Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 28, 31 January 1879, Page 2

One of the last f dens is that girls should bo taught to ride on both sides *ith a reversible crutch to the saddle (remarks Mayfiir), and the medical profession appears to recommend the practice, as inducing a straigbter carriage of the body. Slnfce the Princess of Wales' illtiess, and the affection of the knee from which she unfortunately suffered so much, she has always ridden on the wrong side of the saddle, or what we are accustomed to think is the wrong side, and did we not know her fair face so well already we should easily distinguish her in the Row by this fact. Her Royal Highness, however, does not appear in the least degree incommoded by the change, and rides as gracefully and with as firm and apparently safe a seat' as ever she did. An extraordinary accident happened to a little girl aged nine years, the daughter of Mr Stevens, of German Reef, neat' Maldon. The girl (says the Tarrengower Times) was playing about home, and picked up an old waiscoat that had been lying on the dust heap for the past three mouths. Out of the pocket fell a lithofracteur detonating cap. The girl picked this up, and thought it would make a good top for her writing pencil. She was in the act of picking out the compound with a pin, when it suddenly sxploded, blowing clean off a thumb and two fingers. The owner of the waistcoat recollects putting the cap in his pocket, as it was found to be useless in letting off a charge down the mine. A correspondent of the I'ost writes relative to the D'Urville Island Copper Mine: -The latest accounts from the mine are of the most favorable character. The operations are confined to three places, viz., the Redwood, Owen, and Manton shafts. The Owen shaft is sunk to a depth of 70 feet, and is the deepest of the three. The lode, some 4u feet down, is composed of green and blue carbonets, with a strong admixture of red oxides; but at this depth it changes to silvergrey ore (the richest description of copper ore in the world, and indicative of the greatest permanency). This lode is from 2 ; {feet thick, and its hanging-wall or casing is> lined with pure copper iu large heavy flakes, but at the greatest depth sunk the lode widens and is very rich, the analysis giving near 60 per cent of copper and 16ozs of silver to the ton. A tunnel is now being driven to intersect the shaft about 30 to 40 feet lower down, which will be completed by the second week in February ; then ore can be raised in large quantities. From the Owen shaft a continuous drive will cut the JRedwood lode, which is also fully 2 feet wide, and composed of rich carbonates. It may then be considered that the mine is beginniug to be fairly opened out. There is every probability that their first shipment of ore, which has been shipped in the Neptune for Newcastle, will very nearly cover the whole outlay on the mine up to the present time. This would be a success almost unparalleled in mining industry in the colony. A sample of the silver grey ore is on exhibition in the Athenajum passage. Origiually it was a solid block weighing a quarter of a ton.