MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1411, 2 July 1884, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

* Paul Frederick, eldest brother of the Grand Duke of MecklenburshSchwemi, having been converted to the Catholic faith, has renounced his hereditary rights in favour bis younger broibevs and their offspring. If the ijToiihevs' families become extinct, the throne is to reverb to the family ov Paul Frederick, providing the successor becomes a Protestant. When Mr Anderson put a question to the Under-Secretary for Torign Affairs concerning Monte Carlo (uiie Daily News says), he mentioned Uie. fact that three suicides and one assassination had occurred within a period of seven days. Since his question was put, he has received a letter f.'Otn a .gentleman at Nice, stating that since the first of January there have boen no fewer than 16 suicides and two assassinations, besides robberies and other crimes. Mr Anderson's correspondent also states that seveial newspapers published iv the c! ishvict are subsidised by the tables in order to keep things quite. It appears that the party opposed to Monte Carlo have been greatly en couraged by the apparent deuevonnatio'i of the Italian Government to uso its influence for the suppression of this horrible place. Mr James Webb, pearl-button mnmij facturer, of Birmingham, in examining a number oE jeceDi.lv acquired Australian shells, • discovered, deep I',1 ', enib-.dded in one of them, a beauLi; : ci peavl, weighing 31 grains, and which was pronounced by an eminent jeweller to be worth at least £100. Although in its rough state its lustre, is far more brilliant than pearls are, as a rule, after they have been polished. It was stated that Mr Michael Da vitt was about to leave Ireland for A ustraKa. " there to make a home and e;i,-ti his bread" ; but the founder of the Irish Land League denies that be is going to do anything of the sovt. Iv a letter to'the Freeman's Journal, Mr Davitfc says : " I have no intention of leaving Ireland for any leugthe^ed period, and most certainly none to riside out of the country permanently. What has given vise to such a supposition doubtIpss is the fact that I have for some time back contemplated an extended lecture tour, Jwhich was to embrace Australia, New Zealand, America, and Canada. Circumstances may postpone, as they have already done, the carrying out of such a purpose, but whenever persevered in it will entail no more then two years' absence from Ireland." The advocates of cremation (writes

