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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 182, 30 July 1878, Page 2

A correspondent of the Globe writing from St. Petersburg, reports that most distressing accounts have been received from Central Asia ot the sufferings experienced by Ivashgarian fugitives. Immense numbers have died from hunger and cold while seeking to attain the Russian frontier. According to the reports of the fugitives Kashgar was captured by the Chinese after three days' fighting. Bek Kooli Beg, who is generally spoken of as a coward, fled his capital without any attempt to defend it. A " lan3i" —or detachment of 500 men— first arrived, and then began to parley with the Kashgarians. Two days later 1,500 Chinese more arrived, and after a slight skirmish the city surrendered at discretion. Thereupon a frightful scene ensued. The victorious Chinese General gave over the Mussulmans to indiscriminate slaughter, aud among the Doungaus — a pusillanimous race— the carnage was dreadful. One of the favorite pastimes of the soldiery consisted in slowlycutting up a victim alive. A Doungan was in this manner cut up into 360 pieces before he expired. In Kashgar itself the massacre was so ruthlessly carried out that it is stated that at the present moment no Doungan above the age of 8 years has been left alive. Tea of the Kashgarian governors have been sent in wooden cages to Pekiu.

We find the following plan for preserving fruit -trees from the attacks of liaies iv an exchange :—•' To protect young trees effectually from hares— Take six or eight shingles, stick them into the ground in a circle a foot or so from the root of the tree. Though three or four inches apart, no hare will be able to put its head through, or jump over fifteen inches iv height This I found effectual laat year, and without this precaution I lost all my young trees the year before from the hares stripping off the bark." Our readers having orchards would do well to place this paragraph on their scrap books. We have not been able to discover any means of preserving vegetables from hares, except by placing sentries with dogs and guns over the country or close palings round each garden. Protecting each cabbage with shingles would be rather trying to the temper, but it is consoling to know that trees can be preserved.— A'-rprm.

A gentleman lately returned to Hamilton from Melbourne vouches to the Spectator for the following smart piece of business : A respectable looking man, from the northern part of Victoria, on a visit to Melbourne, considering that he could play billiards " a little bit," went into a room in-Bourke-street with only a few shillings in his pocket, but he soon found there were better players in Melbourne than himself. The few shillings soon changed hands, and when the last round came he was without the wherewithal to pay for nobblers on the game. He tried the barman to let him off till next day, but it would not do; something tangible must be left to be redeemed. A happy thought struck him. Wearing & very large Ulster overcoat, he though he could leave his unmeutionables. This was accordingly done. On returning to the hotel (not a hundred miles from the post office) he desired the boots to call him for the early train next morning. This was done; but while the boots was proceeding away from the bedroom doGr, the bell was violently wrung, and on returning, boots was asked if any other person had been sleeping in the same room, as the country gentlemen's trousers and money had been taken— he did not care so much {about the trousers as the money. The landlord was called, who was sorry anything of the kind should happen in his house, so to keep the matter quiet a new pair of trousers were produced, the fare upcountry was paid, and a pound or two given in besides. After he left, the barman of the billiard-room paid a visit to the barman of the hotel opposite, and told of the gentleman who left his trousers in pawn. The disgust exhibited by the hotelkeeper may be easily imagined.

Ostrich farming is becoming a settled industry in many parts of the Cape colony, and is yielding large profits to those engaged in it . The Graaf Beinet Advertiser speaks of this novel pastoral occupation as tendiug to the neglect of the merino and angora in parts of that district. " Every one that has a drop of running water is using ifc to produce beet or lucerne for his ostriches. A recovered veld, fenced-in-farms, and the learning to produce food for stock when drought prevails, will be a great gain to the country. A gentleman bemoaned to us some twelve months ago the folly of abandoning agriculture and the cultivation of the merino for the ostrich. ' Think,' said he, « of the folly of thinking a country can ever become prosperous or great on ft pretty feather.' Six months after that he was going in largely for ostriches, and was most forcible on the difficulties and little returns of sheep farming and agriculture — on the hopelessness of ever making anything of the country by means of them." Large sums of money have been made by successful breeders. "We heard yesterday ," says the same authority, "of a man who eighteen months ago, gave £250 for a pair of breeding birds, who got all his money and more back in their progeny, and is now offered, but declines, £500 for the pair." And again, " As for the feathers, people are makingJcDoromous profits from them. Speculators traverse the country in all directions purchasing birds and feathers, and are making lots of money." This should be welcome news to our Acclimatisation Society, whose small flock of valuable birds have shown themselves capable of increasing their numbers. The ostrich is a very hardy animal, and the climate of the land of the emu should suit it admirably. It is probable that if the society were to establish a small farm under the management of someone understanding the habits of these ungainly-looking plumed bipeds, they would secure a handsome return for their outlay, and form the nucleus of an industry which would steadily contribute to the resources of Australia. It is not afc all likely that the demand for the feathers will fall off, but rather increase with the larger supply of these beautiful articles of adornment.

