MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1314, 24 October 1883, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Mount Company jhave now declared, in sixty six '. dividends, a grand total of £414,000!, or , equal to £34 10s per share. •'".'..;?_•. -: .;■,■

It is estimated' thai fully 6005 pet-. sons visited Messrs J. 'and "J. Watson's Grand Hotel on Saturday, when the proprietors threw it open for public inspection. Everybody was astonished at the magnificence and taste 'of theinterior work and fit tingß. There seems to be no questibn that Duriediri can claim in the Grand, Hotel a hotel decidedly unequalled intbe Australasian Colonies.

Mr' Albert Martin, and son of the Hon. ' John Martin^' carried off first honors and a £ 25 prize at the^final examination at the .cqiiQlusiofl of the four year's course at Giuy'sHospital^ London, There were more than tIQO competitors. „■'• j .;'•<■; ..." ,

American >porinyra*lroerß loot down with a fine scorn from 1 tne, lofty 'lieights of their superior imagination : upon such common-place affair^ as sea serpents and showers : of f frogs. . .This; ia how they serve iipjthe reajarticle in its native simplicity; " Afc an hotel in Mojrfrhead, a; ?North Carolina watering place, a dealer in toy balloons presented himself One Major-, "Hawkins', of Alabama, in a spirit pf 'p^ayfiil wan tontiess, seized the balloons,,, tied them round the waist of threeryear-old daughter of Mr Elliott, r and i tossed the child in the air, holding 6\ii} 'his 'hands to catch her as she descended,;' The Major had not reckoned on the floating | power of the ballons. They carrried i little Elliott up arid up, until she was a gradually decreasing object floating seawards at a good height above the houses. All was horror and confusion save in the manly breast of Charles J. Vorhees, one of the expert riflemen in the States, who being out for a pleasure sail, pf course had his rifle with him. With his eagle eye he* Measured that the child was 400 yarda above him, and was travelling overthe" sea at the rate of ten miles an hour. Without hesitation this heroic man commenced firing at the balloons, which at that distance presented to the eye much the appearance of a button on the child's dress. He kept on hitting the balloons and missing the child until he had burst sufficient to allow the laws of gravity to come in operation, and bear the child safely to shore on the sandy beach. One need only add that Mr Vorhees burst into tears on the successful use of his rifle practice to, complete a story which for excitement of incident, wealth of detail, natural simplicity, and yet utter impossibility beats anything in print.

President Grevy's salary is £48,000 a year. When Louis Napoleon was Emperor he had a yearly allowance of £1,000,000.

Cai'lotta, the ex-Empress' of Mexico, is said to have recovered from her inRauity. Her hair is entirely white. She spends much of her time in the study of music.

Mr Forster, in returning thanks for the " Lords and Commons " at a political meeting, paid a high tribute of the manner in which Lord "Gran ville had led the House of Lords for the Liberal Ministry. When Lord pranvi'le was at school he oiie day fouu4

himself in the position which boys very often do, of having to fight a pitched battle with fisticuffs, and his opponent was a lad digger than himself, with whom he had not the ghost of a chance. But he went about it with a will and managed to staud up again after being knocked down time, after time, because he knew the bell must soon ring, and that if hecou d keep going till then he would not be actually beaten he continued fighting until the bell did, ring. He had to do the same thing in the House of Lords now. He had to keep fighting until the bell rang which waked up public feeling— and after all he had not been beaten.

