MISCELLANEOUS.

Te Aroha News, Volume 1, Issue 47, 26 April 1884, Page 6

MISCELLANEOUS.

Love is an egotism of two, A lively girl— Annie Mation. There are 40,000 telephones in the United Kingdom. Professor Denton's widow is writing his biography. Sir Henry Loch loaves London for Victoria on 2Sth prox. Baron Hiibner revisits Auckland on his way to Europe. Steamer British King brings 280 immigrants to Auckland. The United " States " -Drunk and incapable. It is the sausage manufacturer who makes both ends meet There are 27,000 blind beggars in France. Mr McDonald, M.H.R. for East Coast, has re-considered the matter of lesignation. The Royal Comio Opera Company continue to draw large houses in Wellington. Why is tho chronic pedestrian like a 12inch rule ? Because he is always a-foot. The place where they "break the noose gently " is the Divorce Court. Mrs Hampson has gone back to Melbourne to evangolise the white heathen there. A lazy policeman, like a good piece of cloth, is known by his nap The Victorian Railway Commissioners decline to be banquetted and deputationised, and will receive nothing except in writing. The bakers of Port Augusta, South Australia, in order to secure cash payments, propose to charge 3d per loaf, and instead of giving change they will issue tickets similar to those used on tramcars, at 3s per dozen. At a native meeting held at Kihikihi on Saturday it was resolved to hold the Land Court there on 22nd inst and put the Maunpatautari block through. Mr G. B. Federli is back in Auckland from his tour of the Northern districts. He speaks highly of tho capabilities of the North. •This is the poetry of motion,' said the editor, as he shied a bundle of very blank verse into the waste basket. Retrenchment at Thames — Municipal salaries have been reduced from £700 to £500 a year. Lord Archibald Campbell has in thepres3 a volume dealing with Scottish antiquities and Scottish tartans. Soudan contains about 12,000,0H0 of people, most of them bigoted Mus&elmen and fierce fighters. A company in Florida recently engaged to supply 500,000 alligator skins to a French tannery. A noiseless piano has been invented, and a monument is already talked of for the inventor. Tho "Napier Telegraph" says that the resumption of the Government pre-emptive right over native land is "splendid news for the colony, but it will strike dismay into the hearts of the land-jobbers and monopolists." Times are desperatety bad in Dunedin, and drinking is of necessity stopped. Three large hotels are in Chancery,and if the proprietors can keep out of the official assignee's clutches they will be very lucky fellows. Seven of the largest trades unions have spent in six years two million pounds for the defence, support, and relief of men out of work. Rewi's house at Kihikihi, provided for him by Government, is said to have been leased by the aged chief as an adjunct to a neighbouring hotel. The French Government find colonisation costly. They have settled 2,000 French families in Algeria at an average cost of £1,208 6s Sd per family. Campbelltown, Scotland, which belongs to the Duke of Argyle, contains 22 distilleries, each turning out an average of 100,000 gallons of whisky. The Mac Callum More thus owns the biggest dram-phop in the world. Ho is a staunch teetotaller, nevertheless. A century since the Hawaiians were savages and cannibals. Now there are over 300 telephone wires in use in the city of Honolulu, and the application of the telephone is made throughout the island on the plantations. Some of the planters are now cutting their cane at night with the aid of the electric light. A Rhode Island jury were five days debating on a long case involving a hog worth 7d01., and then came in, found the hog not guilty, and recommended both plaintiff and defendant to the mercy of the Court. One of the most ludicrous instances of the present "centralism-gone-mad" state of the colony is that in Auckland, Port Chalmers, and Lyttelton, the municipal authorities are precluded from replying to the salute of a foreign man-o-war without first obtaining the consent of the Colonial Secretary. Time after time the local bodies have represented to the Government that they should be empowered to request the Volunteers to fire these salutes, but no notice has been taken of these communications. Indeed, from one end of the colony to the other there are complaints from local bodies of the insulting indifference with which their wants are treated by the authorities at the Empire City. The ball-room of Government House was crowded on Saturday afternoon by a fashionable assemblage to witness the investiture of Miss Alice Criep, Lady Superintendent of the Auckland Hospital, with the order of the Royal Red Cross. Miss Crisp was neatly dressed in the uniform of her profession. His