Miscellaneous Items.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1685, 15 April 1886, Page 4

Miscellaneous Items.

It is predicted by an American paper that m tlie course of the next four years th<; sleel-nailwill have as completely supplanted the iron nail as the steel rail has its iron predecessor. Already one half of the nails manufactured m Wheeling are made of steel, and the machinery and plant necessary for theirmanufacture'are being set up at every nail factory. It is said that, under present conditions, steel. nails can be made abiub ten cents per keg cheaper than those made of iron, even where the manufacturer has to purchase his ingots. . A foreign exchange reports a singular case which lately occurred m. a Georgian-.' village. A Persian became bail for a fellow-countryman accused, on a criminal charge. When the day of trial came the accused was not forthcoming. The bailsmau was informed that he must produce his friend or the recognisauces would be estreDted- He went to the accused, and having employed m vain every possible argument, entreaty, and threat, ho finally drew -his dagger and plunged it into the breast of the defaulter. He ' bore the body to the judge, saying that he brought the corpse, since he failed to produce the living man He was pain fnllysurprised on being himself arrested and loiged m gaol oa a charge of murder. A late Australian paper says; — The schoolmaster, Gjistave Bernieke, who was admitted to the Sandhurst Hospital oui'eb. 20, suffering from injuries to the head through attempting to commit smci'ifi, died at the institution shortly . after admission. The deputy-Coroner held an inpnest, when it was stated that Beruicke had purchased some artificial egg-shells and having filled one with powder, places it m his -mouth. He then applied a match, , with the result that his ifHOuth and head were so B»v«Toly Myunded that death ensued shortly afterwards. The deceased was a highlT-eJ«cafce|i wan, aucf bad only left the servfce'on superannuation allowance m 18S6V Ris wife died at Pyramid Hill a short time ago.. He leaves m all twelve children. That Republics are ungrateful has passed into proverbial lines, and m the case of the great commoner of the French Republic there is ample truth m the saying. It is now nearly three years that have elapsed since Garabetta's remains were consigned to the tomb at Nice, but- nothing has yet been done to give even a decent appearance to his last resting place. An old friend of the departed statesman, who visited the cemetery on the anniversary of his death m order to strew flowers ou his tomb, gives a melancholy acoount of the state of neglect into which it has been allowed to fall. He says it is only a temporary scafiolding, a pyramid of wood covered with wreaths and offerings. The barrier which surrounds it is half rotten. The great tribune," apparently, is forgotten already. - -, The Botany Bay settlement was 'founded m 1787, and from first to last 134.408 persons were transported to Australia. The state of things which existed there is fairly shown by two quotations. **In 1834, the number of convicts m Van Dieman's Land was about 15,000, the summary convictions amounted to about 15,000, and the number of lashes inflicted was about 50,000 "From the formation of the establishment at Macquarrie Harbour, January 3rd, 1822, to May 16, 1827, there were 116 attempts at escape. Of these 75 were supposed to have perished m the woods, 8 are known to have been murdered, and 6 eaten by their companions; 24 escaped to the settled districts, 13 of whom were hanged for busbranging, and 2 for murder ; m all, 101 of the 170 came, to an untimely end. After 1847 transportation ceased to any other colony than Western Australia, and was then conducted more on the penitentientiary system, and m 1867 it ceased altogether, and the present penal servitude convict sytfem, W«3 ei&Miflfc ed m its plwt,