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Dunstan Times, Issue 1232, 9 October 1885, Page 2

We are indebted to onr contemporary the ‘Cromwell Argus’ for the report of the Cromwell races which appear in another column.

The rabbits have had a great diminishing during the past y<ar, and now they cannot be classed amongst the nuisances. Where they were to be seen in hundreds a year or two back it is hard to see even an odd one.

The weather, though occasionally rough and severe, is on the whole good and seasonable, and fair harvests of grain, wool, and fruit may be expected. The fruit gardens especially lo< It very gay in the coat of blossom. Pasture promises to be abundant, for years past we not remembering seeing so much grass.

Lambing is now fairly general throughout the district, and a fair percentage is looked for. Work is now pretty general amongst the claims on the Old Man reefo. Nothing definite, however, is heard as to when (if ever) a battery is to be erected there. Of one thing it is certain, that until a battery is on the ground nothing tangible will be done in the way of opening up the claims. lioat disheartening news continue to arrive from the Critfcl rush, nothing having been struck except in the immediate vicinity of the prospector*. The weather, however, has been so outrageously bad that it was positively unsafe to move on to the range side. On line weather setting in we may expect to hj ar of a systematio prospecting of the whole range, and shall be much surprised if some goo 1 finds are not made. Of our own knowledge there is more than one patch on either side of Criffel proper being worked yielding large quantities of gold, the probabilities are therefore in favor of still more being found. By advertisement in another column it will bo seen that the lease over the ground held by the Last Chance Company, immediately below and adjoining White’s Company claim, has been cancelled on the information of While’s Company for not acting up to the ietioc and spirit of the labor clauses of the regulations. It will be well for all leaseholders to bear this in mind.

As an item of interest to onr sporting readers wo give below the entries and weights for the Sowhurn Spring Handicap, to be mn on the 9th Hovem'ier Don Jose, 10*t ; Foul Piay, 9it 51b ; Racket, 9st 2lb; Barwon. 9st; B medict, Bst 21b ; Resartns, Bst ; Winifred, 7->- 12ih; Thespns, 7st 41b ; Veronica, 7st 21b; Peeping Tom, 7st j Tarragon, Gat, 121u ; Flying Fish, 6st 61b; Specimen, fist. Last week we gave a descriptive account of Green’s reef, the late discovery at Ophir. During the week we have visited tue groun I, and from what we conld see, and learn from Mr Green, the discoverer, without hesitancy pronounce the find one of the most promising tb it has been made in Central Otago fur years past. At present the ground is only being scratched and picked at, an 1 the appliances for saving the precious metal are but of the meat primitive desciiption, an old fashioned one slide cadle being the chief. Accordingly, nothing approaching a correct estimate of its value in anyone particular can be made, but an idea may be formed when we state that the discovery is a ban I of pipeclay slate interlaced with veins of whitish blue quartz lying between two well defined walls some 3J or 40 feet apart, and that loose gold is general through out the entire mass, while the quartz are of the richest possible class, some “mull spec'. Mens rh*wn to us containing fully loz of gold,and one, two, or th.e; dwt pieces bei g as plentiful as could ue desire 1. As yet the greatest depth reached is some 20ft, and at that depth the stuff is increasin' in richness. As the whole looaliiy is auriferous, and indications of the existence of quartz reefs abound for miles aloug ths side of the range, and, moreover, as similar bands of stuff crop out in several places, we have every hope thst if the present dia« covery does not lead to a defined reef, that one will yet be found by ouo of the many parties who are on the ground, ' Far, far better for you than bear, ale, or porter, and free from tho intoxicating effects, is American Hop Bitters, Read, j

It is onr painful duty to record the death of Stephen Christopher, aged 15 years, the fourth son of Mr Police Inspector Hickson, which took place yesterday morning at an early hour. Deceased had been seriously ill for mouths past, his death accordingly comes as no great surprise. Yet the loss to his bereaved parents is a heavy one, and we proffer them our most sincere condo* fences.

A decision of some importance was giver* by Judge Ward at the last sitting in banker ruptoy in Invercargill in regard to preferential claims for wages in cases where con* tracts are for labour only. In the case in question the claimant was a creditor for ■l*los, part of which was balance of a labour contract and part for day wages. Ha claimed that the labour contract came under the head of piecework. His Honor ruled that in this case the claimant could rank as a secured creditor for the amount of his own daily wages, hut not for the amount of the contract. What was intended by subsection 3 of clause 137 was clearly to secure persona actually in the employment of the bankrupt from being excluded from ranking as a preferential creditor by reason of their having accepted piecework while in such employment. In snch a case as this the claimant might make a certain profit out of the labour of those he employed to do the work, and such profit could not be regarded as a preferential claim.

