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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 160, 6 July 1880, Page 2

Among the incidents of the British elections it is announced that a retired publican of Minster, named Packeridge, was sentenced to six weeks' hard labour for causing the. death of a valuable dog. The prisoner painted the dog all over with the Liberal and Conservative colours, and the animal was poisoned through licking the paint off. Thirty-six years ago Australia and Tasmania formed only a district of the Anglican diocese of Calcutta. ' Now they form thir^ teen dioceses, of which Dr; Barker is metropolitan. Dr. Barker was ordained in 1831, and succeeded Dr Broughton, the first Bishop of Australia, in 1854. A contemporary says:--On the occasion of tbe second reading of the Licensing Bill Mr Barron remarked in the course of bis short speech tbat " climatic influences had a great deal to do with the necessity which existed for drink," and he therefore thought that a Uniform measure for the whole Colony Would prove unsuitable. If the principle were admitted, how does the member for Caversham propose to apply it? Are public houses, like mushrooms, to vary in size and. number with the temperature and amount of rainfall? Or are very thirsty neighborhoods, such as certain suburbs of Dunedin, to have whiskey turned on in the mains? Many of his constituents, having read the telegram, are anxious to know what Mr Barron does mean. . The Bangalore Spectator calls attention to a novelty for the city aldermen, who are informed that the flesh of the tiger is not only a most delicate viand, but that it imparts physical vigour far beyond anything that roast beef can accomplish. At Porchester. Hants, a roll of hank notes confined by an elastic band, amounting td £225, was recently found among the seaweed washed up by tbe late gales. The notes were issued by an English County Bank. . A French newspaper states tbat if a little chloride of lime be placed on the soil, rats, and we presume rabbits, mice, and insects will. at once -desert the place. Plants may be easily protected from inseot plagues by simply brushing over their stems with a weak solution of chloride of lime, and it has often been noticed that the patch wbich bas been treated in tbis way remains free from grubs, while the unprotected beds around are literally devastated. Fruit trees may be guarded from their attacks by attaching to the stems pieces of tow smeared witb a mixture of chloride of lime, and ants and grubs then in possession will rapidly vacate their quarters. It is a curious fact, remarks au exchange, to be remembered by those who advocate giving "big" money at race meetings, that the most important races in England bave not a single shilling of added money attached to them. The Two Thousand Guineas, Oaks, Derby, and St. Leger are all sweepstakes. The first race is not so called because two thousand guineas are added to the stakes, but bimply we believe, from the fact that the Talue of the race used to be about that sum. It now usually amounts to between three and four thousand guineas. A correspondent of the Napier Daily TeUgraph writes as follows : — " All who have been in the babit of perusing the daily papers may perhaps remember that about a year ago a certain Maori named Hiroki was charged at Napier with having placed an obstruction on the railway line somewhere near Takapau, and on being tried for the offence he was acquitted on the ground of his ignorance, with a gentle reminder that if repeated he would be severely punished. A European for the same crime has been sentenced to fifteen years' penal servitude." The Minister of Justice, says the New Zealand limes, has recently decided that officers of local bodies will not in future be regarded as "publio officers" within the meaning of the Justices of the Peace Act, and they will, therefore, have to pay for all summonses taken out by them as if they were private individuals. We understand that his Worship the Mayor is about to take action in the matter in his place iv Parliament. Perhaps one way of getting over the difficulty would be to swear in officers of local bodies as constables. The wonderful instinct of locality which the cat shares with the carrier pigeon has been put to some practical use in Belgium. Tbirty seven catß, residing iv the City of Liege, were recently put into bags and taken a long way into the country. Here they were liberated nt 2 o'clock one afternoon, and at a quarter to Aye on the same evening one of tbem returned home, while all his companions arrived there within twenty-four hours after being set free. It is, therefore, proposed to establish a regular system of cat communication between Liege and tbe neighbouring villages by means of catß. This is a somewhat novel part for pussy to play, aud if it he feasible, we hope that she will be properly protected in it. The Wellington Fire Brigade, which lately disbanded,, had an accideut fund of £500, which has been divided among the members, according to length of service. Some men received as much as £60 each. The amount of paper collars annually made in the United States is estimated at 150,000,000, and if we reckon this as about one-half the total number manufactured we shall have the enormous aggregate of 300,000,000 paper collars for the world's yearly consumption. Supposing the average length ;of the collars to be fifteen inches and they were joined end to end, they would wrap around the world thirty -five times, with 4,320,000 collars to spare. It is stated that the quantity of course light cotton fabric used in the manufacture ih America during the past year was about 80,000,000 yards, and the weight of the paper pulp was upwards of 2,000 tons. A report comes from Wellington (says the Napier Telegraph) that in order to prevent .any chance of Mr Ormond carrying a want of confidence in the Ministerial financial proposals, and so being himself callled upon to form au Administratis,, Sir, Gearge Grey and his party will vote with- the Hall Go-, vemment. Surely confusion could no . further go, li

