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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 13, Issue 649, 21 January 1869, Page 3

Jaya Sparrows. —The barque Gustave Adolph, which arrived at Auckland on the 9th inst., was the bearer of several fine Java sparrows, from Batavia.

Enamelled Ikon is advertized as resisting all weathers. It is to be hoped it will prove a better speculation than the Enamelled Brass which guaranteed its beaut}’ for ever. —Tomahawk. Murder op a Maori Woman. —An old Maori woman named Atereta was murdered at Wairoa (Province of Auckland), on the sth January, by a young man named Ruka, under the belief that she had caused the death of his brother by witchcraft. Canine Sagacity. —Among the subjects of remark during the week, I may be excused for mentioning a very curious instance of canine sagacity, which is soberly vouched for as truth by more than one authority. It appeal’s that Mr Erank Fullon owns a well bred and well-educated retriever bitch. She has been trained to go down from the residence of her owner to the roadside and meet the coach, to receive from the driver, Macintosh, the Times of the day, and, having received the same, she quietly trots back with the paper. Perhaps other dogs might have been taught to act in a similar manner, but now comes the more astonishing part of the story. On one occasion last week, Mack, it is said, threw down a copy of the rival morning paper, enclosed in a similar wrapper to that used by the Times. The dog applied nose and eyes to the paper, turned it over scornfully, and then ran before tho horses, leaping and barking, as though entreating them to stop •while she held conference with the coachman. This was continued till the coach reached the Caversham post-office, by which time Macintosh had discovered his error, and threw to tho dog a copy of tho Daily Times, which she quietly took up, giving a solemn shako of her head, as intimating that she was not to bo done, and trotted back triumphant to-#the Elizabethan mansion of her owner. —Oamaru Times.