MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, 18 August 1880, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

» When the usual motion for adjourning over tiio Derby Day was move] in 'he House of Commons, on the 25th of May last, Sir W. Lawson opposed the proposition mainly on the ground that it would not be for the honor, credit, and dignity of the House to adjourn for a , horse race. The holiday was not needed and as to this being a time-honored cos* torn it had been in force only abu t 33 years. He dissented also from the argu* ment that racing was a manly national sport, asserting:, on the contrary, that it wa* pursued only for gain, and character* j i-nng it as an organised system of rascality and rogupry. On a divsion the moton for a -.?]' lurntnent was carried by 285 to 115. The now Li«h Land Bill provides that until 31st December, 1881, ejectments f«r nonpayment of rent; in certain district? where is prevalent, shall be deemed n disturbance of tenant landlords within Ihe meaning of the Landlord and Tenant Act, 1870, and the tenant snail be enM'lrd to compensation in the discretion of the Judge of the Connfy Oourf, if nnnpiyment of rent is caused by prevailing di>« tress, and the tenant is willing to continve in occupation upon reasonable terms as to rent arrears of rent, and otherwise, r>nd such terms nre unreasonably refused by the landlord. The bill meets with determined opposition from the Conservative members, who denounce it a3 confiscation; The newspapers oppose the bill nnqunli* fiedlr, and Lord Elcho gave notice that he would introduce two bills intended to burlesque the- measure, but the Speaker declined to allow notice of the bills to go on the order paper. The Home Eulers ' also orpc-se the progress of the bill. Amongst the list of insolvents' names in a Melbourne newspaper occurs the name of a Mrs Turner, who describes herself os a ' gentlewoman,' carrying on the business of a tinsmith for her husband. Bather a novel occupation of a gentlewoman. The Chinese hare long regarded tele* graph wire as as a very convenient source

of tea box nails, wl i!e some of these chif -•■ like individuals caught in the act of en, ; ; ting down the pos's have been known •; plead that they thought they grew tlier^ The Celestials hnye liitlierto shown s; peculiar spite again3t the telegraph, bo h cable and land line, and it is satisfactory to learn that they are now much betf jdisposed to it. the telephone baring opened their eyes to its advantage?. Tiso fact is, they did nob understand the former telegraphs, and th^y were unsuitoi to the Chinese language, which has c - alphalet. Hut now the telephone er« ables them to converse, and transmit with peculiar fidelity the metallic twang rf their monosyllabic language. They »*•« vastly delighted with it, and have ju ; v discovered for the first time that it «•;!.-; originally Chinese, having deen invent? l in the year 980 by Kung Foo Wbing, an announcement which will satisfy their se!f>comj'lucpncy without disturbing the cquauimi'y of Professor Bi-11. Horrible as the deaths of Dan Kelly and Steve Hart were, many of their friends and relations wish that JNed ha 1 met a similar fate rather than ba hanged, and they profess to bo even more satis* Red at every vestige of what they pos* seised being destroyed than that their clothes and effects should have fallen m« to the hands of the police. The rpfl*on for tlr"s is, that it is believed Dan and TT;i. t had letters in their possession which would criminate more thin one of their i.umerous sympathisers now at large. A short time ago Mr Lonis Ehrcnfried, a l-rewer, and proprietor of sora? twenty«Gve hotels at the Thames, petitioned ihe House on the action of the Licensing Court in refusing to issue a renewal of license to five of his homes, whereby he asserted that he bad lost £2750* This petition was ba<?ke Iby another one from five persons deprived of their licenses in connection with the houses in question, and who state that ih"y have been ruined therebr. The Public Petitions Committee, to whom the petitions were referred for consideration, brought np a report'in which they stato that the Court is cons' ituted the sole judge as to whether a public-house is re» quired, and is also as a matter of duty, directed to satisfy itself of its necessity before issuing a certificate and. as it appears the Commissioners acted in good faith and in the public interest in refus* ing to issue certificate?, the Commi tee cannot recommend the House to override the decision of the Licensing Court in the case of these petitions. The "Wellington Chronicle of Tuesday last says : — Last night, as the result of a Cabinet consultation, Government sent, a telegraphic circular to all parts of the Colony notifying that every person in receipt of Government salary or pay of any kind wou'd be reduced 10 per cent., and that the reduction would date from the Ist of the present month. Since the issue of that circular, however, it bis been stated that Government decided to reconsider the matter in order, if possible, to effect the saving they had in eons temj)lation by these 10 per cent redac* tions, by means of amalgamating certain large offices and abolishing others, and that another Cabinet meeting bad been held to discuss the advisablencss of this course. The result, if such a meeting was held, has not transpired. The latter plan would certainly be the preferable one of the two, and if the Government could only see its way to effect retrench* ment upon some such system, s jerj general satisfaction would be felt ; and we believe the object in view would be attained more speedily arid pleasantly than by adhering rigidly to the 10 per cent plan. About £450 was collected during a recent Sunday in the Catholic Churches of Sydney as Peter's Pence. A sixpenny restaurant has been started in Dunedin. A sportsman in fhe Tuapeka district recently bagged twen'y-three pheasants as the result of four days' shooting. An infant of twelve months named Clara Gibson died near Wai mate on Thursday last, apparently from the effects of matches which she had eaten several days previously. At the in* quest on Saturday, says th 9 Timaru Herald, the evidence of deceased's father and mother went to show that on the 17th instant, the deceased got at some matches and eat them, : .n the absence of the mother. The latter gave her some castor oil. The child was teething at the time, and rather delicate in health. The mother saw no bad effects from the matcher, but on the evening of the 22nd the child took so ill that its father went for Dr Hoadly to Waimate, but before his return the child died, Dr Hoadly stated he examined the child, and found it had been well nourished. Far want of post mortem he could not say the exact caused of death. It might have been caused from congestion of the lungs or by eating the matches. The Jury were unanimously of opinion that a post mortem was not required and brought in a verdict of " Death from natural causes !"