NEWS AMD NOTES.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 36, 9 February 1884, Page 5

NEWS AMD NOTES.

One Thomas Smith, a prominent mulatto resident ot A T ew Orleans, who was buried a few weeks ago, bad induli;ed in the unwonted luxury of ton \\i\''s at one time, by what law is not known. Nine of them ,sinvive him. Seven of his widows attended the funeral services, and wept freely. l^ourof then ro Ie to t.'io cemeion , and alter interment returned to the late residence of the dead man where, with the other widows, they engaged in a fiee fight about the propel r.y. The fmniture was demolished, and all the woman more or less injured. A story is told of a Glasgow thief, who, while all the police in the city were hunting high and low for him, escaped their vigilance by sitting quietly in one of the Police Courts, --ravely listening to his fellow criminals being dealt, with accord ing to their demerits. This has been equalled if not eclipsed for coolness in iuvcrcargill, «ays the local paper. On .Saturday a woman who had a -' forty guinea thirsr,"* and not the wheiewithal to quench it, walked quietly into the police camp and, seizing her opportunity and u book belonging to the office, dep-irted. She got the price of a drink for the book, and she got a week's imprisonment for taking 1 it. A Sheffield newspaper says : — Ten thousand carcases of New Zealand mutton have this week been landed in England from New Zealand, of which 1(500 came to Sheffield yesterday, and were on view in process of dressing at the yard of the Yellow Lion Inn (Mr Kerry's). Mr Wood, the meat inspector, examined the sheep, and pronounced them to be m excellent condition. A number of gentleman, attracted by the interesting- nature of the experiment, i visite I the Yellow Lion yard, and were satisfied that if the quality shown yoster-

fay cm) bo mainfuiiK'd, the supply of New Zejil. ind mutton ouy ttobe an important trade The carcass are abuut four stone weight,, and tiiu meal can bo placed on the Eu/Jisli ir-irket at 6l 2 t[ per 1b wholesale. Mr Curtis, the Nheffiel } agent, ha« about a do r '^n establishments in SheOiuld, !tot')i>r!iam, and BiU'nsley, so that t lie consumers in this district will have an opportunity of seeing what New Zeahuui mutton can do for them in the matter of food. The mutton is frozen at the other side, and is conveyed, in ice chambers on board •ships specially constructed for the traffic. One of the growing troubles in the Hawaiian islands is the rat pest, which has been as mischievous as the rabbits in Australia, Cane is destroyed in the fields, and great losses are entailed on the planters. Nothing seems to be able to put a stop to this wholesale destruction, and it was determined to import the mongoose. Ten of the plantations combined, and sent to Jamaica. In that island the mongoose has multiplied to such an extent that they run across the roads, swarm in the fields, and are found everywhere. They are sometimes caught when young and tamed. The tame mongoose lives round the house like a cat. They are about the si^e of an ordinary rat, with a longer body and :i tail similar to that of a cat. The untamed animals are savage little creatures, having a large and ugly mouth, filled with sharp and glistening teeth. They arc fierce fighters, and their movements are like a lightining (lash. They are the natural exterminators of rats, entering awry rat-hole and killing it-, inmates. They live on animal food, and in Jamaica, now th*»t the rats are gone, and they have exterminated many of the other pests, they kill the negiocs' chickens. The " Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner," illustrated by Dore, has no such ghastly pictures as this drawn by one of the crew of a ship which was sailing near Anjer, recently destroyed by the .Java earthquakes: — " Anjer all Hone ; not one living soul left ; land white as snow with ashes ; trees all dead. We plowed through masses of dead bodies that were striking the ship on both sides ; groups of a hundred packed together, naked, and such an odour ! It was awful.'" « Oh, Christ, the very deep did rot !" says the " Ancient Mariner."