MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 412, 25 November 1884, Page 6

MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

• — ♦ . Hoaxed. Tha Nelson 'Colonist ' hrs put its foot into it, and this time in a tender place, by amounting that the wife of a resident had presented her husband with tilpleti— a statement which was afterwards found to be incoirect. The 'Colonist' expresses a "desire to rect^y th« matter at once. The Cattle Trade. The Tasmanian ' Mail ' says that & suitable steamer is ruder offer for the New Zealand cattle trade, provided the proprietor can get a guarantee of seventy-five head of cattle per month, the freight only chargeable on the ptnmals being delivered alive. The negotiations are acsuming a satisfactory aspect, and there is every probability of the vessel in question being placed on the trade very shoitly. The Uniou Steamship Company are also contemplating entering into the cattle-, trade on a systematic scale, and to that end arrangements are now under consideration by which cattle will be shipped direct from the Bluff to Hobart. At present stock are sometimes three days on board before the vessel clears the New Zealand shore owing to the animals being shipped at the first ports oE call ; but by shipping at the Bluff the voyage will be reduced to three days. Southland Dairy Factories. A dairy factory is projected in Woodlands, Southland, and although the concern is only in an initiative stage, a daily supply of over 600 gallons of milk has already been guaranteed. Woodlands is not more than 14 miles from Edendale, where & similar factory is already in operation. At Fairfax, also in Southland, the milk of about 2C ) cows ha 3 been promised for a local factory. At a meeting of the committee, Mr Hamilton, of Thorn bury, who had recently v'sited Great Britain, said that his visit bad confirmed him in the favorable views of the systam he had previously held. Third he saw people who had been brought up tt their business— who had been as it were, " to the manner born," giving up the private manufacture of butter and cheese and sending all the milk to the factory. By doing so they saved labor and and they saved money, and were able to put in the market an article very much superior to what they had been in the habit of producing, The argument in favor of it apnUed with much greater force and truth, where labor is so, much more valuable and produce of every kind so much lower in price, and where the experience to private manufacture is only being acquired, the greater part of those engaged in agriculture in the district having had no previous expeiience in dairy work. The Political AthleteThe true athlete of the time, says the ' Lancet,' is Mr Gladstone. The world has seen nothing like Irin since the days of Palmerston.whoso octogenarian youthfulness excited jits admiration. Mr Gladstone has fewer 3 r ear3 than Palmerston had when he reached the height of his populaiity and power, but his energy is faster arid more remarkable. He:liP9 nob the gay and light mind, the bonhomie, that was so characteristic of Palmerston. . He is a grave man ; be worls harder at the great problems of Statf, of political and international morals, oE economics, than^Pnlmerston ever did. We aro speaking apart f,.'om nil poll tied questions and issue} ; we are speaking from a physiological standpoint ; ard we pronounce the physical and men :.al power displayed by Mr Gladstone in the last fortnight in Scotland, after five years of scarcely paralleled labor, to be a piece of veritable athleticism worthy the study of. young men, and a fit subject of pride to the nation. The Game-OS Clan. Having in previous years produced histories of the Mackenzie^., the MacDonalda and the Mathesons, Mr Alexander Mackenzie F.S.A. Scot., the editor of the « Celtic Magazie,'now favors us Vtlth a fourth massive volume of nearly five hundred pages, giving a " history of the Camerons,with Genealogies of the Piincipal Families of the Name." The record is remarkable for its coaaple u eness,and it is deeply interesting to trace the siory of the numei'eus branches of the ancient house, many of whose member have distinguished themselves in every walk of life, not only in the land, of their nativity ,but also in England aid in the [colonies. This is illustrated in a conspicuous degree in the section of the work devoted to the Camerons of Cuilchenna, a branch of th a . family of Callp.rt. The c have included a remarkable number of d>tinguished men. One of the number is the military veteran Sir Duncan Alexander Cameron, X.C.8., now colonel of the Black Watch, who served through the Crimean campaign, commanding the 42d at the battle of the Alma and the Highland Brigade at Balaclava. " There are many prominent men now living," says our author, " belonging to this renowned and historic clan, such fs Commander Verney Cameron, R.N., the famous Airican explorer; Dr Charles A. Cameron, the eminent analyst of Dublin, and F.R.C.SI, ; Dr Charles Cameron, M.P. for Glasgow ; and many others, who have added in our own time to the histoiic fame of the Cameron clan." Richer than Vanderbilt. An American paper says that Lord Rupeitswood, of Victoaa, is reported „o be richer than W. H. Vanderbilt. He is worth more than. L40,000,C JO, and his wealth is rapidly increasing. He inherited a great estate from his father, iucludipg millions of cattle and sheep in Australia. His residence in Melbourne is said to be tha most I magnificent in the world ; it cost L 800,000." " Lord Rupertsvvood " h Sir William John Clarke, of Rupci\swood, the fiut resident Australian baronet, whose father started as a cattle-dealer gin Ta=nainia, then ., bought largely in Victoria, and made great "sums by advances on station property to needy squatter ; but we fear our American contemporary is exaggerating the amount of his riches. Revolting Atrocity The following revolting atrocity occurred recently •— An Assamese and his wife had been living happily together far some yeirs, when the former heoame enamoured of a young girl, and in cori^o of time, according to the customs of the country mai>rieii h.ep. Dissensions and strife occurred as a matter of couv3e. She fi'-st wife, terribly jealous, determined to be revenged on thembotb. She accordingly one day remained at home to cook the food, while the others were in Jthe fields engaged in their rice cultivation* A savoury dish of curry and rice awaited them on their return, and it was not until they : bad appeased their appetites that they ' learned, to their horror, tftat tfte flps|i b.ad mupdgred ty» younges^ ch^ld, and served up & pprtipn q£ its flesh, for them I to eat, Civsketer's Calf. There is a disease well'known in the h,p,sm}t talsaa "housemaid's knee," brought cm by too. much, contact of the. knees with hard Hubstances in washing, scrubbing, dusang I and the like. A new development of the j disease, which merits the special attention of crickctev.i is reported from Nottingham, where William Oscroft, the famous professional, is in danger of losing one or both of h 3 legs. Q«crof c, whose cricketing days ended a few years a/*q Jhrflugh. iil-nealth. \yag puj; : wicket' perhapT offcener than any other player of his generation, and the result of much contact of the hard cricket ball with h'.s Jej has been to rev-^,l a serious disease. Mtssrs W. G. Grace, A, IG. Steel, and other celebrat- 1 c icketem, whose besetting kin is to place, ttjeiy. lf°vi where th,e bfs ought tp fee] liquid take a warning from th,e case p,f Ojcrof t, .' nd beware of '■'■ cricketer's calf. 1 ' Better be Saving of WaterRichard A. Proctor says that the a«e of the earth is placed by some at 800,Q0,Q,C($ years, and still others of latey time, amqng them the Duke of Argyle, plapp it a,s 10,000,000 years, None place ;t lower t^an IG,OOO,QCJ, knowing the processes that have been gone through. The earth mu|t have become old. Newton surmised, although he could give no reason for it, that the earth would at one time become perfectly dry. Since then it has been found that Newton vras correct. As the earth keeps j ollipg i

