to paper-making have recently been compiled on the Continent. It seems that there are 3,985 paper mills on the face of the earth, in which annually 1,904 million pounds of paper are manufactured. Half this paper is used for printing ; 600 million pounds only for newspapers, the consumption of which has risen by 200 million pounds during the last ten years. As to the use of paper by individuals, an average of 11 Alb is used by an Englishman 10|lb by an American, 81b by a German, 7£lb by a Frenchman, 3ilb by an Italian or Austrian, by a Spaniard, lib by a Russian, and 2K> by a Mexican. If the consumption of paper is a gauge of civilisation, this table of averages is very flattering to England. Manchester Ship Canal.—A correspondent has furnished a contemporary with some interesting data connected with the above-named Canal as an historical event in the rise and development of the towns of Liverpool and Manchester. The facts are gleaned from a work entitled " The Eecords of Manchester," revised and corrected by E. Waugh and T. Fawcct, 1851, and wiil interest the many colonists in this part of the world who still retain old ties and memories in Lancashire. In 1701 the town of Liverpool rose rapidly to a position of importance, and was the port of Manchester. In 1761 the first English " navigation canal" extended from Worsley to Manchester, and was opened formally on the 17th of June of that year. Its originator was the well-known Scroope, the Duke of Bridgewater, called " the Father of Inland Navigation" in England. In 1795 the Duke of Bridgewater's canals from Manchester to Worsley and Huncorn were completed at a cost of £230,000. Mr Brindly (a country carpenter) was the engineer. In 1825 a bill was introduced into Parliament for the construction of a ship canal from Manchester to the mouth of the river Dee, at an estimated expenditure of £1,000,000 sterling ; the capital was to be raised in 10,000 shares at £IOO each. The scheme was defeated. In IS3B the junction of the Bridgewater Canal with the river Mersey by means of a system of locks was completed, and opened for traffic on the 20th September. Now we have the interesting fact made known that the long-wishcd-for end has been reached, and a favourable decision obtained from the Lord's Committee on the (1884) Manchester Canal Bill. We have already informed our readers that this Bill has obtained the sanction of Parliament. The enquiry lasted over a period of forty-one days, and the capital necessary for th-> construction of the works —a sum of five millions—has been subscribed. Manchester has thus outstripped all competitors in the race of progress, and will now possess her own port, These facts are interesting, showing what advance there has been in a little more than half a century.