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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1193, 9 December 1871, Page 2

The ship Chile, in command of Capt William Cnlbert, arrived in Auckland harbor on Dec. 4 from London, after an average passage of 115 days. The vessel arrived in a very cleanly condition and the passengers (numbering 23) all in good health. The Chile brought a very laige cargo, and a quantity of powder.

A lunatic named John Parsonage, who arrived in Auckland last month in the Alice Cameron, died on Sunday the 3rd inst. in hospital from exhaustion produced by being' bogged a considerable time in Cox's Creek. When found and extricated, he was insensible. Brandy and whisky were given him, but he ne'er rallied, and died the same night at half-past ten o'clock, Medical evidence at the inquest showed the cause of death to have been effusion on the brain.

The New Zealand Herald says :—A report by Mr William Webster, of Hokiauga, upon, the works undertaken in the Bay of Islands, discloses a piece of conduct upon the part of the natives that is noteworthy. It appears that the chiefs at Ohoewai tendered for 505., and would not at first allow the work to be done by Europeans, who tendered at 30s. Mr Webster has since got the «ame natives to do the work at an average rate of 20s, making the difference of price the "native aid" to the works. This out-of the-way episode is extremely instructive and interesting.

The Thames Advertiser of December 5 publishes a report by Mr D. Grove on a sample of coal from the neighborhood of the Miranda Redoubt. On the whole, Mr Grove reports favorably. He thinks the coal well adapted for household purposes, and foi high pressure engines, when mixed with an equal quantity of Bay of Islands coal.

The New Zealand Herald says :—lt will be seen, from our advertising columns, that the prices of Bay of Islands coal will be considerably reduced from the present date. They may be obtained from the hulk Cantero, in the harbor for 20s a ton ; and when this price is compared with than of the Newcastle coal, will be seen that the result is greatly in iavor of the Kawakawa fuel. The superiority of this article, taken ia connection with its lowprice, should make it popular with the local consumer--more especially as it a local production. At the present time, these coals have to labor under con siderable disadvantages, from the difficulty of getting fchem on board of the boats lying at the Bay; but when the railway is finished, we may expect to get them at very reduced rates. When there is so much talk about encouraging local industries, the desirability of using our own fuel in preference to that imported from the sister colonies ought not to be overlooked.

The Nelson Examiner, 22nd ult., says :—Mr George Gloss, second son of Mr J. S. Cross, harbor-master of Nelson, was thrown from his horse on Sunday last, at St. Leonard's station, Amuri, and was so seriously injured that he survived but a few hours. Mr Cross received a telegram from the Cheviot station on Sunday afternoon, informing him of the accident bo his son, and in course of the forenoon on Monday he received another telegram announcing his death. The Marlborough Press, 29th Nov., says—On the 18th inst, Mr Hebberley, of'this town, had a narrow escape from drowning by the capping of the yacht Oliver Laing in Tory Channel, He was taking her from Picton to her owners, Messrs. Bowden, and when about mid-channel, and under easy sail, was caught in a squall that resulted in the accident. He managed to scramble into a small boat that' had been towing astern, bat which, fortunately, broke loose as the yacht went down. Hopes are enteitained of recovering the yacht, which now lies at a depth of twentyeight fathoms. On Friday last (says the Marlborough Press, Nov. 29) Walter Harris, about 8 yeai*s of age, and son of Mr S. Harris, was thrown from a horse whilst riding in Wairau Ptoad, near Mr Timothy O'Sullivan's. It appears that the horse shied, and jumped the ditch, and that, in falling, the boy's head came in contact with a stump. He was picked up insensible, and conveyed to Mr Price's, where, under the treatment of Dr. Tripe, he soon sufficiently recovered to be removed home, and is now doing we ll.—We regret, too, to learn that an accident of a similar nature occurred on the 23rd hist, to the eldest son of Mr Entwisle, "Wairau Road. We have not learnt the particulars, but believe that he was in some manner thrown from a horse, and had his leg consider ably injured, but it is thought not permanently. The following is an extract from a memorial, prevented to the Dunediu City Council (according to the Otago Daily Times) by frequenters of the baths at Peliohet Bay :—" That in consequence of the widths between the pickets in the fence surrounding the baths, various marine animals find their way inside to the serious annoyance of those bathing, one animal in particular, the Octopus, a species of cuttle-fish, has seized and put in peril various parties while bathing, to the risk of life." One of the councillors corroborated the stai emer.t of the memorialists, and said that on one occasion when he visiied the baths, he saw some fish whose compauy he would not all enjoy-- when in the water.

