MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1234, 16 February 1883, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

: + A Melbourne paper says that Bliglrs debut in the field was watched with peculiar interest His lanky figure could never be mistaken. He has all W. G. Grace's form at point, and obtained two tremendous rounds for stopping real hot ones. It is among the strange anomalies of the American dramatiic stage that the negro dialect seetns to be gradually disappearing from the contemporaneous drama since the abolition of slavery, and the establishment of equal rights for all races, while at the same time the Irish y German and Jewish dialect parts flourish to a far greater extent on the American stage than ever was known before. The Langlands Foundry Company have just compled to the order of the Phoenix Gold Mining Company, in the South Wynad district of India, a twenty - head crushing battery and. twenty Wheeler's pans, the contract price being £4200. The company some time since had made in England a crushing plant, but it was found to be imperfect ■■in; many respects, and the directors decided to order another from Melbourne, which should embrace all th« latest gold-saving appliances, and the contract was let to the Langlands Company. The battery, which is of tho most approved style, has been completed well within the stipulated time, and will be forwarded to its destination by the next mail steamer. The quartz reefs in the South Wynad district are stated to be of great value, though the quantity of <■ base metal contained in them makes the' process of • extracting tiie gold rather difficult, and it is probable that, in view of the experience obtained in Victoria of similar reefs, many orders will be received by local firms in tjio future from Indian mine proprietors for the most recent gold-saving machinery, . It is satisfactory to note that our manufacturers can compete in so distant a market The subject of " spikes " was an ex. citing one during the recent English and Australian cricket contest in Sydney. Mr Murdoch, began it by calling attention to steel plates that Barlow, the English professional, wore on his shoes, which plates, the Australian captain complained, were, calculated to cut up the wicket. . Barlow put off the offending shoes, hut kept his eyes upon the shoes of his adversaries, with the result that he felt justified in remarking to Spofforth upon the destructive character of the spikes he wore. The "cLemon" resented this interference,, and some warm language appears to- have ensutvl, whereupon Mr Bead, of Surrey, put in a word: The Age report says : •'This so annoyed the (lemon bowler that lie struck at Mr Read. Fortunately for Spofforth, the genial Surrey secretary is as good-tempered as ho is muscular,, and contended himself by smiling upon his ill-mannered adversary." A woman was. buying tea at a placo in Washington where, on certain days, diamonds, rings, and. purses of monpy are'given away* as prizes in a certain number of packages The other I clay a lady stepped forward and invested her dollar. " I'll give you sdol for your package before opening," said the clerk. She declined. It was opened. There was only 15c in it.. She bought j another package. There- was only 15c in .that one. She brought a third package. " I'll give you 35'd01." She hesitated. It was opeiiftd and : found to contain 500dol in gold pieces- This; attached attention, and the buying of Idol packages. became very brisk. A ge'ntlemau followed the lady to her hotel, and ■• ask&l . her name. "Mrs- ," said tho clerk. ,It ...was the* wife of the propritor ** of *-' the tea. store. •"-• : ;.*. ' .* Messrs (rilbdiT anfl' ; SttßtVan have produced another.- of< -thteir charmingfarcical -operas', at the Savoy. It is; called V ■lolanfrh.e.. ; or the Peer and tho Peri " ' but under ' ::l \viiatsoever name these dainty cdwrpositions appear, their essential ingredients remain the same. lii the language of naturalists, they are homologous. • There is always a troop of ineii belonging to some prominent profession, .as:satfors, soldiers, policemen, peel's. In the present case they are peers. Those are made to disclose in humorous lyrics the foiblos of their class;'- which constitutes the satire of the piece— the very mildest 3f satire. Tl^n . there is a troop of protty. sirls'iii irivy rorf cliable costumes who eventually pair. oifryitlYtho- poors, •>r the policeman, or .tiio soldiers, as tho Ciisq^may-be:' The-' j-rocess of prinpia JtUeaded!7'iiiiic]i. kissing :zi no ballet. T!ic &«?. ox ti-a eatei-

