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Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2325, 4 June 1887, Page 1 (Supplement)

No faculty is ever better for beinsr dull.. But when it is sharpened only, by. selfishnesH its mission remains unperformed. It is then only a means of personal pain, whereas its true purpose is a wide and general diffusion of happiness.

An amiieinjrinstanoo of Maori astuteness was mentioned to us(Hawera "Star ,, ) the other day. Ah old chief who owns a good deal of property having shown signs of fniling strength for some time, was brought into Hawera by one of the youne natives of the kainga in order that he might make his will. The native, being a good penman, was asked by tho interpreter to draw it out in Maori, as he did, but, on the interpreter reading , is over, lie discovered that it was worded ns to convey all the ohief'rf property renl and personal, to the scribe, the chief's intentions boin»r very different from thoso of the ammupnsK i. . ■ ■

The following letter . appears, in the. Pall Mall Gnzette :—"lt was 'ever so nice'of you'to print my Tory letter last week. Will yon now let me expliiin more seriously, how much of it 'is really on your aidc, though perhaps more on your side than yon will quite like? /For I am with Ireland altogether in the present matters, as I am -with Scotland, with India, with Afghanistan, and with Natal. I should like to see Home Rule (in my sense of ruling—not yours) everywhere. I should like to see Ireland under a King of Ireland, Scotland under a Douglas tender and true, India under a Rajah, and England under her Queen, and by no manner of means under Mr Gladstone or Mr Bright. Also, I wish when you are writing about what you call the British Constitution that you would bring the great article of Magna Charta oftener into the British freeman's head—' that law should not be sold.' But chiefly to-day I pray you to print the following character of Grattan by Sydney Smith, which should he of some, use in showing the Irish members at Westminster under what conception of them Ireland should 'expect' every man to do his duty.—l am, etc., Johx RuSKix. Brentwood, January 16."

Japanese Swords.—The swords made by the Japanese prove, says a correspondent, that, with all its boasted excellence of manufacture, the Western world has still something to learn from the East. Neither Sheffield nor Birmingham, with all their skill, is able to turn out a sword blade which can be compared with the wonderful swords of Japan. For fineness of temper and koeuess of edge, they are unequalled in the modern world, and can scarcely be matched by the blades formerly forgfd in Damascus and Toledo. A common feat for a Japanese soldier is to cut a pig in two at a single blow ; and bars of lead, and even of iron, have been divided by. these weapons without a notch or imperfection being visible on the blade. While not possessing the marvellous dexterity of Sikh swordsmen, the Japanese would be most formidable adversaries in hand-to-hand fighting. On the occasion of the murder of Richardson and his parfcy-r-a fate which, according to the correspondent, they brought on horse's hind leg was completely severed from the body by a stroke from one of the terrible, two handed swords. A sword of superior excellence is preserved as an heirloin in the Satsuma family, and with this blade a leaf floating on the stream has been cut in two by merely being allowed to drift against the edge. : The fact 13, the Japanese understand the tempering of sword blades better than any other people.—lron.

The Rev. Henry W'ird talkin? to a reporter about travelling , in England, reference to a query as to whether he enjoyed it, said: —" No. The railroads themselves, their bridges, their stations, are incomparably better than oursi They seem as if built for eternity. But thore it ends. The cars are short, so that they have but six wheels, two here, two there, and two beyond, and one is, obviously of necessity, always over a grinding iron wheel. Then they "oscillate so that they almost always rnnke one sea-sick, and always give one a feeling , of nausea. My test consists in conversation and reading , , and I found that in the one I had to raise my voice, and in the ■ other my eyes became tired, and it was impossible for me to read with any degree of comfort. Now, here Ido both with perfect. ease. . My eyes are strong and lam well, but I could neither talk-.nor read in the English cars.American cars would be very much better. There are a few palace cars over there, but they are- not very popular as yet. There is bwt a faint beginning - of comforts for the engineers and stokers. .For a long time they have been compelled to do their arduous work exposed to the elements; and even now they have nothing but n frame over them in front, affording a most imperfect protection against the moist, cold, chilly climate; _so they bundle up like so many mummies. It is the same way on the Cunard line of steamers. They are so afraid the pilots will bo lazy if they are afforded any conveniences or comforts, that they keep them exposed at the wheel. The English people are very slow to accept improvements in engineering, but they are vory prolifio in invpntiou too. I saw in the Liverpool Exposition some most interesting and instructive sights, sunh as models of all the great ships of the various lines, some of the finest castings that those wonderful mephanisms demand —duplicate shafts andoranks built for great ocean racers. , ' .