MISCELANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1403, 21 May 1884, Page 2

MISCELANEOUS.

The oldest priest in the, world live! at DnpoU in Germany. He is one hundred and eight years old, and has been iv holy orders for eighty foui years. The German rnilitai-y authorities ar( about to make some experiments in the way of aerial torpedoes. An ordinan wur balloon is to be dispatched fitter up with machinery resembling that o1 torpedoe boats, by n)eans of whicli the charge could be projected on tin troops beneath. The project is considered feasible, and the day may noi be very far distant when we shall haa navies fighting in the air There seems to be no limit to the invention and production of instruments of death and destruction. The following is an extract from a letter from Wai wich Bay, south-west of Africa, dated December H, 1883: — " The atrocious acts of Panl Vister, a Hottentot chief, have received further confirmation. This fiend held a Eaad, and it was decided not tc shoot the prisoners as is usually done, but to torture them. So it was decided that the lower jaw of the victim should be severed, and a knife inserted in the roof of the mouth and forced up to tinbrain. These wretches further amused themselves by putting a rein with a slip-knot round the throats of the prisoners, hauling them up to trees, and when the tongue of the victim had protruded somewhat, letting him down again, carrying on this amusement until the unfortunate prisoner was lifeless." In a letter from Mr Domett, author I of " Kanolf and Amohia," to Sir George Grey, the New Zealand poet describes a visit to Poet Laureate. He says : i paid a very interesting visit in Noveraher last to Tennyson at his place, Aldworth, nearHaslemere, Surrey — the place itself being iv Sussex. If you see Harper's " Month y Magazine" you will-find in the December number some views of the house. &c.' portraits of his wife and sons, &c. •. .• . Hallan (T.s eldest son) seemed manager of the house, Mrs Tennyson being an invalid, and Tennyson no doubt not caring to be bothered with it. Mrs Tennyson is a most amiable cheerful, and, I can't help saying, dear old creature — so gentle, intelligent, and, to use a phrase, is fond of using syrapatica. The son is a nice, frank, young fellow. There was only an old maiden lady — old friend of the family — a Miss Boyle, there besides, so we were just six in all, a^d it was all delightfully unceremonious and familiar. " Don't dress." said Tennyson, "to-day before dinner. 1 ' I had I one or two quiet confidential chats of a literary and poetical character with the " great bard," and think him natural, frank, and unaffected, without any particle of vanity, however quietely and properly proud he may be. I was glad to see how, " well he wears," as the phra.se is. A tuft of curly hair on each side of his lofty bald head — quite brown, • hardly a hair turned, thick moustache, scarcely changed either, beard quite grey towards the end. He looked thin and a little shrunken at first, but his face and eyes seemed to relax and expand as our conversation grew more familiar and mutually interesting. On his being made a peer the other day I wrote him my feeling a out it, of

