The Dunstan Times. CLYDE, FRIDAY, SEPT. 23rd, 1881

Dunstan Times, Issue 1014, 23 September 1881, Page 2

The Dunstan Times .

CLYDE, FRIDAY, SEPT. 23rd, 1881

Beneath th® rule of men entirely just The pen is mightier than the sword.

The Acting-Governor has assented to the Gaming and Lotteries Bill.

Im the Upper House the Gold Duty Abolition Bill was allowed to lapse and be thrown out.

President Garfield died on Monday last. His successor is the Vice-President, General Arthur. The name of Mr John Herbert is mentioned as a likely candidate for the new electoral district of Duustau Mr Macandrew made a terrible mistake in the House when he proposed to send Home potatoes in a frozen state. By an order, all civil servants who have not been vaccinated since 1876 h«ve forthwith to submit themselves to the process. The Divorce Bill, which has just passed the House, contains a clause rendering the absence of a husband for seven years a ground for divorce. There has been completed in Dunedin twt) of the largest ropes ever made in this part of the world. One is 12in. in circumference, the other 10iu.

The question of the width of tires, so often referred to in the Vincent County Council, is the subject of a motion in the House of Assembly by Mr Shrimski. The Dunedin “Evening Star’’ states that a case is likely to come before the local Court next week disclosing matter of much interest to purchasers and holders of consultation tickets.

The battle of the Railways Construction Bill will he fought all over again in the Lower House on the question of agreeing to the amendments made by the Legislative Council. The result is very uncertain. It may not be generally known that a decoction or infusion of gum-leaves is an almost certain cure for blight on apple-trees Several correspondents to the “ Australasian,” however, certify to it As the remedy is an inexpensive one, it Is worth trying. A sale of Government sections in the townships o t Clyde, Alexandra, Ophir and Manuherikia is advertised for Wednesday, October 10, in the Courthouse, Clyde ; and of Bannockburn and Pembroke sections, in the Courthouse, Cromwell, on Thursday, October 20.

According to the Parliamentary correspondent of the “ Daily Times,” the prorogation seems almost as far off as ever. The Hon Mr Hall is reported as saying ‘ ‘ That, considering the period of the session, the waste of time going on was perfectly lamentable.”

Tiie list of entries for the two principal events of the forthcoming Alexandra races, together with the weights for one of them, appears in another column. Our sporting friends, from the number of horses entered, may, weather permitting, expect a good day’s sport.

On Wednesday night last the trifling sum of £050,000 was voted for defence. The patriotic stonewallers will do well to bear this lictle fact in mind when again wooing the sweet voices of their old constituents 0 If handled properly, it should have the effect of placing them at the bottom of the poll:

Thin week we welcome onr contemporary the Cromwell “Argus” in an entirely new form : it appears as a double-demy ; the change is a vast improvement, and we wish the proprietor an increased measure of success, to recompense him for the heavy expenses he must have incurred in making the change

In Wairarapa a plague haa broken out amongt the rabbits, consisting of a swelling across the shoulders, which, when opened", is found to contain layers of eggs. At Ettriek last week a child four years of ago (oue of Mr Nicholson’s children) had a narrow escape from poisoning, by having eating a a quantity of phosphorous used for the rabbits.

Jambs Smith, a butcher, was dining at Napier the other day, when a piece of meat stuck in his throat and he began to choke. Dr Spencer was sent for, but before he arrived the man was dead. The Natives at Parihaka are reported to bo in a deplorable condition, consequent on the idle habits they have been indulging in ; also, that the settlement at Parihaka is in a horribly filthy state.

James Keu.y, a brother of Ned Kelly, and Wild Wright have been arrested for horse-stealing. Under Kelly’s pillow the police found a six-chambered revolver -capped and loaded. Both men wore remanded for a week.