will become porous, and ,great cavities will, be formed in the interior,' which will take in ; the water. It is estimated that this process is now in progress so far that the water diminishes at the rate of the thickness of « sheet of paper a ye;sr. At this rate in 9,000,000 years the water .will have. sunk a mile, and in 15,000,000 years every trace of ■water will have disappeared from 1 the face 6f the globe. How China Got its Name. Upwards of iIOO years before Christ the Chinese were a people ruled by a dynasty of Kings, of whom, like the Pharaohs of old, there is no clear history, and not until the ; " Chow" 'dynasty, B. C. 1125. is there any ; clear history of the main Chinese States. i The Chinese take their history ba r :k to the i lime of Noah. This very ancient empire has j borne in its time many names, for it was a j custom when a new dynasty ascended the ; throne to give \ tothcr name to the empire, j as Hai-quo, Cham-que, Han-que, etc., accord--1 ing to the nann of the ruling monarch. The j true name is said to be Cham-que, " the ! centre kingdom of the world." This term j was by usage corrupted to Chin-que, and ! from this word \\\t Portuguese gave it the name of China. China proper consists of eighieen provinces, containing 250,000,000 of people. A Great Business. The United States of America is the home of some very large entcrpiise3, but none perhaps greater than the business conducted by Mr G. G. Green, of Wooclbury, New Jersey, U.S.A. He is the proprietor nf the wcllknown Uoschea's German S3~rup, which is unequalled as a remedy for Pulmonary nnd Bronchial affections. He manufactures also Green's August Flower for Dyspepsia and all disorders of the Liver. Tb^ c preparations p p e used throughout the civilised world and thovands testify to their valuable curative proparc.es. Both these preparations have reached an immense sale solely on their merit",. Sample bottles of each are sold at 6d, or full-sized bottles at 3a 6d. All druggists keep them.