MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

Inangahua Times, Volume III, Issue 80, 21 February 1877, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

We take the following from the Wellington Argus :-The Picton hangman came over from Wellington in the Hinc moa, on Thursday, to escape the revilings of the local populace. The arrival of the distinguished visitor had somehow or other leaked out, and as he passed along the wharf he was the observed of all observers. He was, however, little disconcerted, and made himself quite at home in a well-known public house. Afterwards, ie seems, this notability experienced several pricks of conscience and mollified his feelings in beer. He became restless, wandered to and fro and up and down, and finally was discovered in Cuba-street helplessly drunk, between one and two o'clock this morning. In the lockup he made no secret of the result of the meeting between himself and Woodgate, and produced a bundle of notes which, he said, was the reward of his handicraft. The house at Sydney lately occupied by the Holden family, in which small-pox broke out, was burned down (says the Sydney Morning Herald) under the direction of the police authorities. During the operation a store belonging to Mr Summerbell, situated at a little distance from the bouse, took fire. As a precaution against such an occurrence, an engine belonging to No. 2 Volunteer Company had been engaged to remain on the spot to ply a sireana of water upon the store; but the flames became too powerful, and the store was ignited. As the supply of water was rather short, it was feared that the engine would be insufficient to cope with the flames ; a man therefore was sent up to sound the alarm, when four, additional engines were soon upon the scene. Their services were not called into requisition, as the flames in the stove had already been extinguished. The extent of the damage could not be ascertained, but it is supposed to be very slight. An Auckland telegram to the Post says : — Capt. Savor? of the schooner Favorite gives the following description of Wallis' Island visited by him during his cruise : —The island is about fifteen miles long by eight miles across, and is surrounded by reefs which are quite impassable except at cne point where therfl is a passage. A year ago a French man-of-war, the St. Hermit, was wiecked right at the entrance. She slill lies high and dry. Wallis Island is ODeoftbe most fertile in ihe Pacific. It has a rich volcanic soil, and abounds with cocoanut groves and timber. The cooanuls yield large quantises of copra, which is exported extensively. There is a numerous naiive population, who owe their allegiance to a queen who resides in the interior, but in reality are under the control of a French bishop, who hns been resident on the island for the last 42 years. This patriarch is 74 years old, and is re?arded by the whole body of the populai'on as their father. He fs a venerable o'd gentleman. In speaking to Capt. Savory he stretched out his hand and said, casting his eyes over the island, "When I came here these people were all cannibals ; now they are my children." The bishop has working with h<m three priests (likewise French) and also two nuns. There is one French trader and one English trader on the island, the latter beiDg acent for the übiquitous firm of Gofldefroi and Son. In d fferent pairs of the island are no leas than three handsome cathedrals, all built of a kind of scoria stone and with much pretension to architectural beauty. They a"c principally Gothic in style, with rich porticos handsomely decorated with shells. These priests maintain almost absolute control over the people, though they have no force beyond that of moral suasion. They levy light taxes in the way of copra, and delinquents are rigorously punished. Christianity is recognised all over the island, and arts and sciences are not unknown. Eight or nine months ago a British subject who was on a visit to the island was accused by one of the priests of having taken liberties with one of the girls of the island. The charge was denied, whereupon the priest gave the Englishman the He direct. John Bull could not stand that, and in spite of the sanctity of his insulter.gave him an openhanded smack on the face. The priest reported the occurrence, and in an hour the unfortunate Englishman was captured and closel? confined in a whare, where he was kept in a state of semi-starvation for 70 days. He was at length released, and mmediafely went to Samoa, and laid the matter before the British Consul, who represented it to the captain of the next English man-of-war that arrived. An investigation was held, and the man-of-war called at the island and laid a fine of 4000 dollars upon the inhabitants, which is being paid by instalments. There is an old saying which declares that the man who plants a tree confers a lasting benefit on posterity, but the Biscayans go a step further, and confer a double benefit. In the Province of Biscay every landowner must plant two saplings for every timber tree he cuts down. In Java the birth of every child is celebrated by planting ft fruit tree, which is carefully tended as a record of the age of the child

