MISCELLANEOUS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 208, 21 February 1873, Page 1 (Supplement)

MISCELLANEOUS.

Cleeical sharphooting.—On one occasion*two clergymen accidentally met in the ' "Herald ' Office, Dumfries, and in the course of some clerical conversation, Mr. Dunlop, who was rather corpulent, said, with characteristic humor, "I hae the better o' you ministers o' the Establishment, for I attended baith your Divinity Hall and your ain, so, ye see, I'm like a calf that has suckit twa kye." " Ay, that ye are," said Mr. Crocket, "and a braw stirk they hae made ye." Mr. Dunlop felt himself foiled with his own weapon, but jocosely answered, " That's no sae bad, my freen Crocket, but I'll pay ye back for't some day." Not long afterwards, one Sunday morning, the two met again accidentally on the High Street of Dumfries, as the bells were being rung for public worship, when the following colloquy took place : —" How are ye the day, Mr. Crocket ? I hope ye're weel. Ye're gaun to preach in St. Mary ? s, I believe ?' 'lam; but who told you that?' 'Weel ye see, Mr. Crocket, I was just coming alangthe street, behint twa mason lads, when I heard one o' them them say, " Whaur'll we gang the day, think ye ? will we try St. Mary's ?" " Wha's to preach there ?" said the ither. "O, its Crocket o' Kirkgunzeon," was the reply. "O, it's him; he's nae great gun." Weel, I didna like to hear you made licht o', and so I stepped up, and touching them to St. Mary's and hear Mr. Crocket; if he's nae great gun, I can assure you he's on the shouther, I said, '-'Lads, gang a capital shot." G-ude day wi' ye.' After walking a few paces, he turned round, and calling Mr. Crocket, he said, ' I hae now paid ye back for the stirk.'

Angels and G-eese —A little band of old women on their way home in the evening, shortened the road by discussing the merits of the several preachers who had addressed them, when a worthy dame, who had not spoken before, on being applied to for her opinion, gave it honestly thus :—" Leeze me abune them a' for yon auld, beld, clear-headed man who spoke sae bonnie on the angels, when he said, Raphael sings, and Gabriel tunes his goolden herp, and a' the angels clap their wings wi' joy. O but it was gran! It just put me in min' o' our geese at Dunjarg, as they turn their nebs to the south an' clap their wings when they see the rain coming after lang drooth." A Ejlmaenock Bailie. —About half a century ago justice was somewhat curiously dispensed in the ancient burgh of Kilmaurs, as the following authentic anecdote will show: —Bailie Thomas M. is sitting on the bench of the police court evidently'bored by the case ot petty theft before him. It had long been talked out of all comprehension by the mystifying evidence of several female gossips of the village. The perplexity of the poor bailie having reached a climax, he orders silence, and, scratching his judicial head, addresses his trusty clerk thus—" John, what dae ye say ? Thae confounded limmers have bamboozeled a' the case. I can mak neither top nor tail o't. I suppose we'll jist hae tae find him guilty—eh ?" Judgment accordingly.—J. M. The following opinion lurnished by Mr. Barton for the Provincial Solicitor, is important to holders of agricultural leases under the G-oldfields Act, 1866. Clause 62 of the Waste Lands Act, 1872, gives an agricultural lessee who has been in possession of this lease under the Goldfields Act, 1866 for three years, if the conditions of the G-oldfields Act, have been complied with, and if there be no objection on the score of the ground being auriferous —a right to exchange his lease under the old Act for a lease which he can obtain under the sub-section 5 of the 54th section of the new Act. By this means he can acquire the freehold of his holding upon payment, by instalments, of 17s 6d per per acre over and above what he has paid previous to coming under the new Act, whereas if he had continued under the old Act, all the payments which he might make by way of rent, would not be allowed for as part of the purchase money, and notwithstanding what he had paid in rent, he would ultimately have to pay 20s per acre as purchase money. If an agricultural lessee desires to purchase this land, under the old Act, after being in possession for three years, he would have to pay 20s an acre ; whereas, under the new Act, he can obtain his freehold by the process mentioned for 17 6d per acre. He may pay the 17s 6d in fourteen equal instalments, extending over a period of seven years; and after exchanging his lease for one under the new Act, and paying one instalment more, he can, if he chooses, pay the balance of the 17s 6d at any time and obtain his Crown grant. The provision in the new Act will no doubt be largely taken advantage of. Applications for exchange of leases are not to be made to the Waste Lands Board, but to the Wardens.

