MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2594, 10 June 1871, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

The Caledonian mine paid the sum of L 71,500, in the.shape of dividends, on May

The Tokatea Company, Coromandel, have just crushed a specimen weighing 102ibs., and it has yielded 161ozs,

Mr T. Macfarlane, of Auckland, has been appointed Government lecturer on life assurance.

The boring for artesian wells is beu g. pushed on with vigor at Kapicr. At' » depth of 216 feet a slight' flow has been oh tained.

The total length of railw ays in thy United Kingdom in 1870 was I t,610 miles, and the number of miles travelled by >ll the trams •was 157,532,255 miles.

An Auckland contemporary informs us that the Parnell Highway Board are using a donkey and cart to cmy metal for the roads The unfortunate beast formerly belonged to the Bishop of New Zealand. The Friend of India states on the authothority probably'of its editor, who is now m London, that it is well understood m o hcial circles in London that Mr Grant Duif is likely to be the next Governor of Madras, if he should choose to abandon an English political career for a few years. ‘Madras may wsll be congratulated on the prospect of securing a man who will pro y o the ablest Governor it lias had for Mf a cmtnry.” , . The Mouit Alexander Mail soin one in the Bullaruok forest who'was clearing his land of stumps, finding it expensive and tedious work, thought, ho would try an experiment. He bored holes with an auger in several stumps, and filled them with kerosene, which after a few days disappeared. He then set lire to the stumps, and they burned entirely up, roots and all. inc kerosene, singularly enough, penetrated to every portion of the stump, and could be detected in the largest stumps by merely chipping with aft axe. The plan is being tried now ou an extensive scale, and it is t.ie cheapest and most expeditious method of ♦ earing land that has been heavuy limbered. Public-houses in Fij i seem to flourish ap,to f . A cor eapoudont of the .Sydney Mormon Herald writing recently says Last June, Levuka boasted three hotels—l ui net s 1 crkins’, and Unwin and Nieman s. Now there are forty-two.? Every second house, and in many instances adjoining house:-, arc open for the sale of drink. There is a square which consists wholly of public-houses, all recent erections, built of timber, ami most conveniently fitted up, having bar and stock unite equal to the majority of houses in &ydnev, with liquids retailed at very low prices, a glass of brandy or other spirits threepence and so on in proportion, The pretty barmaid is becoming an institution at these houses, ami there have been impoi tatioas of vouug ladies from all the colonies whose winning and attractive smiles would induce anyone to imbibe their “spiders,- “cocktails,” sodas ami b'amlies, &c. J hese young ladies obtain very heavy salaries In Levuka Ll5O a year is thought not at ad inadequate iq their services, and they are regarded as mdispeusiblc accessories to tbs grog-sellers calling. Besides the public houses there is a free trade in liqueur ; no small shop but will settle you a bottle of grog, and as spirits pay no duty and publicans no license fee you may understand at how long a rate wi.h the competition that exists. Gin can be purchased on the beach of the best brands at from 12s to 15» per single case of fiLeeu bottles, and brandy-Heuessy s or Mar tell a—at from 30s to 355.