General Intelligence.

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 124, 24 November 1876, Page 6

General Intelligence.

Queensland has taken 39 prizes at the Philadelphia Exhibition. Eleven are for wool. A new middle district school is at once to be erected in Dunedin at a cost of over L2OOO. It is intended that the Engineer-in-Chief will pay an official visit to Dunedin this month. The shearers on one of the largest stations in Southland, Rurnwood, have commenced work at 15s per 100. After the end of the month the Auckland General Government offices are to be concentrated in the Provincial Council buildings and the Supreme Court. The Christchui'ch ladies were brought up at the Police Court the other day for plucking flowers in the Domain, They were discharged with a caution, A painter, named James Caughlan, fell from the Auckland wharf in a fit while fishing on Saturday, and was drowned. He leaves a wife and four children. The prospectus of the Wellington City Tramways Company is now issued. The capital intended to be raised is £40,000, in 80u0 shares of £5 each, with power to increase. Mr Bloomliall, agent for the Temperance Settlement, has proceeded to inspect a block at West Waikato River. Be will afterwards visit Taranaki and other Provinces. He requires 100,000 acres. Numerous casualties 1 occurred in the Province of Auckland during the late thunder storm. Several persons were knocked down, but escoped uninjured. Three cows were killed in the Waikato district. A Grey mouth telegram says : — The exact thickness of the main seam struck in the Grpymouth Coal Company's shafts is 15ft. 6iu. The coal is the best yet seen in the district, and there is no water. A Sydney telegram says : — News from Numea reports that the 12 Communists who seized the steam launch and proceeded out to sea, were overtaken by the war vessel and 10 recaptured. Two jumped overboard and were drowned. The LyUeiton Times states -that importers are in the \\\\h\t o(" falsifying invoices to escape ad valorem duties, and challenges disproof. It pointy to the vast disproportionate decrease in these duties compared with others in support of the assertion. We (Guardian) understand that the Hon. G. M'Lean has been waited upon by Mr John M'Larwn in the interest of the unemployed, and that he has promised to provide work for all who choose to forward, their names, at the rate of 5s per day. The increase in the value of freehold properry in Melbourne since its foundation is almost incredible. Lately, a | portion of a block of land in Collins street, which the late Mr Bateman purchased at «£(JO, realised no less a sum than £14,000 ; while another city selection, in a more favourable quarter, originally bought for £5, after changing hands on several occasions, has at last sprung up to the enormous value of £36,000. Servant maids are plentiful just now in Auckland, and are seen day by day thronging the little office in Shortlandstreet. The Star states that one day a 'person, apparently a single man, looked in, and asked for a general servant, who could do plain cooking ; six young : women under thirty immediately cried out, * Take me, sir !" "No followers allowed," said the first speaker. " Your place won't suit us then," rejoined the six voices, as of one mind. The Lyttleton Times of Thursday fays :•—" Several of the runholders seem to have got over the difficulty as to price, for accounts have reached us of satisfactory terms agreed upon between flockmasters and shearers. Amongst others, we understand that at Flnxburn the rare is 15s per 100 ; at Smythurst, 17s 6d ; at Messrs Mallock and Lance's, 15s ; at Mr Moore's, 15s ; and at Mr Peters', 16s Bd, which is the rate agreed upon by the runholders of Mr Peters' j district. . v The last trip of the s.s. Arawata seems to have been a pretty rough one. During a gale which she encountered on the passage a tremendous sea rolled over the port quarter, carrying away 40 feet of the bulwarks and railing ; it then 'passed forward, smashing three out-rigger racing boats for Wellington, and rushed over the deck-houses and j I bridge, lifting 'the bridge-ladder. Fortunately there were none of the passengers about the deck at the time. The racing boats were lashed on the j house-beams ten feet above the deck. The Masterton News says: — Particulars of a serious casual fy which befel the flocks of Mr J. Valentine Smith., of Mataikuna station, have reached us It appears the flock was in course of being mustered for shearing, when a draft of three thousand broke away and rushed headlong down a steep precipice, landing in a narrow gully. So precipitate was the descent that the animals went *' pell mell " to the bottom, tumbling over each other in a heap. Before the mass could be extricated, upwards of three hundred young sheep, principally wethers and weaners, were smothered. Distress prevails among the Italian immigrants at Wellington. On Saturday last a deputation of them waited on the Italian Consul, and stated that they

