MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 14 July 1880, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

$ . Says (lie Wellington Chronicle of Ist proximo -.—Those who desired to know anything practically of the sfa'e of destitution nnd want of employraen 1 prevalent in Wellington just'now should liave paid Mr Johnson, tlie Eeliering Officer, a visit =it the Corporation Buildings this morning. Tosday being the first of the month there were upwards of 40 applicants for ration orders and other forms of relief. Able%bodied men, works ing; women, faded gentility, little children of both sexes, matrons with babes at the breast, lined tiie stairs, and as e.ieh passed into Mr Johnson's room each had a pitiable tnle to (ell of want, sickness, and gloomy prospects. The Benevolent i Society are greatly to be commended for (heir self-denying efforts in coping with such fearful dis'ress. Speaking of hanging, we (Argonout) observe with pleasure that more persons ei.j>yed th.-it advantage in 1879 thnn in ;iny previous year of the record —lol gentlemen and no ladies having b.-tn legally despatched, and soventy*four— all gentlemen — lynched. With regard to the hst-narned unfortunates, it; is rather mortifying to our State pride to confess that more of them came to their death" in California. The deceased were mostly hanged, but some were shot, the laws cf U'ah and Texas permitting *he jersoD sentenced to choose the manner in which it will be fhe more agreeable for him to die. On the whole, the year 1579 tal-es high rank as a period of good hone.st putting to death,, of which I hero can ner< r be too much. Mill it is always sad to think what aliit'.e education and religion might hive done for the remains'. Tlie pearl divers of the Corom mcltl coast are not unfrtquenfly attacked by ground slinks. As v rue, a shark will 1 leave a man with a dark ?- k i n alone ; but when hungry it rarely ma^es s difference between a Futv>pe;in and a IFin<nt. Knowing this the d : yers of whom I spejk fnq'i.'tsliy mm themselves with a strut biirnbi'o, in the shspe of a cross, wilh tlie extremities rv.a'e sharp. With this fcur*poiu!ed d;\'jw'f they will dar.-> any shark to se^ze tliom; ?ov, as thmonster lun.s on its b;i<k and open i l s mouth for the Lite, (hey dextermslv thrust the bamboo cross between its j w>. Great care is ta'en of the strength of t!iV i.ambno ; llifl consequence is fh»t thshark, on closing its UDUth to ohiain tinfirst taste of its anticipated me .1, drirp-: the spikes well home between its j ; iv r s. Fisliermen s-;y that, oneo a shark has ;■ sturdy wellxpointed and pl.ieed b;>mboo crofs fixed in its distended mnuth, no effort-- of Hie creahire can rid it of Uhwood. It. 3 efforts are described as being o'ten lurioii 1 * (in I cornie. Ihe diror. si<; sron as bo hiis imptiK'd bis enemy, ha* )■• g<?l out of 'he w:iy as f;\< f us po« -ililo, [o\ a blow from the tni! of n si - infurintofi shark is no j'ko. As fr.r the come side of ihe pic 1 ure, if nn.ivt be a iulierou;s;uht for lil Me ft she? to witness, to sep their dreaded, hut row impotent, archfee wildly tea-ing ab-ut, lather and thither, in the deep, wi'h a cross bar between his distended j iws ! M. Yon. ono of the administrators of the Paris Captive Balloon, is pub'ishing a pamphlet on the construction o ? a new directing balloon, devised en the plan worked out by J!. Giflarl in his great

