MISCELLANEA

Cromwell Argus, Volume II, Issue 98, 26 September 1871, Page 6

MISCELLANEA

T’ I ■. Out of a total population of 200,000 m yut Pili group, 105,000 are computed to bo can* nibab. A Northern paper says that a Maori wos man at Alexandra (Auckland) committed 8iE p cide by jumping of!’ a high dill'. The ca»|o! is said to have boon disappointed love. %6 ii Attention is beginning to bo given atWjUN ganui to tho rapidity with which the busj^.i} ( disappearing in that district; and it aerfced that the denudation of the countryTmg already had an unfavorable .effect on the I ®-* mate. 3fl|P| The annual meeting of the sharohoSlljpF iii the Caledonian Company at the Thalrisso was held on the 28th ult. The report ahffajed;; that during the twelve months ending July 81st, 1871, the total sum paid in dividends.’ amounted to £113,270, or £l4llos a shj(K. . A Good Example.—A Canterbury plpSp says that an effort towards planting f6K§s trees on a large scale is about to be a gentleman residing near Titnarp, .who p?ilk| for tenders for planting 150 aci^»'^i|gfc mau gams, and who purposes planti acres with the same trees in ilia copraij (of year. The following scene is paper to have occurred in Court, Nelson, lately:—“ Cross-examining Counsel (coisingly) : ‘Now, teEtchie, .Uttla girl, didn’t your mother toll you»wh£t.'tdj«ff. in Court V —Little Girl, ’line yearat&fiiflgfti (affrigliledly): ‘ Ye-c-s, sir.’—Counaalfftriumri phautly): ‘ Oh ! she did, did shfefcl what was it you were toid to sayd’—Eittldi Gin (bravely) ; ‘“lease, sir, she ipli'ijgjfel; was to speak the truth.’ —Counsoldsifc.deflfft Again.” ' “.niiMp.t’idl Vvo notice by the Victorian papersihatithe .Ministry intend placing on the sum for the purpose of defraying tifo&tpdrises of an analyst, who shall examine Tlhffi limlpy sold in all parts of the Colony. Asaseq«&£6» to the analysis, it is intended that thaapiPaE vigorous steps shall be taken to pinHsh’tlioae found celling deleterious liquors,;laud ifuil publicity be given of their doings, bit iadtßry’ advisable that similar steps should by the New Zealand Parliament.— Givt/ißisbs,'. The greatest, amount of gold ovm“jM?§dUtiteSj in one year in California was £l'l ; ,4fifi,Josi worth, in 1853, The annual valufMvficfty) is about onc-haE of that amount. ThSSFlsrgfiStf yield over realised in Victoria- in .oM‘ ; tyeßP was in 1858, when the value was So that Victoria lias produced the r r-i4vgelfe amount in one year. The present r yibld«}«’ Victoria amounts to about the samfeMdfaj California. Tlic total yield of CaHftppijj since the first discovery of gold there is somewhat leas than the amount ivhtahcSlU been realised in the Australian the discovery of gold there in 1851. ' pnisb The Cl-adcstm Jlcmld (West Coas^ ( feK%,| recent date says:—“ During the heaidftg'Bf a'l case in the Warden’s Court lately, thered, from the evidence adduced, RdfrHl&Jj encouragement of granting large claimlfftpQ j rates to the benefit of a district. Hai^SHmE;! party, it appears, are in possessioh present time of a total area of about upon which they have constantly worlEfigyS® average of 22 men, whilst at times ihes MVel over 30. They have also a large irbft- Mttery, and a smaller wooden one, at wdfkp'to feed which they have a large number of cfisiMs and races ; they arc also working with t.onsive length of iron piping, for livufefififtj The expenditnro on the works past half-year has been something like £So9d.' in addition to those, Raines and partyk*B ! in, possession of the hugest dam in the district, which gives an almost never-failing supplywl twmtqi'jtqyt. large of pojlfiJ dc.ivr, winch, alter a heavy peal of thundtor-i and a vivid dish of lightning, fell into the harbour. Tiio concussion was so great, traitthe water rose on each side to the heightr J bjf the top of a cutters mast, and a large rolatapof spray, or ashes, or steam, (for it lias bSSjv described as having the closest tv-scmblambp to the latter two substances,) was borne jy long distance down the liarbonr. The [ Sp--: pearanco presented in the effects, as describech by spectator;;, was .n if a mass of burning lob, and cinders fading into the water had-*M<y-! 'lucc-d the ashes and steam borne a way With* to leeward. jjjm, j An advocate of the establishment of rdfMn&ft for inveterate drunkards, in r. letter to'ffhd Melbourne Ar-jut on the subject, qnMp*! from on-; of tho medical reviews that ai*fll|ij years, 3;i u inchriatcr. have boon reccivodjhßr(d| 20.)-) of them were cured ! and that nilnghaui. near New York, there were atfrajit-t-rd in twenty months to the end of patients, and that of those discharged wjp cant, wore cured, and only 11 per cent faf|®ps or incorrigible, and this good results ogSSm