In the House of Lords the other day, Col. Brett when speaking to a motion condemning Government for sending back Sir Julius Vogel’s letter, said that “ the usual course among gentlemen was to return insulting letters unopened,” Who will say after this that civilisation is not advancing with great and mighty strides! At a recent concert at Ahaura, in aid of the hospital funds, Mr Chum Loong gave “ Put me in my little bed.” If the Caucasian is getting played out, evidently the Mongolian is prepared to take his place,

It is stated that there are no less than COO unteuanted houses in Christ otiurcli rhe landlords bless the Hall Government for causing the exodus that has siopi ed their income from rents, while the emu y premises are nevertheless carefully assessed for the purposes of the Property tax llekb is something like successful go'd mining :-95 tons of quartz from the South How Zealand claim, at Gympio (Queensland), have yielded SICoz gold as the result of a fortnight’s crushing. The No I Phccnix Company have 52000zs amalgam, which is expected to yield 27000z of gold, A patch of 300oz of gold has been struck since the washing up. . A. phenomenon was witnessed at sea durmg the late gales in the Straits. Thousands of dead birds darkened the water in great patches, as if killed in flights by a mighty rush of wind. They are commonly known as ice-birds, being denizens of the islands within the cold southern zone. The extent of slaughter was remarkable to mariners accustomed to these waters.

A man named Hughes has been arrested at Melbourne on a charge of embezzling about L2OOO from his employers—Dalgety Blackwood and Co. He was the manager of their smelting-works, Yarraville. Defaulter was a local preacher, a man of great apparent piety. Only on the previous Sunday he had exhorted his congregation to observe strict honesty in all their dealings. In the Timaru R.M. Court lately, the magistrate decided that a threshing-machine was under the sole control of the farmer while he was shifting it, and that therefore he was bound to use all due care in its removal. In the case in question negligence had been shown on the part of the farmer, who iiad left only one man in charge of the removal, and he had no reins to the horses, which ran away, capsizing the machine, and damaging it.

A STRANGE case has transpired in Melbourne, in which an undertaker named Stevens had kept the bodies of two children entrusted to him for interment for a period of 14 weeks, unburied in a stable at the rear of his premises in Hoddle street. The only excuse he gave for his conduct was that when he took the coffins from their parents’ houses he quite forgot to bury the bodies until called upon to produce the certificates. The matter will be brought before the Court. "

The rumors of a small crop of wheat in the United States must have been floated by those with whom the wish was father to the thought, for there is every reason to believe that the yield will be larger than ever. At all events, the American merchants have no idea of a short supply, and are building enormous stores to meet tho demands of the growing trade. The largest “elevator,” as it is called, has just been completed in Brooklyn, and as it cost over 2,000,000d01s , there is clearly some one in the United States w’ho thinks it will pay.

A correspondent familiar with the subject of brigandage in Turkey and Greece states that “Niko” some time ago captured two young girls about 17 years of age of different parents, and demanded a sum of money as ransom for them. One of the fathers couldn’t pay in the given time, the other did, and got his daughter back. To the one who couldn’t pay the body of the daughter was sent by “Niko” cut up in nine pieces. The atrocities committed by this band are, the correspondent says, without a parallel even in the horrible pages of brigandage. Says the “ West Coast Times ” There is no doubt that however untenable a tax upon gold is theoretically, the practical result of its abolition will be the extinction of the Westland County Council, with other goldfields .local bodies. At the present moment tho Westland Council is in sore straits. Its bankers have stopped supplies, and very naturally, too, seeing that the action of Messrs Seddon and Reid is towards the goal of cutting off the chief security the County Council has to offer. The clerk’s life is rendered a complete burden to him, for he is haunted from morn till dewy eve by relays of importunate creditors whom ho can only satisfy with promises.

A Kentucky girl was the most beautiful and accomplished of her time. She was the reigning belle of the fasionabie circles of New York, New Orleans and Washington. Y'hile visiting Rome she was presented to the Pope. “ Kneel,my daughter,’ - said he, and she stood erect in her imperial grace before him ; “all kneel tome, except the daughters of sovereigns.” “I am a princess in my own right, your Holiness,” she replied. “How can that be when you are an American born?” “In my country the people are sovereigns, and lam a daughter of the people.” The Pope smiled a gracious assent, saying, " Then receive an old man’s blessing.”

A very curious incident happened to a gentleman on board a Liverpool outgoing steamer recently. The affair, as it turned out, may be considered amusing, although it might have led to a very awkward results. It seems that Mr Maccabe. the wellknown ventriloquist, was leaving for Sydney, and his agent, who was accompanying him, found himself being narrowly watched and followed about by two or three men who looked like detectives. The captain was appealed to, and just as the police were about to pounce on their prey it was pointed out to them that this gentleman could not be the man they wanted. Soon satisfying themselves of their error, they produced the photograph of the real criminal (a forger) whom they were in quest of, when the likeness between the two was found to be extraordinarily striking.