MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 16 April 1880, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

».- London, with its vast wealth (says an English paper) has, notwithstanding a lar^eI ar^e and extreme population of miserable and wretched human beings, whose temporal wants are but scantily supplied, many thousands of whom hardly know what it is to have a warm nourishing meal. To benefit a large number of these poor creatures the London Cottage Mis* sion, whoso central offices are at 14, Finsbury Circus, E.C., hare established and carried on now for twenty-six weeks ftish stew dinners, to mitigate the intense suffering of the many thousand little children who are totally unable to help themselves. On the 21at January an enormous crowd of the poorest class, composed of men, women, and children, assembled outside Conder-street Mission Hall, Limehouse, to receive another stew dinner, It was a marked fact bow lar^e a number of able-bodied men willing to work and de barrel through the scarcity of work were standing amongst the crowd. The cry of the children, through cold and hunger, was heartrending in the extreme. The doors were thrown open for ticket-holders at 11 30, and the f. Ed» ing was vigorously carried on every halMionr uutil 3.30. About 1000 re» eeiyod this bounty, and the gra;itude evinced was painful 'o witness. When the stew was exhausted a large number of men were given a good supply of b:ead and cheese. Tt is hoped that this mission, which is striving so hard to 'e«d the hungry poor, will receive from ocr readers hearty and liberal suoporf, especially just now that the funds have so great a pall upon them, owing to the? scarcity of work end the severity ot' the weather enuring business to be so slack, and in consequence thousands to be unemployed. At Presburg, the following game of ebess wis recently played s — A brilliant table was the chess-board, and the sixty* four squares were duly chalked out. Each of the pieces was represented by a bottle of wins. Champagne was the king, claret the queen, burgundy the bishops, port the castles, madeira tht» knights, and pink flasks of Hungarian wine the pawns. The one novel and original rule which governed the play was this :— Whenever a player took a 4 piece ' he was to empty his own and the captured ' piece ' at a draught. Uafors tunately for tbo success of the experiment the chessmen were more tbaa a ' match far llie flayers nil four of whom ijraJßxn'ousiy coUitjised h-Joso tlie yamtf

was half finished. There is a limit, as experienced topers know, to drinking * no heeltaps.' and if this new fashion of | playing chess is ever to become popular there will have to be fewer • pieces/ If four players are unable to consume thirty-two bottles of mixed wines between them without beooming nobly drnnk what hope is there for two players P Bu', at any rate, no one can deny that this ! was a gallant attempt to relieve chess from the charge of slowness. There was a novel scene in the United States Supreme Court, Washington, on February 2nd. It had just been moved that the Hon. Joel Parker, of Now Jersey, Democratic candidate for the Presidential nomination, be admitted to the bar of the Court. Mrs Belra Locks wood, who was admitted to practice before that Court by special Act of the last Congress, rose immediately, and in a shrill, pipiug voice, moved the admission of a lawyer from South Carolina, who she testified upon honour, possessed the necessary qualification for practice before the Supreme Court of the United States. The lawyer, whose admission she moved, rose and proved to be a negro, Joel Parker and the negro then stepped for ward to the clerk's desk, placed their hands npon the same Bible and were sworn in fogetber, standing very near to the niche where the bust of Cuief Justice Taney the author of the Dred Scott decision, is* placed : The most visionary prophets of the last decade would scarcely have ventured to predict that a negro, upon the motion of a woman who is a qualified counsel or before that Court, and a Democratic candidate for the Presidency, would bai'e been enrolled among the counsellors of the Court together, A series of gigantic forgeries in New York have been discovered. The opera* tions attributed to the gang in that city and elsewhere have been so successful Ibat for months past the officers of banking institutions have been iv mortal terror. Added to the almost perfect counter, feiting of cheques and notes was the extremely espert manner in which they were presented, which was so masterly as to almost defy detection, and invariably prevent an identification of the man who presented them. It is stated that the amount of these forgeries would reach nearly 1,000,000 del. The clever way in winch the forgery on the Bank of America was perpetrated was only an instance of how such affairs were conducted. Thp cheque th.it was presented was an almost exact copy of Alexander Taylor's cheque. The paying-teller of the bank. Mr Plum, was away on vacation, and his position was filled by Mr Bishop, who had been in the bank for more than thirty years. F re cheques were prasen'ed, aggregating nearly 12,000 iol. Once or twice Mr Bishop demurred at paying the cheque, whereupon the prosen'or would say pleasantly, ' I'll gr> and get it endorsed by the firm.' He would go out and return with apparently the same cheque endorsed with • Alexander Taylor's S<>ns,' which would be paid. His confederate, who waited on the street, would have the endorsed cheque ready, and when the question was raised they would trans f er one cheque for anotuer allowing enough time to go to Mr Taylor's bouse and return. Alexander Taylor declares that tbe cheque was a perfect imitation ot those of the firm. The principal of the a<sng is believed to be a manjm^M Charles Brockway. An ac^^^H named Samuel Swim has been^^^^^H There can be no doubt (say^^^^^H Woter) that our Noi olk^^^^^H flourishing when we find J^^^^^^^J iafcen out of one of thei^^^^^^^M valued by the captor at4^^^^^^^^| t>eats the Thames salmon f^^^^^^H Fourth's coronation dinncr^^^^^^^H that was only 30s a pouoijJ^^^^^M Bcston bream at the above P*^^^^^| ■five guineas an ounce. This tol^H^^J think of the Old German saying, "T^ that has bream in hts pond can make his friend welcomes' but unless there was a good joint of meat to follow it would be a very sorry one in my opinion. I never tasted f-ream l>nt once, and then was very hunorey ; but certainly shall ne?er give it another trial, one being amply snmVtent. The ex'iibifion of tlus wonderful scaly baby has closed much excitement amongst the angling fraternity of Norfolk, and espetiallr Norwich, roanv of tbem being devoutediy f>nd of bream fishing. Don't qn->re tV T*y rr Losh Leven after this. Oily fioe guineas an ounce for an old Norfolk bre^ni witl make Saltno Salav hide her diminished hrad. Tha AaeUand Star's correspondent says the Prioce of Wales will leave England for his Australian trip in November, and will visit Adelaide, Melbourne, Baltarat, Sydney. Brisbane, Auckland. Hoc Lakes, Wellington, Ch istcltureb, and Dunedin. The same fU'hority says the Queen was hissed at the opening of Parliament, while the Prince and Princess of Wales w?re lustily cWered. Tl:e Qteen- gave publicly the cut direct to tbe Prince and bis wife, merely exchanging tbe stiffeat possible bowg. The Wellington Evening Post his the following : —It is understood that the Customs and stamp returns for the cine months ended Slsfc ult., which form the financial year 1879*80, have now beeo received. Tbe exact figures have not yet transpired, hat we lieltevo '.Let tbe actual

