MISCELLANEA.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 207, 28 October 1873, Page 7

MISCELLANEA.

A model lodging-house has been opened in I Melbourne. Ono hundred and lifty sleepers ) per night can be accomodated, in fine large J airy dormitories, at sixpence per night. Writing of Coromandel, the Mail says : f "Perhaps, all told, there are live mines' upon r this field being systematically and efficiently worked, as mines should be worked for the production of gold, not mere scrip-selling. \ How the case may be at the Thames we cannot say, but this is how it stands at Coromandel." _ A carpenter at Klagenfort, in Austria, deliberately soaked fiis clothes in petroleum, [ and then set himself alight with a lucifer | match. No sooner was" he enveloped in flames than he uttered awful cries, which t brought the whole neighbourhood to his assistance. But he was in a few minutes beyond all human help, the whole body being carbonised. The utter ignorance of the geography of ; Westland prevailing among many of its residents is well indicated by the fact that the gentleman called "His Worship the Mayor" of Hokitika telegraphed to the Mayor of Queenstown, asking if any persons had arrived at that town overland from the Haast, and if so, whether they brought any intelligence of the Titan and Waipara.— Qi-ey River Argus. The following extraordinary occurrence is recorded by the Wanganui "Herald :•—" As Mr John Walker was bringing the entire horses Baronet and General Nutt up the Coast on Saturday, the former rushed at the General, on whkjh Mr Walker was riding, and seizing hold\ : pf Walker's clothes, tore them literally of li|sback, v/i -Mr Walker fell, and the horses fought over him for some seconds, but he fortunately escaped without injury." A shocking accident, the result of the common habit among larrikins of stone-throwing, occurred at Auckland the other day. A boy named Murray was looking at the scene of the great fire, when another boy named South threw a piece of lead and knocked out one of Murray's eyes. Murray fainted, and had to be carried home, and his poor mother swooned j when she saw what had befallen him. The I eye extruded on to the cheek, and wa3 replaced as well as it could be, but the sight will never return. We have never much favoured corporal punishment in schools, but whether the substitute adopted by a Wisconsin teacher is desirable is a little doubtful. When a pupil is disobedient, idle, or refractory, he administers to the delinquent a dose of castor oil. The .only result of this treatment which i I we have reported is a pun, strangely and fear- ; fully execrable, made by the editor of the! local newspaper. He says such treatment ought to render the scholars '' dose'ile." He ' evidently needs a quart or so himself. _ We are informed that a man named Wil-1 liams has committed suicide at a claim on the j 1 Upper Shotover. It is stated to us as the j ! Nugget claim. The particulars, so far as we l can ascertain, are that the deceased delibe-! ! rately hung himself by the feet with a rope J iof sufficient length to allow his head to be : j immersed in the water. That a wilful sui-i [ cide ha 3 been committed there is no doubt. [ I Mr Beetham, tiie coroner, has proceeded to I the locality to hold an enquiry. A less of ' money and " the horrors" arc causes given ! for the act.— WahiUp Mail. j There is at the Royal Polytechnic Institu-> ! tiou in London an American gentleman, Proifessor Hutchings, who exhibits some niarvelI lously rapid feats in the addition and multiI plication of figures. He will cast up three | long rows of figure placed upon a board by j any one of the audience in the twinkling of j an eye, and he is equally successful in feats jof simple and compound multiplication. The i results are invariably correct. The astonish- | ing part of this mental performance is the magical rapidity with which the totals in | thousands or millions, in pounds, shillings, i and pence, or dollars, are grasped and transferred to the board. | It was at the second battle of Bull's Pain ! that a cannon ball carried off a poor soldier's i j leg. " Carry me to the rear !" he cried to a j ; tall Yankee companion who had been fight \ , ing by his side. The Yankee caught the j wounded soldier up, and, as he was about to I put him across his shoulders, another cannon | ball carried away the poor fellow's head. ! The Yankee, however, in the confusion did not notice this, but proceeded with his burj den toward the rear. " What are you carry-1 ingthatthingfor?" criedanofficer. "Thing," returned the Yankee ; " it's a man with his J leg shot off." " Why, he hasn't any head," j j cried the officer. The Yankee looked at his load, and for the first time saw what the officer said was true. Throwing down the! body, he thundered out: "Confound him! he told me it was his leg !" l A very novel defence was made at the Resident Magistrate's Court, No Town, on Wednesday, to a charge of carrying on busi- j ness without a license on the gold-fields. The defendant, Edward Tudor, a bootmaker, admitted that his license had expired, but he neglected to renew it because he considered the Government were indebted to him to the extent of one month's license fee. In explanation, he said he was in gaol for a month under a conviction on a charge brought under j the Vagrant Act, and "he would liko to! know how the Government could have the conscience to ask him to pay a license for oc-1 cupying a business site at No Town, when he was in gaol at Cobclen all the time." His! Worship.failed to see the point, and, besides inflicting a nominal penalty, ordered the de-1 fendaut to take out a license.- Grcu River* Aryis.