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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4459, 5 July 1875, Page 4

A fall of the barometer commenced in the North on Saturday afternoon, and during the night the glass fell with very remarkable rapidity over the whole colony. By yesterday morning a severe gale from north-east was blowing at Tauranga and places northward, and from Napier southward the appearance of the weather was unusually threatening. By 5 p.m. the barometer had fallen (since Saturday a.m.) one inch and seventeen hundredths at Opunako, wind strong from north-west ; at Wanganui it had fallen one inch and five hundredths, wind north-west, light ; at Castle Point one inch, gale north-east ; at Wellington one inch, south-south-west gale, with hard squalls and heavy rain ; at Hokitika ninetenths five hundredths, wind light east-south-east ; at Poverty Bay the barometer had fallen four-tenths, and a severe gale from north-west was expected. -The weather was reported as very threatening from Bealey, with every appearance of a bad snowstorm. Warnings to expect falling barometer and north-east wind were sent to places northward of Tauranga on Saturday afternoon, but there was no appearance of the gale extending southward. Warnings to expect an easterly gale were sent to Timaru and Oamaru yesterday morning. The tide yesterday afternoon in Port Nicholson rose to an unusual height. It will also be noticed by our telegraphic advices that a very smart shock of earthquake was experienced in Wanganui yesterday morning. We have received from a correspondent a very interesting account of a tour to Napier, which is, however, too lengthy for insertion iu our columns, and which would unfortunately suffer by abridgement. The railway department is calling for tenders for the erection of an additional office, and not before it is time so to do, for it seems that our growing traffic, or an increased stock of stores, has rendered the present accommodation inadequate to the wants it is supposed to. supply. A casual glance from the roadside reveals to one that there is an immense amount of material lying about exposed to all weathers, and what a more particular examination of the terminus would show is not tor us to anticipate. It is clear that more will bo lost by the deterioration of unused plant than any sum which may bo gained by the delaying of the erection of the necessary stores. The site chosen ' for the new hospital possesses two very desirable qualities, viz., an abundance of fresh air and a freedom from the noise of the town. The grounds are between nine and ten acres in extent, situated in closo proximity to the lunatic asylum. These will he laid out in extensive gardens and pleasant walks for convalescent patients. As an elaborate description of the building appeared in our columns some time ago, we will not trouble our readers with anything further con-, corning it, except to remark that it is to be. built of brick. Such a sight will be truly refreshing whore we have so many wooden buildings. As there is an abundance of good 'clay on the grounds, all the bricks will be made on the spot. A machine is on the way to this place, capable of turning out about 48,000 bricks weekly. It will be erected on the grounds, and worked entirely by prison labor. Preliminary to levelling the site for the build-, ing, all the top soil is being removed, to be utilised iu laying out the gardens. The time in which the place will be completed is two years. To-day and to-morrow a good land sale will be held at the Provincial Buildings.

The Supreme Court will open pro forma this morning, and then adjourn till next Monday. We have received a short pamphlet entitled “ A Reply to the Question is a Miracle opposed to Reason,” written by Dr. Redwood, Roman Catholic Bishop of Wellington. To-night a great bill is to be presented at the Theatre Royal—the sublime tragedy of “Hamlet.” The cast is really a very strong one, equally powerful to that of “As You Bike It,” and no doubt the performance will be such a “Hamlet” as we have not witnessed for some time. The vexed question of the liability of coach proprietors to pay toll was again before the Resident Magistrate’s Court on Saturday, when Mr. Thompson, keeper of the Kaiwarra gate, sued Mr. Young, coach proprietor, for £4 2s. 6d. Mr. Travers and Mr. Brandon, who appeared as counsel in the case, having submitted their arguments, the Bench' gave judgment for the amount. There was a very large attendance at the Theatre Royal on Saturday evening, when the sensational drama by Boucicault, “ Janet Pride,” was produced. Mrs. Darrell as Jane Pride, and subsequently as Janet, was exceedingly effective, and Mr. Darrell gave a life-like rendering of the other leading character, Richard Pride. Miss Docy Maiuwariug and Messrs. Burford and Hydes also gained great applause for their excellent representations, and the piece ran off very successfully, the act-drop having several times to be raised in response, to the demands of a delighted audience. An inquest was held on Saturday at Wanganui on the body of Alexander Praser, a man who a few weeks ago was lost from the steamer Napier. After a certain amount of evidence had been taken, the inquiry was adjourned for the appearance of an important witness. The body was much decomposed, and identification rested mainly on the fact that a sum of £6 was found in the clothes of deceased, Praser having been known to have that sum about him at the time he was drowned.

