The overiand mail, due from Dunedin on Wednesday morning, has not yet arrived, having through some misunderstanding of his duties on the part -of the mailman, been left behind at Popotanoa. li appears that since the present contract was made, the post office at Popotunoa has been shifted a mile further off, and the carrier, thinking, apparently, that he was not bound to run the increased distance, declined on the last occasion to go beyond his usual terminus, although he had previously done so, and so came away, without the bags from Dunedin, and the intervening offices. Of course the matter will ab once be looked into by the postal authorities, and will not be likely to occur again, the contractor, we .believe, having laid himself open to the infliction of a considerable fine, but in the meantime the dereliction of duty on his part has caused serious annoyance to merchants and others. From a telegram from Dunedin it would seem that, from the same cause, the upward mail baa also missed being sent on. At the Resident Magistrate's Court on Wednesday,, a poor old man named Sowden, remanded from Eirertoa, was committed to jail for safe custody as a lunatic. Both Dr Deck and Dr M'Clure were of opinion that he was unfit to be at large, although his disease might possiblj be only of a temporary nature.
At Riverton a few days ago a medical practitioner was sentenced to three months' imprisonment with hard labor for having borrowed money under false pretences. The individual in question, a Mr M'Leau, has been for some short time a resident in the Mataura district, where he speedily acquired a wide reputation for sundry accomplishments outside his profession, particularly for an inveterate habit of borrowing things— Voin a horse downward. Having male his way to the quiet city of the west, he there fell in with Mr, I Grant, the auctioneer, with whom he talked busi'-' ness for some time, and then concluded 1 by asting a temporary loan of £3. As the doctor.had talked .first of" settling about here," aud buying a-", com* fortable cottage," of course such a trifle was not; to be refused even to a stmnger, and so the moj^ey^ passed. Subsequent inquiries raise 1 1 the suspicTdns;; of the len !er, and after a while the matter 'was put in the hands of the police. MOan, it ;<ap.pears, has been addicted to " that kind of thing" for some time, having just " done" a year on the roads in Dunedin before he made his appearance in Southland, A very singular accident occurred a few days a»o in the shop of Messrs Ekensteen and ttill, which others would do well to note. Fortunately on this occasion a discovery took place in time to prevent damage. On one of the days on which the sun has come out pretty strong for a few minutes, Mr Hall observed the paper overlaying one of the window-shelves to be on Ere. Of course it was at once puc out, but the wonder was how it had become ignited. By experimenting a little it was found that a decanter-shaped bottle of salad oil, which stood in front, acted as a powerful lens, and set fire to several pieces of paper as they were placed beneath the focus. The fir? had scorched the shelf itself, and but for its being quickly noticed would soon liaye caught the lining of the wdls, and might even during the day have been the cause of serious loss. One can fancy how fire so kindled might smoulder until nighV and then burst out and destroy thousa-ids of pounds worth of property, and life itself, leaving its origin a mystery. Those who would like to see what may be made of swamp land by a little skilful labor, should visit the nursery now in course of formation by Mr Cleave, below the North Road at Hamsville. Only a couple of years ago, the patch in question was as dismal and uninviting a bog as might well be, forming part of the rank spongy marsh surrounding the head of the Waihopai estuary. J^ow, by cultivation, draining, and manuring, it has been converted into rich mellow soil, capable of. producing in perfection crops of any kind. Already two divisions of it, enclosed with protecting fences, of about one acre each, bloom with an endless variety of the choicest,. flowers;, while shrubs, bushes, and young trees shpo^up luxuriantly by hundreds. Live fences, the' exterior ones of thorn, and those dividing the interior into suitable plots, of Scotch broom, grow with great rapidity, and, with the belting of blue jguins, wjllj soon form an umbrageous; and, pleaiafß.Uahelt^R^ Vegetables also grow surjpriaihgly. .' A plot-of onions, nearly a quarter of an acre; now ripening, beats anything of the kind we hare seen here, both in the size of the bulbs and the regularity of the crop. . Cabbages, white and red, and other kitchen vegetables of all sorts have attained this.year an enormous size, and are quite equal in every respect to any grown in localities much more favored by nature." The rhubarb, of which there is a large plantation, especially attracted our attention, from tha great size of. the stems, and it required all our faith in the truthfulness of the proprietor to believe that the plants were only seedlings of the second year.- In the course of another year or two, when the whole of the ground has been got into thorough order, and the trees and hedges .get. a little better grown, and. form pleasant shades, the nursery will no doubt become a favorite resort of those town-folks who delight in shrubs and flowers. Even now the broad walks afford a pleasing promenade j while the adjoining parterres at once regale the nostriland delight the eye. Any who might desire to visit ■ the grounds, would, no doubt, meet with a ready , welcome on making their wishes known to the poroprietr. A.yery perfect and neatly-finished model. Jbf. the steamship Great Eastern has just been com' pleted by Mr Larson, billiard-table-keeper at the Southland Club. The model stands in a glass" case about 4| feet long, by 2 high, and 11 broad. Everything about the little vessel bears the appearance of having been the work of an expert, . both at' building and rigging, whereas the maker is merely an amateur. It occupied him the greater part of nine months to finish her, and the patience necessary to manipulate during that; long period so many , tiny little pieces of mechanism > must have been something past the common. The miniature ship is well worth a visit, and those who choose may see her by applying to the builder. "We (Melbourne Herald) have to chronicle the arrival of General Tom Thumb, his wife, her Bister, Miss Warren, and Commodore Nutt and several attendants. They have come out in the mail steamer, and will, it is understood, shortly bold one of those levees which have introduced the general to such a wide