General Intelligence.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 94, 27 April 1876, Page 6

General Intelligence.

In Oamaru the price of the 41b-loaf has been raised to Sd. Mr Creghton nas finally ceased all connection with the ' N. Z, Times.' Scarlet fever still continue at Grahamstown. Eleven fresh cases were reported the other day. The ex-pupils of the Dunedin High School are to organise a new Volunteer Company, to be called the Richardson Rifles. The congregation of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Napier, have resolved to spend £500 in the purchasing of an organ and repairing and decorating the building.

A case of garotting has occurred in Auckland, the garotters being two seamen, and the victim an old man, who had been sailmaker of the vessel and just paid off. It is stated that the Maori King, Tawhiao, has accepted an invitation from the Ngairo, principal chief of the Wairara, to visit the Greytown district. A pah is being prepared for his reception at Te Ore Ore.

The Provincial Government of Wellington the other day put up for sale about 12,000 acres of land. The total amount realised was over .£7,000, some land fetching as much as £5 per acre. It is understood that the proceeds of this sale will enable the functions of the Provincial Government to be carried on satisfactorily until the Abolition law takes effect. Our Tuepeka contemporary says : There is likely to be a large exodus of miners from the Glenore tunnel to the Palmer diggings as soon as the work is completed. The late accounts from that new El Dorado have excited their imagination that their pile is to be made there rapidly. We hope for their own sakes that they will wait for a little i better encouragement than late files of the Queensland papers give.'* The arrangement made by the Adelaide Government with Bishop Birginon of the Greek church, for the introduction of 4QQ,000 statute adults into the Northern Territory is considered a good stroke ,of policy. The imnaigrants. who are to be of the Greek faith, are to have grants of land at a small rental with the fee simple at the end of ten years. The Bishop himself is to receive 600 acres of land and .£IOOO--.The Government here have received the following cablegram from the Chief Secretary at Brisbane, dated the 22nd inst. : — Keliable information just received from Cooktown that Milligan's rush is a total failure. Eight hundred men are on their way back to Cooktown. Great disappointment and distress prevail amongst them. Will you kindly cause notice to be given, warning people of the folly of joining in the rush and the distress that awaits them.— (Signed) MacAlister. A gentleman and his wife, residing in I Brisbane (says the -'-' Telegraph/) received a by no means pleasant shock, on opening their door at 4 o'clock this morning, on seeing two individuals who had arrived from a respectable undertaking establishment , in the town, for the purpose of measuring no other than the gentleman himself for his own 1 coffin, his funeral having been ordered by; a couple of jokers (f) wHo called at the undertaker's a couple of . hours pre- : yiously. The feelings of the gentle- I man and his wife (who is just recovering from her confinement) may be imagined, j

A bankrupt yesterday (says the N. Z. * Times ') related how he provided endowments for his family. To his wife was allowed, as a wedding, present, a cow and calf* and on the advent of each new " pledge of affection " a heifer was S3t aside. The family grew and multiplied, and so did the flocks and herds | and more than this, the children easily learnt to buy and sell and get gain, so that in a few years the endowment assumed respectable proportions. Taking care while solvent to legalise these arrangements, they were recognised, and though the husband. is a bankrupt, the family is growing rich. A writer in the ' Dubbo Advertiser * (Australia) relates the following : — " A : gentleman dropped his revolver-pouch, which was picked up by a man who thought he would have some fun with it. Accordingly he rode up" to the house of a free selector some distance off, and; presenting the revolver-case at the poor fellow's head, commanded him to. « shell out, 7 which he did to the tune of some, £8 or £d. ! Notwithstanding that the pseudo- bushranger made himself known and returned the money, the selector gave notice to the police, the joker was arrested, and his ' lark ' became a linnit of nine months imprisonment. A gentleman who has recently visited Tasmania, and is writing an account of his journeyings in the South Australian Advertiser thus describes . traveling on the main line of. railyay : — " With : the shadow of a terrible death hanging darkly over us, we rush madly down the incline at the lightening speed of several miles a day. I breathe a prayer for my wife and twin babes at home, and watch the breakesman's despair. His face brightens ; a happy thought seems to have struck him. He jumps down, leaps lightly over the fence, rushes into the bush, reappears with a long stick, overtakes ns in the very extremity of our danger, pushes the pole through the revolving wheels, and brings the train to moderate speed in the mids.t of its mad career."

