MISCELLANEOUS.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 161, 18 April 1874, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

Damages of £lOO have been given against the Alelbourne branch of the Bank of New South Wales for the dishonoring of a cheque, On Sunday week an interesting sight was witnesssed at. the Ocean Beach, Dunedin. A flight of curlews, says the Guardian, proceeded in one long, continuous line from south to north, covering the entire width of the bight and apparently reaching for miles further. Alr. B. L. Farjeon is about to visit the United States, in order to read selections from his own works. Taking the wheat and barley at 4s 6d, and oats at 4s per bushel, the gross value of the grain produced in Canterbury this year is calculated by the Press at £650,905, or nearly £l2 per head of the population. The estate of Waitotara has been disposed of to a gentleman of Napier. It comprises 400 acres, and has brought £l2 10s per acre. On the accouncement that Mr. Lowe was to be Home Secretary, the clerks of the Treasury indulged in a champagne supper, and the clerks of the Home Office put on complimentary mourning. By an order in Council it will be necessary in future to register the birth of children stillborn, throughout the colony of New Zealand. The match between the All-England Eleven and fifteen Victorian players ended in a victory for the Englishmen, with seven wickets to spare. The Englishmen afterwards showed their batting powers with only eleven men in the field. There was nothing formidable in the bowling, and Mr. W. G. Grace made the magnificent score of 126. He got 100 in 58 minutes, which is an almost unexampled feat of rapid scoring. A marriage has been arranged between Sir Charles Dalrymple, M.P., for Buteshire, brother of the Right Hon. Sir James Fergusson, Bart., Governor of New Zealand, and Aliss Hunter Blair, second daughter to Sir Edward Hunter Blair, Bart.

Mr. John Hall continues a prime favorite with the Liverpudlians, his charming wife being engaged at Manchester—just a “convenient distance ” away. Mr. T. B. Whitehead, late of the New Zealand Herald., and who returned to England some time ago, is now editor of the Yorkshire Gazette.

Professor Anderson is dead. He died at Darlington, and has been laid in the grave of his first wife, at Aberdeen. He was sixty years of age. The younger members of the Professor’s family are performing under various names in different parts of the country.

Julia Mathews continues her performances in “ Madame Angot ” at the Philharmonic with complete success. This lady, if she has lost somewhat the arch abandon of her earlier days, and the rich tones of her voice, is said to have developed into a more finished actress. New Zealand Rope,—We find by the Southern Cross that “ Mr. Neil Lloyd, of the Auckland Patent Rope Factory, has just finished a stream cable for the ship Hindostan, which, on account of its unusual size, is worthy of notice. The cable is 12in. in circumference, and is made of New Zealand oiled flax. The coil of rope, as it now lies at the factory, is 120 fathoms long and 12ft. in diameter, and its weights is supposed to be about 2 tons. And in order to get it out of the factory the entire end of the building will have to be taken down. This is believed to be bv far the largest rope ever made in New Zealand.” A little story it going the rounds concerning a London Broad Church clergyman, who, being recently on an excursion in Scotland, was vehemently rebuked by his landlady for taking a walk on Sunday afternoon. The clergyman said that he could not see the harm, and replied, “You know that our Lord Himself walked with His disciples in the fields on the Sabbath day.” “Ay,” said the old lady, “ ay. I ken it, an’ I ne’er thochtony the better o’ Him for it neither.” A second scheme for a tunnel between England and France is likely to appear shortly. Some enterprising speculators are actually going to try to send Virginian coal to England, and place it in competition with that which comes from English coal fields.