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Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 50, 1 May 1863, Page 3

The Late Gales at Dunedin. — The storm which raged yesterday (April 20th) perpetrated a great amount of small dam • a«es, eapecially towards nightfall. It toyed pleasantly with slates, and whirled t ; ;em along waltzing bravely. It wrestled fiercely with corrugated iron, and carried offin triumph great strips of roofing. It amused itself withstray pedestrians, sending them to fag out for their hats It rushed madly at a ladder suspended over a hairdresser's shop in Princes-street, and with one swoop brought it down. Through slender house walls it breathed fiercely, and small tea parties were left in darkness. Along Ihe Jetty it puffed in great gusts, and lounging mariners surmised that it was " a going on to blow." It rocl'.ed the ships in the bay like an exas perated nurse, and it howled round the cottages on the hills like a mad dog at the moon. It wa9 everywhere puffing and blowing even as a leviathan grampus. The poor frail tenements of Dunedin knocked under to it at once, creaking swaying, and reeling in a ttyle the most, intoxicated. At every blast, the householder expected to be a domestic Marius, weeping among the ruins of So-and-So Villa, or, the Other Thins Cottage. There was safety nowhere. In the most sequestered spots, stray chimney cans found out the timid, and in the centre of broad streets, bricks out for a holiday came down upon the bold. Yesterday, if ever, the warning voice made itself heard — " Build your houses more substantially !" — Daily Telegraph.

A Young Girl Burned to Death. — The Chinees kept up their festival at" the cemetery on Monday, which had been com menced with much pomp and circumstance on Sunday. The daughter of Mr Rattray, the sexton, an interesting girl of about twelve years of age, impelled by curiosity, ventured too near the scene asd by some mischance got her clothes ignited by the fireworks exploded by the celebrants. Unfortunately' the child was not within the reach or call of her friends, and the seven or eight Chinese present appalled at the catastrophe, at once fled from the spot, without affording the slightest assistance. The poor child, as was afterwards discovered, threw herself on the ground, and endeavoured to extinguish the flames, but so fierce and unmanagabie were they that they ignited and burned even the young grass about her. With astonishing pertinacity, in her efforts to quench the flames she got up again and threw herself down in two otherplaces, some distance apart. In all of these, the grass was almost instantly dried up and consumed. When assistance arrived, it was found that every portion of the girls clothing had been consumed, which did n3t closely embrace her body. She was conveyed to her parent's residence, and as speedily as possible provided with medical aid, but we regret to say that the injuries inflicted were so severe that doath followed not many hours afterwards. The ocenrence happened at mid-day, and the Chinese in their trepidation left baskets, shovels, and all behind them.— Ballarat Star, April 7.

Sheep Farming. — The whole of the Australian colonies, so far as has been tested by experience, are admirably fitted for the production of woo!. There seems, however, to be a much more marked difference in the character of wools produced in different parts of the continent than is generally supposed. This is well brought out in the following comparison of the number of sheep kept in South Australia and Queensland, with the weight and value of the wool exported from these colonies respectively, which appeared in the Brisbane Courier of the 25th ult. :— " It may be well to compare the results of sheep farming in Queensland with what has been effected in the older colonies. Through the courtesy of the RegistrarGeneral, we have received a statement in which, fr»m figures derived from the statistical registers for 1861, a comparison is drawn between this colony and South Australia, where the climate and vegeta-

tion are not bo favorable to the growth of wool as they are here. In 1861 there were 3,038,356 sheep in South Australia, which yielded 11,233,6801 bof wool : and 4,093,281 in Queensland, yielding 6.944,0331 b. Tt will thus be seen that in the former colony, taking a rough estimation, double the quantity of wool was pro- | duced from the same number of sheep. Owing to the superiority of the staple in Queensland, however, as well as much of that of South Australia being shorn " in the grease," there is not a proportionate difference in export value. The estimated value of the South Australian clip exported was L 572,720, the average price being lsO|d (I2'4d)per lb. It must; be understood that the above totals for South Australia do not include the large quantity of wool brought down the Murray from siations in New South Wales and Victoria, and then exported from Adelaide. Viewing these figures, however, in the light in which they most interest the sheep farmers of this colony, we find thattheaverage weight of each South Australian fleece is 44 360z, and its estimated export value 45 250z, whilst the average of the Queensland fleece is only 20*500z, and its estimated value 35 94d. The fact, therefore, remains, that in spite of all advantages in our favor, as regards climate, and the extent and excellence of our pastoral lands ; and moreover, notwithstanding that the staple in Queensland is of so superior a quality that it brings nearly 9<l a pound more in the market, yet annual yield of wool from each sheep is upwards of 9d less in value in this colony than it is in South Australia.— SydneyMail.

Life in China. — A private letter from China gives a curious view of the state of things in the empire. The writer says : — "I am situated in one of the central provinces of the Great River. The pheasant shooting is magnificent, but the people are very turbulent. We live in a perpetual state of warfare, have our houses broken into periodically, and have been compelled to clear the Concession more than once at the point of the bayonet. As we muster only twelve, and have but seldom a ship of war here, this is rather anxious work. I lived for seven months among the murderers at Nanking. I passed several very pleasant days with several of the kings, and shall certainly never again see such a wonderful state of society. They have no punishment but death, and they decapitate without any trial. I have seen them drag out a girl and cut her head off for witchcraft, and then whitewash her face and stick it on a pole. I journeyed 150 miles along the grand canal, through some of what were the wealthiest cities in China, and found no human souls but the few Taeping soldiers. What is to become of the empire unless we take it in hand I can't imagine." — Spectator.