The chimes' of the post-office clock in Adelaide have been heard 240 miles distant, by means of the phonograph. The Railway News says :— " There are no less than 260 miles of railway in operation within the area of the metropolis — that is to say, within a radius of only six or seven miles from Charing-cross. Allowing for double lines, and for those with three, four, and even five tracks ' or separate set 9of metals, and without including sidings, bays at stations, &c, there are not less than 750 miles, and, therefore, more thau sufficient to form a single line of railway from London to Thurso, which is tbe Ultima Thule of the system. There are 13 separate companies, altogether, owning and working their own lines, and one company whose line is worked b'yanother— viz., the East London." The Spaniards have a proverb that "a paper cigarette, a glads of fresh water, and the kiss of a pretty girl will sustain a man for a day without eating." All the axes and buck-saws found in the ruins of Pompeii are of light make, as if constructed for woman's use. Those old ancients knew their little business. "Easily Pleased," writing (to the Auckland tieraldA] from Opotiki upon the subject of the property tax 1 , and the extravagance which made such au obnoxious measure necessary, says: — " ;£SOO (nearly) is the contract price for building a town constable's house in Opotiki. Tbe bouse ia now nearly finished, and is by far the best dwelling-house in Opotiki. The parson's house, the schoolmaster's house, and the commanding officer's house, all put together did not cost as much money as this town constable's house. The barracks near it, big enough for fifty men, did not cost* as much. It is a right good house. Many a hard-working man who will have to help' pay for that house will never be able to get one half as good for himself. - A Yankee editor, speaking of poultry, says :— " Much attention has been paid to the rearing of poultry in the West, and the method now in use of hatching chickens I consider far superior to the Egyptian one of hatching them in ovens. It is simply to fill a barrel with eggs, head it up, and sit a hen Upon the bung." An oddly-constructed will has been admitted to probate in Boston, It was dated ' at the top of the sheet, and was signed hy the testator and three witnesses. The names of the legatees were placed in a column on the left hand side, and their respective legacies opposite tbeir names in a column ou the right. It contained no attesting clause or any words whatever beyond this. Speaking in the House the other night on retrenchment, Mr Andrews said: — Then there was £250 for a SergeaOt-at-Arms. Supposing tbey really did require stlch a person, they could get a much better man than they now had for one-fifth of the sum. If the Speaker were to order him (Andrews} to be taken into custody, why the present Sergeant would not be able to do it. Instead of taking him into custody -he (Andrews) would simply run away with the Sergeant. The Empress of Austria, who is now hunt- \ ing in Ireland, is said to lead a life at her ' estate at Godolo singularly unlike that of most queens; a large share of her time is spent in ber stables and riding-school. This last is a large arena connected with the castle by a covered passage, and having a luxuriant tribune for spectators, filled with cushions, hookahs, flowers, piano, and three of the largest mirrors in existence. Leading from this apartment is a ballroom ; and the Empress is described as sometimes giving semiequestrian, semi-terpsichorean entertainments to her guests, when waltzea and mazurkas are interpersed witb feats of horsemanship, the imperial lady herself mounting a wild Arabian horse, which has given a great deal of trouble to its trainers. As showing the immense wealth possessed by some persons in England, it is worth noticing that in the last number of the Home News received here, there are published the wills of 17 deceased persons, whose aggregate amount of personalty totals up to the enormous sum of £4,055,0000, or an average of over £238,000 to each individual. The Taranaki News says :—" Not only have our farmers given up the cultivation of wheat and the production of eggs and bacon, but they have also given up the cultivation of potatoes, and an enterprising firm in New Plymouth., advertises tor sale 25 tons of potatoes newly imported from Oamaru. .As the soil of Taranaki is specially adapted < o the production of root crops, tbis appears to be a very bad sign indeed. Tbe Prussian capital, it appears, has long contained a jewel of quite fabulous value, although the news of its existence was first made known to the general public by the reports of the last session of the Polytechnic Society. This noble stone is a sapphire, and is the property of one of the members of that learned body. It weighs " 12£ loth" — a little more than six ounces. The jury of the Polytechnic Society have settled its value at the frightful sum of 64,000,000 marks, or £3,200,000 of English money. It need hardly be said that auch a treasure is not very likely to find a purchaser at such a price. It is contended by some of the adepts that the stone is not .perfectly pure, but jit can never be so far lowered as to tempt the richest and most eccentric collector in the world to give anything like the sum which must be asked for it. It needs not to say tbat sheep are an important factor in the profits and comforts of the inhabitants of the world. A writer with statistical predilections writes : — "The capital employed in feeding and clothing the civilised world is amazing. It is estimated that there are from 484,000,000 to 600,000,000 sheep in. the world, or at the lowest estimate, over 320,833 miles of sheep, if strung along, one closely following the other— or nearly enough to encircle the earth thirteen times. Of these, the United States have 35,000,000— that is nearly enough to make a solid column of sheep, eight in a row, from New York to San Francisco. Great Britain has about the same number of sheep as the United States, and her wool-clip' increased from 94.000,0001 b in 1801 to 325,000,000 in 1875. France and Austria) produce aboat as much, but the . United States product is only about 200,000,0001 b — not two thirds of that of Great Britain. The great sheep-breeding countries of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the River Plate brought the total wool clip of tbe world last year up to 1,497,500,0001 b, worth, at a low estimate, £300,000,000. The war steamer Raleigh arrived at Sydney on the 17th June from Plymouth, via the Cape. She reports that the Madeira Islands were searched, for traces of theKnowsley Hall. A hut was found partially furnished, showing signs of recent habitation, also two boats and a flagstaff, but no signs of life. It is surmised that the hut belonged to some fishermen. A pamph'et has been largely circulated in Midlothian, Scotland, entitled "Political Achievements of the Earl of Dalkeith." It is neatly got up, and when opened is found to contain thirty blank pages. A similar work would fitly describe the career of more ! than one member of the General Assembly. An Oamaru elector named Gould put a question somewhat bluntly to one of tte candidates for Parliamentary honours. The question as reported in tbe local Times is this: — 4< What amendment would you advocate in the bankruptcy laws by which adventurous scoundrels now manage to shuffle off their just debts aud make' other people pay. them ?" The candidate's answer was that he would he in favour of an alteration of the bankruptcy laws, but he could not speak more definitely on the subjeot, It would be

well, however that candidates and members too, should "post" themselves on this bankruptcy question, so as . to enable them, not only to speak definitely, but to take vigorous action.