Excellency the Governor made the presentation, and a report of his address on the occasion will be found in another portion of this evening's issue. The Royal Red Cross consists of a cross, enamelled crimson, edged with gold, having on the arms thereof the words Faith. Hope, and Charity, with the date of the institution of the decoration ; the centre having thereon the Queen's effigy. On the reverse side the Royal and Imperial cipher and crown is shown in relief on the centre. The cross is attached to a dark-blue ribband, edged red, of one inch in width, tied in a bow and worn on the left shoulder. The Civil Sessions of the Supreme Court were brought to a close with the hearing of the divorce action, Swanson v. Swanßon and Piripi Te Whirihana. Mr E. Hesketh appeared for the petitioner, who is the eldest son of the popular M.H.R. for Newton. The circumstances of the case were rather peculiar. In January, 1882, the petitioner wag married to the respondent, who, judging by her portrait, is a decidedly good-looking Maori girl. Five dayg afterwards unpleasantness arose to mar the honeymoon. The bridegroom, in pursuance of his duties as clerk of the Native Lands Court, left for Hokianga and took his wife with him. On the way she became fascinated a native assessor named Piripi, and from that time manifested an ungovernable determination to forsake her husband for this lover. Although watched and restrained by husband, mother and stepfather, she repeatedly left her home, invariably being brought back by her relatives. At last, on the 2nd of May, she escaped from home and never returned, and since then has cohabited with Piripi. The evidence as to adultery being conclusive,and no connivance between petitioner and respondent being suggested, a decree nisi was pronounced for the dissolution of the i marriage.

Government have taken over the control of Thames Hospital. A Trades and Labour Counoil is to be formed in Wellington. Ninety draught horses were taken on the Bth April by the Wakatipu from Dunedin to Sydney, Last year 22 deserted wives and 918 children were relieved by Christchurch Benevolent Society. Quarantine Island, Dunedin, has been examined by the lion. Mr Dick with a view to its suitability for prison site. Gaol officials throughout the colony have gathered £292 IGh lOd for . the widow and family of Warder Adams, murdered in Nelson Gaol. By the steamer Ruapehu, on April 5, the Acclimatisation Society sent a number of Paradise and Blue Mountain ducks to the London Zoological Society. Mr John Waymouth was, on April 8, declared duly elected to the City Council for the South Ward, vice Mr W. J. Offer, resigned. Auckland gas is reduced to 10s per 1,000 cubic feet, less 2s 6d discount. In March last there were 185 births in Auckland district, 69 deaths, and 42 marriages. The Chairman of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce condemns the large joint stock companies dealing in lands, loans, and investments, as "draining the life-blood of the colony." We learn that over £10,000 worth of property changed hands at Devonport during the past week. At the Lyttelton Magistrate's Court on April 4 a Customs officer named Caverdale was fined £18 for dealing in smuggled goods— viz., 581bs. of tea, smuggled ashore from the s.s. Ruapehu. Mr F. J. Moss, M.H.R. for Parnell, addressed a meeting of his constituents on April 3 in the Parnell Hall, and at the close of his address received a vote of thanks and confidence. Mr J. M. Dargaville was amongst the audience, and listened to the I utterances of his confrere in rapt attention. Dr. C. Aoki, of the Tsukuba, has presented to the Auckland Museum several books of Japanese engravings, atlases, and specimens of the copper and paper money of his interesting country. The mail steamer, which arrived on April 6, bought 30,000 trout ova from California for the Auckland Acclimatisation Society. The cases were examined on their arrival and the whole consignment was found to be worthless. The ova were found to be well packed, and it is supposed that want of attention on board the vessel caused the failure. Last year the 28 banks of issue in Australasia had £15,372,358 paid up capital, and £5,812,045 reserves. The coin and bullion held was £10,969,980, an increase of £400,000 on the preceding year. The deposits during the year had increased by four millions and a half, while the advances had increased by fourteen millions and a half. A sensational incident occurred during the performance of " Youth," recently, at Wellington. During the siege scene one of the soldiers, instead of aiming his rifle into the flies, very foolishly pointed it at the dress circle and fired. A piece of wadding or some other substance unfortunately struck a gentleman in the circle on the forehead, about an inch