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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 13, Issue 686, 27 May 1869, Page 2

Pensions. —A West Coast paper says : " It may not be generally known that the colony pays £11,248 2/2 annually under head of pensions and allowances. Of this sum, £2070 6/8 is paid to natives." RoTAti Horse Guards.—Gen. the Right Hon. Hugh H. Lord Strathnairn, G.C.8., Q-.C.5.1., has been promoted from the 92nd Foot, to be Colonel, vice Field Marshal flush Viscount Cough, G.C.8., K.P., C C. 5.1., deceased, of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards. Ammunition. —A considerable and sea sonable addition to the colonial stock of ammunition has been received by the Government, ex Memento, from London The Rangitoto is also bringing a further supply furnished by the Governments of some of the Australian colonies.—Wellington Independent, May 20. Beards in the Army.—The Secretary of State for War is stated to have expressed himself in decided terms as to some of the contents of the soldier's pack, and that one if the- articles about to disappear from that repertorium is the razor. The Commander in-Chief, it is said, has long wished this, but has been restrained from issuing the order by the advice of some antiquated old Generals, whose ideas of the soldier are still tinctured with leather stocks, crossbelts, and pipe clayed troupers. It is ru- ! moured that the officers of the Control Department have already initiated the beard movement at one of our stations in the Mediterranean. Journalistic —lt is well known how few of the broadsheets of this colony enjov such a pecuniary prosperity as to enable them to adequately remunerate superior literary ability ; hence the tame mediocrity so often betrayed by the columns of the New Zealand press. But that there are instances to the contrary, the following will serve to show. According to the Tuapeka Times, Mr Vogel has accepted the editor's chair of the Southern Cross, at a salary of £1,500 per annum. However liberal this may seem, it is by no means an improvement in Mr Vogel's pecuniary fortunes ; for to our knowledge this gentleman received £9OO a year as editor of the Otago Daily Times, while in receipt of a contemporaneous salary of £BOO as Pro vincial Treasurer and secretary. —Wellington Independent, May 20. Melancholy Accident. —We have received from the brother of Mr Alfred Feist, the sad particulars of the late me lancholy and fatal accident, while crossing the Wainghawa on Sunday last:—lt ap pears that the Rev. Mr Backland, who had been in poor health for some time back, had been staying with Mr Feist ; but feeling somewhat better, and being anxious to attend his ministrations at Carterton, he started on Sunday morning, in company with Mr Feist and his wife. The day was fine but on arriving at the river they found it flooded. Being a little apprehensive about the advisability of crossing the river, they hesitated about a quarter of an hour, but at length ventured in. After getting midway the trap got into a hole, upon which the Rev. Mr Backland became very nervous and caught hold of one of the rein 3 (Mr Feist was driving) and caused the horse to turn round. This brought one wheel of the vehicle on the edge of the hole, and the next moment, it turned completely over. Through the confusion and danger of the moment, Mr Feist recollected nothing until he found himself upon the bank, and does not know in what manner he made his way out. On looking for his companions he found that they had been swept beyond the reach of assistance. The bodies were shortly afterwards recovered ; and an inquest was to have been held yesterday.— Wellington Independent, May 18. A Nautical Adventure.—While the steam-packet LeCaire was on its way from Marseilles to Algiers, lately, with four hundred passengers on board, it encountered a strong gale from the south-west. In the night a tremendous sea struck the ship, swept the deck, penttrated into the cabins and engine-room, and threw everything into the greatest confusion. In the general panic, while the crew were making every exertion to rid the interior of the boat of its superfluous element, a terrific cry was heard from the second cabin. "Help, help! the shark is gnawing mo!" screamed, in a voice half suffocated with terror, an unfortunate dramatic artist, who awaking in a cold bath, found in his arms a sheep, which had been precipitated into the cabin through an opening made to let off the water. They hurried to the traveller, whom they found more dead than alive, immersed in water, in company with the placid quadruped. This accident has thrown the poor artist into such a state of excitement and hallucination, that in spite of all the consoling attentions that were lavished upon him, it has been impossible to coui.teract entirely the effect upon his nerves, and he still fancies himself pursued by a marine monster. —Ceylon Times, 26th I February.

