ONE THING AND ANOTHER.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 263, 24 January 1879, Page 3

ONE THING AND ANOTHER.

(Collated from Our Exchanges.)

One of the saloon carriges, forming the special train from. Ballarat .on Sunday evening (says a' Melbourne" paper Of' Dec. 23rd) was lighted with gas instead of the ordinary kerosene.or oil ; lamps.. The light was greatly admired, and it was found that the smallest print in the Argus could be read without in any part *of the carriage. The giis-is carried in two cylinders under the floor of the carriage. It is made from the shale oil, and compiessed by a two horse engine to a pressure of 1001b to the inch. By ah ingenious piece of mechanism the gas is regulated at the burners to a pressure of a column of water three-fourths of an inch, the lowest pressure in Melbourne being a column of an inch hig_h. The advantages in favor of gas are very great. The light is an excellent one, - being'"fully'double that of the best kerosene lamp. All the labor of cleaning is done away with, and there is no loss from breakages.

" iEgles in the Australasian is responsible for the following :—" A gentleman who has an excellent opinion of his own appearance and importance was pursued along the Bourke street pavement by an energetic cabman, with the cry of ' Collingwood, Sir! Collingwood! first cab for Collingwood!' Irritated with the man's persistence, the pedestrian in an angry tone turned to him, saying 'Do I look as if I wanted to go to Collingwood ?' But that cabman was equal to circumstances. ' Beg pardon, sir. Pentridge ? Pentridge ?' " For the information of the ignorant we may mention that Pentridge is the principal gaol of Victoria. A Wellington exchange says :—A seaman had a narrow escape from drowning recently. He was, however, safely taken out of the water and brought ashore, when, according to a con tern porar}*, Mr Baker, of Baker and Farron, "rolled him in a cement cask to relieve his distress," and the man was afterwards taken to the Hospital. If, to this highly intelligent treatment of the apparently drowned, Mr, Baker had added holding the man np by his legs, and rubbing the body with salt, two other venerable " restoratives," the man's " distress " would haro been "relieved" at once and for eA'er, and the necessity of taking him to the Hospital would have been -obviated by his becoming.duly qualified for admission to the Morgue. The Wellington Post says :—" The following extraordinary telegram appeared in the • New Zealand Times on Tuesday morning :—' Dunedin, Monday. The debate between Mr Charles Bright and the Key Mr Green on " The Divine Origin of Christchurch " commences on the 21st of this month.' This discussion should be eminently interesting. We always knew that Christchurch was a city which claimed lofty descent, but we never before were aware that it pretended to ' divine origin.'" A Magistrate was lately appealed to by a self-styled " God-fearing " man, who com plained of the annoying conduct of his wife, which he was afraid " would provoke he devil within him to commit an unlawful act." The Magistrate replied that he could not help him as "he had no jurisdiction."