MISCELLANEOUS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 245, 14 November 1873, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

The French nation is said to feel, the misery which laeketh " Thiers." The usual monthly meeting of the Committeee of the Arrow Miners' Association was held in the Library Hall, Arrow, last week. The following business was transacted :—A letter was read from Mr. J A. Miller, President of the Otagp Miners' Association, suggesting the advisability of adjourning the holding of the Annual Miners Conference in December next until shortly before the next session of the G-eneral Assembly.- After discussion, the Committee assented to the{prpposition. Mr. Noel Lee Buchanan was lately admitted before Mr. Justice Chapman as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand. i A correspondent to "the' '' Cromwell Ar-< gus' growls thus about the' Public- Library :—" There i is- little ;cause, I think for grumbling, if.the matter be rightly considered, and the miners have no one to reproach but themselves. The opinion that prevails with* regard to the present management of the library is, that it bears more the semblance of aselecfc library than a public one. Strangers coming to the/ district might remain, in it for months without being aware' that such an institution existed. No publicity is given in any way to inform the public of its whereabouts, condition, or cost of membership ; the state, of its .finances, they are kept entirely in the dark, if the library is a public one, why are there not quarterly or half-yearly reports published of its pecuniary state ? Why does' not the Committee;..advertise, the terms of subscription, and the advantages to be gained by joining ? People will not feel inclined to join any society without knowing the way in which it is. conducted. It is prejudicial to the advancement of any institution to withholdirom the public a knowledge of the state of its funds, and the benefits accruing from becoming a mem-be-?.°f..it.. .No man cares about paying money unless he knows to L what uses it■ has been put. Giving publicity to the general state ; of would not only give satisfaction to the subscribers, but would, be, an, \n<jlucement to others to become subscribers When is not-given, people, m these advertising days, are apt to come to a conclusion, not a just one, perhaps, but one that would discourage them from having to do with such an institution: • " .;, . :. . ...... During a debate on the surveys of the Colony; the Hon, Captiin Fraser was understood to say he was.a victim of a want of a proper systemof surveys. He lived ' on the borders of the Provinces of Canterbury and Otago, and 1 he had been assessed by both Provinces for the same land. 'He complained, : an£ a survey had been made at the expense, of both Provinces. He had reason fcb s ljelieVe ; that the" gentleman whowa« •&{; one-tiflieat theh«ul ■

pf the Land Transfer;department, finding that there was no proper—or, rather,, no system whatever of surrey, remonstra- r ted, and meeting with no support, resigned his. appointment. He desired to see a proper system of trigonometrical .survey, but he feared it would not be accomplished for a long time. A serious blunder .oc r curred in Otago some years ago, in conse-. quence of the acts of an. unqualified surveyor. He- placed the well-known Blue Spur about one mile from its true position,, and the.consequence has been that hence" arose a suit, which has' caused all the profits from mining there to go into thepockets of the lawyers. The other''day he saw.the, judge and tw.o.or three counsel going up on this unfortunate case, and; lie believed they (the counsel), remainedten days, at a cost of £IOO a day. A correspondent sends the following ex- - tract-from a Nova Scotian paper to a. Dunedin paper postscript that the " Ivlinis'--ter of Immigration should instruct "Br. .- Featherscon to seek out the lady named, . and endeavor to induce her to emigrate to" • New,/ Zealand: -"—Our .readers will-re-member the interesting report published about a year ago of the family'affairs of ' Mrs. Absalom Countaway, of Terrace Bay—near to which the Atlantic disaster • occurred—who about that time astonished, the natives by giving birth to four children. The operation has now been repeated, Mrs. f Countaway having given birth to - another four on Thursday"'last. The ' mother and children are doing well. Since - her marriage in 1863, Mrs! Countaway has' . given birth to, seventeen children, in the following order—lst, one ; ' 2nd, twins ; 3rd, = twins;, 4th, twins ; sth, twins ; 6th, four ; ,7th, four, _The. : shearers in the Oamaru.district.are;, - this season-combining to, obtain advanced", prices, commensurate with the. advanced price of wool.! Last year they were paid 15s. per hundred; this year they stand but; for 20s. The 'North-Otago Times' understands that at one shed 17s. 6d. has been accepted, but we think the bulk of ' the; men will stand shoulder to shoulder for 20s. which price has, we understand, been already conceded at several sta- - tions.

It appears that the .Government $f the German empire has -become'*'alarmed at the success which has attended the efforts of the various emigration agents who have been laboring in that country. ' The Germanic authorities object to any portion of the population leaving the country, and' have resolved upon adopting very high-handed measures to prevent it; The British Government has been informed that for the future any emigration agents found inducing the people to leave Germany would be at once banished from that country. By th e mail his Excellency the Governor received a despatch from the Earl of Kimberley containing the above information.—' Dunedin Star.' The Dunedin ' Star' does not accord much respect to the wisdom of the selfelected leader of public opinion! 1 Our witty contemporary says:—/' When a writer comes to spinning out leaders about little boys climbing cars, he must have got to a_very low stage of literary destitution. This is what a writer,has done in a late issue of the 'Otago Daily Times.' Throughout the whole round of current events in this Colony and outside of it/ throughout the range of current thought in this world, no subject could be found but that of a.tendency in dirty little boys to obtain cheap rides on the steps of cars,' and a tendency in drivers to whip these little boys off when invited, to do so' by one who has been disappointed, and is ingenious and revengeful. Without looking back on our youthful days, whore we might, find some practices of our own. which, would condemn our present preaching, we may say we are opposed to the performances, of "which the ' Times ' complains, but scarcely sufficient so' to deem them worthy of a leading article. We write, therefore, ofi the fact of the ' Daily Times' having written, and we. do so in some degree of admiration for the solemn, folly it displays. The. perfect novelty which it sees in some child holding on by a cab or riding on the step of the same is refreshing at a time when innocence ia presumed to have Left society. The vision ,pf frightful accidents conjured up by a curl of the cab-driver's whip around a tender portion of boyhood's frame must have been imagined in- a very vortex of horror at the sight of a City Arab takinocarriage exercise after his peculiar fashion! The whole, thing is too good. Wc were at some loss at first to discover why the* ' Daily Times,' which has a tolerable re-' putation for inanity, should become positively senile. But, our puzzle was not "of long duration., There are but three sub. jects on which the ' Daily times' considers itself competent to write. These are —Revealed Religion, the High School, and the Honorable Messrs. BatWte, Reynolds, and Vogel. Having nauseated" even, itself on these matters, it has taken to the habits of the street child, as being in consonance with such intellect as" it possesses."