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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 122, 15 May 1876, Page 4

A fight with an eagle, remarks the : Warmambool- Standard, should be i somewhat of a novelty, bat we can vouch for the veracity of the gentleman who supplies us with the following; > particulars of an adventure on Mount |! Shad well : — For the double purposo of Igetting an appetite for his matutinal, jmeabknd obtaining a view of -the : sur- ! (rounding country, the gentleman in {question set forth at early morning for , the summit of * the mount, and in his; ■ progression up its sides he was attracted jby a large bird- which appeared high'iri' ithe .air,; gyrating and describing : a7 ; i variety of graceful evolutions, which ; the l pedestrian paused at intervals to admire. As he ascended the moie; apparent became the proximity of the bird/ 1 and it_ : movements now e truck bim as being singular, if not suspicious, * ifor in its swoop it was gradually lesseniing a circle which it had been performing round a point which the traveller;. ;was bent on attaining. The crown: of ithe mount was at length reached by the pedestrian, who was no longer left in doubt as to tho^ nature and intention -of his feathery acquaintance. It was a ilarge r eagle, bent upon resenting the biped's intrusion upon his solitude. jSwooping down it came, with the apparent purpose of bearing tbe pedestrian off tb his eyrie, bb in the famous story in the children's book; but the fortunate possession of a stout Btick, . with which the traveller laid about him vigorously, prevented such a dire consequence, presuming the inhabitant of the clouds capable of effecting .his supposed intention. T^he eagle allowed himself to be struck at several times, but at length gave Up the combat arid retired, much to the relief of the gentleman, who had /got rather more diversion than he bad anticipated, or indeed, than he desired, during his morning's exeroise. '; "Streets paved with gold " is a poetio phrbse, but in this country (the Ballarat Star remarks) it has often bad prosaic illustration. Here is one. In Ligar-street,* Ballarat, there lay heaps of quartz metal put down by the City Council for the maintenance ot the streets; > The stone was taken from the f knobs " thrown out of the New'TKoh-j-noor Company's puddling machines. One. day recently, . Mr. .W. CopelaLnd's. son picked a specimen but pf a heap nf the stone, and Mr. Copeland and Mr. Luplau resolved to test the heap of stone.: Tney bought six tons from the Council, and bad it crushed at Mercer's pattery, th>e yield being Icz 9dwtl2gr Of gold, value £6 65.. 1d.; so that the Council is actually metalling streets with -quartz that the Llanberris Company is' glad to crush, and can make pay moderately well. Messrs. Copeland & Co.'s speculation stands thus :— Paid Council, £1 lis 8i ; cartage, £l; prusbing, £2 15s— total, £5 65.84.;---profit, 14a. lOd. ;— rnot a very large batter cert aiply, but then who can say that , we are ,npt sometimes metalling, pur streets with quartz af double the I falue?" .-..■-.*• .•• .:.*. ;■ - ■; -. ) The attempt to form a company to build a decent theatre in Christchurch has entirely failed. Speaking of the present building the Lyttelton Times | says :— " It is acknowledged on all bands that there is not a more filthy, unwholesome theatre than our present one in all New Zealand, and that is using a violent comparison. Tbe dresscircle, which is closer to tbe roof than even the 'gods' usually are, is the natural receptacle of the poisoned air of tbe bouse, and in a theatre it is well known what that means— tbe floating od.or of Btaie tobacco-smoke and beer, tbe. close and headache-making twicebreathed atmosphere, and tbe noxious influence of innumerable gas-jets, produce an effect like staring at the sun. As for the entrance, again, it oannct be better described than • the mouth of the pit ;' the coarse language, the smell of bad tobacco, the jostling of half-drunken men, tbe license of manners suggest we are afraid, to whole-

some imaginations, the antipodes of I |Paradis-*v* ' WVy *'a T paternal" Governmenf, with its care for our health and our morals, do not get the place burned down, and a wholesome house erectod on its site, is a qustion which is pf'pn before (tie minds of those ivho never think of loo|kiQK after themselves." At a s^le of city property rec^tly^ ;held in Melbourne, .half, oiie block in the best part of Collins-street brought £39,60p,pr£.60Q per foot;.. , . .. (