General News.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4892, 13 September 1884, Page 2

General News.

Castlemaine, one of the old gold-fields of Victoria, has for years been considered as played oat. A week or two ago, a farmer in grubbing up a stump, lighted upon golden stone. Five tons were crashed, and yielded 68ozs. The owner of the paddock, containing 90 acres purchased it a short time ago for £180. The land all around has been taken up by miners and speculators. A very carious and antique rolume, belongiag to the Princess de Linge, is about to be sold, and is expected to bring an enormous price. It is a " Passion," and is neither written, painted, engraved, lithographed, embossed, nor photographed. la fact, it is older than the invention of printing. Every letter has been cut with a pen-knife, and the page then backed with blue paper. As the letters are very minute, the time and labor expended upon it mast have been prodigious. In 1640 this book brought 11,000 ducats at a sale. Keferring to Tawhiao's visit to London Truth says " I remember a colonial baronet telling me of a certain old Maori servant who had ridden behind him for 20 years, and professed all that time to be a devout Christian. One day his master engaged him in confidential talk, and begged him to say what he recommended as the best means of converting the Maoris to Christi* anity. The worthy baronet was rather taken aback at the rejoinder of the old Maori, whom he trusted implioity, and whose fidelity had hitherto borne every test, ' Master said he, with an odd twinkle ' you ask me, you no ask me. Me tell, you what belief. Me belief your Christian religion all dam nongence 1' I fear the Maori King will be of the same opinion at no very distant date. Christians who preach one thing and practise another must expect these little snnbs from, well —' the noble savage.'" A singular case of " a cathedral without a sermon " is recorded by the Tas« manian News, a Hobart paper, of 4th August. The paper writes :•—" At the service held at the cathedral yesterday morning no less than four clergymen took part. When it came to preaching time, to the dismay of the four, it was found that j they could not muster one sermon between them, each having thought it the ! turn of some other clergyman to hold forth to the congregation. There was nothing left but to make the usual oollection and pronounce the benediction. The former was, done amid a general titter of amusement, and the congregation broke up in good humour." Was any one of the original apostles ever placed in such a very awkward fix? One is not surprised at a congregation breaking up in good huraour after being deprived of a sermon from some clergymen, but it is astonishing that not one of these four clergymen could deliver an extempore discourse From 1848 to 1882 the production of gold in California wag £537,000,000. An incident of a peculiar character oo curred at Dundee a short time ago during a railway excursion. Every one was in, the highest spirits, and on the return journey a number of young ladies of. a literary turn, determined to keep up the hilarity, suggested that the nainistershould perform a marriage ceremony in the railway carriage. This proposal was enthusiastically received by the company, and as they would take no denial the clergyman yielded to their importunity. Three of the young men then chose their partners, and the ceremony was carried through in the orthodox fashion, the minister, m concluding, gravely declaring th© parties 10 be legally married* and re* minded them of the relative duties of husband and wife. The affair was regarded as a capital joke at the time; but the parties to the transaction are now somewhat concerned, as they have been told, and rightly, that they have done th» took, and are duly married. The occur* rence has been the subject of general comment, and it is said that some of- the> parties are now so much in earnest that they have resolved to take legal advice to ascertain their true position. Rev. Dr. Lehmann writes from Jassy, Koumania, to the Cincinnati Israelite, tnat the recent senseless edict of the government prohibiting Jews from hawk- ' 1 I*' petili nOJ: T or sellin S K°ods afc "tax), throws 20,000 Jews out of employment and turns them over to starvation, uale^s immediate assistance is giren tiH they can find other occupations, or^etoatof the inhospitable country. A^' this by Christians in the nineteen century after