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Patea Mail, Volume IV, Issue 329, 12 June 1878, Page 4

A i ailway porterslup is not a pleasant billet, if incidents of tho following character are of so common occurrence : —An incident took place at a. Victorian railway station very much to the consternation ot the person principally concerned. it seems that some months ago a small tin box was found in one of the pa.'songcr carriages, and not having been chimed, it was opened two or three days back, and the contents found lo bo of a soapy appearance. One of tho porters took a small portion with him, ami proceeded to wash his hands therewith in a bucket; but no sooner . did the substance touch the water than an explosion took place us loud as the report of a gun, fortunately, however, without injuring the porter, The box was subsequently taken to a chemist, who pronounced the contents to be sodium. Miss M. Ik Martin, a daughter of John Marlin, liisq., J.P., of Wellington, has the honour of being the only young lady south of the line who has passed the Cambridge local examination for 1878. A sirring of petroleum oil has, it is alleged, been discovered in Queen Churl otters §ound, but tho locality is kept a secret. Some idea of the enormous grain production in Canterbury, and the work whic’n consequently devolves on the railway there, may be gathered from the fact that during the month of April last 82,500 tons of grain passed over the Canterbury Ifiv f; (in addition to ordinary traffic). Tbe«gross total receipts from those lines for the same period amounted to £89,500. Tho highest amount realised in any previous mouth was £ 0.2,000. The Tr.i an aid Ne-.o* says —Tho Titanic Iron arid Sitcei Company having stated that tho iron produced at the Hemd Works cost £SO per ton, Mr E. M. Smith has gone hi to the matter and states as flic result of his investigations that tin? compound which cost the Company 17s 6d per ton could be made of superior quality at 7s (id; tho lirnc which cost Ait? per ton, and v/as rich in silica, could bn obtained free of .silica at £8; the charcoal which cost 5s per bushel could be obtained forth!; the wood which cost £1 8a per cord could be obtained for 7s; and the coke which cost £7 per ton could, if gas were made on the works, be obtained for Is 44d. Mr Smith has prepared a new form of compound less rich in ore than that used by tho Company, and containing lime which, he states, can be reduced in a forge fire. He has also prepared jdans showing some important economical improvements in furnaces adapted to tiie reduction ■of iron-sand ores. Tho Wellington Chronicle of the 3rd instant says : —We mentioned a day or two ago that a man who was travelling through the Otaki District on Friday last, had been drowned at the mouth of the Otaki itiver. The body has been searched for since, but it has not yet been found.. The horse which the man was riding swam ashore, and on being, examined, it was discovered to be branded lI.P. This has led the police to suppose that the deceased was Hr Prouse, who was kov/n to be on his way from Foxton to Wainui-o-mata, and who has not yet reached his destination. From the Manav/atu 2'imes, we learn that the body has been found, and an inquest held on the 2nd instant. According to the evidence adduced, deceased, who was a farmer at the lliitt Diver, was on his return journey from Patea. The prevailing opinion is, that in its eagerness to drink, the horse precipitated itself and its rider into the , stream, and the animal kicked the unfortunate man in the head, rendering him [ powerless to save himself.