experiment executed at Paris in 1852, The gii!7 difference is that the muive screws are two. aud placed laterally and attached lo the ring. A captive balloon, Qted up according to the principles prae* tised so successfully by M. Gi£F.ir.l ia Paris and in London, is now being con« strt'cted at Urussels. in the vicinity of tl-e nest Na'ional Exhibition, whivh will be opened on Jane 19:h, to celebrate the (if ieth anniversary of Belgian indepen* d?rice. The number of exhibitors amount' to 6,000. so that an PKceedinply fair specimen will be offered fo tb.3 of Belgian resources and ii;-;~ n£rv The superb cathedra"! •J Cologne will be finished in the mom \ f rv te-nber nest. It has been sis hundred an ' thirty two years in fhe hands of many genera* tinns of architects and buiiders. It was h?s,un in 1248, aider the ArcYoishop Conrad of Hochstaden, but its r« npletion •rj>g pcs-'poripd indefinitely 'du'-'n? the Reformation. A medal wiil be st-uck ia honor of this mpniorahie event. On one ■^c will hi} the pr fi ! os of Frede/i' k« William TV. ,->nd of William J., with the years 1245, 1442. md ISSO. The other side will show the facade of the c^hedral. The Excise Eeturns, giving the consumption of intcxVitini; l ; quors for 1879, have jn.st been published, and show that the [tnvmnt of money soont upon Rritish nnd foreign spirits, wine and beer in the Ui'irerl Kmadnni during the past year to b£- 123.1 43 864. The consumption for 1379, the sum expended on strong dri* k in «he " Christian " British Isle 3 WB9 as Wlows :— W 1 £118.905,066 1872 131601.490 1873 140.0L4712 1874 141342.997 m 1*75 142,876,669 1*576 14v,28 4 ?.760 1877 ... « 142 007 231 I*7B 142.183 900 1579 :. ... 128,143 864 Grand tofal ... £1.234,370,659 A eomp'efe list of artie'es made of piper would be a very curious on?, and almost every day it becomes n;or3 so. A mono other things exhibited last year at fhe Berlin Exhibition were paper buckets, 'bronze' nrns, asphalt rcofiner, water cans, carpets, shirts, whole suit of clothes, jewe'lery, materials for garden walks, wirdow curtains, lanterns, and pocket handkerchiefs. The most striking of the many objects exhibited in this material was perhaps a fire s'ove with a cheerful fire burning in it. We have from time to time no'ed the announcement of newly* invented raiiwny carriages and carriage wheels, chimneypots, flour barrels, cottage walls, roofing tilfs, and bricks and dies for stamping, all made of papt r. A material capable of so many uses, so very diversified in character, is obviously intended to pay a very important part in our manufacturing future. Articles of th's kind, which hsve just now perhaps fhe greatest, ?nd which are among tha latest novelties in this way, are paper ' blankets ' Attention has frequently been called to the value of ordinary s ects of paper as a substitute for bedc'othes. The idea seems to har? suggested the fabrication of ' blankets ' from this cheap material, and if all that is said of them is true they ouijht to be extea* sively used, For the extreme!." indigent they should be a great boon, and ifc is ia i heir favor, perhaps, that they of c< urse be so durable as ordinary woollen >r cotton gouds. The beddinsr of many of the poor cannot hut be productive oi much sie!nse>s and di>e;;se, gnd a tery clieap material that will last only a cu:ii* piMtivp'y short time must be hetif-r t'mn durabieS#rtifies t!;at en' rarely <r never washed, ihe vaiue of an iutro» due' ion of thi^ kind for charitable pin* ;-.o?es jus: at the commeiicetaent of wbat may possibly prove another long winter, may be considered to take IhtSt? n if lunkels rather out of the ordinary list of goods on the markef, enl to justify a -pi cial reference to thtm. — London Globe. A writer in the Church G-ozetfee hai coined a new word. He says thul the '■•ishop stayed at the house of Mr— — , ivhrre clergymen visiMng the district have ■'iways been kindly " hospitised." Earl n.-aeonsfiell was accused- of using a word in one of the Bills submitted to the House of Commons, which was not in tie 1 nglish language. " Very well," ho s;=id, " we will make it an English word i.iv ]v ting it in an Act of Parliament." I suppose that putting a word in the Church G -z>?ttewill have the same effect and that '" hospitised " is now an English wr,l. The Australian sheepsfarmer used to say that he had ten shepherds, all convicts. One was a clergyman. He was i«l!e, sat down, a-id let the sheep wander, A. lother was .-m En^lish shepherd. He c -u!d not adapt himself to the vngrant \y- ys of co'onisl sheep. Anotlter w-?s a n: .nit."er. He drove, [ho sheep too hard. Hie re<t of ih? whole ten v?.s a London pickpocket. In the exercise of his pro-f'e-sio ; he had been observr.-it, cautious, nil dex'emu--, taking constant note of refsoi!*!, peculiarities, and dress. He h;i-l to c^tinntc the value of his victim?, and fo obtain his o ! jeefc with the lea>t disturbance to their sensibilities. He watched tlie sheep carefully, knew what each lrid in its pocket, and did his best to si", ure the priza for his employer. Su!-h is the poaer of personal attention, and discrimina'ion. This can be taught ia a better school than that ia which tb#

j,ot i ,i,kpx.!<e(afq i .in',l l.is irainmcrTl.e elpvontli ****X°n of U.e Granri Lo.lg« of Rn..r!nnd "C «'.c Tn lepandent Ordn«- of Oond Trmpli"- w-vfciMir «i"'l"r the jn-i-diHion o»' >'-« ™« W " rlh y Grand Lodge of Hi- wHd "« <he Supreme Court of Ihe Or'er, li»m been held this week at Birminfirln'in. In the reporlß tho r.umher of men.bi'rs wn» set do^vn at 95,000. and that of juvenile members at 44.0™). *On Thursday. Urofher Joseph Mnlins was re-elected a« Grand Worthy of the Template for tie rleventh t?me, at a salary of £4.00. Twn hundreJp.nl pieht de-naps were in attf?nd.infP t anl hai trnvplle'l an aggregate of 26 000 rail p*.— Lon inn Timpi.

TUiinnoe, after popnk'ng fnnr Tionrp nrH threes-quart frs. ]Nt his foot in!o it by calling; the English laborers of whom we h;\ve lately imported 1 50 000 "the must degraded peasantry in the world " I wonder how the working men like this ? The Hon .T=-hn Sheehnn has been addressing hia cinptihjpnN at the Thames and telling them what everybody knew before — the Grey Admin* istration was the best and purest the colony hag seen — Miat the Native Department was excellently well man* a<red during hie term of office.