MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 2 July 1880, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Postmaster-General of the United States has issued some n?w and vexations regulations regarding ihe addresses of letters passing through American post offices. Mark Twain tbus dilates upon the evils of tbe new system :— * I wrote a letter to a friend at the Windsor Hotel, New York — surely that bouse is ( prominent enough, ain't it ? But I could not precisely name the side streets, neither did I know the name of the back streets, neither did I know tbe name oF the back streets, nor thn bead cook's name. So that lettrr would have gone to t'c Dead-Letter Office sure if I liadn't covered it all over with an appeal to Mr James to take it under his personal official protection, and lei it go to that man at the Windsor just this once, and I would not offend any more. Observe this — I have been ciphering, and I know that the following facts are correct ; The new law will compel 18.000 great mors cintile houses to employ three extra correspondents at lOOOJoIs. a year — 54, OOOdols.— smaller establishments in pro> portion. It will compel 30 000,000 of our people to write a daily average of 10 extra words apiece— 3oo,ooo,ooo unnecessary words ; most of these people are slow — the average will be half a minufe consumed on each ten words — 15,000,000 minutes of the nations time fooled away every day— say 247,400 hours — which amounts to about 22,000 working days of ten hours each ; this makes eigbtysfwo years of 300 workings days each, counting out Sundays and sickness — eighty two years of the nations time wholly thrown away every day ! Value of the average man's time, say, lOOOdols. a year —now do you seep— B2,ooodols. thrown away daily j iv round numbers, 25,000,

OOOJols. yearly; in ton years, 250.000. OOOJols. ; in a hnndred years. 2.500,000, OOOduls. ;in a millon years— but I have not the nerve to go on ; you can see yours-lf what we are coming to.' The question was tried recently befo.e a jury m the Common Pl eas , London, whether £130 was too much to charge for the full dress coatee, richly embroidered w.th aoWl-ee which Mo Ssrs Goody and Ho -. Wrguend .tailors, had .upplf-d to Mr A b. Lumley, Her Mn\J s '\ Mar shal of tae Ceremonies All the other ■ terns in (he tailors b-11. including com. < ound interest, were objected to by the defendant as excessive, and ha claimed that, in paying £221 into court, he had paid enough for the dress and undress uniform, for which the plaintiffs claimed £'296. The jury thought the sum paid inio court was sufficient, The Master of the Hulls | lad before him on February 25 the case of Lane v Muncey, in which the plainlff, a graduate of Cambridge University, sought for an order upon the defendant, described as a professional crirkefer, to deliver up a cheque for £5000. His Lord.hip. i n giving judgment, s? id it was clear that the plaintiff had given a deque for £5000. and a large amount of it was ?n respect of money lost at billiards. That was sufficient to make the transaction illegal, and therefore he would order the cheque to be delivered up, leaving the defendant (o bring his action in respect of the amount. Shrove Tuesday was celebrated afc the Dublin Mansion House by a ' small and early ' dance. The Lady Mayoress her* self toss-d a jnnenko before ihe company. She failed in her first attempt, and consequently forfeited a sovereign to the head cook, but nest time she was more expert. The great firm of brewers, Bass and Company, is about fo be converted into a limited company, but the shares are to be confined to the existing partners. The company is stated fo hare been regiss tered on January 31 last, wi'h a capifai of £3.200,000, divided into 32,000 shares of £100 earh. An agreement, dated January 24 last, regulates the purchase of the business, including freehold 1.-.mls, houses, breweries plant, stoeksin- trade, trade marks, goodwill, and other effects. The consideration for the sale and transfer is £2.720 000, payable by the allotment of 32 000 shares, each of which is to be credit d in the Company's books as paid up to the extent of £85. The subscribers are the present partnerf?