I iHw«f where ho had established himself in a " tavodrable position for declamation. At the ihheujf his arrest he was armed with a “ bau- ' Herewith a strange device,” which he had c t.rjjJUSphautly elevated on the top of a long ) Tills burner (or dirty shoot) j.MVajymt six feet square, and is clumsily ' with strange assertions, proclaiming ! iheVHou. W, Fox to be Anti-Christ, a liang--1 hfpayaiid a murderer, for that he is ondeai life'to extirpate the poor publicans. These j fixe only a few words from the heading of the i Slag, or rag, the lettering of which is done in I style of “ sensation.” The arguthe banner are very voluminous ; jonsigning Mr Fox to perdition, lie ously winds up with “God Save !” In his possession was another a gigantic cross in the centre, while ler is a representation of a “ poor hanging by the neck, having been off” by Mr Fox, There was found lossion a piece of paper, curiously with squares, octagons, and obtuse ingles, all to prove the road to ruin py, too workings of the Permissive Bill. | The silver coinage of the colony being to a graijt xteut defaced and altogether unlit for jiSfej it was recommended some time ago by 11©.'Colonial Government that the Mint jsgqufd send out £25,000 worth of new silver > jcqm, the Government here paying cost of ; jp'afjjang, freight, insurance, and shipping : qliavges, the colony also being at the cost of j [ returning the defaced coin to England, in- 1 terest at the Bank of England rate to be i B upon amounts sent out. credit being' r the coin sent homo, the balance to jack by bank draft. If the Imperial; ,es accepted these terms, they were ■ nit coin iu the following proportions;; entlis in florins, three-tenths in shil-ic-teuth in sixpences, one-tenth in ces. To this despatch from the Go- j Vprnor, no reply appears to have boon re-! coiyed, though over twelve months have relapsed since it was sent. “ Chinese cheap labour” is marking out; now courses for itself in New South Wales. I Two Chinamen have started as bushrangers, 1 (and tried to rob the Araloum mail. The! attempt, however, was frustrated, and the S ’heat-lion highwaymen wove arrested. One of the most interesting items of int-el-! ligonco brought by the mail from San Fran-1 cisco is conveyed in the following brief tele- j gram to the IVrivs of (k<i World : —“ The | Second Chamber of the Parliament of the I ’Netherlands lias ratified the treaty for the; (lesv.oa of Now Guinea, in the Pacific Ocean, I to England.” Referring to this announce- i meat, the South im I Voss says :—“ There hasBeen no preparation for this remarkable but ■ the same time most gratifying intelligence, i appears such an abandonment of the I ,|uodem policy of England that its an-, Kjhiucemenk will cause great surprise, while - a thought of the magnifi cent results that may | arise from the colonisation of New Guinea i I jnpst cause tho deepest interest in the mind | every one that can take a comprehensive I j ! View of the future of the British settlements j injtheso southern seas. It is no exaggera- i I. tion ,o say New Guinea is one of the finest j j islands in the world, and from whatever i | cause arising, the occupation and colonisation I of Papua must bo fraught with incalculable: advantages to the Australian colonies. *T'“lt is calculated by a ,Sandhurst gentle-i hnati,” says the limdiyo Advertiser, “that a! Set, one of tho points of whose orbit inter-1 3 the plane of the ecliptic at a distance i from the earth’s orbit less than the sum of' semi-diameters of the earth and the; TOffibt, will beat or near perihelion in No-1 ■f&yiber of this year of grace, 1871. Not- 1 ' withstanding some remarkable changes ob- : f served. in the comet, its diameter mav be sot! down m its original dimensions, viz., 21,01)1): miTbs ; and, in consequence of these very Sis, it is perhaps more than possible: io comet may arrive at the point of inrun just as the earth is in that part of: her orbit nearest to it. The result would he, ; tbe comet to be gaseous, that the ' ’cafth.'would be enveloped to on extent of : j'pdDTmiles, or to more than three-fourths of; lie.’ diameter; that, indeed, the enormous ’ifflbs would attach itself permanently to our | (‘planet, rso altering the physical constitution i emiospiicre as to cause instant death! imal and vegetable life as at present' The possibility of such a catas-; ■ jtfQptte is, of course, dreadful to contemplate, | ' ihqv/ould no doubt be of considerable mo-j j ftitfrlt'lto many of our readers who are not j j'Sirfiffdiently developed for tho change. Tim! | '.wronomioal skill of the gentleman referred IB'Will not penetrate into 77at lire’s secrets! * further, and we therefore recommend the matter to the serious consideration of our |- r {B£f&ds the spiritists, who, we understand, -dbalHvith science where philosophers leave 1 ft. —Tlio same paper of a recent date says ; | apprehension that may have been qfoltlof danger from a cornet-, spoken of by a ! ‘Phil osnjilier of Sandiiurat,’ will surely bo • allayed on jiorusiil of the following coiuinunication, fonvanled tons on tho subject by a! 1 correspondent at Prahran :—‘ Sir, —With ro- ‘ («wd to the comet at present issuing forth i 1 frqm the sun, your correspondent need bo 1 under no apprehension, as "the repulsive int[ of the earth will always keep it at a ffjpffiectful distance. V» r o may, however, ante a grand illumination from it while Jg out through the earth’s orbit, vdiich dso be accompanied by masses of metal aerolites, as they are termed—falling the earth, they being missiles shot from volcanic craters on the surface of the the earth intercepting the line of their | wS»se, cither from tho sun or falling back to V " ,,OT ’- Ehe force of tho shot- becomes i c-s^fudod.’"