MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1292, 3 September 1883, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

Professor Gold win Smith on Irish immigration — "Coming out here," says the professor, writing from Toronto, "in the state in which the Celt is, he uses his vote as a shillelagh; he blindly follows priests and the worst demagogues he can find; while as a laborer he is very valuable, he is politically the bane of the community whose franchise he receives ; his fatal influence threatens with rum every Anglo-Saxon polity and Anglo-Saxon civilisation throughout the world." Wellington seems resolved to have a fair share of Government expenditure for building. A new post and telegraphoffice is just about finished, at a cost which, I am informed, will reach £20, 000. Bince last session Parliament buildings have had additions, including lighting* at a very large cost, and plans fot additions to Parliament House have been exhibited this session, to cost, as per estimates, some £25,000. To-day plans for a new gaol have been laid on the table, the estimated cost being £82, 000 (sic): A new customhouse is also suggested, and Mr Daniel, member for Wallace, is urging the House to erect a new printing office as well. I fancy the expenditure hex-e in the purchase of land, building, repairs, furnishings and the like will tot up to nearly half a million since the Seat of Government was removed here in 1865. No wonder that so much additional taxation is required. The proposed £d of property tax cannot by any possibility, with the other avilable revenue, meet the year's I expenditure, and I should not be at all astonished next session to learn that l£d property tax at least will have to be imposed, At a banquet given to Lord Wolseley in Dublin recently, the "only general of his time" made remarks which have been severely criticised by a portion of the English Press. He said there was no greater folly than to imagine that the strict discipline which was necessary for an army could be maintained amongst Irishmen by the cold, unsympathetic rule of Englishmen. He knew their good points, and no one could admire English soldiers move than lie did. Bat his '

own experience of Irish soldiers was; if you want to have themi in a state of discipline, and to get as much out of them as possib c, they mu3t be commanded by their own countrymen. ( Irisk soldiers, he thought, very much like the Irish people generally — they .require to be ruled firmly, but justly. The administration, that suited other races did not suit the Irish army any more than it suited the Irish people.-. A Christchurch paper says : — "• There is by no< means universal, jpy im connection with the diamond mania. Two. tradesmen were discussing tthe position on. Tuesday, and ; one; of them, fired with real or imaginary I wrong, waxed forcibly eloquent. Heunburdened hitaseli im this way: ;' I always- thought the- confounded. Building Societies were the very worst thing tradespeople had to* contend with ; but, lor 1 bless ye, these Diamond Companies beat Building Societies all to nothing. What d'ye think ! Look here : — 's as true as I'm standing here, a woman came into my shop 'sinoi'ning — owes me a big account — 'n she says, 'Oh, Mr ,' she says r 'my husband's bought a diamond share for £24, so of course we^ shan't be able to pay your little bilL just yet.' What d'ye flihink o' that* Blank the Diamond Companies, I say. Little by Kttle the magnitude of the enormous loss inflicted on NewZealand by the- rabbit pest,, is coming to be realised, says the Timaru Herald.' The statement that therabbit question is= one of national concern no longer excites coiitemptous laughter in the Legislature, as it did a few years ago. " Liberal" politicians no longer seek popularity, as they did a few years ago, by declaring that the rabbits ought to be encouraged as a means of driving out the* squatters. The thing is becoming too serious, and: the time is not far distant, when the 1 most thoughtless and* irresponsible? amongst out public men will be compelled to give attention to it The inhabitants of. New Zealand are gradually awakening to the fact that if they do not suppress the rabbits, the rabbits will most assuredly suppress them. A man named Wright was engagnd in stopping the leaks of a wooden cistern in the 1870 ft level of a Sandhurst mine, (Victoria), when a -cage 2Ooft from the top broke- away and fell dowi* a shaft. If crashed through a trapdoor of two-inch boards hard wood at 1660 ft, and striking Wright knocked him down to the bottom of the cistern,, and completely smashed him. The? cage displaced one of th» I6ft board* of the cistern, causing the 1 water to leak out Thirty feet below the cistern a man was working at the button* of the shaft but beyond a wetting; ho sustained no injury. The cagJ was bulged so out of shape that the bearers, runners, and centres of the cistern had to be cut away to aljow the cage to b«V removed and hauled up. When thiswas done, after a lapse of several hours, the body of Wright vfcis found undcir it smashed beyond recognition as a. human being. It was found that oneof Middleton's safety hooks was used on the cage, the tap of the hook consisting of three plates, forming a slotOne of these phtteshad broken, forcing the others out of their place, and: causing the disconnection of the shackle to which the cage was attachedThe cage was made by a blacksmith on the mine, and was aCalfilforoiaui invention. A trial of the eagje and hook was made in December last, andl they then worked satisfactorily. Acorrespondent writes to the Queen : " I do not know whether the movement has made much way in the provinces, of which my acquaintance and! experience are small, but in and aboutLondon for 20 miles there is hardly a large family, blessed with the average endowment of gifts, in which one of them has not learned or is. destined 1 to learn the vioKn. I often attend the practices or concerto ginnm by many amateur musical joeietis*, in ani around Loncfcw, an«t generally findi 1 young ladies among the ranks of the* violin players. On all aides there is. abundant evidence that the movement is general and strong. The violim dealers and masters tell the same story, and I cannot doubt that ten years hence the violin will be far more common in the hands of young; ladies then ever it was va former days among; their fathers and uncles;" There was no impropriety, says a Northern contemporary, in Atkinson or Dargaville calling each ether a •' bully.' There might have been in the use of the term gentleman ; although one has been an officer, and! another m. banker.* Holyoake very truly says : v A controversialist of selfcrespeet never gives an opponent as good as he sends if what lie sends is bad.'* That the Treasurer should complain of being bullied is one of the most curious things conceivable ; considering that he bollies , ewry person who differs with him. In his case the twopence a week was not paid, for teaching him manners in his. youth. Some light is thrown by the Age out the unfriendly attitude of South Australia on the annexation question. Ifc asserts that Sir William Morgan, exPremier of that Colony who has |capital invested in the New Caledonian mines, and is interested in obtained cheep labor, is at present in London, and has been actively engaged in thwarting the plans: of the other colonies from the annexe ation of the New Hebrides. The exhibition of Irish lace opened! at the Mansion House on June 25 includes exhibits from the various manufacturers, as well as a number of rare* and beautiful specimens of the art lent by the Princess of Wales, Princess, Christian, and other ladies. The preparations for the exhibition in the way of trade orders have kept in constant employment all the lace- workers vi Ireland tor ihc Uot threo mouths.

