MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

Inangahua Times, Volume III, Issue 90, 16 March 1877, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

Mr A. R. Wallace, writing from Dork* ing, Surrey, to a contemporary, says :— " My attention having b»en called to a discussion in four paper in October la#t» in which both Captain Hntfon and * VeritY appears to misunderstand the points on which I differ from Mr D«r» win, may T be »ttovrpd briefly to explain my views on the special mutters referred to. Firstlr, then. Ifu \j acee >t. th* dec* trine of Evolution and the theory of da* scent as applied to the development of all organic form*, including mm, while my objections refer solely to the assumption that nn other Agencies than * spontaneona variation' and 'natural selection' have ewsed such development. Even Mr Darwia now admits that there are such unknown laws or agencies at work, and those who deny this are more Darwinian than be is himself. As regards mam I hold thai his descent from a lower aaimil is almost demonstrated j bat I main* tain thai in his ease there are plain indications that other causes bave been at work in addition to those which have operated in the ease of the lower animals. I also hold that there t* much reason tobelieve in a radical change of nature having occurred in nun in correlation with the development of the humin form* This is a very different thin* fr-nn * not including man in the theory of descent.* imposed on me by Captain Huston. As to my belif in the phenomen* of Sliinitualism, proving that I am a bad logician* I would remark that if belief in frets or penomena, after earefol personal investk gation, implies bad logic— merely be* cause these facts are unpopular, asvt aredisbelieved bby tho*e ho have not investigated them— then aH the founders of science nave been illogical. I maintain, on the ontrarj, that the 'bad logic* t» theirs who decide a priori what it and what is not possible, and ridicule the careful researches of men who, like Mr Crookea/the late Professor De Morgan* MtCvF. Varley.and many others, have fully considered the source* of possible error or delusion, and ye*, after >ong^C servation and 1 repeated tests* have arrived at the conclusion tnat these phenomena are realities." A correspondent of the Auckland Star writes :— A young man who was cleaned out by extortionate usury, and had to bolt from his oreditors, hit upon a device for getting a remittance from his gunner. He accordingly telegraphed from Waikato. to the old man as follow* :—" Begret to inform you yonr »«on Thomw was found drowsed this morning. What shall we do with remain*?" Then h« signed the name of John Smith, made th » telegram •'collect," and awaited the res«ilt After a short time a te.egram money order for £10 was received by the voting scapegrace, with the laconic t*pt», "nary them."* He went and buried his sorrows and griefs in the flowing &>&. Jfr a«W days he was cleaned out aga n. Then he wrote to the old man—" Dew father, I have just leaned that an infamous sooun* drel named John Smith sent yon » fictitious account of my death, and swindled yon out of £10. He ajaa bona lowed £5 from me, and left the Waikato, I am still alive, and long to see the old parental roof. lam in reduced etrCam* stances. Please send me£B(K Lore to. all— Your affectionate son, Angusta*" A few days later be received thefettosi^j| reply :— " My dear son, I have huned you once, snd there's an end of you. I decline to bave anything to do with a oorpee Yours, in the flesh, A BUkiuoove." X think that old «nan, was. newise green. I v (Jnder the hsadin^ " Kttortionate tT 801 y," " A father of a family " ad* dresses the following letter to the Aook* land H«raW*~ M I feel i< my datw ta

make public a matter «f»» «Hfy«totw natore. rarrnTorfflwl there, is/a nit>ney dealing Hem in this city wincing in the habit of advancing youn* men ; amonnt* at Mte* of itffere«t monstrous 'to reflect upon. I have lizard of three pounds being paid fat the loan of B«»ven pounds for seventy day' ? and thirty -live shillings for the Joan ora similar amount for thiry days* ««d in addition a charge o' 3* 8d in each ease under the name of commission for negotiating the loan ; and this rased Ily baalaesi was trajwanted wHh a rainor t , Now, I feel that this firo is a trap for young men, of which their father* should be aware, and that young men shoufd avoid like poison s temptation to indulge" in extravagances which, by caning them to enter Into engagements which they cannot fulfil, may lead them perhaps, to th# petpetrition of grater offences." A most extraordinary circumstance in connection with a sudden death from disease of the heart is