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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 234, 3 October 1877, Page 4

At a recent meeting of the Riding Club at Warrenstown, Virginia, Murad, a chestnut gelding, six years old, ridden by H. Bartels, and carrying 156 1b5, ia clearing one of the hurdles made the extraordinary jump of 36ft, measuring from where his hind feet left ground to the point where they Bgaia reaohed ground. The leap waa made after the horse bad gone two miles, at the last jump in the race, Which waß a very wide sod wall, four feet high, with a ditch sis feet wide in front of it. Just before coming to the JQflap the horse showed an inclination to bolt, and became very hard to control. He rushed at (he wall at near top speed, and took off over 20ffc this aide, and, by throwing his fore-quarters high in the air, cleared the obstacle, The distance cleared from the point the hind feet left the ground to where the front feet touched* ground wus 42ft. These facts are attested by geutlemea of character, who wituoesed the leap, and immediately measuroJ it by a Standard rule. This feat is only excelled by the performance of Chandler, who, ridden by Captain Broa-ihy, at Warwick, England, iv 1847, cleared 37ft over water. For many years (,he distance of this leap has been recorded as 39ft, but this has boen corrected by Captain Broadly himaelf. Murud'a performance ia confessedly tho best iv the United Sutea.

The Napier Telegraph says : — " An agausiag episode is reported to have oocured at Port Ahuriri. Captain Pairchild, who is well known for his droll sayings, was moviug off in his ship's 'boat to the Stella, whan an engineer, who has great faith in the harbor works, accosted him, ♦ Good-by, Captain, next time you come up this way, you will be able to brlog your vessel inside.' 'Well,' said the skipper, •'I guess if she cornea inside, sh'll steam in on her side. She draws less water oa her side than on her bottom, I guess. 7 The Inughter among the bystanders, we need hardly add, was loud and prolonged." Accordiug to a correspondent of the Olago Times the state of the iron and coal industries in Scotland continues to be deplorable, and is getting worse. The strike and lock-out of colliers in Fife and Clackmannan h»B now continued for more than two months, and there ia no sign of an approaching termination to the struggle. The lock-out in the Clyde shipbuilding trade also continues with unyielding obstinacy, and the lessening of consumption caused by ifc has lad the ironmasters of the west of Scotland to commence damping oul some of their furnaces, one- third of of which, producing 6000 tonß of iron weekly, will be cold by the 12th inst. In the east of Scotland there are now only some half-dozen furnaces in blast, so that the iron iniustry of the country is very seriously crippled. la spite of dull times in Glasgow, however — or, in some cases, becauaa of them — the number of persons who left the city on pleasure during the late i?air holiJay was enormous, amounting to 165,000 by rail and steamer alone. The weather was unfortunately wet, and must have had the doubt result of lessening th 9 ploasore of the holiday makbrs and increasing' the profits of the publicans. The T names Advertiser, in recording the proceedings at the polling for the municipal election, says : — There were a number of lady voters amongst thoss who exercised the privileges of the ballot, ono carriage labelled " Roll up for Price" containing a bevy of no less than" four buxom windows. In this instance Weller'a caution to Sammy, " Beware of the widows, ray boy," was not applicable, and Mr Price may be cougratulated. Mr Gudgeon, one of the uusuocassful candidates, has the following advertisement returning thanks to those who had voted for him: — " To the lady voters and burgesses of the borough of Thames.— Allow me to return my sincere thanks to all those who recorded their votes in my favor ; and also to regret the want of judgment displayed by those who voted otherwisj." Captain Rosa, of the schooner Coronet, which arrived at Auckland lately states that the Liverpool ship Ada Iredale was towed into Papeeti harbor, Tahiti, on 15th June, burning. She waa notified some days previous by natives oo one of the plantations, who sent word to Tahiti, and the Frenoh frigate Seigne-Ley went out and towed the hull or what remaiued of it into the foregoing harbor. The Ada Iredale waa an iron vessel of 1500 tone, and sailed from Ardro3Bin, Scotland, with coal, on 20th June, 1876, for San Francisco. On 13 nh October, she waa found to ba on fire, and two days later the crow took to the boata, and after enduring great privations for 26 days in open boat, made laud, eventually re&cuiug Dominique, in the Marquesas Group, early in December. The position in which the French frigate picked the hull up showed that it had drifted fully 600 miles, but the moat remarkable incident connected with the disaster is that it waa found burning nine months after its abandonment, nnd still smouldaring when the Coronet left Tahiti. The decks and upper works are gone, but a portion of the hull ia in good order. The story may aoeia incredible, but its authenticity ia not only vouched for by Capt. Rose, but corroborated by tha passengers from there. The London Daily Neios says : " The most painful news has reached England from one of our distant colonial domains. The eleven of Sydney and district have defeated the English team by two wickets. This is what our enemies have long been expecting ;ever since the cession of the looiau lalaads they have declared that a nation which gives up territory is in its decadence. Hero indeed is a melancholy fulfilment of hostile prophecies. Up to this year England had at least led the world at

cricket. An American or Australian 22 might play an English Eleven with fair chance of not being badly beaten ; but to be defeated in a contest man to man by the natives of an island comparatively lately discovered — it is too much ; and yet a well known bust in the head quarters of the game is not reported to have shed tears, nor has any other omen been observed at Lord's or the Oval. For all that, the sceptre. had passed away, so to speak ; the flag is struck. Fortune has abased the proud. It may console them to note that the English race is not degenerate, and in that distant land, and on tuft where late the blackfellow hurled his boomerang, a generation his arisen which can play the best bowlers of the time." » A singular narrow escape from a horrible death occurred lately at Port Chalmers after the arrival of the six o'clock train from Dunedin. The engine was shunting, and proceeded down the pier, when a man was observed crossing the line not far ahead. The whistle was loudly sounded, and the party, evidently half drunk, made an effort to clear the rails, but stumbling fell right across the path of the engine. To put the breaks on and reverse steam was the work of a minute, but the momentum of the huge machine was not to be overcome so readily, and the end of it absolutely projected over the prostrate* man before it stopped. It was indeed a close shave, that drove the blood from the cheeks of the onlookers. As for the man who so nearly came to grief, he gathered himself up, and quite unconcernedly walked away down the New Pier.