A touching incident came to light at Portsmouth convict station recently. On the day appointed for an interview with a convict, bis wife made her appearance at the grating. She was evidently veiy poor, ill-clad, and in ill-health, but she had como from Birmingham, and had wheeled on a perambulator her helpless and crippled eon, eleven years old, that he might see his father also. The distance is more than 120 miles, and she had been three weeks on the road. Tne interview only lasted half an hour.

At Kadina (S.A) recently W. Richard Opie was committed for trial for attempting to shoot Thomas Price, a school teacher. Price was charged with seducing Opio’s sister, a girl aged fifteen and a-half years of age, and was remanded to allow of the girl appearing. It is alleged that Opie has seat her away. The shooting affray occurred on the night of the 19th September, when Opie, with a five chambered revolver, went to the school room, met Price, and shot at him without effect.

The police courts are not without their romances of real life, and the story told before the magistrate at Lambeth a short time ago, with its sequel just made public, reads more like a chapter from a sensational novel than the record of a court of justice. Not long ago a lady applied to the sitting magistrate for advice and assistance in tracing her missing daughter, who, when very young, went abroad with a performing troupe. On applying to the agent by whom the girl had been engaged, the mother was informed that her daughter had been accidentally shot in .Mexico, but no particulars were forthcoming. This bare statement was so extraordinary that the magistrate directed one of the officers of the Court to make farther inquiries, and, so far as researchei won*, the information he obtained went to corronorate the agent’s statement. ■, he case being brought to the notice of the authorities at Scotland Yard, another inquiry was instituted, which leaves no doubt that the poor girl was deliberately shot whilst sitting at dinner by a man who was subsequently sentenced to a long impiisoameut for the otlence. It says very little for the humanity of the director of the troupe with whom the girl was performing that means were not taken to acquaint her friends with the sad occurrence. It would have been better for the distracted mother to have known the worst at once than to have been kept two or three years in fearful suspense. To complete the sad romance, it is stated that had the murdered girl lived to be 21 she would hate been entitled to a cou-iderable fortune. Whilst every sympathy will be felt for the bereaved mother, it appears strange that a young girl of tender years should have been trusted to wander over the world with a performing troupe.

The Longhurst case has again been before the Minister of Justice on a petition from Mrs Humphreys praying for her son’s release. The Minister having sent a reply to Mrs Humphreys that the matter having been already exhaustively inquired into, ha saw no reason to re-open the case, Mrs Humphreys inquired by what “official” authority conld the exhaustive inquiries have been made. She concludes as follows : “ If you are prepared to prove, under our constitutional practice, the possibi ity that any - official ’ inquiry can be made in order to imprison a person or keep a person in prison (as you do in this case), iu defiance of the verdict of the Supreme Court declaring a prisoner to be innocent, then I shall be satisfied ; but, in failing to do this, 1 demand the release of my son, George Lcngworth, from prison forthwith.” J Bad dreams, disturbed sleep, indication stomach gas, all vanish before American L<o. b Uo|i Bittera. Read and ponder.

‘ Khating s Powder” destroys buss, fleas moths, beetles, and all other insects, whilst quite harmless to domestic animals. Jn exterminating Beetles the success of this powder is extraordinary. It is perfectly ciean in app cation. See the article you ourchase is •• Keating’s” as imitations are noxious and ineffectual. Sold in Tins 6d Ib., and 2b. 6d, each, by all chemists,* *

Holloway’s Pills—Weakening weather, * h “ 8 “ 1t, .y summer (lays strain the nerves of the feeble and decrepid and disease may even lea e unless some restorative, such as these purifying Pills be f..u„d to correct the disordering tendency. Holloway’s medicine gives potency to the nervous system, which is the source of all vital movements, and presides over every action of growth and well being of the body no one cm over estimate the necessity of keeping the nerves welt strung, or the ease with which those pills accomplish that end. They are the most unfailing antidotes to indigestion irregular circulation, - sick headache, cos’ tiveness, and have therefore attained the largeet sale and highest reputation,