NEWS OF THE DAY.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1117, 26 November 1883, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

; /- —- — —: y : Tho Salvation Army contemplates a Maori war.

Sir Bedevere has'been scratched for the Dunedin Cup. : 1 Fifteen acres wore planted willrtobncco last yeanin.Now Zealand. The barque May Queen, from London, arrived at Nelson, all well. ’ A gang of sheep-stealers have been captured by the .-police at Hokianga. I Emergencj r meeting of the Kilwinning Lodge to-night. Business important. ' ; An auriferous mountain, 31,000 ft high, is said to have been discovered in New Guinea. , ■■

Paterangi Cheese Factory has started work, and is receiving 300 gallons of milk daily. In Napier district shearing is much behind on account Of trie unsettled weather.

Mr Johnston; a country postmaster in Otago, has committed suicide by taking strychnine.

The Auckland Jockey Club, have decided to remove the disqualification from Ray the trainer. ; .

The : Tasm’aniari Parliament have authorised Ministers to make a contract for a direct steam service to England. v : It took’seventy;railway trucks to convey the exhibits sent from Oaraaru to the Christchurch Agricultural Slidw.

In a German L?iw pOurt', a lady of .over 50 years, who swore that Her'age was 2(5, was promptly indicted for perjury, 1 The Christchurch Exhibition.is to he Htby 150 incandescent and 6 arc lights by the New Zealand, Electric Light Company. ’' r i “ King Billy,” the last of the lineal descend* ants of the aboriginal kings of' Victoria, died on the-26th October at Warrnambool. .

'i Jt has been decided by the Austrian tailway- administration to employ women as road guards on the same terms as men. During last yearj the Christchurch Benevolent Association relieved 270 cases,the amount disbursed being £1,038. There were 990 children dependent 5 on the parties relieved. The. French are. experimenting wilb'.a mew rifle, designed for infantry pse, which, is said to’ discharge three projectiles at a time. ‘"" ...... • ~..r.

1 Births in the chief cities-of the colony last month were—Auckland,: 122 ; Wellington, 90 ; Dunedin, 86 ; and Ghristchurclr, 33. iA Chamber of Commerce has been established' in Nelson, iKvith Mr 'James Sblanders as chairman, and Mr J. H. Cook vjcerchairman.

\ Mr Mitchelson was sworn in before His Excellency the Governor .oh Friday, at Wellington, as a member of the Executive Cpunbil hnd Minister fof Public' Works. " The San Francisco bank vaults contain opium valued at. £400,000. Much of ,it belongs to Chinese capitalists. The bank a regard the dfhg nsgobd security for loans;

: Wines made from grapes grown at Auckland, Wanganui, Hokitika, and. other plages, in the colony will figure largely in the forthcoming Industrial Exhibition at Christchurch. .• . ;■

Wo (Manaioatit Standard) hear that there is a good deal of'sickness about the district, and that among children diphtheria arid other kindred complaints are not uncommon.

200 deaths took- place in New. Zealand last month,: against; 562 births. Of the deaths, 88 were of children under five years, being 44 per , cent, of the whole number.

The-holes that have existed in the crossings in Bedford . street for some time past have been filled up, and the improvement will doubtless be appreciated by pedestrians. , - An incident is reported as having happened at Gosport, when a clergyman stopped the performance of a marriage ceremony on discovering that the bridegroom was far from sober. The captain of tlie ship Antares, which conveyed the body of the ; late Judge Maning to Auckland, did not know that ho had the body' on hoard, it having been .-.hipped as ordinary cargo. Jain making for the season has commenced at Nelson. Eleven hundred weight and a half of strawberries wore picked in Mr Tyree’s garden on the 20th, and sent to Kirkpatrick’s factory. A Dunedin telegram slates that it is asserted that one sheep of a pen, which had its leg broken at the recent show there, has been forwarded to Tapanui in the same condition, the excuse being that to kid it would spoil the pen.

Judge Causcdells, of New South Wales, is a model of politeness and urbanity, in which we can quite believe, as he sentenced Prothero, a would-be suicide, to a minute's imprisoment—the shortest sentence on record.

Mr Vanderbilt has placed’a suite of apartments in his New York mansion at the service of Mr Henry Irving, for whose use a large mirror has been purchased by the American millionaire that he may study and pose before it. What a, delicate,attention !

The Ormaru woollen factory is now in working order, and the work of transforming wool into cloth has been begun ; but it will be some little time, (says the Mail ) before the whole of the machinery is set goinguand a full complement of hands employed. V The latest-American curiosity is a free railway. At Oakland, in Colorado, a railway company wanted to run their line through the principal street. The citizens made the concession on condition that no fares should’be collected for rides within the limits of the town.

