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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1246, 13 January 1883, Page 2

A convict says he was sent to prison for being dishonest, and yet he is compelled every day to cut out pieces of pasteboard, which are put between the soles of the cheap shoes made there, and palmed off an the innocent public as leather. Not only is the “whereabouts” of some men a puzzle, but also their whyabouts and whatabouts.

By th* Strapis, which has arrioed at Pwt Chalmers from Caloutta, th* British M 4 New Zealand Mercantile Agenoy Company (says the “Otago Daily Times n ) jiave received a consignment of little animals of th* ferret tribe, known to India as the mon< goose: 16 out of the 20 shipped, having arrived in safety. According to the state- a ment of Dr. Anderson, hon. secretary of th* A Zoological Gardens, Calcutta, who wa* strumental in the capture of the they possess indescribable courage, energy and agility. In India chiefly consists of the eggs of and quails, email bird* and mioromammaUalW If this latter is a new name for rabbit, w* give it up. However, the mongoose have been imported specially to aid in abolishing the rabbit nuisance. A letter carrier named Joetph Bilton, employed at the Boston Post Office, ha* been charged at the Sessions House with wilfully setting fire to a number of letters and nswspapers which had been entrusted to him for delivery. Evidence was given by Henry Harris, a gardener, that he saw ths prisoner standing over a fire which he had lighted in a field, and several partially burned letters, circulars, and newspapers which were rescued from the flames and produced in court. The prisoner was committed for trial at the Nottingham Assizes,

“ A Victorian," writing te a oentamponn on the subject of the Hon. W. J. CMkew elevation to a baronetcy, and approving of the bestowal of the honor, give* the following sketch of that gentleman * public spirit ana liberality:—“He stands alone in Australaaln as a perfect Peabody. Every hospital—yes, every charity—in Victoria, and many outside it, have been most liberally treated by him. The amount of good he does is really not known; be is always doing it. He needs not seote; churches of sll denominations have been recipients of his bounty. He4s the farmers' friend, too. At hi* own cost he brought out Mr Molvor, and paid him a large salary to lecture to and instruct th* farmer. Spontaneously he doled out £l,OOO to th* famine-stricken of India. The wail from China, too, he heard; so also the distressed Jews in Russia. He topped the list of the heavy contributions sent by colonist* to the Mansion House for relief in Ireland. In fact, I believe a list in detail would fill your paper of the money he has distributed for public good. Had they not heard what a nobta, generous man he was when singling him out for the marked distinction—the first Australian baronet. I hope our contingent of the first Federal Council will be composed of men of the stamp of Sir W. J. Clarke, which, however, is a vain hope, for he stands quite alone—a man of great wealth and great benevolence. The combination is a rarity."

The war dance of the Maori* is thus oomSaved by Terry with the oorroboree of the •uatrali'an blacko :— ** The arrival of a southern tribe at Kororareke (Bay of Islands) afforded us an opportunity of witnessing the New Zealand war dance, which seem* to bs practised on nearly the same occasion* as the oorroboree of the New Hollander*. On ths meeting of friendly tribes, thsas performances are regarded as being of a complimentary character ; but previously to hostile onsets they are intended to inspire the combatants with courage, and to appal the enemy. In the hake, the deepest end loudest shouts that human lung* are capable of emitting alternate with a noise produced by impelling the breath through the compressed teeth, which is infinitely more hideous than the hiss or whistle of a locomotive engine ; at the same time, the features wear a most formidable expreseion, and the whole frame seems toz-bs m energy of hate and evil passion* truly demoniacal. In the dance of the New Hollanders there is a strange mixture of the ludicrous. In passing over the moonlit plains of Australia, I could listen to the latter without uneasiness, but the ferooiou* shouts and hissing of a New Zealand war dance are of such a character as to make the blood run cold."

A remarks-ble acoident oconred near to Stourbridge. Mr. Charier Moody, a local photographer, wax walking along the old Stamber Mill viaduct, on the Great Western Railway, whence was suddenly seen to disappear. Bit turned out that he had fallen through the old bridge into the river Stour below, a depth of about a hundred feet. He was speedily rescued, though in an insensible condition, and it having been ascertained by medical examina* tion that no bones were broken, he was conveyed home. Mr. Moody has recently been photographing the old viaduct from dffirent points, and it ii supposed thrit he was studying a position for a new picture when he fell through.

A perplexing question (says an American paper), often arises under the patent laws. Suppose a workman in the employ of some large establishment inven ts a valuable improvement in the machinery or processes—does the patent for it belong to him or to his employers ? They always say that they were paying him for his time, and are entitled to whatever he acco&n plishes. He argues that inventing is a matter quite outside the duties for which he was hired. For example, a plough manufacturing company in Indiana employed a superintendent of their business, and he, during his engagement, took out a patent for improvements he made in the ploughs they were selling They sued him, claiming that he should transfer the patent to them, for they said that they were led to engage him by his assurance that he had large experience in making and selling ploughs and devising improvements, and that he would devote his time and services to manufacturing and perfecting their ploughs; also, that the improvements he had patented was made partly by aid of suggestions from other employes, andx with materials belonging tu toe Com- ( pany. The Judge said that these facte were not enough to make out their case. Persons are not deprived of the inventions they make while in the serxice of others, unless they have been hired and paid to exercise their inventive faculties for their employers. A contract for the time, labour, and skill of an employe in manufacturing and selling does not give the employer a right to an improvement which the employe invents. If, in this case, the superintendent was materially aided by suggestions from other persons, he was not sole inventor, and perhaps his coadjutors were entitled to share in the patent; but the fact would certainly not give the employers a right to it.