MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1187, 2 October 1882, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

» A recent number of the " Pafly News " contains the following remarkable paragraph : — " It is stated that the three majo**-generals of the Guards over whose heads the I uke of Connaught has been promoted to the command of the Brigade on active service had each paid a sum of £4000 to secure the chance now lost to them." If this statement is correct it is open to more than one remark. What was the payment said to have been made by the officers in question 1 People generally are under the impression that purchase has been abolished. Is it credible that, though it is now impossible to purchase an ordinary commission, an officer is still able to buy a command of special importance and difficulty. Of quite another order of womankind is Mrs Victoria Woodhull, of Americnn celebrity, who, with unblushing effrontery, calls herself " the nominated President of the United States " for the next election of 1884 ; sends forih an appeal that the people of all Europe, America, and all the world, may rally to her standard and support her right to represent and work for the people of America, and, by becoming their President, prove the fact for the first time in the world's history the fact that they chose, as their President, not of necessary a man, but tlie best person to represent, to govern, and to maintain their rights. Surely assumption and arrogance would no further go. Do not dust, bat wipe ! The duster, that peaceful emblem of domestic lobor, may, under certain circumstances, become a dangerous weapon to handle. We are in earnest. An emimentscientist declares it to be a fact. Do yon I know what you are doing when you brush j away dust? You disseminate in the air, and consequently introduce into your own interior, into your tissues and respiratory organs, all sorts of eggs, spores, spores, epidemic germs and { murderous vibiones which dust contains. j One movement with a feather duster may be enough to poison bith you and your neighbor — to innocul&te you all with typus, varioloid or cholera-strange as it may appear. Instead of a feather duster take a damp cloth : wipe the dust instead of stirring it up. In short, wipe — never dust. The' Freheit' hos of late been published in German, and, until the recent prosecution made it notorious, it seems to have been read almost excusively by the little group of foreign revolutionary spirits who have found refnge in London. It was the only journal in England which attempted to justify the assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr Purke. The Freiheit not only justified them, but extolled them as heroes. Although the Committee wrote bravely enough, none of them have had the courage to come forward and screen from punishment the agent of publication. Schwelm, the man convicted on Juue 30, and sentenced toeighteen months ' imprisonment, was a compositor. That he was concerned in setting up the type was not denied by the defence, and though it was urged on his behalf that he was simply the tool of others, there was satisfactory evidence that he took a prominent part in the management of the paper. Although he availed himself of somewhat technical defence, he received the sentence in the spirit of lighthearted desperation which characterises men of his way of thinking. "Now for the Social Revolution," he shouted as he was being led from the dock." * The 'Lytteiton Times' says that the value of the library Sir George Grey has given to Auckland is £30, 000. The Natives in the Gislx>rne Tistrict I are leasing large tracts of land. Mr J. F. Herbert, of Tapanui, is reported to have just leased 84,000 acres of pastoral land sixteen miles from Gisborne. Lady W ilson gave a grand ball at her town residence in Grosvenor Square on July 18th, which, thanks to the very capable assistance of Lady Bective, attracted a large number of people. The great Australian millionair was honoured by the compnny of Princess Mary, the Duke of Teck, the Duchesses of Manchester and Athole, the Duke of Madrid, Maria, 1 owagcr Marchioness of Ailesbury, and 1 a host of other most aristocratic personages. The flowers and plant decorations were especially beautiful and nothing that money can procure was spared to ensure the success of the entertainment. It is said that about 2,000 invitations were sent out, and the Duchess of Teck had carte blanche to invite whom she would. Captain Runciman has returned from America, where he ordered two cheese manufacturing plants for the Waikato Company, each capable of turning out one ton of cheese per day. Bishop Murry, who has had much experience in Europe, states that, with the exception of St. Paul's and the Sistine Chapel at Rome, he never, saw more imposing ceremonies, or heard grander music than at the opening of the Cathedral in Sydney. It is stated that the nomination of H. H. H. the Duke of Connaught to command the brigade of Guards in Egypt was not well received. It has been an old established" rule that this brigade, going on foreign service, should be commanded by the senior officer of the three regiments ; and in this in-

stance ho is one who saw service with his regiment in the Crimea, and was badly wounded. Rumors begin already to float about respecting the immediate scattering of Ministers, and are announced with an air of knowing probability. Whether they will turn out to be verties remains to be seen. A new mining claim, to be called the " Wealth of Nations, Extended," has been taken up by Messrs Madden and Mace at Tearawhiti on behalf of themselves and others. It lies to the northward of the Golden Crown.