MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1427, 6 August 1884, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

Following or uplioit? .ng ti)e p ee cUufc laid down l>v Jnd^H SmiJi i.i NuLal, Mr J usi'cn Shepherd, luis uoco 'cling to ihe Co o. lies and India, excused a nn'in.jHf of tlie Press at G a at' Jleiaet, wiio liad bt j on sunmio.i^d An 1 that duty, lioin sitting a.s si ju"v unii. Jadr,'e bmir.h went so far as to say tiiat he thought a'l importers should be excused from serving on a jury because through their presence at preliminary examinations arrl enquiries for thu purposes of pul)lishiug the same as news they might lie in'posses-

ion of fads which might come oat in evidence, and probably they would have p'ejuged the case. The comparative increase of blacks ' and whites in the United States has recently been the subject of much dis cussion in that couutry. Mr J. H. Tucker, a member of Cong: ess. ha* instituted a comparison extending over the period from 1790 to 1830. from which it is shown that the natural rate of propagation of the bracks is slightly greater than that qf the whites. While the whites were 80.7 per cent, of the population in 1760, they were 81.5 per cent, in 1860. - Itidrudiug immigrants, the white population gained and the coloured lost 9 per cent, in the whole period from 1790 to 1880, while in the last 20 years the whites have gained 1 per cent. Texas is the only State in which the black population shows increase. General Jackson was bke President to inaugurate the custom of shaking the hands of all who came to his public levees. Before that time the populace had merely Tnade a respectful obeisance to the P^esilent as their names were announced, but Old Hickory, who dispised all affectation, and was nothing'ifCwlViainocratic, tdok every hand^ik^felfirni and honest grip. ' '■** ■■'* '" ; ? * v It has been decided by the trustee* of the British Museum to make an ioiportaut accession to the treaWie* of th« coin department of tlieir establishment by the purchase of about 2500 Chinese coins selected from "the Taraba collection, the romance of whose history was recently described* in th<^ Numismatic Chronicle. The coin represent the mintage of various* ages, going back as far as the fourth, or lift^ century of the Christian era... ... ' '",'-* Lord Beaconsfieid's papers *'»«<!• 1" lu^'S. were t.iaormous iu' number ajid : absolutely without o»-Jec and arrangement. Lord Rowtou, who is eiitin^ his memuii'S, liuds that BeacSneSfcld kept iio iauex to his correspondence ol* notes, but simply thrust all. into a i large box. A Parliamentary return shows that the loss of seamen's lives ia British, ships was 1804 in 1883, 1258 in 1832, 2023 iv 1881,- 1414 in 1880, 990 in 1879, and 796 in 1878. An English journal is authority for the statement that Europe and British ! India cousuine about 150,0;)0 gallons of handkerchief pu 'fumes yearly. A letter from the Philippine Is» lauds, received in New York on | May 26 says uhat a baud of fanatics i under the leadership of a so-called I prophet appeared there recently but ii'oops dispersed them with the loss of Unity eight killed and wounded; diaries lleadelefban autobiography J which promises to bn one of the most I Vigorous, st aightforward, and entertaining things of t,h« kind in l.Watiuv. :it is said to contain some lively. ; citicisms on the books and writers o£ the time, | A I*lll has b.neii i.itD'licjl iui:.') tijij New York Assembly to compel stani|>- ; iugon canned goods. the date on whicU \ tiiey were put up, and preventing the j tm-e of goods more than, a year old. J N«-w York manufactures of oleomargarine who have a large capital iuves- • ted iv the business have declared they will defy the new law prohibiting its sale, claiming that the law is uncou- ; stitutional. " The Monarch of the Glen," the magnificent painting by Lanclseev, bequeathed by Lord Laudesboiou;h, fattier of the present peer, to Lady Otho Fitzgerald, was sold by auction auction the other day, and after a I after a spirited contest it was knocked down ths Henry Eaton, member for Coventry, at the price of £9510. The Pal Ma!L Gazafto says : "On examination of the head and hat of the Duke of Wellington's statue after its removal a bird's nest of twigs, evidently built by some" industrious starling, was discovered^ The nest had been built on the cro\wn?.of duke's head, and entrance- to it was* effected from under the ends of th« gteat plume under the point of the . hat. The nest was allowtd to remain. The dimensions of the hat are 4ft long by lift bight, the pliifme measuring 3ft across, and the head and hat weighing about half a ton. Ttfwag. found by Coleuel Close, at Wdohvi^h Arsenal, on inspection that the »h>»drnent had been cast in a great many pieces, four of which .were reveted together with bolts, the others being forged together at the bfogdry, and therefore not being capable of jUvfsioii , without injury to the/ work. *tlio ' four riveted portions were ttftehead and body of the duke and the head and tail of the horse. Before, .these were divided it was necessary to fiud the position of the bolts from inside. A workman of medium size was hoisted for this purpose up to the neck of the duke, and he, with the greatest case, slipped through the duke's collar into the hollow bodies of the rider and the horse. He found p lenity of room to stand up and walk about inside with freedom. The body of the duke, he found, was joined ft little below the sword-belt, the horse's head from the withers to a point above the breastplate in front, and the tail at the crupper. Throughout the metal was not less in thickness than half an inch, iv some places being as much as 2flinches thick. The legs of the horse were solid, iv o.der to. support the weight of the statue, computed in all ;) t 30 tons." At Dundee a member of the "A tizans Club" was summoned for illegally selling whiskey. It transpired that on payment of one shilling anyone couM. be a member of the club. A sho.-t time ago, no fewer than 510 men and seven women entered the club. Fully one third of them when they left were more or less intoxicated, and the £oljca