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Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1624, 30 October 1874, Page 409

The Grahamstown Evening Star says : We have been informed of an incident which is marvellously strange, and were it not for the fact that our informant is a gentleman whose veracity is unquestionable, doubts might be entertained as to its occurrence. It seems that an unusually largo hawk was seen hovering round Parawai the other day, so large indeed, in appearance, as to attract the attention of a number of boys, who commenced immedi. ately to throw missiles at it. These little boys threw for some time, and, as is customary in some cases, the sport was enhanced by the variety of the aims. The hawk was eventually hit, however, when instead of the bird dropping, as was expected, a domesticated hen dropped down, much to the surprise of everybody. The singular part of the affair is that the hen laid an egg five minutes after she landed from her aerial position, and has never left off laying since—that is, she lays an egg every day. This sounds like an American romance, but it is a fact. A writer in the Melbourne Leader vouches for the truth of the following anecdotes on insanity. A gentleman of an inquiring turn of mind was left alone in a room with a lunatic who was reported to bo perfectly harmless. " You are foolish to put yourself in my power," said the madman. "And why?" "Because I might take it into my head to brain you with that poker, and nothing could be done to me. They can't hang me, for I'm mad." I need hardly'say that thejnvestigator made tracks. The second case was that of an eminent barrister, who being shown over the Yarra Bend Asylum, was taken to a ward in which were a number of men, all of whom were said to be harmless, but incurable. "Do you see that man there ? He is Mr Blank, the solicitor.'' Hibernicus went forward to speak to the inferior animal; but Blank kept turning round his face, so as not to see his visitor- " Don't you know who tho gentleman is, Blank? It's your old friend, Mr Hibernicus." " Whist; can't you be quiet ? I don't want him to see me. I've owed him seventeen guineas since '54." And so he had. Hibernicus, referring to his feebook, found that the debt which he had long forgotten came to exactly that sum; and, more strange than all, it was made up of several items. Notwithstanding the lunacy of the poor fellow he had not forgotten a debt, although it was twenty years old, and retained the fine old feeling of desiring to keep out of the way of his creditor. In London (says a contemporary) there can hardly be found a warehouse that does not contain a manufactory, and a manufactory of a dangerous kind. As a rule, whatever may be going on in the floors and lofts above, there is an extensive fabrication of packing-cases underground. Miners ace not more numerous in Cornwall than packing-case makers are in the caves of the London warehouses. If there is here and there a cellar without them, it is occupied by coopers. It is scarcely necessary to say that in nearly every instance the work of both is carried on by gaslight. Look down beneath any of the great soft-goods warehouses, and the chances are ten to one you will see light timber, and shavings and binding laths in all directions, and jets of gas within a few inches of tho ceiling. But packing-cases are indispensable, and so various are the sizes of the cases required every hour and every moment that it is found necessary to have them made on the premises. Packing-cases are so considerable an item in the expenditure of such warehouses that thefifms themselves find it to their advantage to manufacture them. There is to be seen a packing-case manufactory which is only divided by a narrow passage from one of the largest oil and color stores in the city. In it are one or two large loft's filled with sawingmachines, light wood, and bags of shavings ; in a cellar beneath is the steam engine which works the saws, and overhead in a large apartment, to which access is had by means of a ladder and trapdoor, the manufacture of paper- boxes in all its stages, including the dyeing and drying, is carried on.