■ conrse complimentary, though not • over estimating the distinction as conI ferred on one of his reputation. His I reply (last week) was short and sweet, I think. Tennyson takes long walks of five or six miles every day— on ! 'which, 1 unfortunately, could not' accompany him, being dead lame still from that stupid accident of mine in May last (kneecap, muscles, or tendons internally damaged). I manage, however, to stump along (like a Jiable Boiteux on two sticks, or rather one stick and an umbrella used as such), about two miles every day. Tennyson, perhaps you know, is two years older than myself and three than you." It is a rather interesting circuins tances in connection with the foregoing letters, and oue of which Dr Domett was unaware, that the Miss Boyle, men ioned as Mr Hallam Tennyson's intended bride, was a daughter of the gentleman who held the office of private secretary to Sir George Grey when Governor of Capo Colony. Miss Boyle was then about three years old, and was a great pet of Sir George's. Siie afterwards sent him a little souvenir of her affection, which he still preserves. ' Society has just had its propriety shocked by the reopening of the Bland-ford-Aylesford scandal. In" 1876 Lord Aylesford separated judicially, , and, as it would appear, judiciously, from his wife, he promising to allow her £500 a year, provided she did not ! molest him in ai y way, nor attempt to compel him to liva with her. A boy i has since been born to her, who there is ; I no reason to believe his legitimate, and , ! this boy is called in the house where he ; ; lives Lord Guernsey, which is the title given to the eldest sons of the house ; of AyL'sford. Lord Aylesford, stopped s \ the annuity to his wife, and her ' | trustee now sues him for arrears, to > ! which his Lordship replies that the > I woman has broken the agreement — s has " molested" him,— and he puts in ••' a counter-claim for damages in that i j she has put forward a spurious child i as the heir-apparent to the Aylesford c title and estates. . The hearing of the . case occupied two days. The, Judge . j (Mr Justice Day) did not think that 1 j the birth of an illegitimate child was f I " molestation " within the meaning of . the covenant, but he inclined to the t i belief that the second part of the s ; charge was a case for the jury. The -Jury found that Lord Aylesford had been annoyed by his wife, and assessed the damages at 100, meaning that she should get nothing at all ; but the , Judge explained to them that the ! question as to weather her conduct am--8 I ounted to molestation within the terms ? ! of the deed, so as to bar her right to 3 the annuity, was a question of law, L ' I which the Court would determine on | another day. The Judge characterised 3 jas " monstrous. the conduct of the 2 ; Duke of Marlborough, who had torn 7 j to pieces the subpoena which cited him 1 i as witness in the case, but the noble f ; duke turned up on the second day to i "purge his coutempt," though he had 3 to come all the way from Came ■." At Bow stieet recently Sir James t i Ingham delivered judgment in the 3 | prosecution of the Park Club as a s ! gaming-house. Mr Jenks, the pro I | prietor, was fined £500, a penalty I j which was imposed likewise upon each member of the committee. The i i players were each fined £100. A case b . was granted for the decision of a higher : court. , Our telegraphic report of Sir George - Grey's reply to the question whether I i he was prepai-ed to follow. Mr Mont- ) i gomcry was incorrect What he said , I was that the line of conduct he had I determined upon in the next session [ was this, that he would walk his own > j course. [Cheers.] He would not "■ j bind himself by any fetters that would ■ i compromise him when the right came I 1 to be decided. [Cheers,] He did not s desire office at his age, but when the , question came that he might by doing l so secure some great boon for the i people he would not ask who he was to ■ serve under or with whom, but would ■ ! do his best for the people of New Zealand. He had been assured that if he . resigned the leadership of the Opposi- » tion.they could get a majority to turn 5 out the Government. He had told the I persons who had asked him to do this . that he did think they would be able to turn out the Government, but they , said he was mistaken. However, he i had resigned, and had never sought 1 the leadership of the Opposition since. , He could walk alone with the nineteen or twenty members who stood by him from pure conviction. He . would have what he was entitled to i or nothing at all, and he would not i compromise with any man to gain his i support. (Cheers .) i Nubar Pasha is nut a young-looking . man for his 59 years. He has a frank, strong face, especially marked by a • heavy grey moustache and large eyes. He married a daughter of a wealthy | Egyptian banker, and has one son — ; ' Boghesßeg — andtwodaughters. The , son studied for some time in England, i but it is not yet known whether he inherits his father's talents or not. , Nubar himself is the best linguist in Egypt. His English accent is per- \ feet. A movement in England has for its object the abolition of the actions for breach of promise. Such suits are . i alleged to have become so numerous that their influence is demoralising, and the justice obtained by the action • has become insignificant in comparison with the demoralising results. I Eemember, Hop Bitters is no vile, drugged, drunken nostrum, but the purest and best Medicine ever made, and no person or family should be without it." The income of Prince Leopold's widow will be £12,500. A somewhat laughable incident has occurred at the Melbourne Customhouse, which t^nds to sh . jw th>na ur^

