MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1300, 21 September 1883, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

In the course of the recent debate on the case of the French girl, Angelibue Therasse, the member for Timaru (Mr Turnbull) made a very startling statement in reference to the police. He asserted that a petition had been presented to the House by an expoliceman to the effect that he could prove that a certain charge of murder had been suppressed by the police ; that they had also burned down a man's house in order to trump up a charge of arson against him, and that this map was convicted of the change and sentenced to seven years' penal'servitude. A Philadelphia judge advises every man to learn how to use his fists, but is careful about encouraging poor, lone women to faniiliaize themselves with broom-handles and flat-irons. RUssian' men are said to be handsomer than Russian women. If you happen to know the average Russian looks like a hair mattrass stood on end and bust open at tli6' : top, you can judge how lovely the girls are. Shingles we're split by hailstones in Tennessee the other day, and women who were obliged to split kindlings in the morning are thinking seriously of moving to Tennessee, were the elements are more considerate than thoughtless husbands. Wells' "rough on corvs." — Ask for Wells' « Rough on Corns." 7£cL Quick relief, comple.e, permanent euro. Corns, warts, bunions. Moses, Muss<t Co., Rvdiiov. General Ascnt*. !

Colonists and Americans who come c to Englaud to see the lions and com- t plain -that the\ aristocracy; are jtoo reserved should have been present at the Cete helocoii the 18jSh. ipsfc, ati.tiife luternatipuaU^liyri^i^lju|>ition^.;i£t^was ' open to aiij>ho oj^se,j^;pay^|tie JSalfgujuea %tr&u^*p£fifcW <|hjsy would have soen the "PrincesVof Wales selling flowers at five guineas a baskot, the Puke. .apjl^^puQl^ss^ ,of Alhaux, doing a roaring trade iv. tea and cakes, iiu'd those* of Connaught st-lling sandwiches and gingerbeei.' as fast as they could haud them over, .Ilwas a sight to mutt the sternest Radical! Lady Bnissey supplied execrable cigars at a shilling each ; but who would smoke a cigai' received from such a hand? And Lady Dufferin, assisted by Lord Ghatles Bacestord, superintended a profitable kind of commerce, in which you paid a shilling for the privilege of fishing a farthing article out of a> miscellaneous heap in a tank. Space would fail to name the great people who were present — all the lights of fashion, politics, science, art, and literature. The bazaar was in aid of an English church which is being erected at Berlin, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the marriage of the Princess Royal of England with the Crown; Prince of Germany. About 15,000 persons were present. The grounds were splendidly illuminated with Chinese lanterns and electric lights, and bands of music were stationed in various parts of the enclosure. The Methodists in England (says the correspondent of a New York paper) seldom exercise their influence unitedly on any great question, social or political. The people having been educa'eJ religiously they are rather recommended to acton public questions as they individually think best. It is only recently that the conference has given its official sanction to the total abstinence cause and Bands of Hope. One result of this sanction has been the getting up of one Methodist petition to Parliament in , favor of the Sunday closing of public-houses. The petition was presented to the House of Commons last week by Sir William M'Arthur. It contained 590,000 signatures, which covered paper 5£ miles in length, was Bcwt 501 bin weight, and measured 12 feet round when closely packed. Four strong policemen had to carry it into the House. A clergyman who has had ten years work amongst the poor in the parish of Whitehall writes to the Nineteenth Century the following lamentable account of the condition of the working classes in that locality : — We find ourselves face to face with the labourer on 20s a week. He has but one room for himself and, his family of three or four children. By self-denial, by abstinence from drink, by daily toil, he and his wife are able to feed and clothe the children. Pleasure for him and for her is impossible ; he cannot afford to spend a. sixpence on a newspaper or a book. Holidays are out of the question and he must see those he loves languish without fresh air, and sometimes without; the doctors care, though air and care be necessities of life. The future does not attract his gaze and give him restful hours in thought; he cannot think of a time when work will be done, and he will be free to go and come and rest .as he will. In the labourer's future there is only the grave and the workhouse. He hardly dares to think at all, for thought suggests that to-morrow a change in trade or a master's whim may throw him out of work, and leave him unable to pay for rent or for food. The labourers — and it is to be remembered that they form, the largest class in the nation — have few thoughts of joy and little hope of rest ; it is well with them if in a day they can obtain ten hours of the dreariest labour, if they can return to a waterproof roura, if they can eat a meal in silence while the children sleep around, and thoy turn into bed to save coal and light — well, only because they are stolid and indifferent. Their lives slope into a darkness which is not "quieted by hope." The " Vagabond" tells one of his Otago experiences as follows: — "A number of men, their horses tails and .manes ornamented with ribbons, greet 1 s us'M viciously. How and why in this [ early cold morn? ' They are coming 1 from the wedding,' the courteous driver tells me. At a well-known and popular hostelry; along the road the daughter of the house was yesterday married, and the festivities are only justover. Shortly we atrive at the place. There has been a real high old time. O'erperst w^th liquor and sleep, prostate forms ar& strewed on the floor of the parlor. They have faHen 1 ike leaves in Vallambrosa. . Every room in the house is so occnpfed, and the bride, in her Wedding-dress, is washing up the glasses; whilst the bridegroom^ sober, but sleepy, asks all our party to have a drink L^W^r' take on board some young damseis'wihd* have been at the dance. It is astonishing how fresh they look after being up all the night The fiddler is also a passenger. He is reported to be the 1 boss' player on the goldfields. At the present moment he is about as drunk as it is possible for mortal man to be."