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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 946, 17 February 1871, Page 3

A curious instance of Maori usages in the days of " Old New Zealand " was divulged at a sitting of the Native Lands Court at Auckland on January 10, before Judges Munro and Manning, with two native assessors. During the proceedings it was stated that the ancestors of several native claimants to the island of Raketu desired to clear oiF a number of muttonbirds from the island, which was effected by importing two casks of Europeau rats and letting them loose on the island. The r ats soon devoured the native birds, and thus the attraction to other tribes to visit the island was removed.

We learn from New York, that an enterprise has been started under favorable auspices for laying a new Atlantic cable. The name of the company is the New York and London Direct Telegraph Company, Limited. It is organised aud registered in London, and the capital is fixed at $3,200,000 gold. Five of the twelve directors are Americans, and they have been instructed to secure a subscription of $50,000 in New York, the rest of capital to be raised in England. The western end of the cable will be on the shores of Rhode Island, and the eastern eud on the coast of Wales. It will be laid in August.

Eats have a particular dislike to tar, and if in passing out of their holes it touches their fur they will never use that hole again, but will make a fresh one* If they are in a cellar or outhouse, pour tar down their holes until they are quite full; the holes can then be stopped with plaster of Paris, or, if too large for that, the aid of the bricklayer can be called in.