MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 6, 20 May 1863, Page 9 (Supplement)

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

According to the old proverb—"What everybody says must be true"—-and if so, we may safely aver that there never was, and never will be, such roads as we are blessed with in Otago and Southland. Not a soul travels them once without a hearty blessing, and not a day passes without a multitude of complaints, till at last they sound as monotonous as the note of that " beauteous stranger of the grove," that Cowper apostrophises, and apparently are productive of as little benefit. The " authorities," we should think, have become so accustomed to this " toujours perdrix " cry, that the sensitiveness of the official tympanum is somewhat affected —at least one would think so, from the sublime indifference with which such complaints are received. The following is from the "Invereargill Times" of May 8, anent the roads between that town and the Lake:— " The supineness of the Provincial Government threatens successfully to overcome the utmost energy of the merchants and traders who have for some months past been endeavouring to establish a trade between Invereargill and the Lake Diggings. When too late to do anything in the way of permanent road making, an experiment was tried on the North Road to keep open the traffic by means of a temporary tramway, which has been laid down with so little judgment or engineering skill, that draymen are unanimous in pronouncing it the worst part of the road ; while our Town Board by their improvements have raised the rate of cartage from the jetty to the stores in town from 4s. 6d. to 10s. Cartage to the diggings is £75 to £BO, and scarce at that. Goods have no market value in such a state of things, but holders are selling as opportunity offers, without any advance on former quotations." The Championship of the Thames.— The deposits for this event continue to be made with regularity. Richard Green, the Australian champion, has left L 25 with the stakeholder to row the winner, and as he has heard that Chambers wishes to row in a fortnight afterwards, should he prove victorious, Green is quite willing to make the match on those terms. Should Everson win, there is no doubt he will consent to anything reasonable.—English Paper. Gabdiner Sighted Once More.—The Western Post of the 21st instant states that a sawverintheemployofMr. W* F. Plunkett,of Denison Town, offirms most positively that he saw Gardiner, Lowrie, and Woodhart on Good Friday. The man resided some time on the Lachlan, where he was in the habit of seeing Gardiner daily. On the following day a stockman informed Mr. Plunkett that he had passed a camp fire in a secluded place, and at which no doubt the men had camped during the night. They are supposed to be on their way to the head of the Goulburn River, where they will be tolerably secure. Mr. Plunkett gave immediate information to the police.—& M. Herald, 23rd April. Massacre of Seamen of the Royal Navy. —A private letter of an. officer of H.W.S. Gorgon informs us of a sad event: Fifteen men and a sub-lieutenant of H.M.S. Penguin, who were chasing a dhow, were horribly massacred by the natives, on the coast of Soumali, near Cape Gnardarai, at the entrance of the Red Sea. Eight of the murderers were afterwards captured and killed.— Mauritius Gazette. On Wednesday evening a Chinese miner at Old Linton discovered a nugget, weighing an ounce and a quarter, in a very singular place. While sitting watching his fire he espied a bright object in t cleft in one of the logs, and on closer examination the nugget was revealed. From the position in which the nugget was ; found, there is reason to suppose that the branch had grasped it in its growth, and held it until the ordeal of the fire compelled it to give up its treasure in the way we hate seen.— Orenville Advocate, April 4. The escort from Burrangong this week has i been the poorest yet known, being only 109 ounces. There is a new rush, however, to a spot about twelve miles from the township, which it ! is hoped, will revive the fortunes of the district. *=* Sydney Mail, Mr. Thomas Chappell bit obtained 290 ounces of gold, the proceeds of 40 tons of quartz, from a reef at Morning Herald,