cuteness of the son of Erin when his interests are at stake. It appears that some few days before the excise officers visited a certain hotel not far from Melbourne, and there found that the. Trade Marks Act was being infringed in a somewhat flagrant manner, in consequence of which tliey confiscated a bottle of the spirits complained of, and returned with their trophy to tin; Customhouse. The publican visited the inspector of excise, aixl in a very ■bustling manner explained that as In* had engaged a solicitor to defend hia case, he wished to see the confiscated bottle, foi* the purpose of examining the brand. The bottle was handed to him for examination when he yerv carefully allowed it to drop, causing the bottle to break, the contents of which were spilled all over the place, and the main clue to a conviction was of course spoilt. The publican gave vent to several apologies for his carelessness, but walked out of the Customhouse with a smile on his countenance which betokened that he had done a g)od day's work. Jinruiah has a population of 3,500, 000, the most of whom are Buddhists. Tjie American Baptists have six missionaries, five native pro.-ichers, and the i lima Inland Mission has also one, station. Glasgow i 3 to have a rollers for women. A fine resident' 1 , with spacious grounds, has been bought for the. purpose by Mrs Joi n Klder, and an enrlowninent fund of £2J,.)00 is to be raised. The Duke of Abercorn has thirteen titles, each of which represents a separate peerage : the Marquis of Bute has fifteen, the Dukes of Argyle and Bnccleugh have each sixteen, the Duke of Hamilton seventeen, and the Duke of Athol, with. twenty-three, 'stands topof the tree. Prince Bismarck, while out driving recently, had a narrow escape. Hi* coachmen attempted to cross a railway line, near Frie.drichsune without noticing an approaching train, and barely succeeded in clearing the track when the locomotive passed close to fcho Prince's carriage. Tiie late Thomas Knowles, member of t ie British Parliament, was the son of a common pitman, and at nine yeai*s old himself worked as a collier* boy for half-a-crowu a week. He diod at fifty-nine, wealthy, popular, a prominent member of the House of Commons, and oue of the most influential men in Lancashire. The private view of the Reynolds collection at the Grosveuor Gallery was densely crowded by people who came not to see the notabilities of other days who n domed the wnlls, but those of to-day. Tin- presence of Browning was fortlio hour more interesting than the pxllid face of Johnson against the checked covering of his high-back chair. Elizabeth Gunning I was forgotten when Miss Fjrtesque passed l>y, followed by as large a crowd as Horace Wai pole described mobbing the celebrated Irish beauty and her sister when they appeared in the park or at the play. " Anglo- Australian," in the. European Mail, writes: — "The population of England and Wales has increased from 22,712,260 in 1871 to 25,647,439 in 1881, but during that period the number of carpenters has augmented from 20.5, 624 to 235,233 in 1881. No wonder as several of the Agents-general have in formed me, vast numbers of carpenters are continually applying at the imitation offices. This class ' has increased at the rate of 3000 per annum during the decade, and probably the two .hundred and odd thousand of 1871 would suffice for our home requirements. As it is, it would be easy to send pome thousands of these useful artisans to the colonies, and this is only one morn sign of the manner in which almost everything industrial in this country is now everdone." Mr Bracken said in his address the other evening that "in looking over the bushels of chaff winnowed by the Premier at Hawera he discovered one or two grains of wheat" The member for Dunedin Central has been taken to task for alleged inaccuracies in his poetical descriptions, but none of these, as far as I remember, come up to the above in point of pure grotesqueneps. Even new-chum farmers, who have been weavers or counterjumpers in the Old Country, do not winnow chaff or measure it by the bushel. *nd it is only cocks and hens that search for the grains of corn when the chaff has been swept out of the barn. But the comparison of a pre-sessional address to a great heap of chaff in which are hidden a few grains of wheat was a very happy one. It was indeed, not strictly original ; but truth is better than originality. , If these speeches were even good chaff, in a slightly different senße, they would not be such an intolerable infliction as for the most part, they are ; but the chaff in this sense gene- " rally comes from the audience aud not from the speaker. Mr Bracken, however, is to be congratulated on having escaped a chaffing at the hands of his own constituents. He was handled very tenderly, as in truth the author of the New Zealand Anthem ought to be. It is as a poet rather than a statesman that Mr Bracken wins the suffrages of the people. Skinny Men.— "Wells' Health Renewer, " restores health and vigor cures Dyspesia, Impotence, Debility. Moses, Moss & Co., Sydney, General Agents. The mail steamer Rome has arrived and been placed in quarantine. The case of small-pox on board was very mild, and indeed some doubt exists. as to whether that dreaded disease was the one at all. The young lady who was the sufferer was a Miss Kermode, stepdaughter of the Rev. TI. B. Macart'h v, the Dean's son. The attack w;»s sli-h!;, aul manifested itxolf soon aftvft-

leaving Colombo, so that the patient was convalescent on arrival. Still all precautionary measures are strictly insisted on. The passr-ngers landing at Adelaide had been placed on Torrens Island for the requisition period, H^ c, notwithstanding tin; ample notice given by the telegraphic instructions from Albany, the authorites succeeded only iv showiug their admirable nntnral capacity for blundering. The Rome reached Port Phillip Heads about 5 a.m., on Easter Monday, and passed over. to the Quarantine Station, but there she had to wait one dreary hour after another, seeking in vain for a health officer to board h*u\ The captain fumed anil fretted, the passengers sulkily abused their hard fate and the stupidity of those in charge of the arrangements. The Anxious friends of those in the vessel were deprived of holding any communication with them. The mail tender hung atfoond the big steamer seeking to obtain the mails, but prevented by dread of being herself placed in quarantine. All this ti«n« telegrams were passing to and fro b-iween the doctors at the Heads and the authorities in town. Two doctors had been duly appointed, the ordinary health •officer having been given ati assistant, whose special duty it should be to Attend to the quarantine passengers. But by some absurd bungle, both of these officers had been instructed, or declare they had been, to refrain from boarding the vessel or coming within the circle of infection. The healthofficer (Dr Bulmer) was told that he must keep himself free lo attend to his ordinary daties of clear/ing vessels, so he would not board the Rome. His assistant declared that his duty was to receive the passengers at the quarantine station, and to take charge there, but not to go on to the vessel. By dint of free use of the wire th* knot was at last untied, and the assistant was directed to board the Rome, which lie did, examined the patient, and declared the vessel in quarantine. The passengers will be landed to-morrow at Point Nepean. The arrangements at the station for the convenience of passengers are stated to be abominable, and it is pretty clear that a strong -chorus of complaint will soon be heard. Over the landing of the mails there was also great confusion. There were no meaus of fumigation on the Rome, and the health officer vowed that if the mails were placed unfumigated on to the mail tender he would place her in quarantine also. Hours ■elapsed before this difficulty Avas over come, and the letters, instead of being in the hands of the recipients on Monday, were not delivered until the next day.- Fortunately, perhaps, the day being a holiday, the inconvenience was not much felt.

