MISCELLANEOUS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 215, 11 April 1873, Page 8

MISCELLANEOUS.

- The Pneumatic T)redging Company at Clyde are reported to have struck payable ground. They have moored on tha't portion of tli * river formerly held and partially worked by the Alabama and one day recently they took eight ounces of gold from the bottom of a cylinder.—' Daily Times.' Owners of dogs are noticed that the tax on these domestic animal's .'is due. If the Town Clerk does his duty, we imagine he, will make, a good haul for the Corporation from this source—that is supposing lie can trace the ownership of the half of : the mongrel curs found in the streets. We believe he will have difficulty, and that a massacre of the,innocents will be necessary.-r-' Tuapeka Times.' The Americans had no truer friend than Edmund Burke. On March 29, 1775, he delivered a powerful and eloquent speech on behalf of the Americans, wherein lie handled the policy of the Government rather severely; nor had he spared the King; Upon : taking his seat ,on this. oc-. oasipn; one'of his/Majesty's Ministers of Finance arose to take him to task for having cast contempt upon the King, fancying, no doubt, that if lie could divert the attention of the Commons from the Administration to the monarch, he might break the force of Burke's strong philippics. Burke listened till the gentleman had, ; concluded,

ai.d then, addressing (lie Speaker in a very quiet and subdued manner, as though the opposition lie had called up was of tiufc very slight' consequence, he said—" Sir. the honorable gentleman has exhibited much ardor, but very little dis-, cKmiiiation. ICe should know that- how.' ever I may reverence the King, i am not inclined to extend that reverendi to his Ministers. I may honor his Majesty ; but, sir,.l, can see no_ possible reason for honoring Ja glance at tlie'Treasury bench) his M jesty's man-servant, his maid-ser-vant, his ox (a particular glance at hisopp6- ; ' nent). or his ass !"

" Waiter, I'll take my hat," said a gentleman at a ball one evenings as he was about going home. "What kind of a hat is it, sir ?" " A bran new one ; I bought it this morning." " Well, sir," said the waiter, " all the good liats have been goue this two hours." - " .

Practical.—Fond Father—"l seeye've j put my son intil graummer and jognrphy. j Noo, as I neirher mean him to be a minis- i ter or a sea-captain, it's o' nae use. . G-ie him a plain bizness eddication." t On a Sabbath morning, towards the close (if last century," in the parish of i L'uch'tr-, Fi'e, during the .iacumbency of; the late Key. Thomas IDotle, ! tlie "precen-1 tor, who lived several miles from church, i was unable to be present, owing to a heavy 1 fall ■ of" snow; After the psaltn was read, and no one,beginning to sing, the minister, observing for the fii'st time that the official was not .present, requested that I .somft member of th>r congregation, who i could raise a tune, would come forward i and officiate for the day. After waiting a i little, and no one responding to his call, I he repeated his request, when' a countiy-' man rose and said As for I j can't say, but there's Hob Kilstrachan, in i the wast la.fr. as gu'id a whistler as ever lifted chafts !" A correspondent at a New England camp meeting writes that a young man. aslced'the prayers of the assembly, because; he " could not sit down, to a meal without j eating three times a,s much.as he ought." j The I'ev. J >hn of Stirling, was J one day admonishing one of his people on i the sin of ;imtemperance. " Man, John,! you should never drink except when you are d?*y." " Weel, sir," quoth John,, " that's what I am aye doinVfor I am I never slockin'd." i A certain farmer's wife hid an only: daughter, whom she brought up very ten-; d'iM'ly; not requiring her to do any work whatever. When spoken to'-by a neighbor in regard toithis, she replied, that she vets bringing up her daughter to be amininter's wife. The construction of the bridge over the Waikato iat -Te Ni!io-o-te- Iviore, we are happy to. learn, is now complete. We may very shortly expect to hear of a line of coaches being placed on the road between Napier and Tauranga, and, before long, between Napier and Auckland as. well.—Hawkers Bay Herald." It isa popular erro", very generally believed v in, that, for A debt to be barred by the sS.tatiue of . Limitations an interval; of six years must have elapsed without, application for payment; such, however, is not .the case, and it is. proved that, no matter, howu how oft-repeated may have been the presentations of ac- | count or requests for settlement, with the i view; of " keeping the debt alive," as is [ commonly understood, nothing less than a vwritthi promise'~of'payment^m&AQ \\VA\m the six years, can set-aside the plea of the statute.- ; Th us,. .i f a. deb tor des i re. to take advantage of the lenity and-forbearance of his creditor, he has/ only to procrastiif possible, by' verbal promises of payment or otherwise, and in due time to shuffb off his liability under cover of the Statute of .Limitations.—' llawke's Bay Herald.'