above the right eye, causing the blood to flow. The wound, kowever, did not appear to be a very severe one, as the gentleman remained till the conclusion of the performance An Anti-Smoking Society is the latest derelopment in Auckland for the fashionable rage of forming organisations for the encouragement of habits of temperance, thrift, and self-control. The new eociety is called the Young Men's Anti-Smoking Association, and the declaration made by members is as follows :— " Believing the practice of smoking to be injurious to sound health, also a useless habit, and usually productive of artificial thirst, I hereby agree to abstain from the same, and in witness thereof subsribe my name and address. " As showing the improvements which have of late years been effected in road communication in the districts north of this city, we may mention that Mr J. B. Russell and party lately did the overland journey from Auckland to Whangarei in a buggy. This trip, which is the first attempted over these roads, was accomplished in a little over two days, in perfect safety and comfort. The route was firstly to Waiwera,then through Maungaturototo Waipu, and from the last-named place to Whangarei. Of course when this has been done, there is nothing to hinder the whole of the North being visited in the same way, for the roads between Whangarei, Bay of Islands, and Hokianga are at least in as good a state as those between here and Whangarei. In good weather, therefore, a very pleasant overland trip could be made through these districts, which have hitherto only been accessible by means of a sea voyage. Inducing the cargo shipped by the steamer Te Anau, which left for Sydney on April 8, were 400 cases of Hitchens's Blood Restorer, to be transhipped at Sydney for Mauritius. The Te Anau also takes several other items of Auckland produce, including 3 tons sulphur from White Island, about 350 sacks maize, 28 cases cheese, and about 100 kegs butter. Ghastly possibilities of a mysterious tragedy are suggested by the discovery the other day of a numan skeleton by the side of a long-disused track near the township of Hamilton, Waikato. Fragments of clothing, &c, prove it to be the body of a European soldier. The skull bears evidence of having been pierced in two places by a rifle bullet, and the probability, is therefore, that the man, whoever he was, was murdered. From the fact that the present road has been in use seventeen or eighteen years, it is evident that the occurrence took place Boon after the close of the war. Stories of the mysterious disappearance of men at that period are by no means uncommon, and some of the "old hands "may perhaps be able to recall some circumstances to their minds which will serve to connect the remains with some poor fellow whose life record ended none of his comrades knew how. A correspondent writes to the " Wafkato Times " that some time in the year 1865, if he recollects aright, a Militiaman left Cambridge for Hamilton to transact some business ; that he reached the latter place, executed his commission, started on his return journey, and was never afterwards seen. Little notice was taken of the affair at the time, and the correspondent says it had not come into his mind for years before the finding of these remains recalled it. The police purpose keeping the skeleton on view at the barracks for some time in the hope that some clue to its identity may be forthcoming. The circumstances connected with the alleged embezzlement of £267 by Daniel C. Maunsell, a well-known Government official, were investigated at the Resident Magistrate's Court on April 3. The accused was defended by Mr Edward Shaw. Mr Izard appeared for the prosecution, and explained that the proceedings had been commenced by the Auditor-General in pursuance of powers vested in him by the Public Revenues Act. For the defence, after witnesses had been examined, Mr Shaw submitted that no evidence had been adduced to show that his client had embezzled money, the^ only thing the prosecution had proved being a failure on the part of the accuied to account for the balance of the money ad-

