ONE THING AND ANOTHER.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 4, Issue 365, 20 January 1880, Page 3

ONE THING AND ANOTHER.

(Collated from our Exchanges.)

Of all the. locally jealous men in the TTorid an Auckland man is tho worse; above all, an Auckland member of Parliament. Fully aware of this, two pressmen last session concocted a little joke. Taking an opportunity when a certain •excitable Northern member was present in the Press-room of the House, one reporter said to the other, "I say, C ,1 am writing something about Auckland; where on earth is it—l mean, in which Island? ,, C —looked puzzled, and, 3ie wasn't quite sure, but directed the ■enquirer to a map hanging on the wall. All this time the Auckland man was •getting, redder and redder in the face. IThe enquiring reporter went to the map, and started running his finger from somewhere about the heart of Otago Hown towards Invercargill, looking for Auckland. This was too much for the Auckland man. Hailing a"towny," who happened to be in the passage, he exclaimed—"Talk about newspapers ! Here's a sanguinary special— special, eir!—correspondent, who does'nt know wfeere Auckland is 1" When the roar of laughter had subsided, and he saw he had been "had," he added with little lees warmth, "Well, I can take a joke as well as any one, but I'd just like to have five minutes with the man who jp. thinks that Auckland is anywhere near that blasted Dunedin." So much for £>outh versus North. A late number of the Dnnfirmline Journal reports that a terrible accident occurred at the Alexandria Colliery, Ravensbead, St. Helens, whereby seven men were killed and two injured. The men had assembled at the usual hour to ■commence work. A number had been lowered down the shaft, and the cage "was again brought up for another load. Nine men entered it, and the signal was given to descend, when the engine > started, winding the wrong way, and the cage was rapidly drawn towards the lead-gear. One man and a youth, seeing the danger, leaped, at the risk of their lives from the cage, and escaped with some severe bruises. The engine continued winding up the rope, and almost immediately after the two miners had jumped from the cage it was dashed against the heavy woodwork of the headgearing with great force, snapping the Tope and liberating the cage, which fell down the pit shaft, a distance of 325 yards to the bottom, carrying its unfortunate occupants with it. The cage was smashed, and the bodies of the miners were frightfully mutulated. The engineer, Joseph Naylor, has been employed as winder for over 21 years, and has worked at the Alexandria pit for over nine years. ; 1 The Japanese method of keeping meat; fresh in hot weather is just now attracting a good deal of attention in Euro-, pean circles. It consists in placing the raw flesh ia porcelain vessels and pour- j ing on it boiling water, whereby the al-1 bumen on the surface is quickly coagu- j lated, and forms a protection against the further action of water, so as to prevent the access of air and consequent putre-j *• faction of the meat. Tht system of pro-' tecting animal substances by securing the coagulation of the albumen, and the exclusion of air, is of course no novelty, ' and it can hardly be supposed that we are indebted to the Japanese for its original adoption. But undoubtedly their method of applying it is far preferable to that practised by, ourselves in the process of preserving tinned meats, which appears to consist in boiling them for such a length of time that almost all their flavour is destroyed, and the ultimate result is a mass of tasteless ehred of muscular fibre.—Farmer. Some people are long-suffering as to the length ol time they will wait for the payment of outstanding accounts. This may indicate a plethora of funds, but it is not always safe for backward debtors to conclude that leniency in the direction named will last for ever. Last week one of these bashful debtors iv this town k jeceived the following note:—" Dr Sir— I find on reference to my account against you, that in about a month's time you you will be able to avail yourself of the r drivil««ges conferred by the Statute of Limitations, »nd in order, if possible, to guard against such an occurrence I have to inform you that unless your account be paid within three days, I shall

take legal proceedings for its recovery. I have to apologise for this abruptness, as nothing but a strong conviction that ymi would shelter yourself under this friendly act, if you got the chance, compels me to this course." It is sed to think that so few wait till the period prescribed by the Statute of Limitations has almost expired before they make on effort to collect moneys duo to them.

AKAROA AND WAINUI ROAD BOARD