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Dunstan Times, Issue 953, 23 July 1880, Page 2

From a party who has been to the new rush at Long Valley, Lake Hawea, and is returning to work a claim he succeeded in obtaining immediately adjoining the prospector’s, we hear more favourable reports than we had previously heard. Our informant says so far as he was able, to go up the creek before he got into the snow, which was a distance of about three miles, the country has the appearance of being highly auriferous, it being literally covered with quartz varying in size from a pea to tons weight, and that from the fact of the quartz being all jagged and sharp pointed, a largo lode or lodes of quartz must be in the locality. The creek has numberless brandies, all of which resemble the main gully with their gravelly and quartzcovered terraces. He says he cannot speak of what others are doing in the way of gold getting, but his own prospect is good. The number of men on the ground is increasing daily, and his chief fear is that there will very soon be too many, except they have the means to go prospecting in the neighbouring creeks, or to wait till the snow clears off the high lands. It was currently reported in Long Valley that payable gold was being got in Boundary Creek and another creek some miles further up the lake, but he could uot vouch for the truth of the report.

As opinion appears to be divided on the question as to whether the phosphorus and rhodium poisoned wheat is fatal to horses, cattle, sheep and pigs, wo deem it but our duty to give the experiences of people in this district, which we think will be sufficient once and for all to set the matter at rest. On the west bank of the Molyneux, on Earnseleugh and Hawksburn Stations, several head of large cattle and a good few sheep have died after partaking of it ; and on tho east side, on the Dnnstan Commonage, cattle, sheep, and pigs have died. In one instance the stock destroyed was the property of a worthy struggling settler, who through the loss is put to groat inconvenience. At tho time when it was decided to lay poison on the Commonage, we hinted at the probable effect on the settlers’ stock, and suggested that all the homesteads should be given a wide berth. Our advice was not taken, and the result is as we anticipated. Whether the County is legally responsible for the loss we don’t know, hut we think they are morally bound to award compensation.

The next mooting of the Vincent County Council will be held on Wednesday next the 2Sth instant. The Order paper of new business will be found in another column.

The Parliamentary news to hand is of a very meagre description, the House being engaged principally in squabbling over the Reports of the various Royal Commissions and the Maori Prisoners Bill. Mr Pyke, it is true, did present a petition from Vincent County, praying for the retention of the bottle license. When or where the petition first saw the light we do not know, as the presentation was the first we heard of it.

Mr Pache requests us to draw attention to the sale by auction of cattle and horses, at German Hill, on Tuesday, August 3rd, at 1 p.m., in the estate of the late Thomas Purcell Baker.

At Queenstown, on the 15th instant, a young man, named Russell, a butcher’s assistant, committed suicide by Mowing out his brains with a rifle. The deceased said at midnight when talking of Jones’s military funeral at Arrowtown that the Queenstown corps should not want a start. Ho went home immediately afterwards and committed the fatal act. An inquest was held the same day, and the jury returned a verdict of “ Committed suicide while in a state of temporary insanity.” We have received from the Government printer late numbers of.Hansard, and a parcel of Bills and Parliamentary papers. What is a “ survey ” of a given area of ground ? This question (an Invercargill exchange says) exercised the Waste Lands Board very much on Thursday. The knotty point, as it proved to be, arose out of the fact that a man, after buying a piece of ground, building a house on it, and making a good garden, suddenly finds that by “ survey ” he has done it all on another’s land. The chief surveyor being called in, did not throw much light on the subject, he tacitly admitting that there had been no survey in the sense of it being traversed by the surveyor with his instruments, and pegs duly put in, but still the front line having been fixed by him, the rest were put in on the map. This the profession considered to all intents and purposes a survey. The Board were hardly satisfied, and did not decide.

Wo take the following fromGoldsbrough’s wool circular for July, 1880 Our advices from the different pastoral districts continue to be of a most encouraging character and there is every prospect of our having an excellent clip, the fleeces being reported to bo unusually well-grown and sound.

