MISCELLANEOUS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 533, 5 July 1872, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

It is estimated that the railways of the world are 117,871 miles long and have cost about 2,250,000,000 sterling It is stated that the estimated cost of bringing a goo I water supply to the Hall on the Sandringham estate is about 8,0001. or 10,0001. A travelling hawker named Sherwiu obtained 1,0001 damages at the LeedsjAsaizes, on Tuesday as compensation for permanent injuries received in November last in a collision on the North-Eastern line. Since the death of Father Taylor, of Boston, many anecdotes are told of him, among which is the following from Richmond, where he was born. He spoke the sailor vernacular to his audience, who fully appreciated and loved the good old man. On sue occasion, while making the dustfly from the pulpit cushions, he noticed an old salt, whose weather-beaten face was a good jde-simile of an old-fashioned seated near the altar,»,* and who gave the expression to his conviction of sin by loud, prolonged groans, and at every renewed blast from the pulpit the groans became louder, whereat the good father fixed him with his eye and addressed him in these words : “Luff, brother, luff; luff while she breezes, you’ll weather hell yet, with the lee leeches of your topsail smoking;” which neatly expressed the nearest touch and go possible and gave good solid comfort to Jack. A gentleman in'Loudon, a leading’authority on finance, (says the Argus) and who is deeply interested in the prosperity of this colony, thusjwrites to a friend in Melbourne: “Every interest in this colony isveryprosperous, and your products of wool, tallow hides, copper, tin, &c., will bring good prices throughout tho whole of this year. 1 am astonished at the ignorance and shortsightedness of yonr legislators in the matter of immigration. With a constant stream flowing into your colonies you would be most prosperous whereas without it you must drag on a miserable existence. New Zealand and Canada see their opportunity, and they are embracing t on a largo scale. Victoria would beat any other part of the world if -you only had population.” There is, says the"Washington Chronicle in the Auburn, New York, State Prison a convict who for nearly ten years has been shivering under the ga'lows. The prisoner was convicted of murder in 1862, and senterced to be hanged. E Underthe provisions of the old law the governor could jorder his execution at any time, and meanwhile the culprit wasto be confined in the State Prison. He is stillthere for no Governor has ordered his execu-tion, hut is liable at any time to be taken out and strangled to death. He is said tobein tliehabit of thankingGbdevery night forsaving him from the gallows for that day. The poor wretch must have suffered a thousand deaths’already, andjf he is not to be hung it would be an act of the barest justice to commute his sentence and relieve him of his horrible|dread.

There iz one thing in this basement World that I always look upon with mixed feeling of pity and respect. But there iz one m: n in this world to.whom I always take orf mi hat and remain uncovered until he gets safely by and that iz the distrikt schoolmaster. When I meet him I look upon him aa'a master just returned from the stake or on his way there to be cooked. The distrikt schoolmaster ain’t pot a'.friend on the flat side ov the globe. The boys snowball him during recess, the gurls put water in his bardie and the school committee make him wurk for half the money a’’bartcnder gets, and board him round the naborhood, where theygiv himrye coffy sweetened with molasses tew drink and codfish balls two or three times a day for his vittles. Don’t talk about the pashunoe of the anshunt Jobe. Jobe had pretty plenty of biles all over him no doubt they were all of one breed. Evry yung one in a distrikt school is a bile ov a different breed and each yung one needs a diffeient kind ofpoultiss to get a good head on him. Enny man who has kep a distrikt school for ten years, andhaz boarded around the naborhood ought to be mager general and have a penshnn for the rest of his natural days and a boss and wagin to du hiz goin’ around in.—“ Josh Billings." One of the most striking features in French political prosecutions is their surprising thoughtfulness. “ Alarmed, 1 ’ says a Baris paper, “ by the number of Communists who have been set at large, the Prefecture de Police has just decided that all men having taken a part in the insurrection of 1871 shall be debarred from exercising the professions for which the police license’s needed, such as cab-driver, commissionaire, scavenger, hawker,&c.” It is difficult to perceive the object of such an order as this, unless it be to drive the liberated men into rebellion again. By all accounts the Communists do not find it very easy to get employment in private houses, but if they are to be prevented from earning their bread honestly in public careers, what is to become of them ? It looks as if M. Thiers hoped to settle the “ question sociale ”by starving-all the ' troublesome classes into emigration.