News of the Day.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1571, 28 April 1874, Page 197

News of the Day.

Singular Blunders. The New Zealand Herald says:—Some very ridiculous notices appear in public journals of the mistakes of contemporary prints, arising sometimes inadvertently, or through what printers call " overrunning," and frequently through ignorance. There is a periodical entitled " The Bookseller,'' devoted to reviews of books. From the number of the 3rd February, 1874, we take the following, from a notice of a book by Mrs Charlotte Yonge, author of "The Heir of Bedclyffe." The book is " The Life of the late Bishop Patteson." This will be news to people in New Zealand:— "There was comparatively little of incident in the life of Bishop Patterson ; nothing indeed of an extraordinary character, except his deplorable assassination at the hands of the fanatical Maoris"! Here is another passage:—The Maori war broke out, and Coleridge Patteson, its first Bishop , (?) became the first martyr of the Melanesian Church." Can this be the author of " The Heir of Redclyife ?" or is it " The Bookseller?" Accident with Firearms, The Southern Cross, Bth April, reports: —The lad Fitts, who shot his hand when out for a ramble with a gun on Friday last, in the Waitakere ranges, is getting on well as could be expected. After the injury, he was taken to the Lunatic Asylum to be treated by Dr. Aicken, as stated in a previous paragraph in the Cross, but that gentleman seeing that the injury sustained was severe, sent him to the Provincial Hospital. There his injuries were attended to The left hand was so shattered with the shot, that it was found necessary to amputate the whole, save the forefinger and thumb. He is now doing well, and expects to be liberated from the Hospital about Saturday next. The young lad was, we understand, a clerk in the office of Mr Brookfield at the time the accident occurred, Severe Accident. The Southern Cross, Bth April, reports: •— A rather severe accident happened yesterday to a carter named M'Quay. He was in the employment of Messrs E. Gibbons and Co. It appears that he was driving along one of the streets in Onehunga a dray loaded with timber, and while looking round at something the heel of his boot came in contact with the wheel of the dray) which was in motion. M'Quay was dragged down and the wheel passed over his right leg. Of course it was broken, the right foot severely injured, and the left kneejalso considerably hurt. He was at once conveyed to the railway station, and brought into Newmarket by train. Thence he was conveyed to the Provincial Hospital) where his injuries were attended to. His injuries are very severe, but Dr. Norton) the hottse surgeon, is of opinion that in due time he may recover from them without sustaining any permanent hurt.' Growth of Dunedin. , The expansion of the city of Dunedin, and the want of house accommodation, leads the Guardian to refer to a question, which, for the sake of the health of the pity) it is to be hoped will not be hastily settled. Our- contemporary says !,-•*•>" It has corao to be a very serious question whether it will hot shortly be a necessity to throw operi some of the land immediately surrounding the city) and known as the Town Belt, for building purposes* If this is not done, roads will have to be made through the Belt, and the building of the city continued on the other side of it, for there can be no doubt that the present city boundaries are altogether inadequate."

