CHEATING THE FRENCH REVENUE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2107, 9 January 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

CHEATING THE FRENCH REVENUE.

In Franco no advertisement bill is allowed to be posted in the streets, or even in tho caf6* without paying a urn nil tax to the Exchequer. Bills a*kin°f the suffrages of the free and independent electors?, are, however, permitted without charge. The result is that Paris recently was covered by bills emanating from ••lever individuals who sought to esoape •ho itnj>ost. One of the bills ran eomerlunir like this : —Electors ! You know my shop, situated at No. in the — - /-tivet You know that my chocolate is he best and cheapest in Paris, and that I havp taken a medal at the Exhibition. Tlie intelligence with which I have managed my private business is a guarantte of the zeal I should biing to the consideration of public affairs. I therefore ask, a.i\. &o." Then followed tho signature of the «o-called candidate. The tax on bill* is very small, but the French are a frugal people, and will do much to gave a centime.

A man in one of the Midland Counties had a clock which must have involved its owner in habit of seriou9 calculation. " Why, Mr Jones, your clock is not quito risrht, is it ?'' " Well, you see, lir," said Mr Jones, "nobody don't understand much about that olock but me. When the hands of the clock stand* at twelve, then it strikes two, and then I know it's twenty minutes to seven." What the real time was when Mr Jones' clock struck half-past five would be a not unreasonable question for a Civil Service examination paper,