The Dunstan Times. CLYDE, FRIDAY. APRIL 7, 1882.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1042, 7 April 1882, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

CLYDE, FRIDAY. APRIL 7, 1882.

Beneath the rule of men entirely just The pen is mightier that the sword.

C. T Mak t e Wi have aeccivod a letter signeii Collins Tonsnnt Marie in reference to the notice in our last issue of his coal pit being on fire, hut from the fact of it bring surcharged with impertinent expletives, and moreover as it contains distorted facts we must decline to publish it. Mr. Mario (or some would-be friend who is evidently suffering from a very bad attack of caco elites scribcno'i,) from the pains he is taking to cast discredit on our notice of the f et of his pit being on fire, appears to labour under the hallucination that it is a criminal offence on the part of a mine owner for his mine accidentally to catch fire. We are perfectly willing that ho should live under such a mental ddnsrion, and don’t propose to lead him into any other train of thought. The fact was, and still is, the pit is on fire ; and if Mr Marie and his friend were but to construct a race from Dairy Creek to carry two heads of water for the purpose of thoroughly flooding on the mine and fire, they would he better employed than in writing a lot of garbage in which a diminutive drain carryin

about the sixteenth of a head of water is magnified into a race carrying two heads, and other like extravagancies arc indulged in. Our advice to Mr Marie is : endeavour to extinguish the fire before it gets too strong a hold

Fourth Page, —For continuation of reading matter we refer our subsribors to tie fourth page.

Oxford and Cambridge Boat Eace.— This race was rowed last Saturday on the Thames. Oxford won easily by six lengths.

Poisoning on thf. Common.—A gang of four will commence poisoning the Clyde Common with phosphorisod wheat on the 15th hist.

Good Friday.— To-day being Good Friday will be observed as a close day by all business people in this and the neighbouring towns. 300-M ile W ater-B ace. —The water-races for irrigation purposes in the Ashburton County, formally opened the other day, are of a total length of 300 miles, and will benefit 300,000 acres of land. County Cricket Match.— I The above match, which has been the principle topic of conversation among the leather-hunting portion of the community for some time past, takes place to-morrow, Saturday, at Blacks.

Volunteer Eeview.— The Cromwell Volunteers to the number of twenty-five, officers and men included, passed through C-yde on Wednesday and Thursday last in two batches on their way to Dunedin to take part in the Easter Eeview on Monday next.

The Rabbits,—The work of destroying the rabliits throughout the country is now very general, and if the good work is continued with the same energy and spirit throughout the winter their numbers will be most materially lessened. The effects of the poison is to be seen in every direction by the dead carcases lying about.

New Book. —We have received from the publishers, Messrs Mills Dick and Co,, a copy of “The New Zealand Practical Agriculturist,” by Conrad Hues. It is a demy Bmo of 390 pages, excellently well printed and neatly bound and so far as the publishers work, very creditably got np. In a future issue we will review the contents.

Tan Lyceum.— The new hall or Lyceum erected by the Ereethougat esooiatiou of Dunedin, is expected to be opened the first week in May, and the event will be celebrated iu a novel way—namely, by a w ek of entertainments. These will comprise concert and ball, dramatic performance, lecture, &c., wiudb g up with a Saturday night popular concert. A strong committee have the. arrangements in hand.

Hospital Committee. In consequence of the special meeting of the Committee of Management to be holden on Saturday the the 15th inst. , for the election of a resident surgeon vice Dr Leahy resigned, the ordinary monthly meeting to have been held on Monday last was adjourned till that date As the business to be transacted is of paramount importance it is to be trusted that there will be a full aiitu.tunce of members.

More about Butler,— Evidently the notorious criminal Butler doe- not give up all hopes of being able to make his way out of gaol. The Tuapcka Times 1.-a-ns from an exchange that hia latest feat of ingenuity w is to make a key from a piece of wood, an 1 cover it with tin, the facsimile of one of the gaol door keys. Besides, he has nia le a saw from a piece of tin the size of a dinner tat 1 knife. The authorities, to impress upon him that this skill of his is not appreciated, has, so it is said, given him two mou;hs “solitary, ” tho proper way to reward his cussea ingeniousness.