tainment consists of puns and elaborate incongruities, which must be funny, for incongruity *is the soul of fun. In "lolanthe" the Queen of the Fairies is matched with a human sentry (Private Willis), aud an Arcadian shepherdess is a ward in Chancery. If that is not funny, I should like to know what is. The two principal jokes of the piece were published months ago. One is the conceit that Stephdn, the issue of a fairy mother and a human father, is "fairy down to the waist, but his legs -are mortal." The other is also the •comical embarrassment of a Lord Chancellor, who loves his own ward, and fears if he marries her without his own official consent he may have to 'commit himself for contempt of his own Court, there is a pretty confusion ! In " lolanthe " there is no plot, any more than there is backbone in a jelly-fish. The end is not a consequence of the beginning, and the middle is not •Organically connected with either. It might with advantage be played backawards, for that would not damage the mechanism of the piece, and it might 4Ldd to its incongruity. There are two set scenes — a landscape in Arcadia and a view of Place Yard, Westminster : more incongruity- The music is very .good, as Sullivan's generally is. The attractions of " lolanthe " appeal to the tates of ft sort of the community who, while not habitual playgoers, are yet not averse to that mode of enter- 1 ttainraent, under certain conditions. 'This class includes the inmates of lladies' boarding-schools, suburban 'deacons and their families, country clergymen on a visit to 'London, and the likes. These prefer the whipped cream of the Gilbert-and-Sullivan romances to the full-flavoured cheese of natural comedy. Blue-vrined, hinting <of corruption. Our best comedies are, it mast be owned', a little high (as we say ■of game), and all palates do not relish ~them. it is only right that the stage should provide pap for babes as well as meat for those of stronger digestion. The excellent people I have mentioned will no doubt patronise " lolanthe ; or the Peer and the Peri," as liberally as "they patronised the former operas of the same series. Mr Archibald Forbes writes as under . to a Melbourne paper concerning New Zealand : — -"New Zealand is a country at once fertile and rugged — characteristic of Scotland. .The climate is more or jess pleasantly variable — also characteristic of the northern country, and I am informed the soil here grows 80 bushels to the acre, so that it is impossible for anyone to go without liis porridge. . The climate is also eminently suited for the maturing and "preservation of whiskey, and I have also observed that thistles grow to unparalleled dimensions, and further, that the complexion of the ladies is not only good, . but apparently lasting." Eight hundred .Victorian -women -applied the other day for thirty ap- • jointments at salaries commencing ' «a'ch at ten. shillings a week. The '■" Argus "at the same time ' contained **' Several closely-printed columns of !" "Domestic Servants Wanted." Now- . a-daye, all the young men must be "briefless barristers, commission agents, billiard-markers, or students of, practical geology in some gaol ; while the ;girla are all governesses, ladies' companions, milliners, or — nothing. Another cause of dissatisfaction has .been furnished by Minsiters.' The OJ>,T in a leaderette says they have •acted in a very churlish and improper manner in declining to reappoint Mr Richardson as a member of the Lyttleton Harbor Board. That gentleman has been for years the most useful member of the Board, and it is altogether unworthy of the Government to vent their political spleen upon him in this way. For it is no secret that Mr Richardson's course of action during the last session of the : previous Parliament gave great nm- , brage to Ministers, and led to their subsequently opposing, by such influence as they could bring to bear, his return for Lyttelton, where he was l>eaten by Mr Allwright by 11 votes. ' ■ ... . . . The Government are going the right way to work to alienate support in Canterbury by such an act, and we cannot allow it to pass without entering our protest against it as an utterly bad precedent The manner in which Mr Pilliett's vote was secured has already brought a good deal of odium upon them ; and if they are going to proceed systematically on the plan, of rewarding supporters and snubbing opponents on all possible occasions, they will soon flitter away what little claim they have to pnblic respect and esteem as an honorable body of men.