MISCELLANEOUS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume II, Issue 75, 17 July 1869, Page 5

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Nelson " Evening Mail " says : — "A groat event took place at Whakapuaka this week, a lady of seventy summers, and the mother of twenty descendants, having a second time entered into matrimony. The united age of the happy pair is 128 years. After such an event, we may hold out hopes to oldjnaids and rejected lovers, and say — Nil desperandmn!" One phase of life upon the golclfields is thus humorously sketched by the "Tarrengower Times": — "How often on a goldfields do we not come across a mysterious man, with whom we have a slight acquaintance, who with a goodlooking specimen in his hand, invites you into the quietest parlor of the quietest hotel, and addresses you something in this way : — ' Old fellow, you're the right sort. I like you — you did me a good turn once. Look here — (displaying specimen) — you shall have a share in this — (in spite of old reminiscences, you get interested) — you shall have a share in this new reef. Ugh-h! how cold it is. (In spite of a half awakened suspicion, you call for brandies hot.) I got this specimen this afternoon in Reef ; isn't it a good ■'un? Prospecting claim to-morrow, — you're in it along with me and Bill I must take Bill in. (Perhaps he does.) Ugh-h! that drop did me good] — been shepherding the spot till after dark. It's my iurn now — lend me half-a-crown, and I'll shout.' These sort of interviews end variously. Sometimes your friend, on the strength of the half-crown, becomes maudlin, and eventually goes to sleep ; the next day, y°u a nd he in vain search for- tho place where the specimen came from. At other times, he will openly laugh at the way in which he obtained a cheap drink. But worst feature of all, occasionally he takes you to a likely-looking spot, and tells you that in that shaft, at t\vcnly-feet deep, he gob the specimen. The rain during the night has filled the hole. Ho must shepherd the claim ; and Bill and he must bale the water, you paying half- wages — 25s per week to each. You do this, and — are sold. The instance which we are at present thinking of does not fill either of the quoted cases, but inevitably suggests both. A well-known miner saw a lad obtain a golden specimen in a dish of stone he was prospecting, and immediately rushed to the spot and marked out a claim, magnanimously allowing the lad and his father to come in ' snacks ' with himself and ' Bill.' Drinks were obtained on the strength of it, and in a maudlin moment the ' cute jumper disclosed the whereabouts of the lucky spot to a worthy boniface, who instantly finds that it is in the leased ground of which he is a large shareholder. He consequently becomes all excitement, and ' shouts ' incontinently, and the next day parties are to be seen searching earnestly all round the lucky spot. Nothing however, rewards them ; and it is eventually decided (after many drinks) that the specimen was dropped from a load of rich quartz on its way to the Phoenix mills,a,nd had become imbedded in the soil through the influence o" cart wheels."

The ' Revue des Deux Mondes ' notices in complimentary language the Comte de Beauvoir's book upon Australia ; and compares these colonies with the French settlement in New Caledonia, much to the disadvantage of the latter. "In spite' of its admirable resources," observes the ' Eevue,' " New Caledonia has remained a threedecker commanded by the whistle of the quartermaster, the colonists being treated as so many passengers who obstruct the working of the vessel. The principal imports, Mr. de Beauvoir tells us, are composed of absointh ; the principal exports are stamped papers and military repoi'ts. Such is the difference of systems. The Australian colonies independent of each other, .and administering their own affairs. The British Government, far from interfering with them, has declared and left them free from the outset. They hove become actual states, having their chambers, and their electoral systems and voting their own laws and institutions. Freedom has been the source of their prosperity."

A Story of the Late Earthquake at Canterbury, Founded on Fact. — Shortly after the last earthquake, three men, rather fond of their morning nip. from which they had been disturbed, were standing together. One said, ft T say, Bill, did you hear that ?" " Yes, I did, and no mistake." A minute or so passed, when Tom again spoke. " I say Bill, do you smell the sulphur ?" " Well, I do smell summat queer, and no mistake — don't you, Jack ?" Jack admitted he also smelt the sulphur. They stood staring at each other in the greatest fear, and gave the impression, as one told a friend afterwards, that the nethermost pit had suddenly opened, and they had nothing to look forward to but an instantaneous headlong rush into it, and among its inhabitants. Suddenly Jack clapped his hand to his breeches pocket, and, connecting his feelings with the earthquake, screamed — " My God, I'm burning," and he was undoubtedly, for in his fear he had put his lighted pipe in his pocket, and ignited his wooden matches, which of course accounted for the smell of sulphur, Bill and Tom expressed great comfort when they found that their sojourn in the pit was to be delayed for some time, and that Jack was the only one who had a foretaste of its quality.'—-" Lyttleton Times.'-'