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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 47, 26 April 1873, Page 3

“Asgi.es ” writes to the Australasian •. —“ Dr. Youl held an inquest on Monday, at the Mel- ' bourne Hospital, on the body of James Leech, aged 31, a groom,. unmarried. Deceased was employed at Tracey’s stables, Little Collinsstreet, and slept in' the liay-loft. He was in the habit of drinking, and sometimes went up to bed in the loft drunk. 'On Sunday, the 9th rinst., another -groom-who elept in the loft went up to bed at about half an hour«fter midnight, and passed the deceased, who was sober, and made some remark. In the morning, at about 6 o’clock, the deceased was found insensible, lying on the ground as if he had fallen through the opening in the loft for putting .in hay.” A commonplace story enough. -Yet /hat man had been the gay companion of the Duke of ■Beaufort and the Marquis of Hastings, and could' trace’his descent back to the time of William the 1 Conqueror. Thus gossiped of him an old friend as we walked together to the (railway station : —“ Yes, sir : I knew his family well. His right name was Leche. The Leehes are lords of the manor, covering five parishes, near Tatton-Park—Sir Philip Egerton’s place. His father had in old time two packs of hounds, 50 hunters in his stables, and mounted 15 grooms in livery, and kept open house. A very old family, sir. .There have been 16 John * Hurlstone Leches in direct succession (a.few Williams, perhaps). They bear three crowns • on their coat-of-arms, having entertained a King ■of France, a King of England, and a King of Scotland. This one was not. the eldest, but he (had a good fortune when lie. came of age, and ran through it quick. The late. Marquis of Westminster was his guardian. I had a letter from his mother inquiring about>him a mail or two ago.” But his blue blood couldn’t save him from dying.a dog’s death hi>a Melbourne stable-yard. A sad stoiy! Between the Ist Novensber and. the 30th April, on an average, £9,500 are given annually away in prizes for. horseracing in ■ the province of Otago. During the Christmas end New Year holidays the amount expended*in prizes for various sports exceeds £2,500. On the various racecourses of the province there is annually spent £21,500 in liquor. This makes a total of £33,500 devoted every year to sport- ; mg, not so bad for a province of 70,000 irihabii tents of essentially not sporting tastes. Nearly one half of the population never visit a race--course, and a considerable proportion consider sporting of every description disreputable. There is scarcely a legitimate sporting man in the whole province, scarcely a decent racehorse owned in it, and betting is not indulged in to any extent. The principal part of the money given as prizes goes tol horse-breeders and livcry stable keepers resident in Canterbuiy, who annually send their horses to the Otago meets, thereby annually draining ’Otago of a consider- - able sum. The Prussian Agricultural Academy has been occupied since 1863 in making investigations .into .the mode of propagation and possible prevention of the potato disease: — Ist. A relationship and comneetion between the disease ef the leaf and of the tuber, and the fact that the potato fungus is the cause of the wet-rot of the potato. 2nd. The wintering of the mycelium of the fungus in the diseased tubers <is considered well established, and as needing no further verification. The mode of dissemmination of the disease, however, is considered as requiring additional investigation, including the development of the mycelium of the infected tubers in the superficial portion of the young plant, as well as the formation of the leaf fungus. The inquiry is suggested, also, whether the first traces of the leaf disease in the summer come from the mycelium of the infected seed potatoes of the previous year. Experiments are also proposed for ascertaining whether, if the young plants are completely -protected from the entrance of fungus spores from the exterior, a diseased mother-bulb would produce diseased plants. The effort to find some convenient mode of disinfection of seed potatoes, for the purpose of preventing the disease, has not, so far, met with any satisfactory result. It is possible, of course, to destroy the mycelium of the fungus in the tuber by various means; but this generally injures the bud at the same time, ana prevents it growth. One very important feature accomplished by these inquiries is -the ascertaining that different varieties of potatoes vary extremely in their susceptibility to disease, some kinds being much more liable to infection than others. It is suggested that the inquiry be carried out for the determination of the best varieties of potatoes which enjoy a greater or less immunity from attack. What it is, in the .plant or tuber, that causes this condition is not vet ascertained, and it is thought that possibly wnen the cause is known the more sensitive varieties may be do modifiedas to have an equal advantage. According to some the difference consists in the degree of smoothness of the external skin of the potato, whilst -others maintain that it depends upon the thickness of . the akin.

In an article deploring the prevalence of gambling in Victoria, the Age says:—Nor is the oesetting evil confined to the make sex. Ladies whose toilets prove that the complacency of husbands or fathers must be as large as their means, or that tradespeople are confiding to an alarming degree, are bitten with the mania ef gambling. The avidity with which they importune friends to put in for sweeps oversteps the bounds of womanly modesty ; the deep felt interest in the drawing, and the heightened color and excited eye, and the exulting smile -of satisfaction when a likely horse falls to their lot, go far to convince the unprejudiced spectators that the liklihood of becoming the possessor of the money of others has far more to do with their ill-repressed delight than the fugitive and simple pleasure of seeing a race lost and won. Woman -seems to unsex herself, and the greed of a harpy, the knowingness of a tout, and slang of the stable, usurp the place of modesty, simplicity, and refinement.