Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 72, 25 March 1878, Page 2

From advices to hand from America we (Melbourne -dije) understand that "a company has actually been formed at San Francisco, under the directorship of Mr. Leand Stamford President of the Central Pacific Company, for the purpose of laying a submarine cable between California and Japan, via Honolulu Sandwich Islands. It is called the Transpacific Cable Company, and the capital stock is 10,000,000 dollars." Young New Zealanders and Colonials who have not had an opportunity of travel, will shortly be in a position to make themselves acquainted with zoological facts, of which their knowledge, under ordinary circumstances, could only be obtaiuable from hearsay or reading. Cooper and Bailey's Circus, which contemplates making a tour through the colony, is the largest show extent. The manifest of the Claude Hamilton shows that the following animals, &c, belonging to the ■show were brought by her to Dunediu.— , Six elephants, 3 lions, 2 lion cubs, 4 pumahs, 1 bison, 1 elk, 4 leopards, 2 jaguars, 2 tigers, 2 ostriches, 2 camels, 2 baby camels, 6 dromedaries, 1 grizzly bear, 1 cage monkeys, 2 oumng outangs, 2 horned rhinosceri, 12 ponies, 30 horses, 1 zebra, 2 sea lious, 2 fur seals, 2 silver-striped hyenas, 2 spotted hyenas,' 1 armadillo, 1 praiiie wolf, 2 prairie dogs, 2 educated pigs, 1 den of boa constrictors" calliope 10 baggage waggons. On the passage of the Claud Hamilton from Adelaide to Dunediu, in a gale which sprung up during the voyage,' a rather alarming episode occurred. The Bengal tiger, confined in a cage in the main hold, by some mischance got out of his den, and was observed walking round the lower deck. The keeper (John? son) at once placed a tarpaulin over the hatchway, knowing full well that the animal could do no harm except he came on deck. But all fear on that score was set at rest when he was observed to re-enter his den with a bag of bran iu his mouth. The entrance to the den was at once securely closed, and his tigership has not since had an opportunity of airing himself in public. The Bishop of Auckland at the opening of the Working Men's Club made the following remarks, evidently referring to the Good Templars :— " He must say another word upon the principle upon which the club must be conducted or it would come to an end iu six months. It must be conducted on the priuciple of temperance, that was absolutely necessary, but what is temperance in one man is dissipation iu another man. (Hear hear). But they should be strickly temperate, aud by temperance he meant the right use and not abuse of anything that was good Do not let them think that temperance was only to be shown with reference to the quantity of liquor they poured down their throats. Some people made a very great mistake on this subject. They had heard lately of societies being founded with all

zeal and earnestness for the purpose of suppressing drinking habits, but these societies did not fully observe; the principle of temperance in other directions. There was no temperance In tho intercourse between sexes in the hours of meeting at night, and in the amount of romping that went on in connection with the societies. The consequence was that the general confidence of the public ha? not yet been given to those institutions, therefore he would say let temperance be the leading principle that characterised every department of the club. As sliowiug the advantage of having a good staunch horse aud of looking after him wellj the Raugitiki AJvocae states that a gentleman has riddeu from the Waikato country to Rangitiki on one horse, travelling a distance of about 420 miles in eight days with a goodly sized pack in f rom of him. Mr Itees, says a Northern exchange, hag set up in the prophet Hue of business. In speaking recently at a meeting of the Wesleyau body at Napier, he said the world was on the eve of the greatest war which had ever yet taken place, but that it would be the last, and henceforth universal peace would prevail. A correspondent of the Dunedin Herald, writing from Palmerston, says :— lt may not be generally known that one of the best— if not the best — coal miue in the province is on fire. I allude to the Shag Point mine, which has been on fire for months. The fire was caused through gross carelessness, and, as far as I can learn, no steps are being taken to put it out; it seems such a waste of public property. There is nothing to prevent it burning out the whole seam, and consuming hundreds of thousands of tons of valuable coal. A correspondent at Ilokitika sends us (PrwO the following mining news:— "The prospects at Mount Rangitoto have improved lately during my absence in Wellington ; the original company are now in the metallic rock, aud they have recently driven through some very promising leaders containing silver ore of a much higher quality thananything previously met with. I believe we shall be able to get the New Zealand Company successfully floated before long." The Geeloug Advertiser gives the following yarn to the world:— "A distinguished member of the Legislature, in addressing a temperance society, got rather prosy, but showed no disposition to ' let up,' though the audience waxed thinner. Finally the presiding officer got excited, and repairing to a friend of the speaker's, inquired how much longer he might reasonably be expected to speak? Whereupon the friend answered, ' He didn't exactly know — when he got on that branch of the subject he generally spoke a couple of hours.' " That'll never do; I've got to make a few remarks myself,' said the president— 'How shall I stave him off.' ' Well, I don't know— in the first place I should pinch him in the left leg, aud then if he did not stop, I'd stick a pin into it.' The president returned to his seat, and his head was invisible for a moment. Soon afterwards he returned to the 'brother' who had prescribed ' the pin style of treatment,' and said ' I pinched him and he didn't take any notice at all— l stuck the pin in his leg, and he didn't seem to care ; I crooked it in, and he kept on spouting as hard as ever !' Very likely,' said the wag, that leg is cork !' Nothing has been heard of that president since." A Palmerston North telegram to the A r gus says :— lt will be remembered that a few month ago a German was arrested in the Hawke's Bay district on a charge of murdering his mate Woodville. He was tried aud acquitted, and he went back to the people amongst whom he had lived formerly. They j suspected hun, however, and he lived a very miserable life for some time. He frequently asked swagsmen to go into his hut, but they, knowing his story, avoided him, and would have no connection with him. At last, seeing that public opinion was so much against him he left the district, but after a time he returned to the suene of the murder, and then went awey, and it is not now known where he is. Last night Constable Gillespie was informed that :i shooting case had occurred at Woodville, and he at once proceeded to the pjace. There he found that a man named Kemp, who was the principal witness for the prosecution in the murder case, lying dead in his hut with a quantity of papers by his side. He had been shot in the mouth, and the body was cold when found. An inquest is to be held. The whole thing is at present involved in mystery, but it may tend to throw some fresh light upon the murder. Whatever else one might reasonably expect (says an English paper) of Austria, in the way of superiority, it is certaiu that few will fail in astonishment to learn that it is in the construction aud equipment of a casement war steamer she has excelled anything in even the boasted navy of Great Britain. At least this is the extraordinary praise bestowed upon the Austrian armored vessel the Custozza, by his Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh and several British naval officers, after a careful examination of that warship, a few week3 ago. The Dnke assured the Emperor that " she was the type of a ship of which there was no example in the British navy," and he was so deeply impressed with her superiority in several important respects that he requested, as a special favor, permission for Admiral Drummond and other British officers to inspect and study her construction. It is a big feather in Austria's cap, and proves that Francis Joseph is keeping his weather eye open against the probability of a breeze in the Mediterranean in case the war between Russia and Turkey shall drag or force his Empire and the other great Powers into the vortex. ".'I was born in Bath, said a dirty looking customer, as he harangued a crowd at a political meeting, " aud I love my native place." "You don't look as if you had even been there since," remarked on of his hear ers. Lovers Quarrels. — Christmas is coming speedily, said an American paper early ic December, and the impecunious lover is looking out for some excuse to provoke a quarrel with his girl which will tide him over till the second week in January.