MISCELLANEOUS.

Kumara Times, Issue 175, 26 April 1877, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Patea Mail hag ;been favored with a veiy interesting account of a ; trip in search of gold in the Taranaki province, written by one of the, party, Mr Robert Hughes, a gentleman cary!ing on business in New Plymouth, and .who for years had strong faith that gold will yet be found in payable quantities in that province. . Many excellent prospects were found, principally consisting of gravelly -stuff similar to what has been found jat, Charleston, on the West Coast. The writer says X have not the shadow of a doubt but that it is not far from Tukemaho where gold will ultimately be found. The places tried : were on native land. I am willing to be off again, with two or three experienced men, so confident am 1 that gold is to be found tbab way.” School girls in New York have substituted pennants for pendents in earrings; their latest device consists of small bows of gros-graih ribbon, of all shades, tied in rings. - Mr John Bright has recently taken occasion to repeat. his objections to capital punishment. He calls the law unchristian and unphilosophical, and thinks that with a different mode of punishment there would be fewer murders, he adds that the hangings of the past few years have been shocking to him, and that he. marvels at the insensibility ot bis countrymen. At a recent inquest held at London on a dock laborer, who died from excessive drinking, it was stated that the men are in the habit of throwing the cases of spirits about untild some of the bottles break, and then- sucking the liquor from the cracks. Husband; ” I say, Lizzie, what on earth .did you make, this mint' sauce of ?”—Young Wife (who has been “helping”' cook)” Parsley, to. be : sure.”—Punch.

Ejaculation, overheard, in a railway carriage in answer, to the greeting of “ Happy New-year “ Noo year, yah ! Wish I’d died last year ; I’d ’a been a much richer man.”

It was in excavating for approaches to the Outram . bridge that gold was discovered there. From a practical miner, who remained” for a couple of days, the Times learns that there are nearly , one hundred men on the ground. The stuff washed out aevraged three or four grains to the dish, and water being only about one hundred or a hundred and fifty yards

away, an experienced miner' could make 15s or ; 18s or even XI, per day. Though there is a large number of people on the ground, very little harf been done in the way of testing. The washdirt covers an extensive area. There is no present reason why a rush should set in; so far as known, the area of washdirt is limited. The Jdiscovery was made upon the Government reserve, but the lead may extend into private ground. A woman—one of the immigrants per Northampton, was “ run in” for being drunk and disorderly. She’denied the soft impeachment. She was not drnnk } never was drunk. Her explanation waa this : About two years ago, while carrying home some vegetables, a spring cart, in turning a corner, ran over her feet. "From that time both legs were subject to the “ shakes” upon her becoming the least excited. The close of a long voyage, together with-her landing, were sufficient causes for excitA ment, and excited she got. This increased as she viewed the interior of New Zealand’s metropolis, and her legs began to get more and more unsteady. The attention of a policeman was attracked by this, but he waa inhuman, to take her to the lock-up, instead of conveying her home. The Magistrate was loth to punish a woman with so much ingenuity. Possibly he thought her of the right grit to ma|e her mark in the land of her adoption, and he did not want to check her career in the bud. He merely cautioned her, and let her join her tribe.

la December', 1873, there was a first prize bullock shown at Edinburgh, Scotland, weighing, when living, 28cvrt. of 1121 b. He was purchased by weight at lOd per pound, and slaughtered by Mr Thomas Townsen, butcher, at the village of' Wray, near Lancaster, England. At the aboVe price per pound he amounted to £B4 8s 4d. He weighed in pounds 2026, and was a magnificent .rich roan, standing 16 hands 2 inches high, four years old. He was bred and fed in Scotland. Many Inquiries have been .made in- England, but nothing equal to him has been heard of. -Thin English “ bullock must, however, give?' the “ pas ” to -the Wanganui bullock “ Prodigious,” which was exhibited in Wellhigton,* little morethanayear ago' MpvM'Leap 1 gave £l2O for him. t -Ilia lire weight was 35c wt ; of 1121 b ; age, . 8 years '; height, 6ft* in length, lift; 'Width across loins, 2ft , llin: ■

~.An errand boy, while walking in,the streets' of Manchester, Suddenly dropped down dead. The surgeon who examined the body found the cause td be a bullet which had-entered the skull exactly at the top. It had been fired m the air from a rifle, and having reached a certain height when its force Was spent, it o£ course, according to the laws of gravitation, began to descend, and in that descent gathered an accumulative force, equal'it is said to the force-With- Which it was originally projected from the rifle. In these times when young men and.lads are entrusted with arms of precision and ammunition, this remarkable accident ought to operate as a caution when their pieces are discharged in the air.

By the San Francisco mail boat •arrived a Mr Whitaker, commercial traveller, who has been exhibiting various specimens of Yankee industry in the North. His- stock is thus catalogued by Snyder in the Poverty Bay Herald Mr Whitaker, United .States commercial traveller, can produce something which, looks at first sight to be' one thing, but upon explanation is shown to be half a dozen other things quite different, which only an -American in renter could have conceived and reduced to a reality. Among other inventions shown us were a fire kindler, which at the expense of a farthing, burns for 15 minutes; a clothes line holder which dispenses with, all knots or tying ; a sash tightener which keeps out dust, supersedes weights, and prevents, windows from rattling ; a potatodigger that will dig a row of potatoes as fast as a man can walk; a self-open-ing gate; a wonderful rat-trap, by which the rat is-caught by fancying he sees a brother rat when it is only his own reflection in a looking.glass; a thimble with a small implement attached which threads a needle in'ah instant; a simple invention: for preventing lamps, from exploding. There is'a curious piece of furniture Which Mr Whitaker will bring with him on his next visit. It is at’first sighfa chest of drawers; turn a winch and it becomes a beadstead ; fold over a flap and there is an easy chair; undo a small fastening and there is an oval table ; turn it upside down, pull a spring, when it becomes a sideboard with .several cupboards; do something else very simple, and behold a bookcase; tirn a binge, and there again is the original chest of drawers.

A man named Ben Bailey, at Timaru, was knocked down by a bullock, and , a dray passed over his body, occasioning his death.