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Kumara Times, Issue 1077, 13 March 1880, Page 2

The following telegiam was received by his Worship the Mayor from the Hon. the Minister of Public Works this morning, by which it will be seen that Mr Oliver’s visit to this town will be of the shortest possible duration ; His Worship the Mayor, Kumara. Intend to arrive at Kumara on Sunday evening, and spend an hour or two there on Monday morning. R. Oliver. Reefton, March 13, 1880. Mr W. Linnell, one of the candidates at the election that is being held to-day for the vacant seat in the Westland County Council, addressed the electors at Dillman’s Town last evening. Although the candidate’s speech did not possess the merit of great oratorical ability, his views on the various matters in connection with the Council were well received by those present. The Christchurch coach, with two passengers and three bags of mails for Kumara, passed the Bealey early this morning, and should arrive in town at the usual hour this afternoon. The tram which usually leaves Kumara for Greymouth at 3.30 p.m. is announced not to run to-morrow afternoon. The Grey River Argus begs “ to direct the attention of miners to the fact that under the new Electoral Act the miner’s right qualification to vote is not now in existence.”—Our contemporary is in error'as under the “ Qualification of Electors Act, 1879,” holders of miners rights can exercise the same privileges as heretofore until such time as the electoral rolls under the “ Registration of Electors Act, 1879,” come into force which date shall be appointed by proclamation by the Governor in the Gazette. Major Atkinson is pronounced by the South Canterbury Times * a whiskey warrior of the first degree,” because “he has done more to bring whiskey and tobacco into thorough disrepute than any statesman of the nineteenth century, and if his name is not perpetuated in temperance

hymn-books, and drunk in bumpers of tea and lemonade at future temperance gatherings, the sin of ingratitude will be at the door of a great, a good, and ous cause* A few days ago we paragraph from a Sydney paper containing an account of a new invention of a Mr Corcoran’s Jfor simplifying the labor of clothes-washing, and at the same time pointing out that the instructions contained therein were of the vaguest nature* We are now enabled to give our reader's the modus operand! in extenso, which is as follows “ Take a quart funnel about seven inches in diameter at the Wide end and half-an-inch at the narrow end, and 10 inches in perpendicular height; make six holes round the rim each a quarter of an inch in diameter. Place this, wide end downwards, in a boiler with soap and water and pack the clothes round it, and when boiled for 20 minutes they should be perfectly washed. The result is produced by the generation of heat under the funnel, thus keeping the water in constant motion. The clothes should bd soaked over night.” Funnels should be at a premium for the next few weeks if this system is adopted by many operators at the wash-tub. For some time past, by direction of the Victorian Education Department, lessons have been given monthly to the boys in * the upper classes of the Echuca State school on the treatment to be followed in apparent death from drowning, but as the lessons afford no opportunity of showing how drowning persons may be rescued, the boys were lately marched in military order to the river bank, so that they might receive instruction how to act' in any such emergency. Upon arrival at the river side a boat was obtained, from which a lad, apparently by accident, fell overboard when in the middle of the stream, and was immediately followed by. a teacher, who succeeded in bringing him to the bank with some difficulty. The lad played his part well, and appeared to be totally unconscious, and no little amusement was caused by a bystander who, not aware of what was going on when the various methods for restoring animation were being gone through, in some concern suggested that a doctor should be sent for at once. In the bull-fighting days a Wednesbury blacksmith, who was rearing a bull-pup, induced his old father to go on all-fours and imitate the bull. The canine pupil pinned the old man by the nose. The son, disregarding the paternal roaring, exclaimed, “Hold him, Growler boy, hold him!—Bear it, feyther bear, it! it’ll be the making of the pup.” The Japanese language is a complete hieroglyphic system, and the caligraphy a system of drawing and painting. Every schoolboy has to learn at least one thousand different characters; in the elementary schools of the Government three thousand have to be taught. A man with pretensions to scholarship must be acquainted with about ten thousand, and a very learned man with that number multiplied many times. A Japanese must devote at least ten years’ persistent and earnest study to the acquisition of his own language if he desires to possess a knowledge of it sufficient for the purposes of an educated man. The mechanical art of handling the brush so as to paint the characters with skill and rapidity occupies no small part of a learner’s time. One of the Spanish provincial papers recently published a singular notice in its obituary column. It said: “This morning was summoned away the jeweller Siebald Blmaga from his shop to another and a better world. The undersigned, his widow, will weep upon his tomb, as will also his two daughters, Hlida and Emma, the former of whom is married, and the latter is open to an offer. The funeral will take place to-morrow.—TTia disconsolate widow, Veeontque Illmaga. P.S.—This bereavement will not interrupt our business, which will be carried on as usual, only our place of business will be removed from 3 Tessi des Teinturiers to 4 Rue de Missionaire, as our grasping landlord has raised our rent.” Holcroft, the well-known dramatist, supped one evening at Opie’s. After the cloth had been removed, numerous stories were told, among which was one of a gentleman who, having put out his candle on going to bed, read in phosphorescent characters on the wall “ Oc thy sins.” The gentleman fell oii nis’ knees, and, as expected, began to confess aloud. Not from terror, however, for, aware it was a trick to terrify him, devised by a certain waggish youug lady in the house, and hearing a little bustle on the stair head, guessed rightly that she and her companions were there to enjoy his discomfiture. He confessed as the greatest of his sins that he “had kissed Miss—frequently in the dark,” and so turned the tables on his tormentor with a . vengeance, a lesson she never forgot.