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Southland Times, Issue 1120, 8 March 1869, Page 2

Eatal Accident. — We regret to have to record the death of a aettler in the Waikivi district named L'umming, on Friday last. It would appear that both father and son wore in the haoit of taking a gun out with them to the fields, to shoot wtid birds, and on the day in question, both were engaged reaping. The son had occasion to go to the house for some water, when he heard the report of a gun, and running quickly back, fouid his father lying on the ground lifeless. An inquest will be held to-day. [ Eiverton. — The Eiverton Reading ; Society continues to flourish and improve. The I programme issued for their last week's entertainj ment was superior to any of its predecessors, and was carried out with quite as much success. The evening opened with a reading by Mr Hare, who did great justice to Dickens, in his rendering of the incidents connected with " Sam Welter's Valentine." A song by Mr Aldred followed, and was applauded as it deserved to be. The " Factory Girl." from Sam Slick, was read by Mr Rocke with great zest, and provoked much mirth. A selection from Byron was read with fine effect by Mr Scully, and Was well received by the audience. A song by Mr Hare, " The Bashful Man" followed, and gave much amusement — especially to the ladies, after which Mr Wardrop gave an excellent reading from a late American author. A song, " Pulling against the Stream," was next sung by a gentleman, whom the audience will be glad to hear again ; after which the Rev Mr Oldham came forward and read a short selection entitled i( A Warning to Mothers." ( he next piece cauaod great laughter ; it was called " Rory O' oore," and was read by Mr Kogers. A recitation by Mr Hood followed, given with his usual ability. A very pleasant evening was then brought to a conclusion in the usual manner. Assault. — At the Kesident Magistrate's Court on Saturday, 6th iust., a man named Sharp was sent 10 days to prison for having committed the above offence. It appears that Sharp had just recently came from Dunedin, and, being a cooper by trade, had got work for a day or two at a shop in Esk-street. Being slightly overcome with the strong a r of Southland, or the work, or by frequent visits to a neighboring public, he knocked off for a rest. By some mistake, however, he did not go to his own lodgings but entered the house of a neighbor, and without waiting for an invitation, proceeded to make himself " quite at home." The master of the house coming in soon aft«r ordered his unbidden guest to quit the premises, which, after a little vigorous Dersuasion, he ultimately did. Before getting far, however, he seems to have concluded that he had been ill-used and ejected from his own house, for he directly returned and sans ceremony bundled the legiti. mate tenant into the 6treet. Of course the interference of the authorities was immediately solicited, and the intruder was consequently provided with temporary accommodation in the lock-up. When brought up on Saturday he was convinced of his t rror to tlie extent of a £3 fine or 10 days imprisonment ; he chose the latter alternative. Agricultural Prospects in Tasmania. — A late Hobart Town paper has the following with regard to the agricultural prospects of the season in Tasmania : — " The long continuaiice of dry weather, amounting practically to a general drought, has been very detrimental to our harveßt and general prospects. At one time, indeed, we thought we should have haJ no harvest at this end of the island, and the sheep and cattle were literally dying in some places for want oi rain. So also with regard to fruits, particularly those of the hard sort. They were either shrivelled up on the trees, or dropping to the ground. But during the past week all this has been changed. We have been visited by a succession of steady downpours, which has put a new face on things. We cannot, indeed, congratulate ourselves on the prospects ot a large harvest, but taking both ends of the island to j ether, it will not, perhaps, be very much below the average. We shall not have much wheat to export this year, but we shall have enough, it is thought, for our own u E e. The hop season promises to be good." Photographic Lightning. — The ' Sockhampton Bulletin' contains the subjoined on a now application of photography : — " We haver received a very curious lightning photograph from Mr Wilder, executed by him during the storm of Thursday night last. This, though not the first, is the most complete and successful attempt Mr Wilder haa made to photograph a lightning sky. The sky appears in the photograph of a light color, caubed by exposure of the plate to a succession of flashes. Four great flashes of lightning, with forks shooting out from them, descend almost perpendicularly, two of them being close together and exactly parallel. These two dashes look twisted like a rope. Some light will probably be thrown on the subject of electricity by further experiments in photography. L'his single carte appears to us to contain many valuable hints which electricians will not fail to turn to account." " What mat happen to a Man in Vie-T6BiA"-is a saying that has often been quoted, but lew oi thse Irom whose lips the phrase comes so glibly would guess that the one-eyed sancti-monious-looking old man, who was brought up at the City Court this morning, was the originator of the expression. Yet, a man named Joseph Morrison, who was to-day convicted of larceny, and sentenced to two months' imprisonment, is said to have been the author of those letters headed with the quotation at the beginning of th s paragraph, which caused so much commotion and a great deal of correspondence some Tears ago.