HOME AND FOREIGN.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1338, 1 June 1872, Page 2

HOME AND FOREIGN.

The tonnage loading on the berth at London, on the 21st March, for Australia and New Zealand, amounted to 42,568 tons. There has been a fair inquiry for wool since the close of the public sales in London on the Ist March, and it appears probable that the prices ruling at the close of the last, -eries may be maintained at the auctions to commence on the 11th April. Of the wools from the Australasian colonies in the New York market, New Zealand light-conditioned combing wools, long and strong in staple, are most in favor. At Bow-street, London, Mr E B. Osborn, solicitor, made an application to Mr Flowers. Be said that he was instructed by the Post-office authorities to attend the court for the purpose of exposing a novel kind of fraud now being imposed upon the poor children of London. A rumor had been circu lated that the Post-office had gau;anteed to pay 6d for every pennypiece hearing the date 1864, for the purpose of buying them all in. The authors of this rumor first went about ottering twopence and threepence to boys and girls for pennies bearing date 1864, and then selling them back at the rate of od each penny. The children, believing this to be an excellent mode of making money, eagerly bought a penny for 5d whenever they could get it, and the General Pose Office during the fewdays had been completely inundated by them. Their grief of course was very great upon being informed that they had been so imposed upon. The sa'indie has had its counterpart in Manchester. The people thereabouts, however, appear to have been even more credulous than the London newsboys, wiio only expected to realise 6d for each of their pennies; in Manchester and its neighborhood there weie persons simple enough to believe that Is 6d each might be realised for them. Several ingenious stories weie invented to account for the purchase of these pennies at such an unreasonable premium. One was that a wealthy fishmonger, in Manchester, had beta hcav)wager to get into his a certain number of these coins by a specific day, not being a wave, when he com

mitted himself to the wager, that only a very small number of them had been issued. Numbers of dupes, it is said',, have- applied at this gentleman's shop,, and he has suffered a good deal of annoyance in consequence of the cruel hoax. Another ingenious story is, that at the Mint, while the metal was preparing for this issue, of pennies, a large quantity of gold had slipped into it by mistake, and hence the supposed anxiety of the Government to recover as many of" those pennies a< was possible. A Malion correspondent writes that a similar demand for the 1864 pennies has been made in that district of Yorkshire. A London paper has the following; iexpecting the Tichborne claimant: " The Daily News and Post corroboratethe statement that the Melbourne police have in their possession a warrant for the apprehension of Arthur Orton on the charge of murder which was committed in the bush near Melbourne. The police are in London, but before the warrant can be put in force it must be backed by a magistrate for the county in which Arthur Orton lives. It i* not the intention to put. the warrant in force until after theidentity cf Arthur Orton is proved to. their satisfaction. In the event of the claimant being liberated on bail, hewill be immediately re arrested upon the charge of foiging the name of R. C. D. Tich borne to certain cheques and affidavits." Referring to the foregoing, the Australasian says:—"We are informed that there is no truth in thestatement that a warrant for the arrest. of the Tich borne claimant on a charge of murder has been issued in Melbourne." A number ot Protestant connected with Maryhill and neighborshood (*avs the Glasgow Herald) entertained the Rev. James Cameron,Roman Catholic priest at Maryhill, to dinner, and afterwards presented him with a riding horse and trappings. Mr Cameron has been parish priest at. Maryhill for 14 years, and has earned the friendship and respect, not only of his own flock, but also of many Piot.estanc gentlemen in this district. Fallins into delicate health some time ago,, his medical advisers recommended riding exercise, and a number of Protectant friend- thought the opportunity a fitting one for giving the reverend gentleman some token of their esteem. An extraordinary accident occurred a few days ago to a male child at Killington Hall, Westmorland. The child was only six days old, and was the son of James Sharpe, laborer. About eight o'clock in the morning it was being nursed in bed by its mother, the latter holding a razor in her hand for the infant to suck. The stupid mother allowed the awkward plaything to slip from her fingers into the child's throat, where it stuck till the little fellow was. choked to death. An inquest was held, and the jury returned a verdict in accordance with the facts—Late English paper. The Court of Queen'* Bench has given a decision which seems to imply that there exists no Court in the country which can compel the Crown to. pay a sum of money, however clearly due. Mrs Newton, Barnard Castle, the other day cooked some potatoes for dinner. Previous to eating her dinner,. she dug her knife into one, and found, much to her disgusl, a small frog erabedded in the centre of it. A Hongkong telegram says that the French steamer Avato collided with the steamer Roir.«, off 'Jie Chinese coast. The Rona sunk, and 60 persons on board were missing, and are believed to be drowned.