Canada, it appears, is doing a large business with New York in frogs. Fr^gs, which at one time were deemed the exclusive diet of the Frenchman — I who, indeed, took one of his soubriquets, ; that of Johnny Crapaud, from this rather doubtful form of. diet — are greatly esteemed by Yankee qourmande. As the latter are people of taste, and have a very wide field of choice, tliia to the amphi ious edible proves its excellence. Frogs — or their legSj^wh'iclf'-are the only part con-sumed-r-are very luscious eating. In appearance they resemhle the most "delicate chickens' wings, and their flavour is a curious blending of various, exquisite tastes. jThe sevei-al censuses taken during the past 100 years exhit.it the marvellously rapid strides which New York has made towards her present imperial position. In 1790, however, the population was little more than it was in 1771 ; but by 1880 it had risen to 60,515. The remaining censuses are thus given:' 1810,96,873 ; 1814, 95,518; 1820; 123^706 ; 1825, 166,086; 1830,,202;589; 1835,270,089; 1840, 812;7i0: ,1645, 371,223; 1850, 515,547; 1855,6 26,906; 1860,813,669; 1865; 726,88:4 ; 1870, 942,292 ; 1875, 1,041i886 r ;' sßßoJ ' %20r> : .2?9. The populaitiW ! W" New; Yoirk ' VCii y . has doubled six, times wiiliiii ''ft' century — doubK#|j; .bit 'ip ''^tV6ra»e, once in every 17. 'yea^s. ! liFbther 'words, the New YbVk •6f'tqT^Vis' 04 ; times as large && : the, Ni^ '**%'. 6if;lOO ! ( years ago. -•' ■ A i |l ' thte ( '^ate o( ! iiicratse. show n by the" lasfj i $5 > M years' i£ibne-^a,"raie diminished fry ' this^Ucfitriß 6 ! f ' American commerce and the influen'ce i°o/ '' the Civil Waf-^thera : 'are^'ehflafeti 1 .nownuising, lybo will[bfelipld'!a''New:<Yonlif City containing ny l*s thanllOjOOOiOOO inhabitants. ■*_ ''■.?•;£■■: )?;*■!. qo'JL An' iextraordinary^ruttio'i? (Writes 1 tW Melb6urne?Heraldj)P.ißt current in lfegal and ■ political i circle^ which - ; claims" more ! attention ■ than , "gossip"; tfsu&lly; does from the fact that it is repeated f by l person's Svlio are not given tb'idfe' talk. It is ' to the'effect that there is aprobability ' of, one of the judges 6f the Supreme Couyt resigning his present position, and becoming the editor of one of the Melbourne djxily papers at a salary a^cfdtlpltr "of ' thousand pounds i year in excess of what heis receiving for his 1 judical office, and that he will be /soiceeded.uppnthe bench by Ma? Kerferd, the Attorney-general. They other day (writes a Home paper) the Boyal Princesses paid a visit to The Times office. They were welcome, of course, but in a private way. Unless you are a personage of great importance— a prince or a famous litterateur — neither love nor money will admit you into the almost sacred precincts of Printing-house square — that is to say, the. members of the editorial staff are permanently " not at home '■ to strangers. In the office itself, too, an atmosphere of the strictest mystery prevails. No man dares trespass into the territory set apart for any portion of the staff with which he is not' connected. There are message hoys to go from the sub-editors to the editors, and thence to the domain of the "comps."; they are the means of communication, too, be-

tween the reporters and thie gentlemen of the departments mentioned. But so great is the secrecy with which The Times is managed, that the editor alone of those connected

with it knows ••' who is who " throughout the establishirient. A gveat number of experiments are being v made in California with the seed of the Cochin China grape vine. Seed has been distributed among 800 persons in various parts of the State, and no pains will be spared to acclimatise the wonderful vine on the Pacific Coast. In .its native state it has/fteeV found, in altitudes varying from 100 ' to 3000 fee« above the sea level,, producing everywhere an enormous crop of fruit. With proper care, authorities in grape culture believe that the Cochin China variety can be grown in all the wine regions in California and on the Pacific Coast. A vine similar to this, but more vigorous and productive, was lately discovered on the coast of Guinea by Senor Arpore, chief of a scientific mission sent to that country by the Portuguese Government. The plant was found to be about 4ft high, with a crop of grapes varying from 901b3 to lOOlbs on each vine. The fruit was delicious, and the wine made from it <<y Arpore and companions was found very good soon niter — rich in aroma, in colour, and in alcohol. We are glad to state that it is the intention of the National Bank of NewZealand, Limited, to open at Lyell on Wednesday, 31st iustant, remaining O| en to the 4th prox, under the charge cf Mr I. Lewis, manager of the Reefton branch. It is the present intention to send an officer down from Eeefton at intervals, but should it be found after a fews visits that there is sufficient encouragement to warrant static ning an officer here permanently, it will be done. We trust the energy of this institution will meet with the hearty support it deserves from this community.