Untitled

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IX, Issue 477, 9 May 1867, Page 2

New Disease is Sheep. —The New Zealand Herald of a recent date regrets “ to learn that a very serious disea-e is making headway amongst some of the flocks about Auckland, which, as vet, has defied the intelligence of surgical investigation. The sheep suffer evidently from pain in the head, which causes them t~> butter their heads against any hard substance until indeed they render themselves perfectly blind with repeated braises. They refuse food, and ultimately pine away till they die. In the flock of one gentleman some three or four diseased subjects have been killed and dissected by a medical gentleman, but no cause of the disease has been discovered. Tile stomach, in every instance, we have been told, was perfectly healthy, but the livers and lungs are affected, and, in the case of those which died of the disease, were quite rotten. It was expected that as in the case of grubs in the brain, which disease has before now caused sheep to knock their head about in the same way, through excess of pain, jt won'd be found that entozoa of some ki; d had been the cau?e. No trace of wo-m or grub has, however, been found either in the brain or other organs of the head. As e-rtain flocks only are at present affected with this disease, it might afford, perhaps, some cine to its origin, if their ow ners were to meet and compare the treatment which such such flocks have received during the past sis or eight months It may be just possib e that the treatment pursued in the case of one disease tnav have been the au-e of another, or, indeed, that any particular treatment or feed may imw i duu-d tins disease. By collecting c. .(I' lice jof this kind, the researches of medical and scientific men would be much facilitated.”

Posxai.. — Captain M'Mihon lias given nonce t»l ot'o i in tlie Victorian l.egi-da-liw Assembly that lie will move that the propositions agreed to In (lie Postal Continence nro neither satisfactory nor advan tageous to that Colony. This motion was to have been discussed on the loth April, and the (duel Seereturv had agreed to give it precedence to the Government motion lor confirming the proceedings, bu; Captain iid’-uhon declined, as he had told certain members who were anxious to s eak—or more probably, ready to support him—that it would take place on a subsequent day. and tiiey were out of town. It was also slatod tiiat additional time was r< quired, in order that hon. members might thoroughly consider the minute from the Lor s of the Treasury relative to new -er vices by way of Suez, and also to ascertain (he views taken by the delegates of the other colonies relative to the statement which appeared in the Argus, that notwithstanding what appeared on the minutes, there was an understanding tlmMi Ibourne. as soon as the graving dock was completed, should be the final port of arrival and departure for the Suez lino. Ultimately, when the motion was called on it was postponed until the following Tuesday, bur as the House was to adjourn over the .blaster recess, it appears obvious that the question cannot be debated until next month. It is much to be regretted thus such a delay should have taken place. Several petitions nave been presented lo the House from persons connected with the shipping trade, praying that the action of the delegates may not be confirmed. In the Legislative Council on the 11th ult. a motion by Mr Jenner, that the agreement of the Postal Conference was unsatisfactory, and would not conduce to the interests of the colony, was passed unanimously, alter additions had been made to it to the cliect that no mail service to Victoria, except t'mt via Suez, and that did not make Melbourne the terminal port, was desirable; and thal the Panama and Torres Straits lines would not coaler much ad vantage on Victoria, and therefore should not bo subsidised

Port Chalmers Yioilance Association. —At a public meeting held at Port Chalmers on the 26th ult., in order to take into consideration the action of the General Uofemm«nt in connection with the management of the gojnfl l*ls s it resolved that t he inhabitants of Port Chalmers form themselves into an As.-ociation to b<calied “ The Port Cha mers Vigilance Association,” for the protection of their political liberties, in connection with the Otago Association, and any others that may be formed in the Province of Otago for that purpose.

Electoral.— Mr Patrick Bignan has been elected, without opposition, a member of the House of Kepreseutatives lor the City of Auck and West, in lieu of Mr Jas. \\ iiliuiiiboi , resignea Mr L. Walker writing from London, on February 1, intimates to the electors of the Ashley district, ini the province of Canterbury, the resiguajuoa of his seal in the General Assembly.

