MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, 27 June 1881, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

A young Scotch curate of primitva habits, and unaccustomed to fashionable hours, was asked by a neighbouring gentleman to stay with him. He arrived when the ladies were assembled at five o'clock tea, of which he partook freely, thinking it was the principal meal of the evening. After a time ho heard a bell ring; he was given a candle and shown to his beed-roora Thinking that the day was now ended, he undressed, snd in a short time went to. sleep, from which he was awoke, in what to him seemed the middle of the night, by the loud sound of a gong and the rushing of feet in the passage. He wns much puzzled, but at list it dawned on him that thn house must be on fire, so not waiting to dress, he rushed as he was downstairs, to the astonishment of h ; s host and fellow guests, who were assembled in the drawing-room before dinner.

The Wellington Post says:—' Our readers will doubtless remember Mr Thomas Gardiner, tbe enterprising American journalist who purchased the moribund Evening Argus, nnd converted it into the since defunct Evening Chronicle ; who admitted into partnership certain Wellington journalists and printers, and then suddenly departed od his return to America, leaving his partners sorrowing for his loss, and still more at haying to pay numerous little bills which he forgot to settle before he left. Mr Gardiner, according to our San Francisco mail news, is now about to start a newjournal in Arizona, at the place bearing the lugubrious and sepulchral namo of ' Tombstone/ The new paper is to be called The Union, Mr Gardiner should take into partnership another old Wellington resident now in America, Mr George Nortb, and then the Union would bo a worthy one indeed.'

The late Attorney General has been lecturing in Wellington. Tne special correspondent of the Lyttelton Times nnder date May 20, telegraphs regarding him j Mr Stout's lecture to-night on the Irish Land Questiou and its lesson for Colonists was largely at* tended. Among those present were tho Hons. W. Rolleston and Dr Grace. The local allusions consisted chiefly of pretty hard hitting at the laud monopoly and centralization of Govern* ment, With reference to tho first he said : * When you hear any of our New Zealand politicians and newspapers speak of the land as though it were the same as any description of property you can understand that they are mono* polists, and working in the interest of a class.' Again : 'If we bad been wise in our time, we might have !<;u!

sufficient revenue from our land, without resorting to any other des* cription of taxation, and possibly we might have had no public debt:* He admitted that public opinion was not yet sufficiently ripe to take this view of the Land question. On the question Central Government, alluding to the position of Ireland and Scotland relatively 10 England and applying the illustration to New Zealand, Mr Stout said it 13 very questionable whether one big Legislature was a guarantee of good Government j and again, evidently favouiing a return to Provincialism, he heartily endorsed the maxim that •Small Republics with Confederation' t?as thebtst form of Government, and he warned she people of Wellington that the mere fact of a Parliament holding its sitting in any particular place was not a guarantee of prosperity to that place. This remark was received with mingled appreciation and derisive applause, Mr Stout gave no indication of bis own intention as to political matters, but I leara privately that be will take no step in that direction until the general election.

The London Times recently contained a very remarkable and conspicuous paragraph, headed "The Court," and describing Her Majesty's journey from Windsor to Os borne. It appears that precautions are now taken for the Queen's safety like those adopted in Russia, and that, contrary to all previous etiquette, the papers hare been permitted to des» cribe them. The Queen's train has always been preceded by a pilot engine, but on the occasion mentioned the rail* wav along its whole length was watched by platelayers, provided with fligs and fog»signals, so that an alarm might be sent instantly slong the line. The departure announced for a Tuesday, was changed to Wednesday, and on the Queen's arrival at Portsmouth, both the Alberta and the Admiralty yacht the Enchantress were found in waiting. The latter had been suddenly ordered up, the Queen made her choice at the last moment, and the Enchantress was chosen. All this, as the Spectator observes, must mean either that the Government have information that the Sovereign is threaten*

Ed, which seems impossible, considering her relation to the Executive, or that the recent catastrophe in St. Petersburgb has produced an impression on her Majesty's mind that all crowned Leads are in dan' ger. Neither solution is a plewnt one, more especially when it is remembered that the Queen throughout her reign has displayed great personal courage, and has not the least reason to apprehend any loss of her popularity with her subjects. Even the Irish do not attribute the Coercion Bill to her, and the danger most either come from abroad, or be wholly imaginary.

In Sydney the administration of j act ice by Justices of the Peaua has reached such a pass that it is frankly confessed in Parliament that the time has arrived when it will be necessary to dispense with the services of unpaid Jufr tices and have Stipendiary Magistrates. The Chief Justice had occasion recently to animadvert on a case in which a license was granted under circumstances so dig* reputable that the Government have been compelled to cancel the license, and treat the action of the Justices as null und void. The subject of packing the benches of the Police Court has also been brought up in the Legislative Council by Sir Alfred Stephen. The evil is also ram* pant in Mellourne where in the notorious Stephenson case twentj-six Justice « turned up on the Bench to assist the Police Magistrate in coming to a decision as to whether the Customs had been defrauded or not.

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