A Dunedio telegram to a contemporary says :— Mr Haggitt moved for a rule absolute, calling on Mr Arlidge, solicitor, to show cause why an attachment should not issue, and why he. should not be struck ofi the rolls, and suspended f r'cirii practice to the time of the determination of the rule. Affidavits alleged that he had disposed of Bank shares for a client and failed to acwrant for the proceeds. He did not appear and the order for attachment issued, the questiou of striking off the rolls being reserved for the Court of Appeal. A similar complaitit against another solicitor is likely to engage the attention of thes Court next week. Tile Neib Zealandkr say's i— " Steam was got iip yesterday in. due of the street tram engines. The working ok ifc waS very satis* factdryj tb'e' limcb.ine.r3r playing smoothly. Tlie facility with which {he engine was stopped was a subject of frequent remark. It was almost instantaneously pulled up when required."

A flattering opinion upon the standard of excel leuce which hos been reached by the chess-players in New Zealand has been expressed by an eminent English authority. Mr D. H. Hay, of Dunedin, has received a letter from the Rev. C. E. Rankin, the editor of the Chess Chronicle complimenting him upon the enthusiasm displayed by the New Zealand chess-players, and requesting that the chess editors iv the colony will send him exchanges or letters. Mr Kaukin adds that hd Will be grateful for chess items with which he may at any time be furnished. Charles E. Courtney, of Union Springs, U.S., has published the following challenge :— "I will row any mati in this country any usual distance, for any reasonable amount, on any lake, river /-reek, or pond where there is room for one boat to pass another, and give or take actual and reasonable expenses. But when I pay a man 1500 dollars for expenses—the largest amount ever offered in the world in any kind of sport — I think I have a ri»ht to select the water, provided. l choose a good and fair course. Ido not ask any man to travel any further thau I am willing to go myself. I should have started for Australia last December had Dot the newspapers published Trickett's challenge, in which he said lie would come to America, and row here against any American sculler, and if he does not come here I shall go there next winter and row him over his own course for the Championship of the World. If any English sculler will come here and make a match foroGOOdols. aside, I will allow him lOOOdols. for expenses, or I will go there on the same terms. If they will not do either of these things, I will, as I have leisure, go to England, paying my own expenses, and try to find some man who is not afraid to row me an even match over a fair course. I have offered fair terms to every man in America, and no one accepts. They say I am not a champion, but the men who claim to be chatupious will not make a match with me. How can I ever get to be champion if no one will row against me? aud how can men claim to be champions, and still refuse fair offers for a championship match?" "Galiguaui" says:— "The Banquet of Nations, at Paris, which has been talked of for some time, and is to comprise several thousands of guests, reminds one of the most formidable repasts perhaps ever given. The persons who sat down to the feast were 10,000 in number, all victorious soldiers brought back triumphantly to Paris by Napoleon I. As no hall large enough to contain such a company could be found, tables were placed in the Champs-Elysees, and on the occasion were served up 27 oxen, 75 sheep, 1,000 partridges, 2,500 fowls, 1,000 carp, 1,000 tench, &c. To wash down those solid 3 248 barrels of wine were consumed."

The Bay of Plenty Times states that a certain southern gentleman at present in negotiation for a block of land at Maketu, forwarded from Dunedin by the Taupo, on Sunday, 2cwt. of lollies for distribution among the native children at Maketu

•' Derc ain't no nigger on de top side er kreation," said a coloured man at Tenille, the other day, putting his hand to his bandaged head, " what eau sing a hymn an' put the gear on a kickin' mule at de same time."

