MISCELLANEOUS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 194, 15 November 1872, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

From the ' Sydney Morning Herald of the''2sfch ultimo we take the following—" The A.5.N... Gompany's steamship .Wonga Wonga arrived yesterday from Cleveland Bay, alter a splendid passage of 110 hours. She brings -260 returned diggers, all of whom give most deplorable accounts of the prospects at. the Charters Towers goldiields. The A.S.JN". Company under the -peculiar circumstances of the case, have brought them back at very low rates, in fact for very little over the cost of victualling." A Hobart Town paper of a recent date, says : —Estimating this season's (Tasmania) wool-clips at five million pounds in. round numbers, and the increase in the value of wool, as evinced by the increase in the merchants' rate, at 6d per lb, this represents an increase of 5,000,000 sixpences to the year's income of the wool-producers of the Colony; or £125,0J(), which, if distributed over the Colony, would, taking the population at 100,000, and an average of five individuals to each family, be equivalent fco a gift of £3 os to every family in the Colony. The effect of such art addition to the wealth of the community, cannot fail to make itself felt, in giving new vigor to industries that are now while it should also lead to the introduction of other enterprises calculated to benefit the community. "A Miner" states the following facts, and propounds the following question to the ' Australasian :—Having been lost on several occasions in the bush, I was always much struck with the phenomenon, that my wanderings from my legitimate path were occasioned invariably by a swerving towards the right, and thus I described a circle or nearly so on each separate occasion. Several bushmen whom I have . consulted on the . matter aver that this rule holds good when' "applied to travellers in general in a similarpredicament, for as soon as lost they gradually ebb into, the gyrations of this ' bush. ( whirlpool. Would you or any. of your readers inform me what is the cause of this inclination to the right. An old bushman offers the theory, that inasmuch .as the right foot is the more vigorous and active, hence the deviation; but I can never satisfy myself in regard to the apparent mystery.' The following is from the ' Beaufort Chronicle ' : having been cirulated that Miss Mullane's work was' inferior to that of the newlyappointed sewing mistress of the' Middle Creek Common Sehool. Mrs. Mullane hereby challenges Mr. Lhotellier to cut out and sew for the sum of one or five pounds."

On Tuesday, the 10th September (says the 'Forbes Times'), the champion walker of •California walked against time, opposite Bray's G-reat - Eastern Hote'. There was a pretty large attendance. Edwards is certainly a splendid walker, and when he puts on a spurt he seems to go as fast as most men can run. He pei*formed the distance' (seven miles) in a minute or two urider the hour, and did not appear to be at all distressed by his performance.. Austin, the champion runner of Australia, appeared for a short time, "and gave a, spurt or two round the course." OddfSllowsbip —The Ancient Independent Order of Oddfellows will henceforth be,known by the distinctive title of the " Independent Order of Oddfellows,*' as adopted; by the last session of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand/and registered under the Friendly Societies Act 1867. This is the name of.tiie Order throughout Great Britain, America, Continent of Europe, and Australia. The laws, as revised in a condensed form last July, having now been registered, are in full operation from the" date. It is in connection with this Order that the Oddfellow's Hail is to be built.—' Star.' A C l iinaman in the Tnapeka hospital attempted to destroy himself, a day or two ago, by plugging his nostrils with paper, and lying with his body across a stretcher to produce suffocation, but the experiment failed, though he determined to accomplish his purpose. He died on Monday, but whether from this former ailment or the effects of his attempted suicide, we have not heard,