— Mf M. T. .Bass, M.P., Mr Richard Eatcliffe, Mr John Grretton, Mr J. Spender-Clay, Mr M. Arthur Bass, M.P., Mr Frederick Gretton, Mr Robert Eatcliffe, and Mr Charles J. Clay— who have each subcribei the memorandum of association fur a single share. The remaining shares are to be allotted to the partners in the proportion of their existing capital. The interest and holdings of the present partners will be the same as before, and no change will take place in the management. Amongxt the wills and bequests noted in papers by the last mail from England is mentioned that of a Mr Henry Crawshay, who leaves to each of his seven daughters the handsome portion of £25.000. It is to be hoped the old gentleman, had the forethought to settle the sum on the ladies, so that fortune hunting husbands may not dissipate it. Such is the demand made by young men of the present day for wives with money that no matter how plain, ancient, or otherwise unattractive a woman may be, provided her coffers are plentifully sups plied with the golden gjd, she will leave young, pretty, and charming, put portionless girls complete'y in the shade. In the old days, the novels depicted the daughters of Mayfair always on the gui vive for wealthy partis, and completely ignoring the poorer younger sons. Kow, says an English contemporary, the order of things is reversed. The young sprig of nobility runs through his property by riotous living in a few years, and then, perhaps at 30, looks out for an heiress to recruit bis shattered fortunes, in return for the proud honour of bearing his name, which is, of course, as much as sbr can expect ; Monsieu le Mari expects to have the handling and complete disposal of his wife's forutne. H^ will be civil to her relations, not speak ill of her mother more than once a week, will occasionally attend church with her, sometimes kiss her, and what more can she expect ? Of course it is quite out of the question to ask him to give up his clubs and racing propensities, and it would be madness to ask him to spend more than one evening at home with her. Considering the immense sacrifice the poor man has made of his liberty in becoming a benedict, the wife forsooth must be thankful for such small mercies ; and if she is not, what does it matter ? He is away with his sporting companions, at his club, or anys j where but at home, while she can amuse { herself at the fashionable balls, routs, &c, witli which the loaders of lon ton divert themselves. Consequently, the happy pair each \fc\ I heir own way un* mindful of the otuer. Such marriages are doubtless happy, and each is satisfied with the brilliant match— she, perhaps, at I signing herself Liidy Pentweasle, and he at having secured the wealthiest heiress in the matrimonial market.

A correspondent, who seenw to u» to suffer badly from spreadeagleistn, writes:— '« Ihe New York Harper's Weekly of March 13 contains ail iilustratiou in which John Bull is depicted smiling at a Frenchm in placing his scissors across the Isthmus of Panama, whilst in the corner is a skeleton with a ' kepi/ a>d armed with a fiusil with the sidj arms fixed, and headed U.S. Army,' I Deed not go into detail abcufc the matter, but I wish simply to point out that the United in spite of its thriftiuesu, can place 10,000.000 of armed men in the field, and this, too, under highly educated and experienced officers. True the United States army only numbers as much as the army of occupation in Ireland— the police force there. Small i as this army is, it would have no exis-' rence were it not that it is constantly in active service for the Indians are a godsen-1 to it. The United Statea wanta value for its money — which it is hoarding uj. — an I wo betide any European nation that would fall oi-t with ir, for though its navy is as sma 1 as its army, means of tr;Tß;>nrt f<<r 2,000 000 of men to Europe could bo 'ound within a month.'* WV (Post) have been informed tliafc a new volunteer company is about to be enrolled in "Wellington, but we do not vouch for the accuracy of the information. Tt is proposed that the members sh.«U consist exclusively of persons who have filed their shedules or Hssigned their estates. The promoters, we are told, intend to call ihpmsp ! yes the" Noble Army of Mari 'vrp," but a correspondent suggests "The Conquering Heroes" as being more appropriate. There is no doubfc the company would be a very strong One. The appointment nf the person most suitable for the office of captain isasu! ject on whicn opiuions are very much divided. Dr S.bliemann has writen to the editor of the Golos stating that he has finished the excavation of Troy, and that there are remnants of several cities clearly discernible underneath the one immortalised in the Iliad, A Vienna paper states that a mar* noge has been arranged between the Hereditary Grand Duke Frederick William of Baden, who is now twenty* three, and Princess Victoria, the eld* est daughter of the Grand Duke of