In determining a case at Tapanui the other day, Mr Nugent Wood, R M., fell contained to say that there was no such thing as morality in connection with horse or land dealing. People seemed to throw honesty to the winds once they commenced to deal in horses or land.

Cannot some means be devised for protecting the sandbanks in Bedford street ? The heavy gale on Saturday and yesterday’ had the effect of filling the air with sand, which, duly made its presencc:fclt in the eyes of those whom misfortune led down the street in question.

It is understood that Dr Hammond has applied to the Government for an inquiry into tho management of tho Wellington Hospital, but the Government have declined to grant tho request on the grounds chat the management of the Hospital generally has not been impugned. The Spring show of the Horticultural Society will be hold to-morrow in the Harmonic, Hall. The. recent boisterous .weather .will no doubt have an effect upon tno exhibits, still we have no doubt the show will prove interesting. Doors will be opened at 2.30 pun., and also iri the evening.

i According to recent accounts the Quakers have just repealed tho prohibition of the marriage of first cousins, which has been in force for nearly 200 years. It is believed that this will have a most bene-ficial-result, and that in another generation the Society will have more than doubled its, members. <•

The eucalyptus (blue gum)-loaves have developed yet another property, It is now found that they are a preventive .of steam boiler incrustation. A Californian has discovered this; and after extensive experiments he claims the most satisfactory results. Patents have been secured iu the United States and other countries.

A man named Macnamara, describing himself as/,an bid; Crimean soldier, was arrested by -ihe police in Bedford street, on Friday night for being drunk and disorderly, and was brought up on Saturday to answer the Charge. A fine of 5s was inflicted, iu - default, twenty-four hours’ imprisonment. Macnamara accepted the latter.

The local paj>er says that the wool clip is very backward ;in the Wairrirapa this season. Up ,to the present only about TOO bales have been sent to Wellington per rail, although this time last year the season’s clip was travelling at the rate of 100 bales per week. The weather and state of the 1 roads probably account for this backwardness.

The Argus says of the Victorian larrikins : ‘‘'lnhere is no spirit of fun, no comicality, no wit, no -humour, nothing kindly or humane in their proceedings, to leaven coarseness, or to plead as an excuse for illegality-; their outrages are, for the most wanton, senseless, besotted, bestial acts of vulgar savagery. There is only one : way of appealing to such natures and that ik through tlie hide.” To show what a serious matter .the preparation of Christmas cards has become, it may be mentioned that in September the large wholesale houses of London had the whole of their new ; ;‘designs for Christmas, 1885, not only drawn and selected, but in actual course of manufacture... It is necessary to 1 be thus at least eighteen months ahead, in order to keep pace with the growing demand. A woman 123 years old is, according to the London Lancet, '••living' at Aube’rihe-en-Royans, a village in tho Dauphine. She has no infirmity except slight deafness, being in full possession of her mental faculties. Her age as given above is authentic, and, according to her marriage 'certificate, she completed in January last her one hundredth year since marriage. : " ;

The project of "the Auckland Meat Freeing to bring sheep overland from Hawke’s Ray is likely to bo successfully carried out.., Messrs. Hicks ahd. Stubbing have returned to. Auckland from thCif tqp to Napier, and report very fivburably on the’facilities for establishing tlio several; stations for sheep-driving proposed to be made between Patetere and Napier. The World says that one of the possibilities of the early' future is an offensive and 'defensive .alliance ; between : England arid Germany ; and the adventurous policy of France in wariojis quarters of fheglobe,. with the aggressive spirit shown by, RUssia in the East, may largely contribute to an Anglo-German understanding,,which could not fail to. be advantageous to the world.

A curious Ipgal complication has arisen out of the 1 earthquake,disaster at Cassamicciola. Among the victims were a Signor and Signora Bonavita, who left property worth 1,000,000d01, to which there is*no direct heir. Their relatives, in order to determine the succession, have petitioned to have the bodies disinterred, that by an examination of the external injuries, it may be ascertained, if possible, which died first.