The statue of Lord Palmerston was unveiled without any ceremony, and in the presence of the tew worKmen whose duty it Wjas to replace the rails which were removed to make room for the passage of the statue. It is situated in the northern grass plot opposite Westminster Palace Yard, and is intended as a fellow-memorial to that of the late Lord Derby in the northern plot. The pedestal, which is nine feet high, is of Westmoreland granite, with a , plain edging;, and the statue, which is also nine feet in height, is of gun metal. The attitude <•■ is easy, and natural, and the figure, draped in a frock-coat, with the left hand' extended, and the right supporting an overcoat, recalls the wellknown attitude of Lord Palmerston; '

The Ovens (Victoria) * Advertiser ' relates that some time ago four lucky miners in the Bright district, who up to that time had not been particularly fortunate in their pursuit after gold, discovered a reef which they called the London. A very short time served to prove that the claim was one of immense richness, and up to their last crushing the four men had netted some £27,0Q0. This had a terrible effect upon one of them named Brown, who went to Melbourne and at once plunged into dissipation. He drank heavily, frequently consuming three and even four bottles of brandy a day. The final result was that the man died a few days ago through the effects of this debauch.

It is understood that the Government have been for some time considering the whole question relating to the pro- : hibition of importing cattle. When last the matter was before the House of .Representatives it was decided that 1 the prohibition was not necessary, and that a system of quarantine would suffice. The question is virtually reopened by the decision, after much deliberate consideration, of all the other Australian Colonies to continue , prohibition for an indefinite period. Under these circumstances the Government have decided to invite the consideration of both, Houses to the matter, by, delegating Jt to the deliberation of a joint ( ,{3elec?t Committee. This intention is"- jjhus early notifiedin order that allswliocare ; interested in the question may endeavor to make their views known. ' ■- -rtAi, - : . ;

"There is nothing," it issaid/f< looks so like a good shilling as. a bad one." The converse proposition was • tolerably well established lately in- . Mel--bourne in, the case Of a man charged with coining. When he was arrested there were found at his lodgings/ together with moulds and instruments of the profession, several coins,, florins, shillings, and sixpences, which, the de- - tectives and others confidently pronounced, to be "excellent imitations." They were, however, to make assurance doubly sure, handed over, sto.5 to. Mr. John-, son, the Government anajyti.calciiemist, to be tested in the usual manner.! , To ° the astonishment of everybody, that gentleman, when called for. a witness, deposed that all the cdins ! were-genuine: ones, bearing the ' iniiit - ; mark ! 'The* prisoner , was, however} cqminitted for - trial on a charge o'f.^yi^;;coinin|;-ii]^---' plements in his possession. 7" -l' 7A ' r The Agent-General jreports; tbi sail-, ing of the shid Bebington: on .February 12, with 280 immigrants for; Auckland., She. was in collision off (Portsmouth; on the l^thFebruary with 'a barque: name • unknown. The captain telegraphed to - Shaw^ Savill, and pd.,; as' follows:— " Collided with a barque' this morning/ - lost bowsprit and all attached*; "'seyeral

plates on bow badly injured. No one hurt." The barque proceeded without giving her name. The barque sustained severe \ damage to Her port side and.quarter. j The fault was • all hers. She is supposed to be foreign. The report of survey on the Bebingtoh at Portsmouth says there is no damage below the water-line. The vessel is not seriously injured, and will probably proceed on her voyage about the end of February. Several of .the 7 emigrants were frightened, and wished to abandon the voyage, but they have not left the ship, and are not likely to do so. The * Melbourne Age' in a recent article says :— " There is no questioning that the day of reckoning ibr the New Zealand Treasury is ; at hand. On the most favorable supposition, assuming that its returns are not doctored, that the interest on loans is not paid out of capital, and that custom duties on coni tractors' iron do not figure in the receipts, it will soon have a debt of a million a I year against a revenue of a million and a half. The one expedient by which bankruptcy can be stayed off is that the State should obtain possession of the provincial domains. Land will then be sold wholesale, and cheap, in the New South Wales fashion, to wealthy squatters ; and while roads and schools in remote districts suffer, the English creditor will be paid his interest, labor will be imported, and the fool's paradise bf largo disbursements and high price will continue some tune longer. Then tvheri the crash comes, there will not even be the resource of provincial solvency to fall back upon."