whose age it registers. This wise regard for the future deserves imitation. Many people complain of fatigue in the eyes or weakness of sight ; they cannot wad or write for any length of time without the page becoming indistinct and the letters running into each other. These are symptoms which can be removed by attention to the general health, rest, tonics and frequently (three or four times a day) bathing tbe forehead and eyes with cold water. Bat never neglect them. Cold bathing of the whole body every day, making a habit of it, in fact, is a grand conservator of tbe sight. For this purpose if the person can bear it, the shower bath always dash a little water in the face first, then spring boldly in ; don't take the water a toe at a time. When yoar eyes are at all weak never work in the twilight, and never go out io very bright sunshine. We extract the following practical sug« gestions on the management of bees, from a welNinformed exchange :— To those who keep bees, and wish tohavethe proprietor's rent in honey, without adopting the cruel and barbarous plan of smothering the industrious insects chloroform is attended with the best success to itupify tbe bees, un'il the master can remove what combs he may require or think proper to take. The fact is done thus :-On a table sear the hive spread a linen cloth, and on this place a plate having tbe sixth-part of an ounce of chloroform, covered with gaus« wi'e to prevent any bees falling in. Gently lift the hive on the plate, and cover it over with a sheet of cloth. In twenty minutes tbe bees will be all asleep, and out of the comb, lying helpless on tlit table. Your bees will soora revive and return, on receiving fresh a»r, to fill np the void anew. The best time is early on a fine morning, as the little insect* will have the benefit of a fine day to recover from their torpidity. The Marewhenua correspondent of the Mount Ida Chronicle gives a few particulars of a very handsome and spacious country house, erected by the Hon. B. Campbell, at his Ofekaike estate, nesr Wailaki. The bu>lding is of white stone, obtained on 'he ground. la another direction local industry has been encouraged for the slates for tbe roof come f rom Ote* popo quarries. Tbe building contains forty rooms, all supplied with water from the Oiekpike river. Incase of fire the tank is built at an elevation sufficient to supply power to throw wa ; er over the very >op of the building. No expense lias been sprred, and when fioished the residence Will be one of the finest in the Colony. It is si.uated in a valuable freehold of about 20.000 acres, 10,000 of wbich formed tbe once famous Mare* whenua block. The valuation lists, says the Otago , Daily Times, for the Lake County return the p.uni'al value of the combined ridings as £33,903 4s lOd. Allowing that the Council accept the extreme limit and srike a shilling rate, the revenue there* from barely amounts to £1700— a sum which will scarcely pay the County officials, judging from tke appointments already made. The Wakatip Mad looks upon the assessment as ridiculously small, and advises appeal in the Assessment Court to increase tbe valuation. The Cromwell Argus says :— How little is known of the system under which we are now governed was shown in Court on Friday, when two publicans were charged with neglecting to take oat licenses for their 'billiard tables. It appeared that, acting in ignorance, Messrs A ngel and Peake had sent their money to Dnnedin, as in former years, and had received receipts for same, notwithstanding that the Dunedin authorities must have been aware they were collecting County revenue, wbich they had no right to do. As Mr Simpson pointed out to the erring j üblicans, it was just possible their ignorance of the law might cost them a five pound note each. The Magistrate pointed out to tbe several defendants— for three cases were before him of a similar nature — that tbe money should have been paid to the County Treasurer, and advised the defendants to endeavor to obtain a refund thereof from the Provincial Treasury. One piece of information, however, Mr Simpson neglected to furnish, which is this— To whom should the money have been paid in counties where the Act is not in force, and who has tbe right to receive such fees. They have a " blighted being "in Nelson, who advertises that if there is any more scandal to the detriment of bis wife's character after January 15lb, he, Samuel Blight, of Nile-street West, Kelson in* tends taking legal proceedings. Some persons holding respectable positions in Nelson have been guilty of destroying the tront in the Maitai river by means of dynamite. Tbe following extract from an English paper gives a description of the machine invented by Captain Turquand, of the Household Brigade, for shearing sheep : — 'I be most remarkable invention in tbe show is Captain Turquand's sheep-shear-ing machine, for steam or manual power. The sheep is secured in a moment by I pinioning his legs in clasps upon the inclined flap of a table, the sheep lying upon a web stretched within a frame. When one side has been clipped, the sheep is turned over almost instantaneously upon another flip of a table, the clasps being transferred at a stroke by spying

catches from one table to the other. The clipping tool, resembling a horse clipper, is held in the h«nd, and passed over all parts of .the animal, and can strip off the wool as close to the skin at possible, without liability to wound. The dipper is actuated with a high velocity by an indiarubber belt from a long transversing ! along the roller from end to.end according as guided by the position it which the clipper is held. The roller aay be driven by wheel and crank, or by asy motive power, It is calculated that by thismachine a man clips five times the number j of sheep in tbe same time, as compared with hand work by the common shears. This invention promises to effect a, vast saving in the time and cost of dipping incurred by the colonial fioekmaster, and will probably prove a great aflqnisition to flockmasters who are compelled to em* ploy dear labour in England, Tbe Melbourne correspondent of the Ballarat Star says :— « An idea M been broached of a very common-sense char* acter with respect to any ftitore contest that may be fought with the AU-l&land cricketers. It is simply that the principle of handicapping adopted in bilßards and other masculine amusements slstald be applied to cricket, and that instead of patting a larger number of meitinttftnefield, which necessarily cramps the effort* of tbe batsmen, oar me* should play e'even only, and receive a certain number of points, or runs, as an equivalent for the men excepted from the team. By ibissimple plan, the cricketing public worid soon have an opportunity of seeing what our visitors can do when only opposed by the ordinary number of toe fieldsmen, and their play wonld then be rendered more I entertaining and instructive." Towards the end of 186 a, the Daily Times reprinted from an English paper an account of a wager for 1,000 guineas, made and won by Sir John Tbrogmortoa ia 1811, that gentleman undertaking to wear at dinner in the efening a coat made of wool which had been growing on the sheep's back the same morning. Through) the energy of a clothier named Coxeter, the conditions were fulfilled within thirteen hours, and Sir John duly wore the coat at rejoicings in which 5,000 persons participated. Tbe event is recalled by the death of Mrs Coxeter, which took p^ace on November 27th, at Newbory. Mrs Coxeter was then 10Z years and nine months old, and retained all her facttWe* (o the last. She was born at Wittey, and distinctly remembered hearing John Wesley preach there. She was married at the age of eighteen, and bad eleven children, of whom fire are still living. Sia Aitley Cooler the renowned British surgeon once said that no own should be aware from his sensations that ba ha* • stomich Alas! how manr thousands are paiufu'.ly and continaaUy reminded of the existence of that organ. Dyspepsia render* tbe lira of these unfortunate* perfectly miserable. Every manifestation of the cliteatr vanishes, however, when UDOtMRC WotM**- \ Scbimhm Aromitic Sohkapps is used to strengthen the stomach and associate organs.