The celebrated Fakir of Oolu was a passenger by the s.s. Taranaki, which left Lyttelton for this port yesterday. The Fakir opens his entertainment at the Odd Fellows* Hall on Tuesday evening, and all preparations for one of the most beautiful and attractive portions of it, the colored fountain, are now complete, Owing to the excellent water, supply in this city, the Fakir will be enabled, we learn, to present this very, interesting sight with quite as much effect as in Melbourne. Mr. Whittington, the Fakir’s agent, has been for some day’s engaged in making all the necessary preparations, and has received all possible assistance from Mr. Marchant, the City Engineer. By the Press notices which appear elsewhere, it will be seen that the Fakir has acquired a wide reputation. The Taranaki Herald gives the following particulars regarding the desire of the natives to have the Mokau opened, concerning which some items from our own correspondent appeared in our telegraphic columns lately : “ We learn that Epihk Karora, who arrived in town at the beginning of this week, has brought letters into town to the Government, asking that the steamer Waitara' may be sent to the Mokau with the Government Native Officer as a representative. It is said that, there is a large amount of produce at Mokau waiting to be shipped. A late visitor to the Mokau has informed the Budget that he was most heartily welcomed by natives and chiefs who had been taking part in. the Tongaporutu meeting, and that great disappointment appeared to exist at their invitation, which, it was stated, had been sent- to officials in town, not being attended to. The meeting, called for the purpose of discussing the land and other questions, and arranging the basis of trading operations, was utterly useless, because no Government representative was present. Tatohona, Wetere, and other leading chiefs were there, and all favorably inclined. Te Kooti, who is said to carry most weight with the Maori King, was in attendance, and is said to be more in favor of trading than even the other chiefs. He is willing that both coal and gold.should be worked. Te Kooti is very dressy, and sports a gold watch and massive chain, and treated the visitor with every kindness and presented him with a Maori mat. Te Kooti now appears to be the best friend the pakeha has got, and has thrown in the weight of his influence on the side of opening the country generally. Epiha has also caused a telegram to be sent to Sir Donald McLean, stating that the leading native chiefs at Mokau are anxious for the river to be opened to trade, and bn account of no action being taken by provincial authorities here, has asked that the Luna might-be at once sent up.” The Bruce Herald of a recent date has very great pleasure in being able to announce that satisfactory samples of pottery ware in every respect have now been produced at the New Zealand Eoyal Pottery Works, Milton. The white glaze is all that could be desired, and the “ body” of the ware has been brought out of an excellent color. Samples just completed have been sent to Dunedin in the hands of Mr. Kinnear, the company's canvasser, who should now speedily succeed in floating the remaining shares. We have to congratulate the company and the district upon the success of the experiments made, which have already resulted in the certainty of a superior marketable article being produced from material within our reach in any quantity ; and as the question of the production of white ware has hitherto been the only drawback urged by not a few- against taking shares in the company, these should speedily be at a premium in the market. Intending applicants should therefore lose no time in seeing them. A natural curiosity of a peculiar character, to be seen on the Maryvale run, near the Morwell, has been reported to the Gipps Land 'Times by a gentleman who has lately, returned from that locality. Some short distance from the Maryvale homestead is a round waterhole of about ninety yards in diameter, which so far as has yet been ascertained has no bottom, although several attempts have been made by going in the middle in a boat with all the available line and sounding for several hundred feet. The hole is in the basin of the surrounding hillocks, and the formation round tho sides is of an igneous character. A singular fact is the influence the moon has on the water, as at full moon tho level is highest, but after that the water slowly ebbs, till at tho first quarter of the next it is quite three inches lower, again rising imperceptibly till it attains its maximum height at the next full moon. It has been discovered that the sides of the hole overhang a few degrees, and the water! s highly mineralised, tasting, so says our informant, somethinglike the mineral water from Ballan or Hepburn. It certainly appears as if some subterranean communication existed with the ocean ; or can our savants else