In commenting on the proceedings in the Supreme Court at Nelson, the Evening Mail thus refers to the Canvastown assault cases :—" The verdicts must have been such as to commend themselves to every peaceably-disposed settler, as it is no light matter to have one's house besieged by a man such as Qoinlan <va>; described to be when in a state of drunkenness, particularly when in that house there are women and children; at the same time there is a great deal in the remarks made by the Judge in summing up that might be read with profit to themselves by landlords of public houses in such districts. They, said his Honor, are not to suppose that they are at liberty to shut their doors upon men who have drunk themselves into a state of madness in their houses, and so shoot them merely because they attempt a forcible entry ; and he then went on to make an assertion which impressed iiself upon those present as much by its justness as its originality. If, he said, a drunkard was to be violent, surely there was no place so fitting for him to wreak his violence in as that in which he had been reduced to his state of mad insensibility. This view, possibly, never before presented itself to many, but all must allow that he who reaps the benefits of a man's drinking propensities should certainly be the first to experience any inconvenience that- might arise from the indulgence of them," A new quartz goldfield, believed to be very rich, has been discovered in Victoria, iu the vicinity of the Grampians and Victoria Kangcs, at a spot called the Black llange.

At Glunes, a child lias been " acck dentally killed " by its drunken father lying on it. A perfectly hairless horse has been caught in the M'lntyre district, NewSouth Wales. Sheep and cattle hare been dying by thousands in Queensland, owing to a long-continued drought. At Larra, Victoria, a boy fell down dead, after running a race of 100 yards with another boy. The Victorian goldfields are reported to be now yielding more steady returns, and to have better prospects than for many years past. T. T. Roper, head-master of the California Gully Common School, has been cast in .£25 damages and costs for injuring a girl, one of his pupils, by striking" her with a cane on the hand. Mr Fen wick is the new Mayor of Melbourne. His first speech from the mayoral chair is a model of pithiness and brevity ; it was in these word*:— "Gentlemen—T hope it will be a year of peace. ? ' For striking an Englishman a bench of magistrate's at Geelong recently sentenced a man to one month's imprisonment. The same bench, immediately afterwards fined another man 40s, or a week's imprisonment in default, for a murderous assault on a poor hard-working Chinaman. When Quinn was hung the other clav at Beech worth for the murder of Ah Cow, a native of China, a terrible event occurred—terrible in the view of the local journals. A number of persons who had obtained admittance within the precincts of the gaol, intent upon the enjoyment of seeing a felloecreature strangled, were locked in the wrong corridor, and missed the spectacle. " Unfortunately," says a sympathetic newspaper, " a great contretemps. occurred. The gate leading into the central hall, from which the whole scene would have been visible, was nos opened until the execution was over. It was a most unfortunate blunder, but it was a most unintentional one on the pan of the authorities, as the single fact that several officers of the police were among those excluded clearly shows. At the same Urae it was a most extraordinary circumstance, and needs explanation, great indignation having been expressed by some of those who felt they had been wronged." Of course they were greatly aggrieved. They had missed an excH ing sensat'on.

Anecdotes of Alexander Dumas are passing about in the European journals. One of the best was told by Dumas, himself, the last time he was in England. After his son's great success with the Dame aax Camelias, Alexander wrote to him as though a stranger, congratulating him on the book, and expressing a desire to make the author's acquaintance. "I myself am a literary man," said he, in conclusion; "and you may have heard my name as the author of < Moure Christo.'" Dumas fils was equal to the occasion. He wrote immediately in reply, expressing the great pleasure he would have in making his, correspondent's acquaintance, principally on account of the high terms in which he had always heard his father speak of the author of Monte Christo.

Possessing a l?een and ready wit, though never a punster, a well known, merchant sometimes indulged in an epigrammatic remark. Pie was called upon one November morning by a brother merchant, anxious to. acknowledge his obligations to him for an accommodation given him which had saved his property. Of athletic build, all sinew and muscle —in tact, a regular *'six-footer"—he was so demonstrative that, in the warmth of his feelings, the grip siveu his benefactor at parting fairly "made the latter wince. As the door closed upon him, the other turned to a friend who had witnessed the interview, and and observed, " There, now, is a man in whose hands gratitude becomes a vice j"

A Dulu'l] (Wisconsin) paper says ; —" A wolf strayed iuto our Union Church last sabbath during service, and was so overcome by an punce of lead that was presented to that he was, enable to leave,,"