MISCELLANEOUS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 242, 30 June 1874, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

It is said that 250 persona have been adjudged insane by the courts in Illinois, who were made so by the Chicago fire. Chinese skilled labour has entered into successful competition with European on Ballarat. Tenders were advertised the other day for fitting up a shop in Bridge-street, to be used as a restaurant, and a party of Chinamen, being the lowest tenderers, secured the job. They are now busily engaged at the work. Correspondents of Westland journals are disposed to caricature the new Executive. Thus writes a contributor to the Grey mouth Star: —“ Of course Westland wants an Executive. A Provincial Secretary, a Provincial Treasurer, and a Provincial Solicitor. Then the Government offices will never be left in charge of a messenger. Office hours, from ten to three. Duties; when his Honor is disengaged, whist; when his Honor’s duties compel his attendance at Wellington, cutthroat euchre. Etra salary to messenger on account of extra work in keeping said Executive supplied with beer. That’s the programme.” On Saturday night last, after dark, a gentleman, _ who lives at least five miles from Tokomairiro, was in the township, and was obliged, by business, to stay all night. W iahing to let his wife know of his intention, and wanting a document that he had left at home, he wrote to her, and tied the note round his retriever dog’s neck, and sent him off to his home. There were five or six witnesses to this, and a good many bets were made for or against the return of the do'g. In three hours, however, the faithful creature came back to his master with a note from his wife and the desired document, made up in a parcel and tied round his neck.— Daily Times. A correspondent writing in the Auckland Star of the irrepressible Mrs Howard and pauper immigrants, says;—“ Could not the Government get rid of the difficulty experienced in dealing with the Agent-General by setting the old lady at him, and giving her a handsome bonus for waylaying him and shipping him off under the free passage system. This would relieve the Government of a difficulty which they seem unable to cope with, and give Mrs Howard a chance of mak-

ing some amends for the mischief she has already done. Unless Featherstone is kidnapped by some one there appears every probability of his remaining an incubus on the colony for the remainder of his natural life. —Yours truly, Squewiff.” We take the following from an English paper “ A dog who already bore about his muzzle some not inglorious scars accompanied his master, who carried on his breast the Victoria Cross, to the Ashantee campaign. Being of the bull-dog breed, and with a natural turn for fighting, he distinguished himself on several occasions, and indeed throughout the campaign. In one instance he rushed into the enemy’s ranks, and singling out one of his naked foes, so bit and worried him that he actually brought in his prisoner in triumph. He was such a favourite with the men that in a<v heavy engagement their fire was suspended for a minute to allow of his uninjured retreat from one of his desperate forays. He lives to enjoy his return and his honors, and at this moment is one of the greatest pets of Belgravia.” A Calcutta paper, describing an incident which recently came under observation, says : —The hoisting into the air and lowering elephants into the hold of a ship is not only an unusual sight to most men, but also a strange experience to most elephants. They were lashed with strong ropes, slung as far as practicable in slings, hoisted up with cranes with 3ft. tackle, and lowered into the steamer’s hold like a bale of cotton. When in the hold they were placed in pens built of strong teak timber baulks, bolted to the ship’s side to prevent them from breaking loose. The fear the animals suffered was the only pain they underwent, and by watching the eyes of the poor beasts their terror was very manifest. Tears trickled down their mild countenances, and they roared with dread, more especially when being lowered into the hold, the bottom of which was sanded for them to stand upon. We are told that one female elephant actually fainted, and was brought to with a fan and many gallons of water. The lately-reported explosion of fire-damp in a quartz mine is thus described by the Thames correspondent of the Southern Cross: •—The drive on the course of the No. 1 reef in the Crown Prince mine has been carried a longdistance to the seaward (westward) of the other workings of the mine, and a slide has been struck. The stopes have been carried up to the same slide, and hence the difficulty arose. At about eight o’clock last night there was a leakage of water about twelve feet above the level in the stopes in this reef. The underground manager, Mr Beeche (brother of Mr Beeche, the manager of the mine), went up into the stopes, and about to stop the leak with clay. Unsuspicious of danger, he brought his candle close to the aperture, when suddenly a fierce blaze burst out. He at 'once dropped dnto the main level, and-the flame, with great fury, roared through the stopes with a fearful sound. Mr Beeche, by being underneath, escaped the flames, which in about ten minutes died out. This morning one of the workmen went to the aperture to jam up the hole, when his candle again set the gas on fire, and before he could escape, the front of his shirt and other portions of his clothing were much scorched. This is quite a new enemy with which to contend. The spread of diphtheria and other diseases in Invercargill has led to the establishment there of a Sanitary Committee. At the last meeting of that body, the scarcity of house accomodation in town was discussed, and (according to the News report) . Dr Yorath and the Rev. Mr Deane mentioned cases of over-crowding in private dwellings which had come under their notice. The former stated one case which was peculiarly painful, viz., that a family of nine persons, some of the children being well-grown, were living together in one ordinary-sized room, and that one of the children was laid up with typhoid fever. A somewhat similar case had come under his notice only a short time previously, in which a family of seven were living in one room of 12ft. square. In that house also there was a case of typhoid fever, a girl, who was removed to the hospital, and there died. Several other instances of a similar though less objectionable nature having been mentioned, it was resolved to acquaint the Town Council therewith, so that they might he fully informed of the necessity for hurrying on t 1 e building of the Government cottages already contracted for, and of devising other means for providing suitable houses for the poor people being brought to the district.