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Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 533, 25 September 1871, Page 2

A very strange story (says a correspondent of the Livei-po'ol' Mercuri}) is rife, in Chester, concerning the antecedents of General Clpeiet,. who has occupied such a conspicuous position in connection with recent disastrous events in ■Paris. It has now transpired that thei notorious Comnmnist plunned the attack on tho Castle .of Cheater in 1867, and that he and M'AulilT, who was arrested' on the'morning following the raid on the castle as one,of the principal conspirators, are one and the same individual. An Irishman by birth (and not an American, as has been stated),*.it ap.penrs, acooidiug to his own statement while iv jail in Chester, that, ho was educated 16 ben priest, but his" restless and roving spirit prevented' the consummation of the wishes of his friend*, and when the Garibaldian disturbance took place in Italy he joined, like many more of his countrymen, the Pope's Brigade, in the service of whiohhe aohiered some distinction and was wounded.' He afterwards returned to England and came to Chester, where lie delivered a lecture on "The Wrongs of Irishmen." :. Being then a Fenian: "in authority," he traversed the counties of Stafford and Lancaster with a view of furthering the cause, and then planned the attack on Chester Castle, which ended bo inglorio'usly for thoso who participated in it. M'Auliff was one of those who -were arrested, and, after having been detained in custody for some time, was at length .liberated. Ho -was present at the murder of Sergeant Brett at Manchester, shortly after which he made overtures to the Government, with a view of giving information against those whosj cause he had previously supported and advanced. ' ' ■ :- ■ : . '

Tho'.ußtia'rmoiithly inspection, of. the Auoklaud.Rifle Vplunteevq '■. (Nob. I,'imd 5 Goal* 'jpanies) will bo held this evening.

1 TUa regular mouthly mooting of liad^ei $t Andrew will bs hoW this otsuing.

Recently, an exhibition of gu i't c a character has been opened at the new Wucalled the Palais Royal, Argyle^ftrdß Circus. It is an exhibition of a tM° machine, which, by mechanical applian*', .& made to give forth utterances resembling H,' " of a human being. It is the in°S°' c, Professor Eaber, of Vienna, and has v constructed and patented by him * a certainly a wonderful specimen of hi " ingenuity. It'is true the question marC where is the utility of it? seeing that v' man, woman, and child possesses-a tali ■ * machine, more or less perfect, of his or 1 S own. But the machine has its utility theless, for it illustrates a much-Lw science of acou»tics. Moreover, it is u| i, interesting, as showing how far ingeauitv m go. The machine has a mouth, with to and lips, which are set in- motion bf mechanical apparatus which sets free portion of air from a large bellows, and .* controls it as to produce the sound reouir 7 It pronounced, with great. olearne M , „-! letter of the alphabet, many words, and 7 sentences perfectly; not merely'set WO J* but any words the audience choie'-'to n It alao laughed, and uttered other crT expressive of human passions, to the a«toni«h nient, apparently, of every one who heard it

Enquiries hare been instituted at Christ church respecting (he alleged habitual intoxi" cation of employees on the railways, and th' Times thus refers to the conduct of th* General-Manager in connection with th' affair:—When asked whether he went on ° engine when the driver was in » drunken state, Mr. Marsham replied that the man wa "not drunk." Nothing ol' the sort. He bad merely "lost the faculty of speech;? and be couldn't '' say Hillsborough to save his lif e » That was all, and the whole affair' appeared to, the G-eneral Manager so exceedingly fuanr that he sppke of it "jocularly" at the Govern* meiit Buildings in the presence of the Secretary for Public Works. Ah 'engine-driver speechlessly drunk while in charge of a special train from Lytteltou to Christchurcb, with perhaps,, the lives of some thirty or fort* passengers in his hands, vainly struggling to articulate a certain word, was to' Mr. Marsh, man a joke so very rich, that he must n M d» repeat it in'order that others might' enjoy it* flavour. Comment would be entirely out o{ place. • '•■'•;'

The. poor buffaloes of Ceylon exemplify tli» proverb of" Out of the frying-pan into th» lire." They object, so mucih Itou the cleeoW with which' their pastures abound that they come up in great numbers to sleep on th'o Colombo Railway,-and lie down peacefully ou the dry strip between the rails. Of course, the trains at night run over them,.and.enly a jolt tells the engine-driver and passengers that a poor beast has. undergone summary execution. It is calculated that about 1000 buffaloes are thus killed every year in Ceylon. There are we imagine, not a few bullheaded people nearer home who think they can repose quite securely in the middle of the way of progress j but only exemplify the saying of George titephenson, that it is " bad for the noo" to try'the experiment.— Echo.

. A subscriber sends the following:—Why should not Irishmen join the new Highland Volunteer Company ? Because they'd be cowld with the kilt, and kilt with the cowld.

"What is your consolation'in life and death ?:' atiked a Sunday-school superintendent of a young larly in the Bible - class, who blushed and said, " I'd rather be excused from speaking his name."