The average cost of the prisoners in the various gaols in New South Wales, after deducting the value of the labour performed by them, is £14 4s -id per head. The total earnings in 1877 amounted to £11,543. There are at present ia Darlinghurst Gaol 687 prisoners.

A speaker at a woman'§ rights meeting, who was " rather opposed to the movement, but wanted to be just," confessed that truth compelled him to say that, " although woman can't argue logically, or sharpen a pencil, or hold an umbrella, she can pack more things in a trunk than a man can stow ia a onehorse wagon."

A London correspondent writes : " A letter appeared in a recent number of the Times upon the finances of New South Wales, upon which that journal remarked as follows: — • Obviously a large proportion of what is here styled " revenue" is nothing of the kind. It is merely capital expended as revenue, and when the money received from the sales of land dwindles away or ceases, the population of the colony will only have taxation and the returns from public works to fall back upon. Should the former be heavy, the people may come to regret keenly that they parted so cheaply with all control over the income from land; and, on the other hand, should the railways and other public undertakings become very profitable, it is just possible that this wealth may tend to make the Executive too independent of the community. Whatever the outcome of the present financial policy of this and similar colonies may be, they are evidently just now pluming themselves on the possession of a kind of wealth that promises to be very unstable.' " If a horrible story, vouched for by the Messagerdu Midi be true, the inhabitants of the Spanish town of Arauguez must either have a singularly blunted taste, or human flesh cannot be so unpalatable as it is thought to be. We learn from the journal alluded to that for upwards of a year a character residing in Aranguez has been in the habit of selling to an unsuspecting public sausages, pates and bondin, made exclusively of human flesh. So excellent were his comestibles found that he reckoned more customers than any pork butcher in the town, and having amassed a sufficient fortune, he was meditating retiring from business when hazard brought about the discovery of his malpractices. It seems that within the last year or eighteen mouths several persons have unaccountably disappeared from Aranguez, and in spite of the investigation made by the police, no clue has been forthcoming concerning their fate. The missing clue ha 3 at lenthth been found; they have filled the role which by rights should have belonged to the pig, and their fellow-townsmen have unwittingly eaten them in the guise chare uteri The unscrupulous pork butcher was aided in his horrible business, says the Messenger dv Midi, by a coiffeur. The Spanish Figaro's shop where he shaved his customers was provided with a trap-door, by which means those whom he designed to death were precipated into a cellar, where they were despatched, their bodies being then handed over to the pork butcher. The disappearance of a young man called Francisco Andral, who was seen to enter the barber's shop and never came out of it alive, raised suspicion ; the police followed up the scent, aud discovered the fatal trap-door, the cellar with its bloodstained door, and certain other proofs, which left no doubt upon their minds as to the guilt of the accused. The two miscreants are now it is stated, in the hands of justice, which, if the history of their atrocious crimes prove correct, will, it is to be hoped, deal with them according to their merits.

Oar cook has been giving herself, greal airs lately, and has demancfed' a higher " salary." She is laboring under an itiiptession that she is the Minister of the Interior.

A paragraph in an English paper says :— "From a quarry at Otley there has been taken a block of stone almost big enough for three Cleopatra's needles. It is 64 feet long, 16 feet wide, and 7 feet thick, weighing over 500 tons."

We learn from a well-informed source that Steinberger, whose adventures in Samoa will be within the^ recollection of our readers, was at last advices living in great luxury in New York, where he boasted of having obtaiued 115 j000 dollars from the British Government in £art satisfaction oi his claim for compensation for forcible removal from Samoa by the captain of H.M.S. Barfacouta, and that he was sanguiue of obtaining a further sum 1 bt . 760,00.0 dfotfafs in foil payment. The eminent Aroerfeau counsel', Mr Evarts, was associated with the firm of Thompson and Co. in pressing the claim, and the American Foreign Secretary ana British Secretary of State were in amicable correspondence on the subject of the claims, their concord being doubtless chiefly due to the fact that the assistance of the Barracoutn was called in by the American Consul aud British Consuls acting conjointly. As to the 750,000 dollars, we should think this is a stretch of Mr Steinberger's fertile imagination and fatal tendency to exaggeration.