MISCELLANEOUS.

Southland Times, Issue 1192, 7 January 1870, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

During the month of August seventeen vessels, having a tonnage of 16,599, were built on the Clyde, Scotland. Belgium has declined to send a repre-. sentative to the (Ecumenical Council. Water runs over Niagara Falls at the rate of 1,500,000,000,000 cubic feet every minute, giving a water-power of force enough to perform all the manual labour in New York State. Miss Carrie A. Benriing, a young lady of Harris County,' Georgia, who was reduced by the war from wealth to poverty/has in cultivation a five-acre field of cotton, which is said to be the best in the neighborhood. She planted and worked it herself, with no assistance except in one ploughing. The veils now worn by the Turkish. ladies are said to be so flimsy that the countenance can be distinctly seen. The Illustrated London News is to have a formidable rival. A new high-class illustrated paper is to be brought out; very soon. Three years ago, Madame Chevreux, a famous soothsayer, predicted to th» Empress Eugenic that her husband would die in the year 1870. It is proposed to convert Deptford Dockyard into a fish market, in lieu of Billingsgate, the lease of which will v shortly expire. ; : Earl Granville has been ill at Walraer Castle, from a cold caught while watching for the high tides recently expected all round the English coast. The Court Journal is informed that a Ballot Bill will be introduced next Session by a private member, and will receive the support of the Government. The Daily Express announces, on reliable authority, that it is intended, early in the ensuing session of Parliament, to bring under consideration the subject of a royal residence in Ireland, and that several Irish members have pledged themselves to support a measure to carry out this object. Mr J. Kussell, editor of the Edinburgh Scotsman, went to the opening of the Sues Cam 1, by invitation of the Khedive, or "Viceroy, Dr W. H. Russell was also present as special correspondent of the Times, while Mr Dicey represented the Telegraph, and Mr Henty the Standard. Eobert Hall did not lose his power of retort even in madness. A hypocriticaL conddler with his misfortunes once visited him in the madhouse, and said in a whin* ing tone. " What brought you here, Mr Hall ? " Hall significantly touched his brow with his finger, and replied, " What will never bring you, sir-too much brain.** Paper petticoats have come into fashion. The following advertisement thereof appears in an English paper:—" Madame .Percale begs leave to call the attention of ladies about to visit the seaside to her new and richly embroidered paper petticoats at one shilling each. Each petticoat contains an instalment of a new novel of great domestic interest by Anthony Trollope, entitled, • Tucks or Frills.' The story will be complete in fifty weekly petticoats." — — ~ 'v : m ;:; A Frenchman, who recently visited Munich, writes to the Paris National that he heard; there the following anecdote concerning King Louis the First, of Bavaria, the lover of Lola Montes. When King Louis died, he had not to wait for his resurrection until doomsday. King# and Emperors obtain such favours even in the other world. So he went straightway to the door of Paradise and knocked at it. " Who is there ? " asked St. Peter. "Louis the First, King of Bavaria. Open the door ! " St. Peter immediately prepared to let him in, but before doing so he shouted through a speaking trumpet, " King Louis the First is here. Lock up the eleven thousand virgins ! " \ " Certainly," remarks the Own* Spec? tator, "this is the season in which Victorians prepare themselves for the; advent of dust-storms, whirlwinds, £n$ other like discomforts, but we can scarcely., imagine the consternation which woula seize a man on seeing his well-built brick cottage suddenly uprooted by an unseen agency. Such, however, was the case one Sunday morning lately, at Wangaratta, where a cottage near Messrs. Graham and Wilson's mill was all at once divested of its zinc roof by a whirlwind, which 1 carried several of the sheets fairly across the roof of the three-storey mill adjoining. Fortunately no personal injury was sustained. Several other incidents, but of a more trifling character, occurred at the sametimr." r . m # m . In the French cheese making districts the small proprietors bring each his daily contribution of milk to a common dairy, and each being accurately registered, the contributors receive ultimately an amount of cheese in proportion to the milk that each has supplied. If any contributor puts a drop of water in his milk he is for ever excluded, not only from his own society, but from all societies in bis neighborhood. : Death of a Behabkable Chabacteb. — A queer old man, whom most West-end Londoners have noticed in their trade, has gone to his account. About Ibis Oaptain Savage there was said to be BOinettiywbery in relation to a will which^ leaving him a large fortune, had charged upon un the duties of every day, wet or fine, driving . a pair of horses. That he faithfully fulfilled what was imposed upon him out scarcely be doubted. Who has not noticed the grey-haired grey-moustachioed old man, looking like a broken-down half-pay captain, driving a mail ptoton and pair, without a servant behind him, and with a general appearance of dirt and dustiness over harness and wheels? No one could ever make out exactly who and what he was, and as for companions, he was seldom, if ever, Been with anyone. It is said that, leaving some £120,000 behind him, he has bequeathed it to i the Emperor of the French. We wptfcbr if the will contains any proviso requirkf* his Imperial Majesty to drive a coach and six every day. There, at least, ought to be some equivalent for the money, which i might well have gone to some poor relation. — Globe.