Don’t oo Home.— Judging from the experiences of a man who recently visited Ireland, as stated by him in the Taieri Advocate, an enquiring stranger's life “is not a happy,one, ’’ He says:—“ I lived for about 15 years in New Zealand, and never got into trouble of any kind ; but 1 look a fancy to go Home, I hadn’t been there long before 1, nut of curiosity, attended a couple of Land League meetings. I was arrested, thrown into gaol, and kept there for three weeks. When I got out I thought the hist thing 1 could oo nas to come back to New Zealand. Here I am, and I won’t go Home again in a hurry ! ” Sunday Entertainments.— A deputation waited on tho Colonid Secretary on Saturday last with reference to the question of the allowance of concerts, lectures, and other enter:ainments on Sunday. Mr Begg introduced the deputation ; and Mr Eraser stated that they, as representing ninetenths of the people of Otago, asked the Government to introduce a Bill next session forbidding entertainments on Sunday. After a good deal cf discussion on the subject Mr Dick said : I cannot promise a ! l you ask. 1 will ascertain how- the law stands. If the opinion of the law olficera of the Crown la entirely favourable, then the comse is quite clear ; hut if they raise doubts as to tho position, 1 am not perfectly clear I would be inclined to act upon a doubtful position. Then lam not positive I would undertake to bring in a Bill which I lirmch fear would be thrown out, because that would bo injurious to tho cause we advocate. lam quite in sympathy with you in keeping the Sunday as a day of rest, but I would not like to take a course in that behalf which would end in failure, ami perhaps give more power to the opposing view. I want to act cautions'y, yet at tinsame time as far as possible towards tin objects which you seek. The donutation then withdrew.

Tdapeka Prospecting Company.—A meeting of the shareholders of the Tnapeka Prospecting and Mining Company is called for Monday evening next. There are several matters of interest appertaining to the Company’s welfare, which it is absolutely necessary should bo fully and freely dia-

cussed, and for that purpose, and with a view of giving the directors “ fresh heart, ” it is incubeut that all who are interested m the future of the district will make a point to put in an appearance at the meeting. At the adjourned meeting of the Provisional Directors, held on Thursday afternoon (a report of which will bo found in another column) some capital suggestions relative to the formation of the Company were thrown out by Messrs Brown, Hunter, and others. Some of th* Directors doubted if sufficient shares had been taken up to warrant steps being taken to float the Company, but this objection was promptly met by Mr E. Grieve, who thought the Company was sufficiently strong to prospect the whole of the district, and to bring to light much of its hidden wealth. We certainly think that in the way of prospecting, the Company could do a great deal at the present time. If a few thoroughly practical and experienced miners were engaged and sent out by the Company to prospect some of the known quartz-reefs in the district, it is probable that it might be the means of giving fresh impetus to the mining industry in our midst. —Tmpeka Times.

Au.eoed Child Burning.—An extraordinary application came before the Warnambool (Victoria) Bench on February 24. A man named Nettleton, who keeps a sho p there, was accused at the sessions of murdering a child in Tasmania in the year 1834. The accusation was made by a woman named Gardiner, who is Nettlebon’s alleged wife. She stated that she had an illegitimate child by a person named Wood before she married the appellant, who was aticket-of-leaveman, and sho a convict at the time. This child she alleges was burned by Nett’eton. The latter denies that he was ever married to his accuser, though he had ten children by her. He also denies eveiything in connection with the destruction of the child, which he stated to the Bench was burned with twenty or thirty other children in a bush fire wMch occurred at Huxom in the year named, and an inquest on the remains was afterwards held, the bodies being interred at Fianklyn. Nettleton’e application was to have himself cleared of the imputation of murder of the child named, aud he requested the Bench to institute such procee lingas will clear him of the alleged crime. The Bench instrnctel the police to take the necessary steps for an investigation into the whole matter.

Amusing Effect of an Earthquake -- There was an amusing scene in the Resident Magistrate’s Court on the 24th inst., says the Hawke's Bay Herald, when the shock of earthquake was felt. As everybody knows, the plaster on the ceiling is very apt to come down in large pieces, and if one of th-so pieces struck a man the probabilities are that h- “ would 10.-e the number of his mess.” The earthquake caused the rafters of the roof to crack loudly and om niously. Everybody, with two exceptions, made for [he doors in a monstrous fright. Witnesses tumbled over spectators, spectators over policemen, policemen over lawyers, and lawyers over reporters. The guardians of the law shot out through one door, and the prisoner left the dock, and vanished through another door. Only the magistrate (Mr Lyndon) and the clerk letained their seats unmoved. The fotmer was well protected by the wooden canopy over his head, and Mr Cul en seemed too astonished at the unexpected “ dissolving view ” presented to his gaze to think of his own safety—or perhaps he could not recollect any Act of Parliament, or even a piecedent, regulating the conduct of business in the event of an earthquake. The shock over, the prisoner smilingly returned to his 'lock, the policemen resumed their places with an air which phdnly declared they had never moved, and the lawyers again took their briefs in hand.

