MISCELLANEA.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 156, 5 November 1872, Page 7

MISCELLANEA.

The New Zealund Herald estimates the cost of the late session at about £20,000.

It is rumoured that Mr Vogel will shortly proceed to Melbourne to attend an Intercolonial Conference on the subject of a Reciprocity Treaty. A correspondent of the Wairarapa Standard suggests as a motto for the paper " Advance Wairarapa." In answer, the editor suggests a much more practical oae, " Pay in Advance, Wairarapa." The ladies of Wanganui, according to the Wellington Post, have determined to cut any nf t.hnir ■u>miai'n+ n »<.«» ...1,., u:_*L in the street. Their visiting lists are likely to be considerably reduced. By the New Zealand Post Office Act Amendment Act, which will come hit) operation on the Ist January next, the rate of postage on all newspapers posted and delivered in the Colony is reduced to one half-penny. The number of ounces of gold exported from Otago since its first discovery has now " turned" the third million, the quantity exported up to the 30th September last being 3,003,841 ozs, valued at £11,74(3,800. The right of reproducing the work which | Mr Anthony Trollope is preparing upon the j Colonies, has been secured by Mr George i Robertson, the well-known Melbourne pubI lisher, and the proprietors of the Australasian j have purchased the right of publishing the work in weekly instalments as soon as it is j ready. A woman named Devation, the wife of a J bell-ringer in Wanganui, is reported by the | Chronicle, to have last week vomited up a liv- ! ing liz.ml. She is unable to account for the ; mystery, but she says she can tell she has ; others yet remaining in her stomach, i The Wallace, which was chartered by the Government to take supplies to the settlers at Martin's Bay, has returned to Hokitika. ; The Captain reports that he has supplied the settlers' needs, and has brought back about | half the stores, more not being required. The following touching appeal to the posi sessors of hearts and homes appears in the \Gmj Hirer Argus :—" Wanted—very much | wanted—by a person of twelve year's' expej rienee of board, lodging, and vexation of spirit ! in Colonial hotels, the honour and pleasure of : living with a private family, to whom he will I give no trouble beyond the preparation of , his bed and breakfast. The applicant believes j himself to be moral and (comparatively) tem- : perate in his habits, and any person who will take him will confer a benefit upon him individually and upon society at large. Such an opportunity of doing good, and being sufficiently paid for it, rarely offers. Personal inspection of the applicant invited. Address j 0.K., office of this paper." j A correspondent sends the West Coast Times ■ the following account of an amusing instance | of the indomitable perseverance of the fair | sex when making charitable collections : "Two ladies from the Hau-hau were a few ! days since canvassing a neighbouring township for donations for the approaching con- ! cert and ball in aid of the district contribu- | tioii to the Hokitika Hospital. Taking the ; business places seriatim, they arrived at the I shop of a worthy knight of the anvil. One of the ladies entered, and having made her | application in the blandest of tones, and with a smile which she doubtless thought the blacksmith could not resist, was informed that all he could give was a wheelbarrow of unusually large size which he had just made. The lady expressed her thanks, and said she would get some one to fetch it away. This, however, the blacksmith would not consent to ; he had made the offer in jest, thinking himself safe in making it, so he insisted that the lady should trundle it away herself, or she should not have it at all ; he would not even permit the assistance of the lady's companion. The lady, doubtless piqued by the ungallant conduct of the blacksmith, was determined that he should be punished by the loss of his wheelbarrow, so she complied with the condition and wheeled it about two miles, over a rough road and up a heavy incline, to the Hau-hau, where it will be sold in a few days, witli a collection of other articles for the benefit of the Hospital." Pour or five letters from Br Livingstone—two to the New York Herald, and others to Dr Waller—have been published this wee';, and others have been received by the Iliyal Geographical Society. They contain some inte-

resting intelligence about the native races, particularly one about the people Manvema, a race who are more like the ancient Egyptians than the modern negroes; and full also of descriptions of the slave trade, which it is evident kills civilisation where it would otherwise have sprung up. They are, however, full also of complaints against Dr Kirk, who, we imagine, will completely cloar himself, and are written with an uneasy, or, to speak plainly, a vulgar jocularity as foreign to the great traveller's character as it is possible to conceive. Dr Livingstone wr.ting about chiefs "bulbous below the waist,'' and describing black girls as "dears" and "hussies" who adorn themselves by " tiling their splendid teeth to points like cats' teeth," but who are "very sisterish," and quoting Punch, and parodying Lowell, and comparing the fuces of Zanzibar slaves to " London "doorknockers, which some atrocious iron-founder thought were like those of lions," is not the Dr Livingstone whom we have all known. The letters all suggest that the great traveller, left to himself for three years, seeing no white face, believing himself abandoned, sick, hungry, and heart-broken, has become ulcerated in mind—has even perhaps sustained some temporary injury to his intellectual power. His discoveries evidently puzzle Sir H. Rawlinson.—London Spectator.