mentioned by the Parkes correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald. He writes s— M The deceased had been in the employ of Mr Robert Simpson, grazier, at Duladerry Creek, and left there through illness, inteßding to go to Farkes Hospital. Deceased remained some four or five days io Bunbury ; and while drinking with a friend, he was talking intelligently abouf poets and great writers, and remarked: " In ten minutes I could tell more than j they ever wrote, and more than all the i great men of England 2' adding, ' 1 hare ( «een the Angel Gabriel and the Saviour. He then took off his hat, and, stepping back, fell into the arms of a bystander, •exclaiming, 'Let me fall and rest' The ■deceased spoke no more, and was dead in about five miDutes," The Victorian Parliament has voted £1500 for preliminary expenditure in «BtabHshing experimental farm at Dookie. The object is to show farmers, what wheat <nrops are suitable to certain climates, and in what rotation the crop* should be grown. It is held that such MW would raise the standard of cultivation in Tictora by establishing a system § or systems of rotation whereby lands might *c cropped without fear of impairing their fertility, and at the same time at a profit to -the oeoupants ; while experiments ■could also be eonduetei on these farms on 4he growth and after treatment of many products, the cultivation of which was (little understood by the majority of farmers in Victoria The cost of conducting the purely experiment portion was estimated At £1200 per annum ; of buildings, £3000 ; and the expenditure on the general farm at £800 to £700 per annum, until it was brought under cultivation, when the returns from this portion would probably -cover the outlay on the experimental grounds, . A Home correspondent writes to a con* (temporary <— "Before I pass from the dark and horrible to themes of a eheer'ul iiind, let me take sot* of an announcewent by the side of which all other nor* Tors grow pale. A committee of the ■established Presbytery of Edinburgh has been sitting upon drunkenness, and has now published the result of its inquiries. ft la* arrived at this sad estimate, namely, that within the area to wlrch its investigations were directed, drunken* ness has during tue laat fi«-e yea s increase i S§ per cent among man. WV Itnow what that means. Thirty-three per ■cent more enemies of the human race will grow fat upon the sale of drann ; as the -existing dram-sellera will grow »M*ty -three per cent more fat by their selfish trade. Thirty -three per cent more children will inherit the priceless advantages of a drunken parentage. Thirty-three |)er cent more parents wiil laugh to scorn the instruction imposed by the Btate, while they afford to their children at borne their own undoubted but peculiar «docation. Thirty-three per cent more <women will learn the pleasure of working bard all day to earn the salutation of hobnailed boots, pokers, bill-hooks, kettles of scalding wafer, and other lmp'emmts ■of husbandry at night. 1 Hrtytbree per «ent move men will discover the excellency of our laws of matrimony and divorce which grant to the wealthy cuckold, though the victim of bub one offence, a release they deny to him whose wife is daily debauched by drink." A pigeon message from the steamer Kotorttfl, outside Manukaa Heads, to the Auckland Storr say 9 :— " The fore-cabin passetien are having theip ear. tickled with t&g preaching of two Jsiwmon*, who havin JSeett doing an flnraeeessful preaching tour through this colony, are; reluming without any proselytes. The great talking man is named M'Cormick, has red hair and beard, a long chin, prominent eyes, prominent nose, and is altogether a prominent fellow. His brother is grey-beaded. The Mormons say that the New Zealand people are too straight* laced and demure, and that the population is composed of Methodises, Quakers, and Money grubbers. The preachers are mortified at their ill-success. They intended trying Auckland, but hearing that the place is exceedingly more virtuously inclined than the South, did nothing but shake their fists at it. They are trying bard to allure into their wav of thinking two or three passengers, who are listening attentively ; but much enraged with a few who rile them rith sarcasms. They are disgusted with New Zealand, and will never more return to its an-Moroion-like shorps. ; The following complaint appears m a letter in a Southland paper :— " Swagging it down country I was met by a man who wanted men for harvest. I accepted the offer, but was quite satisfied with that little game in three days, for three days «nd nighta of greater miser; I never put in. We worked from seven in the morning till eight at sight, and sucked our drink from a bole in the middle of the harvest fi^ld, and of all the places in which any man lay to rest, for filih, smell, aud jEtau, I think tb«t hut could not be beat. 