A Young Criminal.— The only case at the Supreme Court yesterday that presented anything out of the common was a charge of forgery against a girl of 15 named M iggie Duncan. She had been in the service of a farmer named James Dalzeill at Shag Valley and on the day of leaving bad presen cd a cheque with the forged name of her late employer at the local bank. Seeing the signature was not tho genuine one the banker refused payment, when the girl said her mistress had signed it on the authority of a letter from Mr Dalzeill, who was at Dunedin—the actual fact being that he had driven her in a trap to the township from his homestead. . Tho banker told her to get the letter, and four hours later she returned with one of the most extraordinary documents n girl of 15 ever wrote. The letter (supposed to be written by Mr Dalzeill to his wife) opened with a statement that a Mrs Donald had a baby, and that Mr Dalzoill was detained in Dunedin getting a wheel for a machine. Then followed most minute instructions as to tho drawing of the cheque, with a lot of details as to the necessity for it, and even a rough diagram of the cheque was given ; and the supposed writer apologised at tho end for the had ciligrapby by explaining that he had written on his knee, sitting on the Town Belt. But for the last item, winch did not however arenas the suspicions of the banker’s clerk, the whole letter was most naturally and ingeniously plausible, and showed a certain power no one seeing the child in tho dock would suspect her to possess. The defence sot up was mental aberration, and most extraordinary conduct on the girl’s part, including two attempts at suicide, from one of which tho rescue was close, was deposed to. But the jury evidently agreed with Mr Ilaggitt that there was much method in the madness of anyone who could write such a letter, and being convicted she was sent to two months’ solitary confinement.— Morning Herald.

Wool Report GoMsboroughs wool report for March, 1882, contains some very interesting statistics from which we collect the following and which wo think will he acceptable reading.—We have now before ns tho usual statistics compiled by the London brokers lespecling tho production of

wool, and wo note that the imports into London and other British ports from Australia and New Zealand during the year 1881 were 931, 889 bales, as against 863.81G bales in 1880, thus showing an increase of 68,073 bales fron Australasia. The imports from the Cape of Good Hope and Natal for 1881 were 197,047 bales, as against 190,014 bales during the previous year, or an increase of 6433 bales. The arrivals from the Lpvant, India, Persia, and other foreign ILtriesfor 1881 (in which are included 4790 bales from the Falkland Islands) amounting to 234, 433 bales, as compared with 372,702 bales in 1880, thus showing a decrease of 138,269 bales. The clip of the United Kingdom also shows a decrease of 42 300 bales, or over 10,000,000 lbs., the estimated yield for 1831 being 577,400 packs of 240 lbs. each, as against 619,700 packs for 1880. The importation of River Plate wool into Europe is given as 264,988 bales of 840 lbs. each—or about equal to 635,972 bales of Australian Wool—asagainst2s7,Bls bales in 1880, or an increase of 7173 bales. The United States clip, including pulled wool, is estimated at 290,000,000 lbs. as against 264,000,000 lbs. in 1880, being an increase of 26,000,000 lbs. As regards the quantity of foreign Wools other than South American imported into Europe, it is not possible to obtain accurate returns, but it is not likely there will be any material increase. It is also impossible to arrive at anything but an estimate of the yield of wool on the Continent, but last year’s clip will probably show no increase on the clip of 1880. The importation of Mohair into England for 1881 was 35,937 bales, as against 57,449 bales in 1880. By the above figures it will be seen that the aggregate imports of wool show a falling off of 56, 90 bales, or about 3( per cent. According to the latest official returns to hand, the number of sheep and lambs depasturing in Great Britain and Ireland is 27,839,636, against 34,837,597 in 1874, being a decrease of close on 7,000,00 within the past seven years. The number of sheep in the United States is returned as 40,190,866; while the total number in Australasia, according to the last census, is 75,242,936, Vincent County Mining.—The machinery for the <( Alpine Quartz Reef ” at the head of the Fraser River is being taken on to the ground as fust as circumstances and state of the track wilt admit ; but we are afraid that there will be no prospect of getting the machinery erected in time for a crushing this season. The Vincent County engineer visited the reef last week to see for himself what outlay will be required to continue the track, from theTuapeka County on to the reef, his report, however, will not transpire till the next (?) meeting of the Council, As to the reef, Mr Macgeorge and some other gentlemen who were with him, we understand, speak very highly of it, and pronunce it to be strong, well-deli ned lode, carrying good gold throughout.