MISCELANIOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1343, 2 January 1884, Page 2

MISCELANIOUS.

It has been said that . ladies have generally great fear of lightning, and this has been superficially ascribed to their natural timidity ; but the truth is that it arises from their consciousness i of being attractive. A curiouß sentence was passed recently by Judge Krekel, of the Diairict Court of Missouri. An illiterate man having been convicted of a minor oSence, he was ordered by the Judge 10 be detained in gaol until he should be able to read and write, and another offender, less ignorant, was sentenced to be similarly imprisoned until he should have instructed the former in those valuable arts. It is stated th a i in three weeks the man reappeared able to write fairly well from dictation, and both pupil and master were discharged. 41 Hawks do not pick out hawks', eyes," says an old proverb, the French equivalent of which is that" wolves do not eat each other." Old proverbs, however, which ai-e only the rude, generalisations' of our unscientific ancestors, and generally too sweeping ; and volves do, as a matter of fact, sometimes eat . each other, especially when they belong to different species. Two Russian stag- wolves and a common French- wolf were lately put to occupy a cage in Salva's menagerie as it was leaving Besantcon for Dole. Soon afterwards terrific howling was heard issuing from the wolves cage. The three carniyora were engaged in mortal combat, and all the efforts of an employe sent to separate them were in vain. The two Russian wolves were insensible to the heavy blows which rained upon them, all absorved as they were in their deadly attack oh their unfortunate French congerer. Five minutes afterwards ihe hapless animal was dead ; and when the menagerie reached Dole nothing was left of him but the bones — "-St James's Gazette." . Mr O'Donnovan, the special correspondent of the Daily News, who has probably been killed with Hicks Pasha's army in the Soudan ranked only second to Mr Forbes as a war correspondent. His "Ride to Merry," which appeared last year, is excellent reading, full of incident graphically described, and giving in a modest way an impression of the man as dauntly brave, and almost revelling in hardsdips. inkfr his confrere Mr.. MacGahan, he has fallen a victim to his dangerous profession. Mr Forbes chose from every point of view the cannier part when he went on a lecturing tour instead of continuing "to seek the bubble reputation at the cannon's mouth." The sudden departure of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh from Coburg, writesthe Berlin correspondent of the Standard, on Oct. 22, has caused a certain sensation throughout. Germany. The Duke of. Edinburgh, who is heir presumptive to the Duchy of Coburg, has been accustomed to spend a portion of every year in the town, with his family and suite, and the abrupt interruption in the friendly relations that have hitherto existed between the present Dnke and his successor cannot but have unpleasant consequences. As usual, the birthday of the Duchess of Edinburgh was celebrated on the 17 inst by a grand ball, audit was in this that the dispute originated. In issuing the list ot invitations, the Duchess in a very marked manner omitted the names of the wives of two Court officials, one of whom had been an actress, while the other had been divorced from her former husband. The husbands of the two ladies appealed id the Duke of Coburg, who was at the time absent from his capital, and he interested himself on their behalf, but without effect, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh firmly refusing to issue the invitations. Consequently, the Duke of Coburg telegraph on the day before the' ball, ordering all the Court officials to absent thpmselves. The order was obeyed and since then th« relations between the high parties have naturally been anything but cordial. Lord Coleridge, when in Chicago, was addressed by a free " trader. The address consisted of a recital of the various modes by which America had asserted her undying patriotism in her commerce with England, yielding her commercial, marine, and foreign markets, in the determination to •'protect" their own, and firmly refusing England's clothing, her tools, her machinery, and her metals and raw materials, because they were cheap and good, and not American. Writing about the Earl of Derby's, wealth, Vanity Fair says : — " His income from land alone is put down at £167,000, and he may be credited with at least as much more as will make up £200,000. Merely for his Irish estates he received £160*000. Then he has £5000 a year. officially. His wife has a jointure from htei- late husband, and he is childless. Moreover— and this is no slight matter— he has but one place to keep up, for a mere villa, such as he ' possesses in Kent, is not to be counted where < keeping up ' is een-/ earned, and Knowsley is neither an Eaton nor a Chatsworth. In fact, Lord Derby might live with exceptional splendour— which he does not — and yet 'salt down' the prodigious

sum of £1 00,000 a year — a circumstance which perhaps assists him in preserving that philosophical state of mind which marks his discourses. A colossal wealth he will have in time (Lord Di'rbys are lon^-livfd) at this rate! What will lit* do with it? In Liverpool they divlare that he away nothing but advice, The following picture of the present deplorable commercial condition of Christchurch is taken from a private letter of a Canterbury M.H.R. : — " Christchurch is full of dead beats' — bankruptcies evfry day, . and the • publics' empty. Everybody is chasing everybody for money, and it generally is a stern chase in more senses thftn one. Those who have y< j t the means, and no ties, are leaving. Cib driving even does not a bare, living; o.e of my friendly cab-drivers sold his horse and cab-last weo:k for £Q\ aud'd bachelor at that. He says he cannot make a living at it, yet he. is a steady man. Some of the.- auctioneers are. almost starving. There are about 100 offices to lut in the town, and houses to let and for sale in all directions." .There having been complaints about the pecuniary gains of Moody and Sankey, a iV-c.id of Mr. Moody's has furnished t;;<: C.ioa.-><> Tribune with some interesting particulars. Saukey is not free from blame. H. 3 deceived \j[oody by accepting ? royality on the American harmoniums sold through his playing them so divinely, Moody gave him a blowiag up in consequence. Moody himself refused all oftvrs of money. He refused £700 in one lamp. The only thing forced upo'i him was a small farm. , The aTmy of Hicks Pasha bas been [^'destroyed by the forces of El Alahdi, the j "False Prophet. latelh^t-uce of the. | disi<:ster was bron^ht '«<> Khartoum by i Coptic cllicials, wiu say lie fighting ! continued iVoin Nov. 3 to Nov 5 inst., ana n-tiiUed in tlie complete annihilation of tho Egyptian troops. It is said that a uropeau artist is the only person who escaped. The forces of El »iahdi comprised, it is estimated, 30,000 men, and included dervishes, Bedouins, and regulars. The battle was fought near Xl Obied. El Mahdi fhst sent forward dervishes, declaring they would vanbuish the enemy by Divine aid. Sub- | sequently the regulars joined in the i attack, and later th engagement j became general. The army of Hicki* i Pasha, which early in the tattle was divided into two Uod/es, subsequently re- united and formed a square, which the forces of the False Prophet broke after three clays' desperate fighting Don't diic in the house. — : " Kough on Eats " clears out rats, mice, beetles, roaches, bed-bugs, flies, ants, insects, moles, jack-i:abbiio. gophers. Moses, Moss & Co., Sydney, General Agents.