'J he ridge battens being gone let rain in vertically, and all the other plankfi being wa»ed f split, and broken, sent a general shower all around. Old potato-bags, bar- 1 ness, and everything dirty wa» stored therein. And vet the man who so worked and housed his people w^ not a poorj man. Ne; he lent his daughter to a, Dunedia boardmg-tohool, and kept a piago in In* bouse, if be kept nothing bat filth and fleas io 'that of bis men, and I daresay would be bard w persuade he was anything but an honest and upright man. Tb» Otago Guardian of a recent date fays s-fNo fewer than 36 insolvents have filed their sbedules in JJuuedin wince the COHimeoeenwnt «f the year. The fact oi' m& a Hpcowion of buikiuvtuy bwuw

i» attributed not simply* to tetßporar] . commercial stagnation, bat mainly to th< inoHWwd facilities for " whitewashing ? afforded tmder the new Debtors anc Creditors Act. The effect of the new regulation is to render the process ratbei agreeable than otherwise, and it is little tmtter for astonishment that, under the circumstance*, so many should take ad« vantage of its provisions to escape those tittle financial embarrassments which colonists, like Colonial Gorernments. are sometime* liable to. The Act is conveniently learned to specially protect local "creditors at the expense of the absent, fqr the power of accepting a compromise •or amicably arranging affairs with the in« solvent is entrusted to a majority of those "present" at the meeting convened to deal with the estates. Mr Registrar Ward commented on the fact yesterday, remarking that the provision seemed an extraordinary one." At Wolverhampton recently, Francis Lorgland, licensed victualler, of Kingthorpe, Northamptonshire, and Thomas Warren, farmer of the same place, were charged with conspiring to defraud the treasurer and secretary of the Wolverliampton Race Committee, by running a tbree-year old horse named Sphinx in a two-year old race, under the name of Glance. The horse bad run at Birmuig-' ham the day previously as a three-year-old, and was afterwards painted, his tail cut, and otherwise disfigured, in order that he should not be recognised. The ' prisoners were admitted to bail, themt selves in £200 and two sureties of £250 , ■ each. s I The Scotia claim on Jones' Plat (ways the Boss Guardian), so long under a cloud, is now paying about £9 per week per man. The reward is well deserved, as no men have ever bad so uphill a game to play as the shareholders of the Scotia, but by indomi'able perseverance they overcame all difficulties, and are now on a /air way of making at least a good living. . We regret to record the death of the eldest daughter of the late DrFeatherstou, which took place in Wellington on the 24th ult. The deceased was S3 years of age at the time of her death. In the Sydney papers, of the 14th instant, the death by chloroform, at Sydney, of Wiliiam Robertson, auctioneer, from New Zealand, is recorded. Robertson had been at the theatre on the previous evening, and on coming out stumbled and broke his ankle. He was taken to the infirmary, and there put under the influence of chloroform previous to reducing the fracture. The broken limb hid scarcely been set when heavy breathing, and bis face becoming rapidly livid, told of the man's danger. He died almost instantly, never having recovered consciousness. The doctors at the inquest stated that he bad died of sanguineous apoplexy. It was stated that the do* ceased bad been, before going to Sydney, fourteen years in New Zealand, and had previously lived in Melbourne. There he had arrivel from India, His age was given at sixty -five years, and it was stated that he has left a widow and family in some part of New Zealand. A real man and dog fight has been eele« brated i< Am rica with fatal results. A man named Connolly, whose recreation wa» the worrying of rats after the manner of ft terrier, being in a state of intoxication, offered to fight anjr dog in the place, Port Jarvis* Curled under a small table asleep was an English bull-dog of harmless disposition, wd John Connolly selected him for his opponent, and made a savage attack upon him. When once roused to fury the poor beast fastened on the man with a grip which all the efforts of the spectators could not loose, and was not relaxed even when the owner, drawing his revolver, and saving that it was a pity to kil the better of the two to save the worse, sho the unfortunate creature dead Connolly's Wounds proved fatal three days afterwards.