Ar typical of the inventive age in ■which we live, and as marking the vast advance over the methods of only a generation p^st, we note (Writes th« Engineering News) the successful •completion of a book-p«rfectingpriuting-machine, the invention of H. P. Feister, mechanical tugineer, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tin's truly wonderful machine is nearly as large as a passenger locomotive, weighs almost as much,aud cost £4000 to build: It cuts from an endless roll of paper sheets of the size required for the work in hand, prints one side, transfers it to a second cylinder and prints the other side ; prints the cover in from one to four colours ; fastens the sheets together folded, bound, covered, and trimmed, and finally counts the books, a bell ringing -svhen 5000 are finished. All this is done automatically, human hands being only required to start the web of paper into the machine. It will turn out a complete 32-page almanac at the rate of one hundred per minute; this! reqiiims the cutting off of 48,000 sheets of paper, and 88,000 typo impressions per hour, not including in the count the cover.

The death is? announced from Naples of Cipviana La Gala, the most ferocious brigand of modern times, which ' took place at Portoferraiot, on the Island of Elba, where he had been confined for a number of years, chained to the wall. La Gala has lieen proved guilty of 50 murders and numerous Tobberies, as well as arson. He commenced his career as an officer in the Bonrbon militia. In 186' he became a brigand chief, the terror of Southern Italy. He collected around him a band of 700 malefactors, and rulled them with an iron will, punishing the smallest disobedience with death. He was only of small, slender stature, but his pierc: :■•<;• dark eyes showed his indomitable w'V T 7V wore along black beard, coming •'.■ ■ to the middle of hi 8 chest. GaV. iffrcted to be reli gioua, and went f —quenfcly to mass and confession* His skull is to be. preserved as a phrenological curiosity. The Star says re the suspension of Mr Thome :— -'"The office held by Mr Thorue is, so far n.q we are aware, the first instance in New Zealand of the adoption of the Turkish system of farming a public department. Mr Thome's administration recalls all the delightful features of the benignant rnleof the pasha. He was bent on making money and the officers under him were used as instruments for the attainment of this one. end in life. Mr W.B. Bursell, formerly a Government insurance agent, and now district agent of the Prudential Mutual in Auckland, has placed a letter at our disposal, which almost rivals the famous Mackay telegrams. I> it Mr Thorne says : « I hear that Mr Morrice A. Black, actnary of the Mutual Provident Society, lias gone across to your parts. He is- very anxious to got agents, and offering high rates of conumVsion. Now although I have treated you as liberally as I possibly can, I am bound <lown to not pay more than \ per ceufc. I don't wish to stand in the way of aujmaa-Utlethig h;uisuh : . If Black

will advance you £100 to' square up with me, and give you 20 to 25 per cent., do not let any .feeling of indebtedness stand it your way.' After complimenting Mr Bursell on the fine lot of ymycisuls he obtained iv Christchurdi, the. letter goes on to say: • l.yoll, our secretary, is leaving to work the Colonial Mutual. They advance him somewhere about .£BOO to begin with, and the A. M. P. S, advanced £120 to Mr Clupaott t,o work for them some time ago. At all events let me know if you h.ivc au interview with Black. Canvass him for life assurance in an innocent mai.n.*r. Let me know the result. 1 - It would .seem, thr.rofore, that the adroit superintendent ofageuts wa>h not adverse to his officers leaving the Government employ to juin a rival otfu-e. The inquiry into the administration of the Insurance Department, if made thoroughly, will, we'helievo, form one of the most instructive features of tha approaching session."

Flies and Hoes.— Bee ties, insects, roaches, ante, bud-bugs, v.-tts, mice, gophers, jack-rn. bits, cleaved out \>y " Rough on Rats." The NY.v Zealand Drujj Co., Sydney, General Agents.

" EucHU--PAiru."~Q"i<"fc> co'uplrtp cure, till annoying Kidney, Bladder and Urinary Disease* J>jii'^<j:ists The New Zealand Dmg'Co., Dunedin, Gnneral Agents.