— 'Herald.' ; The Daksig.— Our Tot naairiro contemporary of '3rd xnßt., iay»;— Our Tuapekareaders v/ill be pleased to leara that their late raspeotad resident, Mr Thomas F©.nfc», of the Blue Spur, hag purchased the good (chooser !s•<*>& *fei«h «cav«d gqgt JbgmsGtrfill t%

Thursday last, on which occasion when she passed over the bar, the sea was breaking light across. The Danzig, we under.-tand, is one of the strongest built littl grafts trailing in these waters, and has lately been employe.! in the Dunedin and Invercagill trade. We would therefore congratulate Mr Fenton on his purchase of this vessel, which will no doubt prove peculiarly suited for the Fijian trade. HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITION. The exhibition of the Horticultural Society will take place to-morrow, at the Theatre Royal. We understand that there will be an excellent display. The exhibition is to be opened for two days. It is to be hoped that there will be a largo attendance. Waikaka G-oldfibld.-— The " Bruce Herald " of 3rd inst., says: — Nothing has lately been heard of the last discovered goldfield of the Province, regarding which high expectations were raised some two months ago by certain portions of the Dunerlin Press. An old settler resident in the Tokomairiro district, upon whose word we can place the utmost reliance, has just returned from a visit to the Waikaka goldfleld, situated between Tapanui and Switzers, and reports that some miners there are now about realising an ounce a day per man, from two feet of stripping. The settler referred to showed a prospect obtained by himself from half a tin dish of washdirt, which was considered, by an experienced Victorian miner present, as highly satisfactory, and such as would, in Victoria, be reckoned an excellent prospect for twelve feet stripping. Thirty square miles of such country exists in the opinion of our informant. Matrimonial Squabbles. — Under the above heading the Dunedin ' Evening Star,' of 24th ult., has the following : — The following 'commuuication has been handed to vn for publicatin. We suppress the names, but give the text as it stands ; we must state, however, that I the conduct of the lady was " rather peculiar " : — ! A breach of promise between — — — — — — — — an( j : Dear Friend I take the opportunity of letten you no the truth of thi3 affair that has Lately happened at W She is a settler of W and if coarse a verry well up one for a swinnel I have been going to visit her as a lover and in stead of that she was a stringer only she was not like any other young girl that ever I new for she was too fased but if course pitty made me yeald to the weaker and Baught her cloths to Dress her out in Splendor but let me tell you that it was the cloths that she wanted it was not me but I would not have taken the trouble of telling you if she hadent a hid such a cheek as to Bend without being ordered for a velvet Jacket a flash head Dresa and another set of Dress Collars Cuffs and ceter ribbons they were flying you would Just have thought they grew about W and String Brook before that she got the Jewelery but I had got the crown grant long before that and if coarse she was verry well advised and her adviser was not a chicken nor yeat a goos for she has seen more snows than ever I did but she was Just a woman Miss was Just like a yong chicken but she was r&nj kean to get her Dresses but I am verry far cheeted if she has not sold her self for them for I may tell you that she gave me herself on conishons and to mack it firmer before that she would lose the Braw Dresses she gieve me this coppy just as it folleys 1888 nov 19 I do ptimice my self holly and faithfully To be a wife —— — in the peried of lighten mounthies From this to Death to him and none other but him for Life the papper that I h»ld possion of perhaps mignt stand my friend yeat if ever she gets married I will try and take my turn of flashen off Ribbons and other Jewelery Just at her expences and turn about is fair Play So I thank it proper to warn all the young and old men of the land. A Word to Boys. — Mr Justice Richmond, who presided at the annual distribution of prizes at Nelson College , said : — Education was the true work of life, intellectual development the right aim of life ; that which would make us nobler and higher and better in ourselves, that was and ought to be life's grand end. But we must take care in early life to set up a high model after which to mould our own characters. Religion shewed the noblest and best models. All boys would like to be