Having had throughout a good supply of feed and water, the stock are in excellent condition ; consequently the lambing is progressing satisfactorily, and a large increase may be expected. In some of the early sheds in the north shearing has commenced already, and it will no doubt be general in a few weeks time. From the increased facilities for the prompt delivery of wool at the warehouses, we expect the season will commence here by the end of September ; and from the high position which Melbourne has now attained as one of the principal wool marts of the world, we confidently anticipate a large influx of buyers at our sales. Already orders to a very considerable extent have been received, the leading manufacturers and speculators of England and the Continent being fully alive to the necessity of being represented in time to secure a choice of our best clips. The American demand, which was so prominent a feature at our last year’s sales, will also, we expect, be greatly augmented this season, as the proposal to materially reduce the high duties now levied on wool introduced into the States has, we believe, been favourably received by Congress. We look forward therefore with confidence to a brisk competition at our forthcoming sales ; and as we shall be in daily communication with the principal manufacturing centres of the world, we have no doubt that the highest current rates will be realised.

As the result of our expenditure on immigration we have obtained from Europe 100,263 souls in all. Of these 51,103 are English, 24,895 Irish. 16,711 Scotch, 3034 Germans, 1953 Danes, 703 Norwegians, 086 Swedes, 312 Italians, 284 French, and 582 whose nationality is not known. According to the 36th annual directory of the A. O. F., that Society is the largest benefit society in the world. It comprises 290 districts, 541,509 benefit members and 12 531 honorary members. Court funds, L 2,477,555 ; district funds, 1.314,028. No bonuses will be declared on policies in the Government Life Assurance Department until Parliament has decided as to the amount and the mode of division.

Referring to the proposal to lease a run for the purpose of rabbit-breeding, the Southland News says The demand for rabbitskins is steadily increasing, owing to the use of the fur in many branches of manufacture, and there is a ready sale for rabbits prepared after the manner of preserved meats. It is capable of demonstration that a run ot say 50,000 acres under rabbits would profitably employ twenty times the number ot people, all the year round, that would be required if it weie under sheep. Each of the rabbiters would be a contributor to the general taxation to a larger amount than the average shepherd, while the supply of their wants would give a stimulus to other branches of local industry. Instead of the money received for their products going out of the country to keep up the state of absentees living in luxury abroad, it would be spent for the most part in the Colony. Then, as time wore on, the rabbiters might acquire the freehold of moderate areas for homesteads, and, availing themselves of the latest and cheapest forms of wire work, fence in portions of their holdings as their means allowed—rabbit, proof. They would thus be enabled to practise agriculture, on a small scale at first, but with gradually increasing resources they would eventually effectively c- inline the rabbits to broken and otherwise useless country. Instead, therefore, of regarding rabbits as a pest, they may be considered as a promising addition to the wealth-producing power of tho Colony, and as such deserving of official iccognition. There is certainly one great objection to leasing runs for rabbit culture, and that is the difficulty of confining the animals within defined limits ; but that evil already exists. The rabbits pervade whole distiicts, and to make tho killing of them the exclusive occupation of a number of people would be to diminish it. Hence we cannot endorse the action of the Waste Lands Board, and hold that, in the light of the latest information, its members may well give the subject a reconsideration. During the last year there were issued in Now Zealand 1542 publicans licenses, for which L 42.518 was paid. The total number of licenses of all descriptions for the sale of drink was 2918, and tho total revenue from this source was L 49.344 19s 4d.

It is stated by a gentleman just returned from the country recently infested by the Kelly gang, that in conversation with members of the Kelly family he learned that last Christmas Day the whole of them, including the gang, sat down to dinner together, am) he was assured that the police knew of the gathering, and that the party was not molested, and that they had not the slightest fear of being interfered with. The Melbourne correspondent of the Warruambool Examiner writes :—An exciting scene took, place in East Melbourne tho other night. Between ten and twelve, a gay young banker’s clerk paid a visit to his chief’s house, while the latter was playing cards at the Melbourne Club. The banker’s wife was tho attraction. The card circle broke up earlier than usual, and tho consternation at— Villa may be imagined. The young Lotbario fled, minus various ar.i olesot apparel. Fortunately, however, the frail lady was cunning enough to conceal the debris, which were afterwards sent to the owners habitation by a trusty servant.