A most extraordinary occurrence id reported to have happened at Patea lately. A child two years of age fell from a gig. in the direct track of one of the wheelsj and "the vehicle, with the child's father and mother in it, jolted right over the child's head. As a matter of course, the horror-stricken spectators 1 never expected to see the poor child Irise again, but singular to say, beyond a clear deep mark abraising the skin, and causing a large flow of blood, and one ear being <cut through, no injury I was sustained. There was not even any insensibility or unconsciousness,! for the moment the infant was released^ got tip without assistance, ran towards tbe hotel door, and was then jeared for. The wheel * passed along the line of the skull, commencing at the occipital bone and shaving off at the damaged ear. In the track of the Wheel, where the child's head lay, there was 1 seen a gap of exactly eight inches, that being evidently the space occupied jby the infantile skull during the wheel's progress. The fablulous *ioc' of the Arabian Nights Would, writes a contemporary, appear tb have been not altogether a merely imaginary thing, for we note that an enormous and wonderful bird is reported to have been seen in New Guinea by the explorers of the newly discovered Baxter river, in "that immense Island. Tho account of it is furnished by Mr Henry Smithurst, who was the engineer of the steamer in which the stream was explored. From his journal published in the London Daily News, we take, the following description of the : bird : — * We often heard the natives speak of a large bird which could fly away with a kangaroo or a large turtle, but I scarcely credited the, statement untill saw two of the birds myself. One was seated oa the trunk of a large tree, and rose as we approached- Thenoise caused by the flapping of its wings resembled the sound of the locomotive pulling a long train very slowly. When it had flown away we heard another coming, with just the sound of an approaching' goods (freight) train/ I had a good opportunity of observing it, and it appeared to be sixteen pr eighteen feet across the wings; as it flew ; ,the,body dark brown, the breast white, neck long, and beak long' and straight. Our guns had no y effect on it. I feel sure I struck it, but it, flew on as ' uncphcernedly as ever.' This rs; a strange story, but, it appears * to, be jauthentic' ! ; AJn| act transcending in audacity ariydone by the larrikin tribe of iCollirigwoodwas committed on Wednesday: ejvening. Just as. it was dusk a lad . of 16,. accompanied by ! another boy, walked np and' down in front of George Blak's Norfolk Hotel, at the corner of Easey and Budji streets, Collingwood, for 4 few minutes, with a doublebarrelled,, gun on his shoulder, and then | discharged- theconterits of one 7barrel into the bar of the . hotel. BlackAwho has fcmelt powder before r ran out and recognised the boy : but could not catch him,! A It was supposed that the gun hacl oeen loaded with gravel instead; of , L shot j dnd the Charge appeared -to-, have bee^ ! put in lease, the l gravel on top of. tine powder without any wadding either j between the powder and the' gravel, ! 6a on the whole .charge. This" was ; sur- •' - mised : ;from t^-natara-of j^e^x^^^'and the fact that no wadding "was picked "uW 'J 'though a quantity of, small pebbled wwas*s s'*s'*5 '* ~< found , on 7thQ ( ißpor,. and ihe^shelyesju'st'! * •above where Mr .^Black's ihead had 1 been ■were, indented. witH:inark8 u sucE as } pebi' m ' -bles -fired froni %J^^ f^QU^fWa^. J[ '-'^ Thd larrikins.inthat ~; jybcid-' bear nmch; -enmity^ -Jji^^i^'J [ on jacconnt* ofr his -t baving^,pyWeou|ect some; of them* at j different \ttimmuf6vJs J petjsy pffep9e^A^nd rii; probabiy otbe i"xv ', wa£ firepV more^ ' with' *-* the 'iritentioiT of : . l int!midating;ium\t|a ( n ftith; "ttie 1 view of '- *.. injurinfrhjimQ £^p^ji^'JgK)^ cthtt ! - T youth,- but he has.cpjatriyecl 'i^lllp put . '' of their reach so far. yJJ'u-J \yj[ : : J'J "J J' :