Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 9, 10 January 1879, Page 2

it is said by a contemporary that about £15,000 was spent in Dunediu during the time of the Volunteer Review. Under the heading ' A repentant New Zealander," the N. Z. Htraltl publishes a letter, written in March last from Daly Waters, in the Northern Territory of South Australia, by a man who was born in Auckland, which he left some years ago to seek his fortune elsewhere. From this the following are extracts:— "As I said before, I came here and started digging; and pegged out what turned out to be the richest alluvial claim here as yet discovered. I commenced to sink a hole, got down six or eight feet, and was beaten by the water. I had to suspend it, and in a few days my mate took ill with fever and ague— doctors' bills, storekeepers' ditto, increasing each day, until at last there was no more credit. Up to this time there was nothing known of the ground, except by the party that offered to buy it, as I found out afterwards. They gave about £10 for it; made a pump, and, after a good deal of trouble, managed to bottom the hole I hud started upon. They got altogether 900ozs out of the claim. Such is luck! They piomised when purchasing that should it mrn out well I was to get sonietlim.cr. It is needless to say this promise was nevAfulfilled. After this I pegged out and sank hole after hole, but could never raise more than the color. Thus, sometimes sinking for myself, sometimes working for wane's, I spent about twelve months, and was then in debt. I almost took an oath I would uever dig again in the country. I then tcok empioymeut on the overland telegraph at about .£IOO a year, everything found except clothes. 1 have been on the line ever since, aud have managed to save about £200. My dulies are light, being merely to repair interruptions caused by lightning or the blacks, &c. We have about 180 miles of line to keep in order, that is 100 north and 80 miles south. We' have often to ride over 100-mile stages in two days, there ouly being a 400-gallon watertank placed midway. When this is empty we have the 100 miles to go before we get water. This sometimes occurs. To do this under a tropical sun, with the thermometer as high as 140 Fahr. in the sun, as it often is, and very seldom less than 20, requires some stamina, both in man and horse poor brutes, lam often sorry for them. However, this is an exceptional stage, and the greatest distauce without permanent water anywhere on the line. Our usual stages are from 25 to 35 miles, and plenty, too, in a climate like this— quite as hot as India, without the comforts. People may doubt the fact of horses doing such a long distance, but I assure you it is a fact, and it is done here. * * lam quite away from ladies' society, not having seen a white woman for nearly four years. There is one lady about 200 miles from here, at the Katharine station, the master's wife, but I have not seen her for that time. She is the nearest, aud the ouly one for 400 miles. Ants, flies, mosquitos, centipedes, scorpions, tarantulas, serpents, snake9, and deaf adders abound everywhere. I could almost write a ream of paper full of such stories,— in the beds, on the floors in boots, on the tables, in fact, they are so com ruon in the houses that no one thinks of gettiug out of bed at night without a light These, with an occasional attack of fever aud ague, and long rides without water, are some of the pleasures that go to fill up a life in the Northern Territory. A Sydney telegram dated Dec. 23, says.— During the thnnderstorm on the 16th inst, the bouse of Airs Lamb, Macleay-street, Sydney, was struck by ligbtuiug. The lightning struck a chimney first, and then darted on to a portion of the house near which there was an iron gaspipe. It travelled aloni; this until it came to a leaden gaspipe. It divided a union between the two pipes, and set fire to the gas in them. The result was a fierce flame, lasting until the gas meter was turned off. The flames burned in such close proximity to some shingles on the roof of the house that it was feared they would take fire. The torrents of rain falling at the time prevented this, however, and, luckily, no damage calling for serious consideration took place. The writer of "Local Gossip" in the Dunediu Age says :— " Miss Amy Sherwin made a stand against the annoyance of children in arras hist evening. She was ainging in tone9 of exquisite sweetness, that charming air, " Home sweet Home," when some of her softer notes were sadly interrupted by the shrill music of a squalling infant. As she concluded, « There's no place like home,' Miss Sherwin looked anxiously and meaningly at the custodian of the child, as if she intended that the words should act as a reminder. The lady aimed at was not to be so easily moved, and the child continuing to bellow vociferously, Miss Sherwiu at length walked from the stage, ouly to return, however, in response to the calls of the audience, as soon as the cause of the interruption had disappeared,"

The Hobart Town Mercury states Iriat the body of Truganini, the last of the Tasmanian aboriginals, which was buried in the graveyard attached to the Cascades Factory, has been exhumed, the bones denuded of the flesh, and the skeleton handed over to the 2!<>yal Society -for scientific purposes. About H,OOO telephone?!, says the Po.ytinhn c licricw, has been introduced into the iVlcd States up to tne c 'ose of the year li>77, and the in&nufnctftrera arc receiving orders at the rate of about a thou'sriiltl a monib. A correspondent of the Kawke's Bay JJeiald writing from Lake Taupo says: — A curious instance h:is been brought under my notice, which may be interesting to members of the Acclimatisation Society, and to those who encourage the introduction of European fish into New Zealand waters. During the heavy south-west gales large numbers of carp have been thrown up on the shores of the Lake, all of which seem to be affected with a disease indigeaous to a fish which in habits this lake, and called by the 'natives the hohopu. This disease has a fungus ap pcarance of a white colour, and adheres to the scales of the fish, which apparently sickens them, and they are eventually cast ashore during heavy \viuds." " The iate Lord Chancellor (says a writer in Mjyt'air) used to tell how he had once been ' taken down special' and with a large fee to conduct an ejectment case in the country, in which property of considerable amount was at stake- He stated his case lucidly aud succinctly, examined his witnesses so as to get out the important facts, and then addressed the jury in a speech of some twenty minutes, and won an easy verdict. The Court had adjourned for lunch, and Mr Brewsfci r was waiting outside, when he heard a discussion between two of the jury. They wi re talking about himself. ' What did you thing,' said one, ' of this great counsellor they brough from Dublin ? They tell me he's a great mau, and that they gave him ever so much for coming.' ' Well, I did not think much of him,' said the other. •He came and he spoke it all quite simple and so plain that we understood every work of it quite clear ; and the whole thing was over in an hour God be with Watty Nolan, whom we're used to. He'd hammer away for three hours on a stretch, and not one of us would know which side he was on when he sat down.' " Stutterers are compelled to take life easily, whether they will or no. Two men thus afflicted were at work at a forge. The iron was red hot and placed on the anvil, when the first one said, '• John s-s strike it hard." The other answered, "Jim, wh-wh-where shall I hi-hi-hit it ?" " No m-tu-matter uow, it's co-co cold now," was the reply, and the bar was put into the fire again. One of the most common subjects for paragraphs in colonial journals in the " ser- ! vautgalism" of the period, and in these the ' topic is invariably the cool insolence of servants. We have heard of one instance, however, wherein an Auckland tradesman made a servant girl "toe the mark," and no mistake, in a manner which few would have done. The trirl was engaged to come home on Thursday, which she did, bringing her clothes with Her. Immediately after, however, she left, and did not return till the Saturday, when she said that she had been called away by telegram to attend to her uncle, who resided at Paumure, and who bad been taken ill. The tradesman happened to find out that the c xcuse was false, and be said, " If I had not been prepared to take you when you came to me after being engaged, you could have Jemauded a week's wages, and therefore I will not give up your thiugs unless you pay me a week's wages." The girl was astounded, and refused, but after sometime, no doubt wanting the contents of her box for the Christmas holidays, she sent Bs, which has hi;e:i hauded over to us for the Orphan Home, Howe-street.— JV. Z. Herald.