A shrewd confectioner has taught his parrot to say " pretty creature"' to every lady who enters the shop, and his business is rapidly increasing.

A singular grievance forms the subject ■•■■'..' of complaint in a letter written to the Melbourne 'Argus.' The writer finds himself called upon, when the Polynesian slave trade is attracting so much notice, to call the attention of the public to " another branch of slavery." According to this correspondent, two squatters on adjoining stations on the Murray have been accustomed for some time to get young men from Europe to pay premiums to be instructed in station management, the conditions being that they pay £3OO for three years' instruction. When they arrive they find awaiting them as grand a disappointment as Nicholas Nickleby found at Dotheboy's-hall, and the employers, in emulation of the economic plan of Mr. Squeers, begin their course of practical instruction by setting the youthful squatters to chop wood for the purpose of the household. This can hardly be regarded as a branch of knowledge necessary for the proper management of a station ; but what follows is worse. If the victim is found to be incapable of manual labor, he 'is, according to the writer, treated so that he finds it impossible to remain, and prefers to forfeit his premium rather than to continue his studies in the " real school" which has taken charge of his squatting education. Out .of seven such pupils only one has remained his full three years, the general result being that they have accepted their disajrßoist-" " ment, and have preferred to sacrifice their time and money as wasted rather than continue at the work set before them. It is not to be supposed, of course that the two squatters alluded to are representatives of their class, and it is possible that the proceedings in their case have been exaggerated or misrepresented by the writer; but if the facts are as he states them, it is well that they should be widely known, that these bucolic rivals of the Yorkshire schoolmaster might be guarded against. The ' Lake Wakitip Mail' commenting upon an article in the ' Bruce Herald' says : —The ' Herald' states that, " had the Provincial Council been called together, there is little doubt in that direction land would have-been selected for the wise and laudable purposes of settlement under the deferred system of payments so unanimously approved of by the Provincial Council." Why, then, did not the Eeid Ministry act ? The present Executive are at Tuapeka, Naseby, Cromwell, and other places, opening out land for either sale or selection, and proclaiming commonages. They are rapidly earning the gratitude of the miners, and those anxious to secure, a permanent home in the province. The B,eid-Bradshaw Ministry promised and dealt in liberal professions, and that's all. The present Executive, whatever their motive may be —•" squatting ministry," as our contemporary has styled it in a previous issue—is, at any rate, vigorously at work in carrying out even that which it has not promised. It is feeling the pulse of the country, and ascertaining its re- : quirements ; and, in the matter of land, is. supplying a well-known want. Who sold the G-reen Island block by auction, so that the settlers hadnotaghost of a chance to get an acre of it Was it not the Heid G-overnment ?

From a private source we learn that Mr. Sherbrooke Walker, of Mount Four Peaks station, died in Christckurch on Sunday. Mr. Walker had been only seriously ill for a very short time. His loss will be much felt in this district, where he was widely known as a kind and hospitable gentleman. The cause of death was congestion of the lungs.— ' Timaru Herald. 5 We understand that an effort is being made by the legal profession practising in the District Court of the Otago G-oldfields, to obtain an extension of the jurisdiction of that Court in various directions—viz., criminal jurisdiction, as provided for by the District Court Act of 1858; extension of the amount of jurisdiction in all cases to £500; grants of probate and letters of administration, &<j., &c. Should such an arrangement be arrived at, considerable expense will be saved io suitors. It is, we believe, intended to present petitions for the attainment of this object to the General Assembly next session. We will again refer x>c this matter. Claims to be put on the Electoral Roll for the Colony must be sent in before the 31st of March next. In prospect of a dissolution of the Assembly, persons not already on the roll should qualify themselves to vote. We have to acknowledge the receipt of the third volume of the Journals of the House of Representatives; also, the Census Returns for 1871, bound in a convenient form for reference. At the [Resident Magistrate's Court, February Bth, a Chinama,n named Ah Kat, was brought up, on remand, for being of unsound mind, and was discharged. On the 12th, before W. Grumitt, Esq., J.P., Alexander Thompson was charged by Constable Gray, with being drunk and disorderly in the public street the previous day. Pined in £2, or in default, three days* imprisonment, with hard labor. A site has, we are informed, been fixed upon for the English Church. The spot is on the hill above the post office, and not far from the Catholic Church. •\ \ .