GENERAL NEWS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 162, 16 March 1871, Page 6

GENERAL NEWS.

Professor Parker, the well j^^wn swordsman, was killed in Melbpurae, lately, by a fall from his horse, which bolted with him. We take the following paragraph from the "Melbourne Age," 4th January :—" The Fijian Constitution has not b?en granted, and the committee which was to sit en pennanenoe until Thakombau sighed away his political existence, has given up the ghost. Some advance in civilisation is however made, and a city corporation is to be formed at Levuka. In vain we scan the Fijian papers for any signs of Victorian notorieties coming to the snrface ; all parts of the world supply their quota, but Victoria is not represented. Surely it cannot be possible that our Melbourne men, who were so sharp here on the flags and elsewhere, have met with more than their match at the Fijis, aud in chagrin are keeping themselves aloof because they cannot reign supreme. How they must sigh, for the glories long departed, and now that £300 a year is obtainable in Victoria by members of Parliament, what fools they must deem themselves for leaving our favoured land. Had some of them known how near the prize was, they would have been with us to this day.

A day or two ago Thakambau took it into his head to inflict on. various Papakgi subjects certain fines; though the court was open to the public our reporter failed to understand the drift of the proceedings owing to his defective knowledge of the language. What the offences were appeared to be best known to his Majesty; curiously enough however, the fines were all alike, and consisted in no more or no less than one bottle of champagne. The court was held in Mr. Manton's verandah, and as a great number of offenders were brought before the beak the flow of champagne was something considerable, much to the surprise of some of the bystanders his Majesty walked away with a fiim gait and in no respect incommoded. — " Fiji Times."

The well-known horse Tim Whiffler (the late Mi. Craig's, has met with an accidental death in Gipps Land. A groom was leading him along the road when he trod on a paling, which tipped up, and the horse was fatally impaled. Among the numerous candidates for Geelong East are the following :- -A clerk of a suburban municipality, a retired druggist, a sharebroker, a doctor of medicine, a solicitor, a wool broker, a produce dealer, a retired colonial wine merchant, and a landed proprietor. In Geelong West a similar diversity of occupations characterises the ££jg£> dates ; thus : we have a newspaper proprietor, a saddler, two auctioneers, a landed proprietor, a fruit grower, a poet, and a pig dealer.

The death of Alexander Dumas the>» eminent French author, occurred on Dec. 6, at Puys, in France- He was born at Villers-Cotterets, in the department of Aisne, on the 21th of June, 1803. His father was the illegitimate son of the Marquis de la Paillaterie. Dumas having witnessed the performance of Hamlet, \>j an English company, was seized with a desire to produce a a similar tradgey, and the result was the appearance of Henry 111. et 8a Gour, which was eminently successful. He then devoted himself to literature, and has produced more than eighty dramas and forty novels. He also wrote " Impressions of Voyages," and his " Memoirs," In England he ib best known by his "Monte Christo," which has been produced in various forms. He was iv England during the general election, and visited several places where there were exciting scenes. In 1860 he was with Garibaldi in Italy, and wrote his "Memoirs." For some period he held the office of " Conservator of the Museum of Naples," The municipal debt of Edinburgh amounts to £338,532, and a proposal was made at a council meeting recently to reduce it to £160,000 by the sale of feu duties and to clear off the remainder in about thirty-six years, by the payment of a fixed minimum sum of .£2OOO a year.

A Tale foe Teetotallers. — DrPeter Hood says :—": — " There are many facts which seem to show that even aged people are sometimes allowed to die unnecessarily. Instances might be quoted of persons who were believed to be dead, but who recovered, and amongst them cot the least remarkable was that of a celebrated west country baronet, who was laid out in his coffin. His old butler volunteered to watch his master's corpse throughout the niglit; but, most probably thinking the time would hang heavy on him, he invited a freind to share his vigil with him. The butler's only fault, as a servant, was his indulgence in stimulating beverages ; and he did not omit on this occasion, to have recourse to them. As the night wore on, the idea rose" in the butler's mind that there would be no harm if he administered to .his late master a glass of the brandy he-,-#nd his companion were engaged in drinking, and he proposed it to his comrade, saying 'He has been a good masteeto me for many years, and has given ifcp many a glass, and I will do the saßp by him before he is taken from.Jour sight.' He did as he said, and pouved a glass of brandy down his master's throat, which had the instantaneouseffect of recalling him to life, and ha survived for many years,"