The Pall Mall Gazette, in an article discussing the financial position of New Zealand, says:—“ It is certain that, beyond all cavil, during three years the Colony must encounter great financial difficulties. Fortunate seasons may possibly carry it through the first, but candor compels the admission that, according to present facts and appearances collapse is quite as probable as success. At all events it is time that there should be a cessation fo the voluminous, persisent, and barefaced puffery of the ‘'Britain of the Antipodes/

not only here in London, but up and down the whole country, not omitting the remotest corner of it. The Government and people of New Zealand have had far more of English money than is good for them or for us, and they must now prove by actual remittances that they can pay the interest and sinking fund on the old loans by other means than contracting new ones. There was a highly amusing scene in the House of Representatives on tho night of the IGth instant Sir George Grey was speaking against tho Maori Prisoners Bill, ■when he suddenly stopped, and said that he was prepared to go on when the Premier would give him his attention. The Speaker ruled that so long as the bon. member for the Thames remained on his legs ne was in possession of the floor ot the House whether he continued his remarks or not, but at the same time he requested him to go on with his speech. Sir George Grey refused to give way until he obtained the attention of the Premier, and when he had been standing for nearly half an hour someone handed him a chair, with which he propped himself up. Several members rose to points of order and wished to make suggestions, but were ruled out of order by tho Speaker, Eventually Sir George Grey consented to give way to tho Speaker for a moment, and that functionary left the chair for half an hour. On the House resuming, Sir George Grey continued his speech, and Mr Hall remarked that he had been giving him his close attention all along.

The Rangitikei Advocate mentions that a wealthy gentleman, with whom the editor of that paper has acquaintance, unwillingly contributed to the payment of a bankrupt’s overdraft in the following manner He was the holder of a cheque for LSQ, and hearing that the drawer was likely to tile, presented his cheque at the bank. It was marked “ not sufficient funds,” and returned. He then innocently asked what balance was required to meet it. This of course the banker declined to state. Gur friend determined he would ascertain, so he resorted to the plan of paying L 5 at a time, until he had deposited a sufficient balance to meet the cheque, presenting it for payment after each instalment. To his chagrin the cheque was dishonoured, even after the whole LSO had been paid in. He was merely reducing his debtor’s overdraft, aud lost LIUO instead of LSO.

On July 2nd there was a heavy fall of snow in some parts of N S. W. and Queensland. At Hillend the fall was five inches ; The ranges at Warwick were covered ; and at lUinety-belle, in the Mauaroo district, there was a fall of four feet. A great destruction of live stock is expected. The fall is the heaviest seen in these districts for twenty years. The estate of Mr Thomas Chalmers Reid, of Dunedin, now undergoing sentence in gaol for embezzlement, has just been realised by the trustee. The total receipts were L 320. The expenses amounted to L 152, and preferential claims for wages to L 27, leaving LI4O for the creditors—equivalent to a dividend of no less than 3id in the pound on the total claims made on the estate, amounting to L 9021.

At New York lately excessive heat has prevailed, and no less than fifty deaths have occurred from sunstroke.

-•Egles in the Australasian says ;—“ During the late eclipse a party of sweet creatures who were intently watching the occurrence kept up a running fire of the usual feminine utterances of appreciation— ‘ Oh isn’t it just lovely !’ ‘How awfully beautiful !' ‘ It’s (piite too-foarfully solemn, 1 &c., ic. When the orb assumed a reddish tinge, a lady, turning face to a gentleman, whose arm might (or might not) in the darkness, have been round her waist, exclaimed, ‘ Oh, Mr Romeo, what causes the moon to bo so sweetly red ?’ , Too much currant jelly, Mias Juliet,’said the masculine idiot.”

According to Ned Kelly, the gang after shooting Sherritt at Sebastopol, rode openly through Buechworth, and then went on to Glenrowan for the purpose of wrecking any special police train which might he sent after them.

An extraordinary large yield of grain has been obtained by Mr A. Gall from his farm on the Waikaia Flat (saysthe Mataura Ensign.) At the beginning of the past season he sowed about 20 acres of oats, and has reaped therefrom an average of 100 bushels to the acre. The other crops have, we understand, been of proportionate value. Mr Gall’s neighbours have also had excellent returns, a fact which proves the agricultural value of the land in that part of this district.