Mb 0. E. Button.—This gentleman \ been elected Mayor of Hokitika, ia r ' of Mr E. Prosser, received. The Thames Times says that Mr Buckland is a candidate for the offi ce J Superintendent of Auckland. Bifle Match —An match, between the Nelson and WelluJJu Rifle Volunteers, took place at Welling ' on Saturday last, 22nd May, in which Y former proved victorious—winning by § points. * New Zem and Government Loak iS The first drawing of bonds of the flto Zealand Government Consolidated Jj t( per Cent Loan was fixed to take pl ace ,j the offices of the Crown Agents for Colonies on March 25. The bonds willfc, payable on April 15. Freemasonby and the Princb 0| Wales.—At the quarterly meeting of t|„ Grand Lodge, the Right Hon. the Earl 0 ( Zetland was re-elected Grand Master L the ensuing year, which will compile hj, quarter of a century in that office. Jj, noble earl stated that, owing to a lett« t which he had received that day, ho*,, compelled to defer to a future opportunit, his communication regarding the P r j nci of Wales, which he believed would be of great interest to the craft. Cleopatra's Needle.—Sir Charles \ velyan puts in a plea for " Cleapatra, Needle," which, although the property 0 | the British nation, lies neglected under tin sand at Alexandria. That well-known ex, plorer, Sir James Alexander, has written to Sir Charles on the subject, and statei that the obelisk might be removed to thU country at a cost of about £ 1,500 —that is, if there were " no job" in the matter. Sii Charles suggests that " Cleopatra's Needle" might be advantageously placed in the cei, tre of the Temple Garden. The Mabquis of Bute Shot in Effiqj, —On the occasion of the Marquis's coming of age, there was a large distribution among the Bute tenantry in Rothesay o! lithographed portraits of his lordship. When however, the news of their lord's perver, sion reached the island, roany of the pot, traits were taken from their frames, anq others were hung upside down. But to one doughty descendant of a covenanting house neither proceeding seemed to show a sufficient detestation of the step takej by Lord Bute. Accordingly this worth; removed the portrait from the wall on which it had been hung, and placed it on a tree in his farmyard. He then loaded i fowling-piece, and deliberately firing, shivered the unfortunate representation oftlii nobleman into a thousaad fragments. A Gbeat Find op Jewels.—A singula! discovery of diamonds and jewelery hai been made at Newton-Abbot. Denburj House, belonging to a gentleman at Tor. quay, has lately been undergoing repairs, The house is a very ancient one. In om of the rooms a painter discovered a cupboard which apparently had not been opened for centuries. The cupboard wai locked, but the painter was curious to set what was inside, and, having obtained permission to open it, was surprised to find i quantity of diamonds, jewellery, &c. No one hud the slightest knowledge of tti cupboard, and it i 3 the general belief that the articles had been secreted there foi generations. The owner of the property, of course, took possession of the ** find," which is estimated to be worth several hundred pounds. A Pkotector turned Tbaitob.-A most remarkable story of coincidence comei to us from the Middlesex Hospita 1 . Ob Christmas-day, 1867, a young man was garotted. Next day he bought a pistol, which from that time he always carried about with him when out at night. On Boxing-day, 1868, he went to a dance, and, with proper consistency, took hiapii' tol with him in the pocket of his overcoat, When the party was over there was tti usual search for coats and hats, and thi little room in which these were placed wji filled with twelve or fourteen persons. Ons of this number took up the young man 1 ! overcoat by mistake for his own, the trig' ger of the pistol was accidentally jerked, and the weapon went off, shooting itsownet, who that day twelvemonth had purchased it to pi otect his life ! He was admitted into hospital under Mr de Morgan's with a dangerous wound in the chst, froffl which he has now happily recovered. Afttf this, what critic will dare to comment upon improbabilities in sensation novels! The Was in New Zealand.—The Pal Mall Gazette of March 3 observes :—"I 1 is as well to remember amid present gratulationS over the New Zealand telegram tin' the conclusion arrived at in Melbourne, and adopted here, that the war is at an end since the Poverty Bay massacre has been avenged, is one that the far as now known, do not warrant. 1* insurrection did not commence on the eail coast, has never seriously straitened il" settlers on that side, and would have b» no comparative importance there but V the barbarous raid of the escaped Chatba* Island convicts and their party on theft verty Bay settlers. Taranaki and W»» ganui, where Titokowaru and his partisan 1 have actually wrested from the whitest" new settlement of Patea, destroyed all tin property there, and, then proceeding soutaj ward, have driven in the outposts tow Wanganui, and forced the country ff lation back upon the town, the active fort* having been partly withdrawn to the OP coast. Titoko has suffered no defeat, flj operations have been quite independent" ' and unconnected with the Poverty W maraders ; and it would be as incorrect 1 ' suppose him put down by the lute view of Colonel Whitmore as to assume that 8 i insurrection against the present It»K Government in Tuscanv would beo 11(1 ', , by the defeat of a formidable brigand W in Calabria."