GENERAL NEWS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 117, 6 February 1872, Page 7

GENERAL NEWS.

o-- - The New South Wales Government threa-1 tens to dismiss any gold-fields official having \ an interest in any mines or mining com-J panics. j The " Pilgrim's Progress" has been trans- j lated into the Chinese language, and printed j with illustrations by native artists. The j figures are, of course, Chinese, and ouri friend Christian disports a pigtail. A Spiritualist authority asserts, without j mentioning his data, " that about one-third j of the population of Great Britain is suscep-1 tible to spirit influence"; or, in other words, j nine millions of the inhabitants of Great i, Britain arc mediums of more or less power. A correspondent in the Border Wa'xh states | that a remarkable lamb was born on the farm, j lof Mr T. Vause, near Compton. The fore part of its body bore a striking resemblance | to an opossum, while the hind parr, was pro- j perly formed. The ears, nose, and jaws were especially like those of the marsupial. The I nose was long and sharp, and the upper jaw j I nearly an inch longer than the bottom one, j ! thus rendering the animal incapable of suck- j j ing. Its legs were shaped like an opossum's, j ! and it walked similarly. It only lived for a j ! day or two. The people of the Tuapeka district (says j i the local paper) have worked themselves up I 1 into a state of quartz excitement. Nearly I every individual carries a specimen in his ! I pocket. Casing, dip, and pennyweights per ■ j ton supplant the weather as standard topics | i of conversation ; and an alarming amount of '■ ! practical and scientific knowledge of quartz-j j reefing has been developed by parties hitherto j deemed densely ignorant on these points. i The premonitory symptoms of quartz fever j I are appearing. The Figaro gives the following details of j j the fortune of the ex-Emperor Napoleon : j I His Majesty is supposed to have not more i I than 125,000 francs a year. The Empress, j ! on her side, went lately to Spain to sell some ; ; property, which, with some jewellery, might [ i raise the revenue to 400,000 francs per an-; ! num. It has been found necessary to make j ! a further reduction in the attendants, which ; j consisted of twenty-five persons. The Em- j ! peror and Empress keep neither carriage nor! . horses of their own, but hire them for excursions. Napoleon has renounced the idea jof living at Chislehurst. He was to have j ' I paid a rent of £1203 a year, but having heard i that the proprietor could get more for it, and 1 j being unwilling to incur an obligation, he is i looking out for a villa in or near London. 'IAs early as last winter, the Empress was ; I obliged to dispose of some of her most valuI able bracelets. —The Prince Imperial is study- ' I ing mechanics in King's College, London. i Curiosities of Life. —The jP/uJii Idphia 'Medical Ti»:ics gives tho following as inte--1! resting to many readers : —Half of all who , 1 live die before they reach the age of seven- [ ■ teen. Only one person in ten thousand lives .I to be a hundred years old, and but one in a hundred reaches sixty. The married live .'longer than the single; and out of every , i thousand persons born, only ninety-five wod ! j dings take place. Of a thousand persons who _ ! have reached the age of seventy, there are I of clergymen, orators, and public speaker?, f 143 ; farmers, 40 ; workmen, 3:5; soldiers, 32 ; t j lawyers, 20 ; professors, 27 ; and doctors. 24. j I Farmers and workmen do not arrive at a "! good old age so often as clergymen and others I j who perform no manual labour ; but this is 3 ! owing to their neglect of the laws of health, 1 and their inattention to the proper habits of I \ life in eating, drinking, and dressing, and t \ the propsr care of themselves after the v. ork 1j of the day is done. These farmers or workI men eat a heavy supper on a summers day, Q I and sit an mnd the doors in their shirt-sleeves. ■, I In their tired condition and weakened eireu- ! I lation they are easily chilled, and thus the t foundation is laid for diarrhoea, bilious colic, » ' pneumonia, or consumption. a The Na'rmhire Telegraph, of the 20th of e i September last, says : -There is residing in .' Edinburgh a child one year old, who has I ■ living a father and mother, two grandfathers r! and two grandmothers, four great-grandfa-u I thcrs and four great-grandmothers, four 0 jaunts and five uncles, and thirteen grandJaunts and eight grand-uncles. The ages oJ r : one great-grandfather and great-grandmothei ! are 83 and 80, and they have been married n i (il years. The ages of another pair arc 81 if; and 77, and they have been married for 57 d : years. The ages of a third are 81 and 77, ,s i and they have been married for 52 years. 1-1 The youngest great-grandfather and greatn j grandmother are 71 and 73, and they hav( it! been married for 49 years. In three out 0 it! the four couples, the wife is older than tin it i husband. None of them have been more ;. ; than once married. Two of the couples re n I side in Edinburgh, one in Aberdeen, anr 01 another in the south of Scotland,