The following delineation of the character of Ned Kelly was given by a phrenologist named Nimshi, who visited Wangaratta six years ago :—“The head of this man is non-intellectual. The base of the skull, with the whole bassillor section of the brain, is a massive development of the lower animal proclivities, a nd which, being vastly in excess of moral the sectional measurement, inclines him to the perpetration of sensual animal vices, and which vith an adverse facial angle prompts him to the commission of vicious, brutal acts of outrage and aggressiveness. He has largo organs of self-esteem and love of approbation, which give self-conceit and vanity. If the one bo wounded or the other mortified, his animal nature would know no bounds. Ho would bo likely, under sudden surprise to commit the grossest outrages ; and, being uncontrolled by any moral sentiment, his character necessarily wolfish and ravenous, his notions of moral right giving him a dangerous range of action. On Saturday evening (says an Oamaru paper) sqvakva-pool—that is, the pool of the squeak, or doll-pool—was introduced into the billiard-room of the Royal Hotel, and caused much merriment among its habitues. The novel game resembles pinpool ; but in place of pins, puppets of vaiom personages of notoriety are set on the

table, which presents the appearance of a tableaux viiant, whose dramatis persoixe have been placed on the boards by a lunatic actor. The motley group at the Royal comprises Madame Rachael, a squat figure of firm equilibrium ; Cbuekoo-whaha-hia, ot Rocky Mountains fame ; Cetewayo, the swarthy Zulu ex-King ; a member of the

Oamaru Fire Brigade, dressed partly u hi Francaise. These and several others are struck in turn by tho fatal roundel ivory, and falling kiss the green baize, uttering a quaint, mocking squeak in tboir descent. The rules of the game are briefly —“Thirty one or over ; no bursting.” Bonner, the Australian giant, seems to have excited some sensation in England, at tho matches played by the Australian cricketers, both on account of his proportions and his batting. He is about 17 st. in weight and stands 6 ft. C in. in height. He is only between 22 and 23 years of age. Hilling the match with Nottingham he made a hit fully 120 yards, the ball dropping in the street leading down to the railway station, and nearly alighting upon an omnibus waiting to take up passengers. On another occasion, by an offdrive, be sent the ball on to the top of a house in the town, and a worthy inhabitant had to “shin” up the water-pipe to recover it.

A large number of young men who have left here for South Africa will not find things so rosy there on arrival as they expected. Several of the Cape papers complain of trade depression ; and others say they already possess more single men than they know what to do with. The Natal Mercury, of a very recent date, for instance, says—“ Durban at present is in the unenviable possession of a large number of young men, many of whom are of good birth and parentage, who are wasting their substance, such as it is, ‘ waiting for remittances, ’or for ‘ something to turn up.’ Soma have been to the front and returned, some have gone to England and come back, some never did any work here, and some boast that they never will ; some rim up lengthy scores at hotels that they cannot pay ; others hire horse, and avoi I the charge for engagement ; but the class referred to may be seen at any one or other of the canteens of the town, doing literally nothing but drink or play billiards until the landlord’s patience is exhausted, and he turns them out to prey upon somebody else.”

A telegram from Grafton, published in a Melbourne paper, that Constable Morgan, of Black’s River, reports to Sub-inspector Creagh that several well-known residents have seen an extraordinary creature in the bush on the Serpentine River, near the Grafton and Armidale road. The creature is descibed as about 3 ft. 6 in. high, with a head like a diamond snake, hands like a kangaroo, and a body like a man’s, hut dark and hairy. One man saw the creature on six different occasions, and on one occasion he was chased by it. Search is now being made for the creature, with a view to its capture.

A new cereal of a particularly nutrition* ami hardy character is said to have been discovered in Kansas. In appearance it is something like a grain of wheat, each kernel being enclosed in a separate case, and as a flesh-forming substance it fully ranks with wheat. There, however, comparison ends. In its tenaciousness of life lies its value. We read that, planted in ground upon which rain had not fallen for 8 months, it spang up at once and yielded, in face of five weeks’ additional draught, a crop of fill bushels to the acre. When tested as a means of support for cattle, its stalk was found to be not only nutritious, but so attactive to the animals that thev seized upon it with avidity ; while, when threshed out, its yield was so great that in the opinion of the State Board of Agriculture it bids fair to supplant maize, rice corn, pampas corn, and Egyptian wheat.