FROM OUR EXCHANGES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 170, 16 August 1879, Page 3

FROM OUR EXCHANGES.

The 1 Eastern Province Herald.’ of P' -i t Elizabeth, Cupn of Good Hope, Hus t.-ie followin',' A warrant has been ismeu by the Resident flag stnwe or bweooii - dam for the apprehension of Rod -rt Gray. E>. D.. late secretary and treasurer ot the Divisional Council of Swellendaui,. on a charge of theft by means of embezzlement of rates collected by him for that Council. This is another instance of a life' wasted by dissipation. Robert Gray was a cultured man, and possessed of considerable abilities. He was also, in younger days, a great athelete, and was of the order - ofsporting parsons.’ He came to Natal several years ago as Dean for Bishop Coienso, and for some time was respected and popular. He could preach a fine sermon, and possessed a highly accomplished wife, who was giftea vocalist, and a valued assistant at all the fashionable concerts. People used to rush to the Cathedral on days oc high festival, not onlv-to hear the Bishop or the Dean preach but also to hear Mrs Gray sing. By-and-by strange stories began to leak out, and eventually it became known that the Dean was not all that he should be. He left Natal suddenly, and was understood to have gone up-country. Later on he was heard of in the Cape Colony, and now he is an outlaw, with a grave chaigo against him. Opposition Slander. —The followingcomments on a recent speech of the Premier’s appears in an opposition organ: “Then he again treated the House to one of his stereotyped orations, only characterised in this case by gieater extremes of what he is pleased to call ‘ liberalism ’ than he had previously ventured upon. Manhood suffrage puie and simple, a crushing land tax, incieasing in amount as well as in 1 roportion, according to the value of the holding, abolition of the Legislative Council elective Governors, and severance of the Colonv from the Mother Country, all formed part of his latest programme. As if without the smallest sense of responsi bility, he stuck at noting, but boldly declared for Communism under a Red Republic.” It is hardly necessary to say that the Ananias of the press which publishes this manifestly false and malicious absurdity is ‘The Timnru Herald.’ From 15 to 20 tons weight of contributions from Dunedin to the Sydney International Exhibition, being our first instalment, were sent to Sydney on August 3. The Wakatipu on her next trip* will convey the remainder of the exhibits from Otago. The number of applications from Dunedin was 120. Since then twenty others, altogether near 200 have been received. Cheap Travelling. —A young lady about 20 years of age, and not very small at that, travelled on the northern line a short time ago with' her sister’s school ticket. On getting out at one of the stations, and being’ requested to show her ticket, she uttered the mysterious words “ shool pass,” whereon a man who was standing by exclaimed, “They send pretty old children to school in tins country.” When the Government does all it can to promote education wo think its goodness should be abused in this way. Worse Than a Bushranger.—A

Melbourne paper contains this delightful '-'Miterary morsel: A Wimmera sheepfanner, Mr diaries \V ilson—now of Cheltenham, England, at the last general Parliamentary election, contested the representation of the Count}' Antrim (an important electorate) against the Hon. Edward O’Neill. At a meeting of the latter gentleman’s supporters during the canvass, Sir Richard Wallace, M. P., incidentally remarked, “ Who is this Mr Wilson?” One of the free and independent electors, desiring to air his smartness, sang out as only an Irishman can at election time, and not far from Bush Mills distillery : —“ He’s a bushranger from Australia.” This created considerable amusement, but it was capped by another of the O’Neill faction exclaiming, “ Begorra, he’s worse—he’s an Australian squatter !” an announcement which evoked a storm of groans and hisses. There is that in the way some men stroke their beards which is irritating to some women. It is done with , such a self-satisfied, complaisant air. Such a

“ Yes, you can talk, my dear ; it is the privilege of your sex to talk ; but we me n know all about it. Your talk does not disturb our equanimity. It is a drain on our patience, but we can stand that ; so prate away.” So poor Dan Tallerman has 1 gone over to the majority,’ financially speaking, and has filed his schedule (says the “ Lounger” in the Melbourne ‘ Herald’). He has managed to show a respectable liability', whatever his assets may be. Dickens makes one of his characters speak of another with bated breath because he was ‘ quite respectable, * and had failed for £Boo.’ Dan has gone for L 20,000, and we must admire him proportionately. He will be well remembered in these colonies as a member of the firm of Matthews and ‘Tallerman, boot salesmen. Dan was traveller for the firm, and in the good old days of ’6l used to cut about, and would he met by steamers, trains, and coaches —quitting lines—from Greenland’s icy mountains to India’s coral strands of Australia ; now scudding up to ice-bound Gabriel’s at Cobb’s best speed, then frizzling under Rockhampton’s fierce sun, "Wherever he went he was the wittiest, jolliest bagman that ever bothered a storekeeper. Early' in the decade of ’6O-70 he took to meat preserving, and went home, and colonials p e pu ZJs ] e d by reports of Dan pushing Australian tins under the dainty nose of Our Gracious Majesty, or on the fierce moustache of the then great Emperor Napoleon. He fully demonstrated how the poor of England could be fed for a penny 7 upon good Australian beef and mutton ; and the armies of Frederick and Napoleon used to Shiite each other under the same nerve gaining auspices. We heard of

Dan filling 1 city alderman and regal gourmands with onr meats at less than a ‘ l)o'i a m.b,’ and jmikotting with the groat in Eurg-c’s gas capital. Of bite years vro have not heard so nineh o Dan. Perhaps he has lost his old fire, or the non -realisation of his hopes and promises has preyed upon his spirits, for he lias gone down in the fight ; but I trust that he will find a kind x-redi-tory and a complaisant official assignee. The greatest newspaper in the world, the ‘ London Times,’ is evidently on the decline. This fact has become painfully palpable since the celebrated John Thadeus Delano resigned the editorship, and the duties of the position have been assumed by Mr John Walter, the proprietor of the journal. Tn speaking of the subject Lord Beaconsfield lately said; “ No one ever ought to despair ; look for the unexpected, it is sure occur. If you want an example, turn to the ‘Times’ Many, “ daily” rivals sought to supplant it, but in vain. Then they set up weekly papers, some intellectual, some comic, and some that are both instructive and amusing ; but the supremacy of the ‘ Times’ remained unshaken. The penny papers, too, had their, hour of expectation ; but it was soon seen that what the great journal had lost in monopoly it had gained in enhanced dignity. Lastly came the groat attack of the Provincial papers, as well written and almost as punctually informed ; bnt again the ‘ Times,’ by coaxing the railway companies to accelerate the expresses, was enabled to hold its own. But what no one had dared to hope or fear, the day at last came when a Walter took it into his head to he his own editor; and the stately fabric reared with so much patience, maintained with such delicate care, begins to crack and tumble down.

: The sea serpent story has advanced a step in the direction of the marvellous, as can be seen by the following communication to the Hiogo News : —Saturday April sth, at a quarter past eleven a.m., Cape Satamo distant about nine miles, the chief officer and myself observed a whale jump clear out of the sea, about a quarter of a mile away. Shortly afterwards it leaped out again, and I saw there was something attached to it. Got glasses, and on the next leap distinctly saw something holding on to the belly of the whale. The latter gave one more spring clear of the water, and myself and chief mate then observed .what appeared to be a large creature of the snake species rear itself about thirty feet out of the water. It apppeared to be about the thickness of a junk’s mast and after standing for about ton seconds in an erect position, it descended into the water, the upper end going first. With my glasses I made out the beast to resemble a pilot fish.