A northern contemporary sayslt seems to. be generally supposed here that Parliament will not meet until the new Governor arrives. and that there* will then be a dissolution. This idea finds favour on all sides, for it is widely agreed that the electors ought to determine whether the colony^-is- to accept Stafford nnd further native troubles, or is to confirm the policy ofpeao and progression. It is said that Obago is for Stafford as Native Minister, &c. . Seeing that, whether it pleases or displease; them, the Ofcagans musb eventually help to pay war expenses (supposing that war is renewed), notwithsf all their idiotic talk about " Separation," —-which, w r e know, will never be permitted until an equitable settlement of war outlay is made—perhaps it would bo as well to give Stafford, HauUain, and Richmond another trial. All . three know as much about the native question as does the " Man in the Moonconsequently there is a particularly bright look-out for us, if the electors'are fool enough to reinstate those incapables.Tli<l Grey mouth Jockey Club, after paying all expenses of the late meeting, have a balance in hand of £L7O. It is to be hoped that as satisfactory .a result may be achieved at the approaching Hoki.tika races.-7-' Hokitika Star.'

Fatal Accident "kelb*"Pk3ibsc)K'r~On 'J Jiui-sday evening a ' bullock-wawon capsizod over an embankment about four mrleV 'fivHn ' Pembroke, ' Lake ' Wa;naka.' The 'owner . and;; - James Papkins, was crushed beneath the loading, and died shortly afterwards ; whilst ! another man, named Hogg, a-sawyer from Lake Hawea, was so much injured that he had to be sent to the Duns tan Hospital.—' Cromwell Argus.'

! - The ' Charleston Herald' notifies with pleasure that no newspapers were stolen fronv the library-in that; township in the w< 4 ek ending March 8. Happy township ! We are afraid that in no single week could the same be said with truth of the. Cromwell Public Library. Con.xinually complaints are being made of newspapers and magazines disappearing. Melbourne papers seem to be especially fancied. . Surely ,the Library Committee anight, take s,tep's, decisively to secure tho discontinuance of a- practice so annoying to the great;bulk , of, the subscribers.— ' Cc'o-i'iwell Argus.'

■- -" Glasgow G ; bordie.'We.. .understand that., this fine- specimen of the draught entire has been sold by Mr. John C>utts to Mr. James Scott, ( Palmerstons for the handsome sum ~of/; £32o—a sufficient test as to the promising : merits ofthe eolt, aud his capabilities during the past season.- -' Waikouaiti Herald.' As some question has arisen whether the translation of Sir James Fergusson to New Zealand was a promotion or not, we q note.: from the Secretary; of State, for the ■'Colonies* who said at the Telegraph Dinner, he.had the greatest satisfaction in mentioning that Sir James Fergusson had thoroughly assisted' and co-operated in the undertaking, and it had given liinv the most sincere pleasure to promote liirn to the Governorship of JN T ew Zealand." This, we presume, will be considered conclusive.- < <

The •' Waikouaiti Herald' lias 'a -poor opinion of the Waste Lands Board. It says - —" Some' people/ either through weak mental.vision or because of special design's ; of their own; anticipated great things from the recent change in the constitution of the Waste Lands Board. We nevjr did, but.it certainly did not seem to us that a number of respectable men C;:Ufd .-accept appointments of" this sort, and, after entering upon duties new to most of them, should not take the T smallest pains to enquire into the manner in which the business,. the supreme control of which lias been placed in their hands, is carried on. Such however has,' we regret to say, been the case.. We have noticed with much interest tlie .proceedings of this new " non-political " Waste Land Board, and have seen both with astonishment and pain, that they have made no inquiry whatever into the methods and traditions of that important branch of the public service which has passed under their, control.: It..does not seem;to have entered into their heads that, anything of this sort formed part of the duty they owe to the public. To rush hastily once a week into Mr- Thomson's office, to adjudicate upon, such matters as there come before them in ordinary course, appears to be all they conceive themselves called upon to d 6. Some people thought the old Waste Land Board was a sort of King Stork, and will,be glad to have it exchanged for this King Log. But we beg .to-assure the members of the. Waste Lands Board, that the number of such, people is very small indeed."

Are the following remarks with regard to tlie Lawrence Cemetery applicable to" ours ?-r-" Two years ago there' was some talk of having the management of the Lawrence Cemetery transferred to the Corporation. The agitation which then took place awoke the Cemetery Trustees froia.tlieir. slumbers for a few weeks, during which time they effected some considerable improvements in the "Cemetery; but soon-again collapsed into their normal 1 condition of somnolence. The result of this, it may be supposed,' i 3 anything but saris factory. The ground is running to waste, and goats have taken possession of it. To say the least of it, the Cemetery is at present a disgrace to the town of Lawrence, and the sooner the Trustees acknowledge their incapacity by forwarding their resignations to. the Superintendent, and the management,of the Cemetery is handed over to the Corporation, the sooner will it receive the attention it deserves. In the hands of a representative body, holding stated. meetings, lie the Town Council, we feel confident the Cemetery would have been a place in keeping with the associations which cluster round the sacred spot familiarly known as " GrodVacre." The present would be a very suitable, time for the transference o£ the management, as two of the Trustees recently left-Lawrence, l and are how, to all intents and purposes, useless Trustees. We commend, this' Matter to the immediate attention of the jown Council, -whose action in the. direction we have indicated wiil, no doubt, meet with the-hearty support of every resident of the district. •