The Castlemaine ' Leader' (Victoria) states that it is "the intention of certain young gentlemen of Castlcmaine to go upon a commercial and sugar planting enterprise to New "Guinea, The projectors of the expedition look upon New Guinea as certain to become a colony «ventually, and consider it richer in minerals and produce than any part of Australasia. Sugar growing is estimated to yield =a profit of 75 per cent, in Queensland, -and] if land is taken up for that purpose ia JSTew Guinea, where labor will 1)e cheaper, it is expected that the profit will be even larger. The 'Queensland Government has been written to respecting the terms and 'extent of selection of land, and a reply is shortly expected. The idea is to tafce some European as carpenter and general man, and to obtain a native of New Guinea in Queensland ■who would act as interpreter. One of their articles of export is "expected to be sandal-wooi ; aad a good deal of the information that they have at present has been derived from Capt Moresby's * Discoveries in New Hebrides and Hew Guinea.* The party propose to leave Victoria about the end of August or the Ti>eginiiig of September, to make the necessary purchases in Sydney, and then to go on to Brisbane and Cooktown, from which latter place tfhey will start for Port Moresby, in INew Guinea. They will take letters •of introduction to the missionaries." • Dealing first with the <jwestion of form, Lady Harberton urged that by -the present mode of dress ike true lines of nature where not only not followed, but where actually reversed, * Every inch of drapery below the knees caused fatigue and loss of power, and she "ventured to believe that if -the strongest man wererequired to climb a mountain or walk over a breezy raoor in the dress of a woman, even in what was call el the short shirt, What would otherwise fee'pleasant exeroise would be turned, into unpleasant toiL She I believed- the first step towards rational dress would not be taken until women could wear some form of a divided skirt, having for its object perfect ■freedom of movement of ttm most important limbs of the body. It had loeen urged that this dress would be unwomanly .'; <but she maintained that nothing couW be unwomanly which had for dts -object what was necessary and true. Speaking on the question of stays* Lady Harberton said no sane person could 'doubt that the steel •corset forced downward the internal •organs, and medical experience showed that 77 per cent of the internal ailments of women were caused by tight and improper clothing. Lady Harberton was listened to throughout her lecture with marked attention, and was repeatedly applauded by a large company present A late Home paper says the. inhabitants of various Russian provinces are ag'iast at the dovastinjj ravages of locusi,V Intelligence jast received from Gharkolf states that in tnat district the locusts are swarming over and utterly destroying the crops of a fertile track of 50,000 acres. In the neighborhood of Taganrog the swae frightful destruction of crops is proceeding. Tine most energetic measures to stamp out this plague are. being taken. 'Lite Taranrog grain anS. locusts have been burnt together in order to stamp out the pest From Borissoglebsk the latest intelligence is still more lamentable. The locusts in this government are raging a tract of some 70,000 acres. Six thousand soldiers sent to the assistance oPflfc j inhabitants are powerless to chedlUn appalling destruction committed %y i these ravaging and insatiable insect legions. They have also appeared in other governteuts.