MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 46, 25 July 1877, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

It has been the whim of more than one .literary genius to burst upon an astonished ' world under the veil of a modest anonymity. Sir Walter Scott was the great unknown, not until long, after they had -published her first wort were Messrs Blackwood acquainted wijh (he. identity of George Elliot. It is said, that the same publishers have another literary 'treat in store for the world. Some month ago they received the manuscript of a novel, to be brought out in monthly parts, from an author who declined to communicate either his (or her), name or sex. In all the negotiations which have 'since passed between them, this incognito has been strictly preserved. The work m question is now about to appear under the ti,tle of " A Modern Minister." The English deputation to the Episcopal jubilee of Pius IX» will be upwards of two hundred strong,' and of a thoroughly representative character ; prelates and peers, country gentlemen and ■professional men, priests, shopkeepers and Yorkshire farmers being upon it. The chief ecclesiastic with it is Dr Clifford, ■the Bishop of Clifton ; Cardinal Wanning, whose health has been very indifferent ot late, being unequal to the fatigue of the journey. The lay portion is headed by the Duke of Norfolk, who is to present the address. The Holy Father on this occasion will receive something more than devout congratulations from the faithful. In England a collection was made on a recent Sunday in all the Catholic Churches and the result is said to be over £10,000. The Catholio Union of Great Britain makes a special present of £3000. In America some £60,000^ have been raised as a jubilee gift. Altogether, it is calcu* lated, money or moneys worth to the extent of half a million would find its way to Borne before the 3rd of June. The junior branches of. the English nobility appear to have curious ideas of humour. Was it very funny for four "gilded youths" to assume clerical costume, and in that disguise to enter various taverns in the Strand and to assume intoxication P Such was done last Thursday, and many worthy people were taken in by the hoax, and waxed eloquent over the debaucheries attendant on the May meetings. All that can be 9aid in favour of the business is, that its perpetrators were members of the clique that is generally supposed to have " plied its bottom dollar" on Morier, and had therefore to let off some spleen against somebody or other.

Information has been received at New York of the terrible slaughter^! a Mora* vian missionary and his family at t the settlement at Lance, a camp on the La« ) brador coast, during the absence of the young ministers from the mission-house and while the only occupants were two feeble clergymen, the son of oae of them a paralytic, and his two sisters. The names of the victims are Rev. W. Balfe. who has spent thirty years in Labrador: iirnaDd Balfe, his son, and Charlotte and rule n' S dau £ Ute ™- The bodies were fnghtfuly m an ? led, and a large quantity tL^ ? nd ° at *dian mone? stolen. The murder 1S believed to be traceable to four Esquimau^, who had been refused rum a,t the mission. In Paris there are fifty-eight butchers ot horses, who last year sold 9271 horses asses, and mules in joints and steaks ' An extraordinary occurrence has taken place at Norwich. The performances, at a circus m the town incladed a representation of Dick Turpin's ride to York. The •• ride, " as is well known, results in the death of Black Bess, and she his borne on hurdles from the circus. On one occasion recently, the mimic, representation was converted into a reality, for when the grooms attempted to. remove the mare which figured as Black Bess from the hurdles, she was found to. be actually dead. The balancesheet of the Mount Rangitoto Silver Mining Company shows receipts amounting to £3631 1O« Id, leavving a balance at the credit of the company in the bank of £454 9s Bd, on the 14th June. The amount of unpaid calls £343. The chief expenditure, namely, in, opening the mine, paid in wages, contracts, cartage, and packing, amounts to £2426 6s lid; in assay plant, cupel furnaces,, and scales, £49 ; and in mining material. £258 123. A very interesting discovery of the. skeleton of a moa is reported to have b.eea made on Mr Me Tier's farm in the Awitu] district, Auckland. Mr MeTier ' ha,d some men emyloyed draining a swamp on his farm, and, they found, at a depth of four fees from the surface, a number of> • large bones, which they supposed at first . to be those of a bullock. Upon the matter, being reported ty> Mr Me Tier he. examined the. bones and identified them, as being those of a moa. A careful search was then ma.de for the remainder of the. skeleton, and the " Herald " is informed that the whole of them, with the exception] of one or two smali ones, have been found. Mr Me Tier intends to send the. skeleton^ to the Museum, at Auckland. Ladies frequently complain that the. black silks tiiey purchase w^ar badly. Their complaints are not wjthouj; reason, but then the fault has tyeen thejr. own, for they have insisted upon' procuring as heavy a material fiy their! money as possible. As a matter or. course, the. supply has been arranged to meet the. demands, and black silks have. been, weighted with a compound of oxide of iron and tannic acid, with the natural result that the fabric is rotted by the. means adopted for imparting the desired I weight. So, too, with white silks which, in some instances, consist of one part ofoxide or carbonate of lead. The Chemical Review points nut that persons who are. constantly handling sucli goods are liable to leadj poisoning, miliners and dressmakers especially running great risk in this respect, since they sew with poisoned silk, and, are not uiifrequently i,n , the" habit of biting off the endsi of the threads, which, perjiaps they keep for. a time in their mouths. Lead being a cumulative, poison, it onjy requires time for the, development of colic, palzj, and other] alarming symptoms, the medical attendan t being' puzzled to know how. the poison was taken into the system. The risk of lead poisoning not infrequently arises from anothor source, to winch" 1 shall refer in my next article.