the period quoted amounted to about £903,000- As the estimate was £950,000 it will be seen that it has noL been reached by nearly £50,000. The stamp re?eoue, we understand, has realised about £112, 000, or £13.000 under the estimate, £125 COO. To the deficiency under this head must be added the refund of nearly £23,000 on account; of duty wrongly levied in the estate of the late Hon. W. R. Rhodes. The practical deficiency from these two sources is therefore about £30,000, The land revenue is understood about £90,000 short, and the railway receipts about £88,000 under the esti* mate. On these lour items alone therefore the revenue has fallen short of the estimate by over a quarter of a million. Still another daily paper is to be started ; n London--' The Gentleman's Gazette.* A Peer and a member of the House of Commons will provide the money— £20.000 to commence with. It will coat tain a considerable amount of social gos» sip, and be Independent Conserratire in politics. The New Zealand * Printer 1 * Register * says that there are five parsons on the literary staff of the Sydney Morning Herald. Dr Garran, the editor, is a parson j Mr Ward, the editor of the Mail, is a parson : Mr Greenwood is an ex-parson ; Vl r Curnow is also as ex-parson. A man down South west through tie bankruptcy court. He owned a fine horse and g'g, and they both disappeared for a time } but by and by the horse and gig were doing seryioe for the same owner again. Oa being asked; what this meant, the man's reply was s—^t went through the bankruptcy court, but the horse and gig went round." Mr William Bowden, the well-known bailiff, was arrested ear'y this morning by Sergeant Anderson, on a charge of bavins; eommit'ed a rape oa a married woman na-ned Mrs riymes, who lives with her husband in Tory»street. The accused was brought op at the Resident Magis* ♦rale's Court shortly after and remanded uotil Saturday, hail being allowed, The prosecutris alleges that he was at her huuse yesterday, and went into the bedroom with her to tie up a bedstead, in ?pite of her resistance he there committed (be offence of which he is charged. The accused totally denie3 having taken any liberties whatever with Ihe woman. He urges in support of (his that there were several persons io the house at the time, but none of them heard any screams or sounds of a struggle. The ease will come on for investigation on Saturday. We understand that Bowden bad been placed 1 in possession 'of Mrs Syases' hous« for rest. The ease is h'nely to prove a very curious one.