circle of European and American society. The speculation is under- ' stood to be Barn urn's, and, no doubt, should it prove successful, the Australian public will have', a supcession of noveltie* from that indefatigable * caterer for public a" nsrnent. The ".general"! has brought out his m uiature carriagei' w-hicV more than twenty years ago, with it* occupant, startled the Brobdignagians in the streets of London. ■'". Twelve years ago a farmer named Sutherland, in a tolerably comfortable positisn, residing new Malmsbury, suddenVf disappeared. Sis disappearance occasioned some little excitement, and much comment at the time, chiefly because it was a matter of notoriety that his relations with his wife had not been of the most satisfactory character. Some were of opinion that he had sought refuge from his domestic troubles in suicide, whilst others inclined to the belief that his disappearance was not voluntary, but that he had met with foul play. The matter was taken up by the police, and for a long time (writeß the Kynetan Guardian) inquiries were made in every direction, but without avail. Not a trace of the missing man could be discovered. The astonishment of the wife and of those neighbors who still remembered the disappearance any be imagined when, a few days ago, Sutherland presented himself at the door of his own house, looking somewhat older, but in other respects apparently none the worse for his twelve years* absence! Fortunately Mrs Sutherland had not married again, so- that the story is wanting in a very important particular in its resemblance to Enoch Arden. Whether the adventures of the husband bear any similarity to those of the hero of Tennyson's- poem, we are unable to say ; but they appear to have taught him that with all its troubles " there is ho place like home." Yelocipedestrianism has become so common in the city (says the Melbourne Herald) that the riders of the strange machines denominated bicycles attract now but passing notice. One individual, however, who has mastered the difficulty of balancing himself and working the treadles, was determined this morning that his skill should not be unknown to the public. Leading bis bicycles from a . right-of-way, he, in Flinders-street, became-the centre of observation through his ludicrous attempts to " mount " . the machine. All his endeavors appeared to be. futile. He could not "get up " for a long time, and when he did succeed he fell down again. He. 1 would get his feet upon the treadles^ and irnmait diately the velocipede would topple .ovee. crowd that congregated were highly amu3od, a ajid', were not at all niggardly in giving "advice to the" — what they considered— unfortunate wight who ' was practising on a velocipede. • They "laughed,' they roared, and they chaffed, and everything was taken in good part by the velocipedestrian, who, aftet amusing himself for a quarter of an hour, uttered the word "Sold!" and gracefully worked his bicycle down the street. He was an adept. The chagrin of thoae who had been "chaffing" him may be imagined. Father Hyacinthe hag refused an offer of £2000 for ten public addresses in the United States. •
The Southern Cross states that an apnlication has been made to the Superintendent of Auckland for the use of a piece of ground as a site for the glass manufactory; the applicant being a practical glass-blower and cutter, who has worked in Newcastle- upon Tyne and also in Sydney. He has occupied himself during odd evenings in the making of cupolas ; he has also ordered the necessary fire-bricks, for a furnace ; an { he is ready to commence, with the least delay possible, the blowing of ordinary decanters, tumblers, &c, lampshades and glasses, and other things much in use, and bulky and risky as imports. The production of cut qjli&s is a branch of . the trade the establishment of which would depend upon successful results in the other branch. The aoplicant has made in' 'Sydney from New Zealand sand, and "Iftows, therefore, that there is no risk as to obtaining materul. The sand is procurable at Whangarei or Bay of Islands ; but "the applicant , prefers to . bring material to the placn where he hopes for tra le in the products of his labour, rather than to labour where his material is at hand, and then liava to ship his products to market. The Superintendent has requested the applicant to look round the city an I neighborhood, and assured him that if he finds a Q-overnment reserve, part of which will answer his purpose, the Government will be ready to give him a long lease at a purely nominal reut. We take the following from the Melbourne Herald.—" Is Topley's walking, walking ?" is a question that agitates the sporting fraternity. The expression is a peculiar one, and decidedly a paradox. However, many desire to know whether Topley really walked in the " Four mile handicap walking march," on Saturday. His pace is styled as " a Chinaman's trot," a " jog-trot," and an "American Indian's pace in single file on the war trailj" but surely not a " proper walk." As there :^re-BO many who were dissatisfied with Saturday's ' '■match, it would be well if the 'matter were settled at once by those competent to decide what is a walk, and what is not. The Advertise-r mentions that the Ri^ht Rev. Dr Perry, Bishop of Melbourne, preached on the 13th ult., at Geelong, on the pomps and vanities of the world, and that his sermon was singularly appropriate, the church being filled by a fashion-ably-dressed congregation. The following appears as an advertisement in the Press .- — " Public Notice — We, the undersigned, beg to it. form the public that thi3 being our annual whitewashing, our place of business will be closed. — Bosh Beoteebs. P.S. — Our friends in Melbourne, Dunedia, Wellington, <fee, will be pleased to hear that during the six years we have been in Canterbury we have only been 'whitewashed five times." ■ It is stated by a Ghelong contemporary that the total amount of wool recovered from the Light-' ,ning has been 2503 bales, and of these about 800 been claimed by the various shippers. The i average realised per bale cannot be much less ! 4 inM^B. :0 Assuming ; this to be about the mark, 'the salvage by raising-the cargo, and leaving the ?bld timbers, will thus amount to about £1.0,500. In addition to^this, about 178 tons of copper ore, jout of 200 tons lost, have been brought to the ; surface, as also numerous casks of tallow.
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Southland Times, Issue 1218, 4 March 1870, Page 2
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2,249Untitled Southland Times, Issue 1218, 4 March 1870, Page 2
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