men, although they would all find that came soon enough ; but in choosing a model for their future manhood they must avoid ail false models of seeming manliness. Th -y must not be misled by the offhand manner or a swashing fellow who couid ride well across the country, who knew something of cattle, and something more of horses, a capital hand at billiards, and perhaps good at other still less reputable things. Thit. was not the model, attractive though some often found such a man to be; for many a man had beeu led into perdition by such a model, therefore they should choose a good one. His Honor also pointed out the necessity of boys having a purpose in their holiday enjoyment. Play and enjoy themselves as much as possible, but sometimes, if they tailed to read, time would hang heavly on their hands. He recommended among other books, Scott's historical novels, instancing a few of the leading works; and advocated occasional mechanical employment — the advisabillity ofevery boy having a trade by the hand whdre such was practicable. While advocating reading, he warned them against growing too bo kish ; they should not only do a little mechanical work, but also study the great boot of Nature, giving some attention to physical science, botany, mineralogy, and such like ; and learning the use of and applying the microscope to beautiful organised structures with which the mineral kingdom teems. We are in the colony sadly deficient in the means of scientific culture, and he wished he could see some grounds of hope for securing the training of pupils in that direction. The following of a pursuit of this kind was of great advantage in preventing youth from falling into those snares which beset and entrap empty heads and barren hearts. New Zealand and the Wool Supply — The following paragraph is taken from the ' London Times ' of the sth December. The letter of M> Cuthbertson's is of a most interesting character, and will, no doubt, be read with pleasure by our country readers : — " For some years post the Bradford Chamber of Commerce ' have made some efforts by the diffusion of printed information, through Her Majesty's Consuls in the colonies and o her c uu tries, on the subject of the growth of wool required in the various seats of its consumption in England. At the last monthly mcc ing the other day of the Council of th" Bradford Chamber, Mr H. W. Ripley, M.P., in the chair, a letter was read from Mr It. F. Cuthbertson, dated Otahu, South.and, JN'ew Zealand, June 1, on the subject of wool supply as connected with that country. 'In New Zealand, and especially in the southern portion of it,' said the writer, ' far more attention has hitherto been paid by woolgrowers to the quantity than the quality. In a young country this is more a matter of necessity than of choice ; but now that we have more facilities for doing so, some attention is being paid to the production of an article superior to what has hitherto obtained. . . . The climate of the southern portion of New Zealand is much colder than that of Victoria, whence our original supplies of stock have been chiefly obtained. It is, however, a much more temperate climate than that ot England, for, while our summers are not quite so warm as yours, our winters are certainly much less severe. Unless in exceptional seasons, snow s ldom lies on the ground for more than a day or two ; ice fit to skate on is all but unknown. Of wind and rain, however, we have plenty. May, June, July, and August are supposed to be our winter months, while during the rest of tbc year fine weather is expected. Stock of all kinds receive no additional attention during winter, and to provide artificial food would simply be impossible, as it is usually unnecessary. Most ot our flocks were originally composed of merinoes, obtained from Victoria, aud touir pro* geny became coarser and longer woolied, the natural effect* of our diw&te. Sosae of our akeepowners, in the hope- of improving their flocks, have employed -Leicester, or half-bn§d Leicester, rams, tbf result being hal-bred or quitter Wfed ihpep respect*

as to the best wool suitable for the Bradford tnrrket, and also ns to the points the Nsw Zealand woolsrrower shoii'd erirleavour to attain id . future efforts to improrr his stock. The chair** man said that he tiiougfifc ifc v?as desirable that there should be a meeting of the Wool Supply Committee as soon as possible to consider this and other communications. In his opinion the time was come when thc-y might again draw up and print for circulation some information on the subject af wool production. Mr Oddy thought the New Zealand letter contained a great deal of valuable information. ,If the climate were suoH as was described, he thought that long wool might be produced there, and it was desirable that the Chamber should encourage that as much as possible. The letter was referred to the Wool Supply Committee: Bishop Jenneb. — His Lordship the Bishop of Dunedin was a passenger yesterday by the Rangitoto from Dunedin. It is understood to he the intention of the members of the Church of England to hold a tea meeting, when His Lordship will be invited to attend.