account for tho rise and fall ? We believe it is intended to send to Melbourne for a few deep sea sounding lines with which the bottom may be reached. Tire general appearance of the locality points to the supposition that the hole has been the crater of an extinct volcano, which must have been of no ordinary magnitude. The railway line passes within a few yards of the waterhole, and should the fluid possess medicinal qualities there is enough to supply the world. The South Australian Register relates the following, which it describes as a ” [Romance of the Sea”:—“The story of a somewhat perilous adventure has been told at Port Pirie by a man who may consider himself fortunate in being able to narrate it. He is a fisherman, who had in pursuit of his calling cruised from the place mentioned alone, and nearly reached the opposite shore of the gulf, when, to his astonishment and dismay, a large piece of the boat’s bottom became loose, and she immediately filled and sank in about Bft. or 10ft. of water. The man, who' is an expert swimmer, safely reached the shore, but all his provisions had floated away, and his matches were rendered useless, so he found himself on an inhospitable coast, without food or the means of making a fire or solacing himself with a pipe of tobacco. Fortunately, the mishap occurred at high water, so at low tide the adventurer was able to reach his boat, which had by that time become partially embedded- in the sand. After severe exertion he managed to work the craft into shallow water, where he patched up

the leak as well a;; he could, and eventually put to sea again. He arrived at Port Piiie on Saturday forenoon, the-12th iust., safe and sound, except for the exhaustion which necessarily followed his perilous cruise. Por nearly two days his only food was the plant known as ‘ pig’s face,’ which he of course had to eat raw. He will probably take care in future that there are no loose planks under his feet before he trusts himself so far from human aid in case of need.” An account of a curious encounter between a kangaroo and a Jog is given by the Inglewood correspondent of the Bendigo. Advertiser. The long-tailed one was observed in a paddock belonging to Mr. James Sloan, on the bank, of Bulabul Creek ; and on a dog being set after him the kangaroo turned, and seizing the latter in his fore-paws hopped off into the creek, and there tried to drown him ; but not relishing this kind of treatment,, the dog freed himself from the kind embrace of his tormentor, and getting on to the back of the latter, held his herd under water in such a persistent manner as to effectually quiet him. - The dog then swam ashore, and the dead body of the kangaroo floated down the stream, A writer in the Ohio Cultivator says :—“ I placed a tubful of water, with plenty of ice in it, by the side of a large kettleful of water which was boiling very fast. I thenrolledup my sleeve above my elbow, and thrust my fijnh into the kettle of boiling water up to toy elbow, then instantly back into the tub of ice water, letting it remain a few seconds, and into the boiling water i.gain, repeating the process ten times in a minute, without injury or inconvenience, not even making my arm look red. Prom this experiment, X suggest the propriety of using cold water baths immediately after being scalded Cold water is always handier than hot water. The sooner cold water is applied after scalding, the sooner will be the_eure.” “An ingenious scheme,” according to the Pall Mall Gazette, “ has been invented by an Italian for the regeneration of Europe. He proposes that there should in each country be an annual succession of_ kings (the'titlA of Emperor to be abolished altogether), air international commission is to decide among the existing kings and emperors and claimants to thrones who among the ofcupauts and candidates really are entitled to be monarchs. A correct list of those is to be made out, and each -candidate is to occupy tlj| throne of a European kingdom for one year in turn until every candidate on the list has governed all the kingdoms, in Europe, when he is to wait until his turn comes round again. In the event of a Republican form of government being adopted by revolution in any of the kingdoms on the lint, and the members being ■ reduced accordingly, the deposed monarch is to have his turn over again for the unexpired portioh of his reign before the other candidates on the list. The families of decapitated monarchs are to be provided for out of a general fund, to which each monarch will be expected to contribute. It is urged that this scheme will not only foster international feel-' mgs, but puc an end to warfare altogether; for no king would wage war against another king whose throne he might be called upon to occupy, perhaps before the war he had commenced was concluded, in which cast he would be compelled to take the field against an army he had himself created.” •