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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 996, 19 April 1871, Page 2

Uselessly, aimlessly drifting through life, what was I bom tor ? " Somebody's wife," lam told by my mother. Well, tha* being true, "Somebody" keeps himself strangely from view; and if naught but marriage will settle my fate, I believe I shall die in an unsettled state. For though I'm not ugly—■ pray what woman is?— you might easily find a more beautiful phiz ; and then, as for manners and temper, 'tis plain he who seeks for perfection will seek here in vain. Nay, in spite of these drawbacks, my heart is perverse, and 1 shall not feel grateful u for better or worse " to take the tir<t booby that graciously came and offered those treasures—a home and his name. I think, then, my chances of marriage are small ; but why should I think of siich chances at all? My brothers are, all of them, younger than I ; yet they thrive in the wojld, and why not let me try? I know that in bvsiness I'm not an adept, because from such matters most strictly I'm kept; but—this is the question that puzzje.s my mind—-why am I not trained up to work of some kind? Uselessly, aimlessly, drifting through life, why should I wait to bo "somebodyls. wife " ?

JEfftmts aie being made; to .form a Highland Volunteer corps in Wellington. The Melbourne Telegraph says : All tolls throughout South Australia are abolished after to-day, and the repair of the roads will henceforth be met by local taxation. That is to say, South Australia has done what Victoria ;ha* been talking of doing any time within the last half dozen years—enfranchised its travellers, and let its .pikemen go free. F*r your toll-taxis of all taxes the most offensive, and most thoroughly vexatious, and, we may add, the most illogical. For of course the profits of the toll do not all go to the construction and repair of the roads, and, what is more, the tax itself is il Jogieal, since it falls equally, or rather unequally, upon all passengers alike—upon the rich man, who rolls in his brougham in the pursuit, of pleasure, .and upon the poor man, whose living depends upon the exportation of his .cabbages to maiket. It is a monstrous nuisance, too, anil a piece of petty tyranny in its way, the challenge, of the inexorable pikeman at ever) legal interval, just as the horses have warmed to the work, and the descent of Averjius is getting pheasant and sensational JLord Macaulay explains the origin of turnpikes in his usual fascinating style, but the conditions of society which made them reasonable in the time of ,the Planleganets have been left behind us long ago, and certainly the ratepayers of Victoria have outgrown them It is among the things not generally known that there are no tolls in Ireland, and that in Sou>h Wales, by paying at one gate you are franked for any other gate in the -country within a distance of seven miles. How long are the Celt ,and the Cyniri to have the advantage of the Saxon in this article ol his munici-, pal .creed ?

The Otago Daily Time,-., April 13, says :—lt will he seen from a telegram in our shipping cola mix that His IjlKcellency the Governor has detained H..M.S. Virago at Wellington in consequeij.ce of the news of the reported filibustering expedition. It seems to us, however, that if his Excellency or bis advisers consider that there is Biiffteient fear of danger from this cause to warrant the detention of the Virago, that should l>e sent to the place specially threatened, viz., Otago. As it is, .the Virago might as well he oiT Cape Horn as at Wellington, should a pirate squadron arrive olf the Ocean Beach nnexpectedly. As an instance of good fortune in mining we (Otago Daily Times) may mention that Mr Farmer, ex-M.H R. for Raglan, who is a very large shareholder in the Caledonian claim at the Thames, has obtained during the last two or three months, something like .£3,000 a week in dividends from that claim. We are inforn ed (says the Bruce Herald) that JDr Moran's recent instructions to the clergy of hi? diocese upon the subject of the education of children in the Government schools, has produced some etlect in this quarter. On the morning of the 10th inst., it is said, a priest was actively engaged intercepting the children on their way from Fairfax towards the school, and throughout the day the parenrs were all visited at their homes and remonstrated with against allowing the child* en to goto school. In movt cases he was successful, although in some a direct refusal to comply with such an arbitrary injunction was said to have been given, and the children still continue to attend school. The Melbourne Argus says :It would appear, from an extraordinary letter that we have received, that some passages of English news we have printed have hurt the feelings of one of our French readers, who seems to love his county well, bui not wisely. His letter, which is dated from fi Kyneton,'' is addressed " to the Edclittor of * The .Argus,' w and runs as follows :—" Sir; Caution, It Appears that You Are Inserting A great deal of lies. About Fiance and I Have to Inform you That I Can Bring to Melbourne A armey of Eleven Thousand Men An I Shall Bombade Eveiy Street And Public Building in Melbourne You Can Make What You Like out of this Louis Ducroz. (great Caution) My Hand is Death."