The New Crusade. The following is from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper:—All over the West the women are warring on whiskey. In the old days of the temperance reform, it|was thought that the best way to induce liquor-sellers to abandon their trade was for itinerant temperance lecturers to denounce them from the safe isolation of a lyceum platform as the embodiment of all vices and the personification of all evil. The public were given to understand that the " rumseller" lived and moved had his being merely to break up happy homes, and to joyfully convert young men into drunkards. The new crusade of the Western women proceeds upon a totally different plaD, and its results, though they will probably be temporary, will be immediately visible in the decrease of the liquor trade. These women proceed upon the theory that the " rumseller" does not essentially differ from any other man. they believe that kind and earnest argument will convince him that his trade, though not the cause of intemperance, is still.a means of promoting that vice, and that when thus convinced, he will, in most casus, seek another employment. That there has been a large amount of fanaticism and folly in the carrying out of the woman's campaign is evident; and it is equally evident that many of the liquorsellers have shown a great deal of forbearance and courtesy in their treatment of the women who have invaded their premises. We are compelled to believe, however, that the prayers and songs and arguments of the women of Ohio and Indiana have proved too much for their adversaries,- and that scores of liquordealers have closed their bars and abandoned their trade rather than longer resist the peouliar tactics of the crusaders. A Shameless Thief. A singular instance of audacity was displayed by a woman, named Jane Glass, at Port Chalmers, on the 9th instant. On the previous day she was indicted at the Supreme Court with the robbery of £7O or £BO from a gardener, and as the case rested upon circumstantial evidence, through the money not being found, she was acquitted. No sooner, however, was she at liberty, than she took a passage to the Port, where an unsuccessful attempt to change a £2O note was made by her, and she was subsequently taken into custody for drunkeness. On being searched, the Bank note was taken from her, and found by the number to be a part of the property she had been charged with stealing. A Large Undertaking. Messrs Roche and Co., of fiokitika, were the successful tenderers for the three first sections of Hochstetter Water Race, the amount for the three sections being £22,075. On the subject of the commencement of the contract, the Grey River Argus says :—" We believe it will be found that no great discrepancy will exist between the accepted tenders and the Government estimate. The announcement of the commencement of this important work should impart confidence to the miners of the district which the race is to supply with water, and induce them to think twice before rushing to the Palmer or elsewhere." Strange Discovery. The Southern Cross, Bth April, says :—■ Yesterday afternoon a lad named Weston gave information to Sergeant Martin of the Water Police, that he had found in Cox's Creek a portion of a hatchway with the following words written upon it:— "There is no hope for poor Ben. Ben Point." The police have no information of any man of that name having been missed, but there is just a possibility that the remains of the body found at Kauri Point a few days back may be in some way connected with the present discovery. A Late Fire. The burning of the Tua Marina Hotel, Marlborough, has already been telegraphed. The inmates had only time to get out of the premises, without securing anything except the clothes they had on. In about fifteen minutes from the time the fire was first discovered, the building and its contents were completely denot a vestige of anything remaining except the chimneys and an American oven. Amongst the lossos of Mr Davis was a sum of £45 which he had in his coat pocket, and had intended to bank, but the day was a holiday. Mr Davis was insured for £450 in the New Zealand Company. Valuable Ore. With reference to the Para Para iron ore, Professor Black, of Dunedin, says : '* This is a sample of good concretionary iron ore, and consists almost entirely of hydrated sesquioxide of iron (limonite). Upon analysis, there was 16 per cent of water, partly constitutional, partly'moisture ; 59.8 per cent of metallic iron. This is one of the best iron ores in any country, and if plentiful near coal it will form the staple of a most valuable industry.'- In addition to the first sample of iron ore) some ore of a kind known as the <( Black Band iron ore of Scotland " was submitted to Professor Blackj who gave the followng account of it: —-" This is the Black Band ore of Scotland) and upon analysis it gives 2$ per cent of carbonaceous mutter and water, and 23 per cent of metallic iron, the rest being oxygen and earthy impurities."

Pugnacious Passengers. Blows are seldom exchanged within the limited accommodation of a railway carriage, but lately (says the Otago Guardian), despite the rapidity with which two discontents were being whirled along the Port Chalmers line, they would not postpone the adjustment of their differences until the train arrived at its destination. Before, however, the guard had applied the break, one of the combatants had succumbed to the superiority of his opponent. At the first station the matter was reported to the guard, who> to prevent a repetition of conduct so unseemly, gave each disputant a compartment to cogitate in until the journey was completed. Nemesis. The changes of two years in New York city are thus referred to by the Tribune :—" It is only two years since then, and what a change has come over the aspect of the City Hall! The great alliance of Tammany, which was to stand against assaults was dissolved in a single morning. Of the leaders on one side, the chief is serving a disgraceful imprisonment, a broken and melancholy old man, and it would seem that as if all the rest who are not in gaol are clamoring for the privilege of betraying their accomplices. Of the leaders on the other side one is dead, shot by his rival in a scandalous amour, and his partner has been driven out of the marble palace where the freebooters used to meet and count their gains and amuse themselves with lavish banquets and the pink legged ballet. The judges, who took pay from both sides, and served them both with unblushing fidelity, are gone. The painted women, whom these roaring and vulgar rascals lifted into notoriety, have carried their charms to other lands. With perhaps an insignificant exception hete and there, not one of the men who held New York in slavery two years ago can walk Broadway with head erect to day." The Taranaki Council. The Provincial Council of Taranaki appears, to put in a mild form, to be a peculiar body. The Independent says : " The question of the distribution of the £SOOO granted by the General Government for the construction of roads and bridges in the Province of Taranaki has, it appears, been referred to a Select Committee of the Provincial Council to report on. The committee met and came to a resolution with very little loss of time, and the recommendation it has made to the Council is a very extraordinary one. Says the Herald :—' We do not know what information the committee has extracted from witnesses or official documents, but it appears to have decided to supplement the information in a very unusual way. The report recommends the Government to ask for tenders forthwith for contemplated improvements on the north and south roads, but.with the understanding that no tender is to be accepted." It is only fair to add that the Taranaki Herald has been placing the decisions of the Council in an unduly ridiculous light. From the News we learn that the resolution regarding business licences which was telegraphed throughout the Colony, and formed the subject of strictures on the part of the whole Press, did not apply, as represented, to all persons establishing a business, but merely to hawkers and peripatetic traders.