and many of their, country men were in a starving state, as they could obtain no employment. They stated they were allowed to sleep at the immigration depot, but had to find their own food, and as they had no money they had to go without food. The consul stated the Italian Government did not authorise him to afford them any relief, and advised them to represent their case to the Premier. They did so, and the Premier informed them they could remain and would be fed for a short time longer in the depot until work was found them, or they were sent up-country. From a comparative statement compiled by the Sydney Morning Herald, it appears that iNew Zealand stands highest of the Australian Colonies in the number of married persons. Her proportion is 17.7 per 1000, Victoria being the lowest with 12.2 per 1000. As might be expected, the birth-rate bears the same relative proportions. In the death-rate per 1000, JNew Zealand is the lowest of the sister coloniis. The figures given are — New Zealand, 13.0 ; average of the other colonies, 15 3. In this respect Western Australia is the highest, standing at 18.7 — New South Wales with 15.2 being the lowest on the continent. Tasmania's married rate is 13.6, and death-rate 16.2.

The following description of a visit to Cooktown is taken from a letter receiyed by a gentleman in Melbourne :— ■ " A stranger unacquainted with the many miseries of Cooktown, coming suddenly upon the most populated part of the diggings, would think tha' the day of resurrection had arrived, all the men looking so ghost-like and super natural. You cannot find a middleconditioned man on the diggings, all being so thin that their bones actually protrude through their skin ; in fact, althjugh I have been in the army, and almost every country in the world, I never came across such wretched-look-ing people, nor ever lived in such a wretched country as that north of Queensland."

The death is reported of Cardinal Antonelli. He was a member of an Italian family of the middle class, and was born at Sonnio, April 2, 1806. Having been educated in Rome for the church, he entered into orders, and after holding* several posts under the late Pope Gregory XVI, he was, June 11, 1847, raised to the dignity of a cardinal deacon by Pope Pius IX, under the title of St. Agatha. Cardinal Antonelli was Secretary of State to the Pope, President of the Council of Ministers, Prefect of Sacred A postolic Palaces, and of the Sacred Congregation of Loretto, and of the Consul ta. He was virtually the Prime Minister of the Pope, controlled all formal and official transactions, and influenced all matters relating ro the diplomatic intercourse of the Papal court with the rest of the world.

Yet another Moa story ! The Rangitikei Advocate gives currency to the following -. — •" So many canards have appeared from time to time in the various papers throughout the colony respecting veritable moas having been seen, that we feel no small amount of diffidence in stating that we believe a young bird of this race was seen on Wednesday last in the Parakaretu Block. Mr George Slight, who was working with Mr Campbell in the block, saw a young bird about four and a half feet high, with a long hooked bill and very small wings. He and his mate, Mr S. Hunt, gave chase, but the bird got away irom him. Mr Campbell having been told of tbe circumstance, went up next morning to the place where the bird had been seen, and in some rather soft mud saw the footprints of the bird, and on measuring found that each ot the three toes exceeded the length of his own foot — by no means a small one — and were partially "Webbed. The bird did not fly, but ran very swiftly. When walking, its gait somewhat resembled that of a Cochin rooster. We shall most probably hear more of this in the course of a few days, as it is intended to follow up the pursuit."'

In consequence of the damage done to certain public works in the. Otakia district by the recent storm, a deputation waited on the Honorable George M'Lean on Saturday morning. The deputation consisted of the following gentlemen, namely' Messrs Leitch, M-Ivor, M'Leod, \lee, and Bruce; and they were introduced by Mr Mercer. They stated that, during the heavy storm which swepr over tbe district on Tuesday,^ waterspout burst in the vicinity rr of the sea beach, and the result, was that tbe bridges and culverts on tbe Main South Koad in the Otakia district were carried away, leaving that thoroughfare quite impassable for traffic. It was represented that besides the damage done to * private property this interference with the public traffic would, unless remedied at once, seriously affect the interests of the farming communby, and that the case was one of pressing emergency. Mr M'Lean promised that steps would immediately be takpn to obtain a report of the damage sustained, and that no time should be lost in having requisite repairs effected. The deputation next called attention to the existing necessity for a railway siding at Otakia, and pointed out that the improvement asked for had been promised some time ago. Mr Blair was called in, and after the matter had been fully considered the deputation was informed that the necessary instructions would jbe .given to the department to have their request attended to in proper course. — Guardiau,