ONE THING AND ANOTHER.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 340, 21 October 1879, Page 3

ONE THING AND ANOTHER.

(Collated from our Exchanges.)

Writing from London to the New York Times, ;svtell-kndwn authoress/ says!*— *A J strange rtimor ~h&e been for some.time aflpat t in London, -jmd now I find it ! givetf with' cdhiideralpe. tiT cumstaritialityi if not substantitftion,4n the It is no lese than the statement that the lftte Prince Imperial left a wife—a beaptif y\ ■, ;yo,ung,,, English,: girl j .whom he had priyately .marked, and! had installed with her baby and nurse in a retired private house in Bath. It fs 'stated that when about; to ..depart, fpr,>iAfri<!a he placed his wife and child under the. special care of a Catholic priest, to whom he was only known as an. dflScer in the - English artillery, and to whom he ea.id that grave family reasons hindered..Km iErbm* applying to any otherfriend, and even from ref vealing his real. name. The prieet fref quently visited his charge,,and happened to be present when the poor young' woman received the new&; of the death'of the Prince Imperial, at which she-fainted. From this, and her great distress afterwards, he was led to divine 1 her secret, and his suspicions were confirmed by 'hearing that the lady actually went to Chiselhuret at once, arid niade desperate but vain efforts to obtain an interview with the Empress. Should thie romantic story prove what romance need sur- ; prise us where a Bonaparte is concerned ? —there is another Prince Imperial, there is another lease of shadowy life for the Empire, or shadowy; regency for thesEmprese; and it would bring eurceaee to ithe agony of indecision *rpm which Prince Jerome va •■•■-. ' •■' = '•' ; ' •i» >; \

According toi'iEgles,?' they have pleasant free-andreasyr ,waysjn.9ome of the bush town' stiipftT '' East ,Gobd " r Friday, ai CotekerstowhY' thS : Church ,df' 'fenglaniJ parson, tJtsprense.d ,witl) it th9 .usualr service, as there was an cricket match in which his ; skilled T a'ißfstance as a chani-pioh-bdwler.iwds (required. -In/the team there also played .constable, and he brqught. with him to stand umpire !a prisoner charged with"embetelement, for whom the P.M. had xtfnMd The Presbyterian minister,,on bis arrivaKin the tqwnship v idiind it "deserted In , 'fdvOr' of the cricket-field, and also joined the sporj:. This was indeed a match which had the sanction of both law and gospel. j A great many stories are current about objections taken by the' Comptroller, Mr j Fitzgerald, ,to accounts sent in. by the Native .Department.' One" account was for some ploughing done, and'Mr -Fitzgerald minuted it,,?* IJisallowed.,: Te Whiti would have done it for nothing." ..,-,„. r f The Geelong Evening jStar, says :—lt -is stated that a feud' has existed between Messrs Gaurison and. Patterson, M.L.As, for some time past;/and. will account for the disgraceful scene in the House between the two. The old grievance,'so it is said,-resMlted in WiUiam Gaunson, acting on behalf of his brother P.avid, who was ill, sending a challengei to" Patterson on;_betiaif of David to ifight it ouit for £50 a side in Mace's room, the, loser to pay \he amount to the Melbourne Hospital. Gaunson says he is prepared to renew the i challenge. , . ...: ~.., .. I

I A. leap, the fikV6£ which has never be-zore-been recorded, waa.made-_at JNiagara" palls on 21st May, when a man, by the name of Harmon Peer, leaped from the Suspension Bridge into tho.,nve.r beneath, a distance of 192 scnffold- four Ifeet long had beenWected hear- th&f oetitre bf the bridge and projecting over it. There were about 10,000 spectators of the feat along both sides of the bank and, on the bridge. Peer mounted the platform at J2.40 p.m., bareheaded and dressed in tights. A. wjde rubber life preserver was fastened reaefnn^ L "Jrdiii'- the hips to beneath his &/nis funnel alikped, so : as not !to hinder hie actions'" in me water. A sponge was tied over his nose and mouth, and two smaller ones qtufiedrbptl}. ears.; a -leather shoulder suepehded, with two sniatl brass rings attached just over the shoulders, (completed hie costume. To these rings ,was fastened a fijfieVßSf assist him in keeping hiff Isquilibrium, and' a * wide elastic band was adjusted just above his knee and another across hie insteps to present his feet from spreading. When all was ready he let himself .through a square hole in the platform, suspended by his hands, which he snddenly_J£JeJL go,!!. and made his fearful drop, occupying 3f i seconds. Three boats were in the river to pick-himup, and in.one of these hejyap cpnyeXediea|efy ftxA uninjured to the* shore. On being land eel he stated that :" he felt no fear." Hβ, sank, after striking the water about eleven * feet' } ; •» undercurrent threw him on his back and carried him some hejfeSfe , ; «o? ; the j surface, having beei&under tne'"'w'ateF two seconds. The nearest approach to this j jump was that of Sam Patch, at NiagaTft Falls, of 142 feet, in 1829. Peer intends to repeat the feat at the same place on 4th July, and it is likely enough that he will be killed. Hβ is at present the object of j much interest in the neighbourhood of Niagara. . Vi ;; ; ■/_,•'_;