a London paper) may congratulate themselves that their cause is progressing. When even torpid brained city officials have come to regard cremation from a practical point of view, it is surely time to be stirring. The City Sanitary Committee was asked to consider "whether it was not ad vis- ! able that a proper crematorium should be erected at thellford Cemetery, in order that the public might adopt that mode of sepulture should they so wish." There are 100,000 deaths yearly in the metropolis, aiid all the bodie3 are buried in the surface soil around London ; that is, in 33 years, 3,000,000 bodies. "In 20 years, says Sir Spencer Wells, a body bocomss clay, and we have therefore, always , 2,000,000 bodies under our feet undergoing "harmful decay." The motion was seconded, and earned without opposition. [ The rumour is again revived that Mr Conolly will be made a judge shortly, in v,he room of Sir J. Prendergust, who is now in England, aud, it is staked, is about to retire altogether f ,-om the service. The rumour, however entirely kcks official confirmation. The Colonial Treasurer (says the Post) tells us, in his statement; that he can carry on the ordinary administration o£ affairs until September ue'it, No provision seems' to be contemplated or provided for a?Ler that date and there is not even a suggestion as to how the deficiency bills aye to be met. The only possible way apparently wiil be, as has been done befo>e, to add ihe amount to the permanent debt. This proposal, however Major Aikinson leaves to his successor to make. In addition to the figures given above there is another cheerful feature in the statement before us. It is that an annual snm of not less than will have to be fouud for e::p.enditu. c upon our open lines of railway, uin addition to all charges for renewal-., maintenance and repairs," which are charged upon the receipts from tue railways. It is indeed surprising, that, in face of all this Major Atkinson should tell us that future tasaiiou will not be necessary, and that had he not been defeated he " saw his way to make bo*h ends meet with a failmargin for contingencies," by means of reductions in the Civil Service and other retrenchments. li : Major Atkinson could really to this, then his past administration must have been most profligate, but the House would p. 1 obably'be inclined to forgive the past, rescind the no confideucK motion, and puthimin otlice for another decade. No j sensible man can, however, give ilie least credence to such ah assertion, and it must therefore be regarded simply as being made in osder to afford the opportunity, when in opposition, to say, "Ah, see what I would have done it you had nob turned me out." Major Atkinson's successor will have no enviable task before him, for he will almost certainly have to face the question of laying fresh burdens on the shouldeis of the people. From the information at tidied to the Colonial Treasurer's statement it is possible to give the exact inde >tedness of the colony as a whole, of Wai bodies, and private individuals. The net debt of the colony, after deducting sinking fund is £29,574.902 involving an annual payment for niter est a.ici staking fund of £1,548,651. The Counties, Boroughs, and Koad, Town, Eiver and Harbor Boards of the colony owe £4,192,095. In regard' to the private indebtedness it appears there is a sum of £30,019,461 owing on mortgages, of which £15,018,904 is foreign capital, while, exclusive of mortgages, the debt deducted by the tax payers, on the property tax returns amounts to £13,040,000, and by nontaxable persons to about £1,500,000. This gives a total public indebtedness of L 33,768,377, and a private indebtedness of about £44,545,461. It may be interesting to mention that during" the year 1883-84 the number of persons who paid the property tax was 24,460 as against 22,087 the previous year. The taxable property returned has grown from £72,500,000 assessed in 1879, to £85,000,000 assessed in 1882. The value of the total real property in the colony is set down at £110,000,000 in 1883, as against £93,000,000 in 1880. No fewer than 2045 taxpayes paid the tax on sums under LI OO, excluding tba exemption, in 1883 ; 2674 persons paid on LI OO and under L2oo;a.id 2189 on L2OO and under L3OO. Coming to larger figures, I find that 112 persons pay on suras between £50,000 and£100,000; 44 on amounts ofHOO. 000 and L 200.00 0; and 33 on L2OO, 000 and over. To put it in another way, no fewer than 8698 pay under LI 10s per annum in property tax, while, going to the other extreme, 543 pay L92 10s. The tax on the large properties of L 200.000 would * mount io no less than L 625, which turn, no doubt", the owners areperi:ecliy able to pay. Men of low intellectual endowment with a taste for strong drink (writes a Home paper) will derive much comfort from the result of one of the latest experiments which at the suggestion of the ex-Brandy King of Sweden, the French Temperance Society .has been making on the alcohol isation of pigs. The experiments which were commenced in 1879 on a number of pigs of the so-called Anglo-Chinese breed, have been continued ever since. Each pig was kopt in a separate stye, but twice a day they were ull fed together in an adjoining yard. Alcohol was mixed with their food, and after each meal they all fell into a deep sleep, but showed no signs of excitement, except now and then a slight muscular trembling. The difference of the effect of alcohol on human beings and pigs is believed to arise from the smallness of

I a pigs'sbrain.forthelarger the brain the | more dangerous the effect of intoxication. Hence, although the companions of St. Anthony may occasionally I indulge in their taste for juniper, they are in no danger of being attacked by delirium tremens. The Wellington correspondent of the Wellington Times writes : — " It is curious to note how completely the Maoris are dropping into our ways and habits even in their method of managing political affairs. All is done en regie according to pikeha custom. Mr H. K Tairora's constituents in Banks Peninsula, directly the .dissolution has become a certainty, have telegraphed to him as if he were the other Hori Ke'-ei from City East himself, assuring him of their confidence, and begging him to stand again. Mr Taiaroa, like his fellow members, brings the telegram round to correspondents and Press reporters, so that the matter may be kuown abroad through the medium of the Press." Mr Labouchere, in view of the recent dynamite outrages in England, says : "It may become necessary for this (England) to exact a passport from every Irish American who comes h«ra ($6 England) from the ?and of which the sou of an Irishman is Pr.esuJ.9pt.' 1 " Three thousand food inspection's in Glasgow last year resulted in the destruction of 16,000 pounds Of fish, 3000 pouuds of pork, 600 poundjp of beef, and oilier considerable quantities of food. Among the better clas3 of houses 263 drains had been inspected, and only 7 of them found to be in good order. At Boston (U. 5.,) nearly £l#q'o,OOO has been spent on the- construction of sewers for the convevanie of' the city sewage to Moon Island, t in order that it may flow into deep tide water, and so any pollution in the .vicinity of the city be avoided. *•■ .*