GENERAL NEWS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 149, 17 September 1872, Page 7

GENERAL NEWS.

There are only 45 newspapers in Victoria. The latest statistics show that the emigra0a from England is now greater than that oi a Ireland.

The joumymen bakers in London are agilting for “ twelve hours a day, and the total jolition of night work.”

In the last annual cricket-match between and Oxford, the former won by je innings and 116 runs.

A weaver at Whittlefield, Lancashire, was ismissed without notice for attending to his png wife instead of his work. The Westport storekeeper who recently adertised his store as being “on the wallabi ick,” is now able to announce “ Settled at at.”

Inez, to the ton has been obtained from a ;e{ in the Braid wood district, N.S.W. A hinaman is “proud in the possession” of iis splendid reef. Patrick Puckley, a wealthy Victorian seter, recently died intestate, leaving £60,000, ith neither heirs nor next of kin. The hole sum therefore goes to the Government. Mr Stanley, the finder of Dr Livingtone, asserted by a Welsh paper, to be a native : Wales ; and it is further stated that his tal name is not Stanley at all, but John homas.

The last “ trotting wonder” in America is "Jo. Elliott,” eight years old, and owned by )Ir Bonner, of New York. This horse has beaten Dexter’s performance of a mile in 2 min. 17 sec., —accomplishing the distance, by tjur different watches, in 2.15|. Great agitation is going on throughout the forth of England, in consequence of the high price of meat. Indignation meetings have been held, and resolutions passed to abstain from the purchase of meat. The butchers have joined the movement, and wine of them have commenced to sell Australian meat.

A late Wellington Independent states that "amongst those who followed the remains of the late Mr Kells, of Karori, to his grave a few days ago were a number of old settlers, -the united ages of four of them being 322 The respective ages were 82, 85, 80, and 75. In a small community such as that at Karori, this is a remarkable instance of longevity.”

An American paper says the enterprising citizens of Jacksonville, Florida, have been amusing themselves with an alligator race. Five young animals were entered ; the purse was fifty dollars; best two in three. Spotted Tail, a frisky youngster, bolted off the track, and “went for” the spectators. Then Gazelle and Boston Bay acted in the same unseemly manner, and thereby lost a good place on the track, and were outstripped by Nimble Jack and Champion Maid. In the second heat, Champion Maid came in ahead ; but in the third Nimble Jack again did justice to his name. All the animals were in training for another race. °

A Wellington correspondent of a Northern paper, speaking of the speeches during the No-Confidence Debate, says :-The best fun of the evening was a speech by “the Smiler,” one of the Otago beauties. He first said that iedid not support the Government, and did not feel inclined to join either the Opposition or “the third party’’ in the House, and followed it up by saying that he knew this announcement would disconcert all in the House. This was not what Artemus Ward died “sarkasum”; his voice and manner forbade the suspicion, and his well-known good opinion of himself is inconsistent with «»ch an idea. He really meant it, and the House laughed heartily at his conceit. Little more than three years ago (says the Waikato Times) the flat in front of our winnow was covered with the tents of Imperial and Colonial troops. The steamers running on our rivers were the bearers of soldiers and warlike stores. The sole topics of interest were the advance or retreat of our troops, the W engagement, and the number of our countrymen who had fallen victims to the obstinacy and ignorance of the natives, battle are now running peacefully on the w; the steamers are the bearers of articles of commerce ; the topics of conversation are principally, When will the railway be comPlo ed i What crop is best to sow in order to teahse a good profit ? And the subjects suggested for discussion in our columns come fn ora fair share of attention, in which can be raund neither accounts of battles nor rumours . "’f 3 - All is peace. Every settler is lookir| Hopefully forward to the time when he ™ be, if not a rich man, one well to do in we world.

Mr D. Lang Baird, of St. David-street, Jnedm, has submitted to the inspection of • tte Da }k Time# the rough tracings of a new petition called “Baird’s Tubular River-bed wplorer ” designed for gold-bearing rivers, as the Molyneux, Clutha, &c. A barge r punt is fitted with a water-wheel, to be Z? “y tlle river-current, pumps, hydraulic esses, & c . The water wheel for working : Pumps and presses is in front of the barge ■ btA 6 x e ? tr , e tbere is an °P en space through fdpn j t ! lblllar sections of iron 4 x 18 feet are rc ed into the soft bed of the river by hyiuhe pressure, allowing the water to be F mped out, when the ground can be worked, ne tube going down with the shaft, and note? ben 5 joined b 7 screw bolts > us ea - lhe sections can be unbolted and ‘ramp 1 be , used again. A pressure Je fit, s over the tube. The inventor of new gold-searcher claims for it a greatlv EK* field for operations. The bftS caJr? ? n be searched for deposits that and 1 tf toucbed b y the usual spoon-dredge, to an y a d ts can be 3unk m ground under water j