; The Fiji Times , in a recent article, calls attention to the immense utility of the cocanus as food rations, and the valuable qualities which it has for sustaining nutrition. The following instance is given in the case of a vessel 'that once left San Frkncisco with 400 passengers for Sydney, and which, in consequence of running short of stores, had to put in at Samoa, where a large quantity of cocoanuts were obtained. During the remainder of the passage very heavy weather was eu* countered, in which the vessel became waterlogged, and only reached Sydney after a perilous journey of 80 days, during-wbich time all the provisions ran short, and men, women and children were fed only upon cocoanuts, being at last reduced to one per diem for each adult. Notwithstanding the' diet not a life was lost, and not a single case of sickness occurred, all the passengers landing in a healthy and well-nourished condition. In another instance two men drifted in a whale boat on to Quails Island, where they remained for seven years before they were taken off. They had no food beyond a chance flying fish and cocoanuts ami yet when rescued were in CKcellout condition, and had gained in weight.'

The Waverloy left for Nelson and Wellington at,4.30 o’clock on Friday afternoon, with five passengers, viz., Misses Haycock and Mahon}', Messrs Haycock, King, and Pettit. She is at present undergoing inspection at Wellington, but is expected here on Wednesday, leaving again the same evening. It'has just transpired that four artisans recently found nearly £4OOO concealed near the bank of the Grand Canal, Dublin. It was contained in a leather bag, which was brought to light by a dog tugging at the string which was attached. The four finders, after dividing the money, separated. One got married, and left for Australia. Another followed in his wake, and a third has sailed for America. The fourth, a labouringman, remains in Dublin. The money is supposed to be part of the sum stolen from the Munster

Mr W Cowcrn hold a sale on Saturday of the landed property and personalty and ;sundry items in the estate of Mr G F Sherwood on nccconnt of the trustee also of household furniture and effects on behalf of •Mr Sherwood. .The sale was well attended ■in spite of the exceptionally windy weather. The furniture, for which there was a good competition, realised fairly satisfactory rates. Sundry ; items consisting of sawmill plant, etc., were almost given away oaring to lack of competition. The land and personalty, secured by mortgage, were passed in without a single bid Th e N. Z. Times, in a recent issue, says businesa.in the police department of this city. The Resident Magistrate has been occupied with a clean sheet two mornings in succession. Not a single ‘ drunk ’ has presented his bleared countenance for the usual five shillings’ worth of good advice. The cells are empty night and day. The police make their usual heals, but return empty-handed and disconsolate. , Unless something ‘turns up,’ the officers will get desperate, and begin to run each other in, and bail each other but, for practice.” Speaking of Sir George Grey’s speech at Christchurch on Pacific Annexation, the Lyttelton Times, says :—“There is no getting oyer the fact that Sir George Gr&y is the orator of New Zealand. Hia position on the present occasion has a special prestige about it. Sir George , has been selected by Mr Herbert Spenser as the loading spirit in the world upon what he regards as the leading question of the universe ; the question the most pregnant , with results to ; humanity. Our public men are always vying with each other ih quoting Mr Herbert Spenser. But Sir’ George is the first of them who has ever been quoted by the man whom aU unite in regarding as a great prophet. ,The people who have settled it to their own satisfaction that Sir George Grey is only fit to > tickle the ears of groundlings, have here rather a hard nut to crack. Herbert Spebser is not a groundling. And Herbert Spenser has taken to Sir G. Grey’s views, not by the charms of Sir G. Grey’s manner, but, through the reports of Sir George’s speeches.” . .. The expedition which the New Orleans Times-Democrat lately announced its intion of sending to the everglades of Florida, is to assemble at Jacksonville, and proceed thence, by rail and steamer, to Lake Okeechobee, where preliminary surveys will be made and final arrangements completed, A direct coarse will then be taken for Whitewater, Bay on the Gulf Coast. When the centre of the everglades shall, have been; reached, a camp will be established for two weeks and surveying parties will Be sent east and west.. The explorers are men of vigour, determination and scientific attainments. They will take with them six canoes specially built for the service, with sails and center boards, rigged for. oars and padnles, and manned by stalwart negroes. They anticipate much excitement and danger, for there exists on the face of the globe no more-mysterious wilderness, than the region they hope to penetrate' it is only inhabited* by Indians who fled there after the Seminole War, and- by,negroes,' wdiom they hold as slaves. The TimesDemocrat supposes that ihere may be seven of eight hundred of the former and or forty of the latter. A few months ago Chief Tiger Tail became displeased with one of his coloured servants, and brought him into Fort Myers to offer him for sale. When informed that the negroes are all;free,ihe eiaculated : ; ‘Whste. man’s nigger raebbee free, but Indian’s nigger, no.” Whereupon . Tiger Tail grasped the darkey Jby the riape of the neck, pushed him; "into the canoe, apd paddled back to the everglades..