vanoed to him. No attempt had been made to show that the accused had embezzled money. The Premier was in the building, and should have been brought to prove that the money, with which his client was charged with stealing, had not been spent on Mb recent trip to Australia. He submitted that no case had been made out against the accused, and asked the Bench not to insult the Court above by sending the case up for trial. After some consultation, tho Chairman said : We must dismiss the information, on the ground that the evidence does not sustain the criminal charge. "Still they come." A letter has been got from Ontario, Canada, inquiring, on behalf of two grand-nieces of the late Edward Costley, whether they are mentioned in the will. The querist has asked for a reply by cable " Yes ' or " No," and, however hard it may be to disappoint the hopes of the dear relatives, the answer must be in the negative. Mr J. C. Mason announces that he will contest tho Ashburton seat with Mr Wright at next election. The Committee of Dunedin Benevolent Institute have collected £950 to date. Last year, 1,354 persons received charitable aid in Christchurch, £2,262 being collected on their behalf. Of this sum £453 was raised by a " Charity Sunday." Major Harris, M.H.R., has made a comf)lete tour of the electoral district of Frankin North, receiving at each place a vote of thanks and confidence. In the Otago Lake District receently, 200 sheep were killed by keas in a single night. A bonus of 4s per beak is offered to the destroyers of the kea, and 1,574 birds were killed last year. A man named Thomas Nutgate was found on the Clive Road, Napier, at G p.m. on 9th April, having been pitched from his horse. He was carried home, where he died. He had been seen in the afternoon in a state of intoxication. The sharpest shock of earthquake felt at Wellington for years occurred at ten minutes to seven on Friday night, April 11. It set all the firebells ringing, and was preceded several seconds by a loud rumbling noi.se with slight vibration. | Lyttelton is the least rated borough in New Zealand. A9d general rate covers lighting and scavengering. The Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, on April 18, passed a resolution asking Government to continue Sir F, D. Bell as AgentGeneral of the colony. A Law Debating Society, with Mr Geo. Harper as President, has just been formed at Christchurch. Sir J ulius Vogel still suffers from gout. He remains four months in New Zealand, i Mr Robert Salmon, butcher, of Wake-field-street, Auckland, who was unable to meet the demands of his creditors four or five years ago at Hamilton, has made the amende honorable and satisfied his creditors to the full extent. Mr Salmon, by industry and steady perseverance, has been able to act the honest man's part in the world, and set an example worthy of imitation. On Monday, April 14, the creditors met by invitation at the Hamilton Hotel, and at the hands of Mr Salmon received full payment of their claims, amounting to a little over £200. The creditors had no legal claim, so that the action is a very creditable one. How Auckland is so rapidly going ahead in population is explained by a glance at the vital statistics of the colony. In March last there were 111 births in Auckland against S2 in Wellington, 59 in Dunedin, and only 53 in rihristchurch. A Maori named Pino Hau has been arrested on the charge of manslaughter at Whangaruru. At the R. M. Court, Christchurch, on April 15, a man was fined £10 for swindling people on the racecourse by means of a sham lottery. The present annual value of property in Dunedin is 1 303,724. The actual total value of the same i& estimated at £5,760,000. The Executive of the Grand Lodge of Good Templars, lately sitting at Oamaru, diaw the attention of the Government to the fact that houses licensed for the sale of liquors were, in some instances, used as post-offices, contrary to the provisions of the Licensing Acts and the postal regulations. Last year £2,400 were expended on Thames Hospital, and only £160 collected by subscription. Major Ropata, the loyal chief of Poverty Bay, has had his salary reduced from £300 to £100 a-year. VVaimea Plains Railway Company, Otago, have resolved to levy a rate of 3s 4d per £ on the district served by the railway. A Dunedin shoemaker not having stuck to his last, is landed in the Court for libel. He called a brother " soutar," a dirty low scamp — a thief, a robber, and a swindler, Mr Wm. Tennent, a commercial traveller, has been accidentally drowned by being thrown out of his buggy while crossing a river near Ophir, Vincent County, Otago. The captain of the barque Glenlora died on the passage from London to Lyttelton lately. Mr Sergeant, chief officer of the Halcione, has been appointed master of the Glenlora. The ship Rangitikei was berthed alongside the outer western tee of the Queen-st. Wharf on the 16th April, and shortly afterwards four of Crowthers brakes conveyed the single girls to the Howe-street Home. The majority of the other immigrants have found homes through their friends in Auckland. Thesingle men have all disappeared, some having "put up" with friends and others having found employment, while fully two-thirds of the single girls have already been engaged, and there appears every prospect of the whole shipment speedily settling down into certain and remunerative employment, as many others from the Old Country have done before them, and that without difficulty.