XiEATH OF Li GIZZr, THE lTi.Lli.ii Belgandess.—ihc Italia of Naples announces the death of the famous brigaudess, La Gizzi, who was for some time the terror of the Yolturara district. La Gizzi was a tall, muscular woman, with beetling brows, with a thick mass of black shaggy hair that tell over her (moulders and breast. She was so bloodthirsty that she voluntarily performed the office of executioner on every captive doomed to death by her baud. It is related that on one occasion after stabbing three of her captive?, she collected the blood ihat flowed from their wounds in a jar, and then poured it over the head of her lover, toiling him that that should be his baptism of blood. Being sharply pursued by the troops, her consort and herself took refuge in the cottage of a peasant at Petrosa, and compelled him with dreadful threats to give them food. The peasant laid some provisions before them; bat while they were busied with their meal ho seized an use, and attacked them with such tury that he struck both La Gizzi and her companion to the ground before they could defe_d themse res. He then ran to the neighbouring village of Ricigliano, collected «he national guard of the district, and returned to hio cottage. Here they found the t wo dead bodies, and after decapitating them carried the heads of La Gizzi and her lover, together with their conqueror, in triumph through the district. Cenxsalism and Peotincialism.—The l.yttelton Times, April 2d. has the following : —“ Circumstances have lately arisen winch may tend to fetter the action of the Pro incialiot party, and which may possib.y be mads use of to compromise their position. But if they refuse to be led away by any causes of local er personal irritation, their numbers and influence must predominate. Tiie course iudicated for them seems to be that of insisting on non-interference with existing institutions. The effective and economical working of those institutions, and a determined opposition to all at constitution mongeriug, are objects which will commend teemselves to the majority of the members of the Assembly as well as to tiie public out of doors. It is very clear that the provincialists are not ro bo taken unawares and at a disadvantage, a id it is to be hoped that the Stafford .Ministry will be content with originating and carrying through the measures whicn. they deem essential for the right government of the country, without unsettling the public mind and perilling their own position by trying to effect organic changes in the constitution. The general wish of the country assuredly is to leave the present Govern me-, t uuaisturoed, and to give 11 io colony breathing time to recover Loin die evil effects produced by the war expenditure and the political changes of the toast lew years.” C ahno .Station fouthb P. N.Z , and A.B.M. Co.’s SM'E'AMEHS.— -It appears iliac Ithe Pai ama, New Zealand, aim Au-traiian Royal Hail Company have d.cided to have a r.serve coaling stall n at one of the islands in the Pacilie in owe any ot the steajmers performing the mail service between I Panama and Wellington and Sydney run short of fuel from stress of weather or any other cause. The island selected is called Uparu, or Kapa, and is in the direct course ol the mail vessels. It has been ascertained from reliable sources that it possesses one of tlie ffucst harbors iu the world and the population consists of about 500 friendly natives. The company's vessels having made ten successful voyages across the Pacifio without touching at any p.-rt whatever to coal after leaving Panama and Wellington, there will, under ordinary circumstances, be no necessity for the steamersto call at Uparu. Should it be decided eventually to connect Tahiti with this service, it could be arranged for them to touch at Oparu every voyage for this purpose, and the mails for Tahiti could be forwarded to the latter island by a branch vessel from the former. In this way it is believed a large trade would be opened up with the various islands in the centre of the Pacific. —Home News, Pebruary 26.

Swallowing aCi.ntipkde.—A tr.usieun belonging to one of the French regiments has just met with an extraordinary death at Vera Cruz. He was engaged to play at a ball, and being very thirsty went out into the garden and finding a water bottle on the terrace he took it up and drank freely. Suddenly he raised cries of agony, aud upon assistance arriving it was found that an enormou- centipede had fixed his mandibles in Ids throat. The animal had taken up its abode in the neck of the bottle, and was washed into his mouth in the act of drinking. A surgeon who was called was obliged to cut it to pieces, but the poison from the bite caused death in a few hours. Good News were it but True.—We (New Zealand Herald) do not know where our Victorian contemporary obtain its information, but certainly the people of Auckland know nothing of the following, which we take from the Argus of the Gtn April:—“ it is stated that the Maoris hare discovered a gold-field on the Karamea river, in the Frorince of Auckland, and that it is yielding well.”

Coffee fob Australia. — The Panama Star and Herald, March 25, says:—“ A shipment of Costa ftico coffee has been made from Panama to Australia by the steamer Kaikoura, which sails to-day. As this is the first lot sent to that market it can hardly be expected to realise its full value, but we trust it will lead to making known there the merits of the coffee of Central America, which now ranks next to Java in places where it has been already ‘introduced.”

Good Shooting. —Corporal Christie, the winner of the Champion Belt last year has carried off the first provincial prize in Otago —having scored titty-four points out q£ a possible sixty,