PROVINCIAL AND GENERAL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 182, 3 August 1871, Page 7

PROVINCIAL AND GENERAL.

A single specimen lately takv fivm the Caledonian claim, and wei^!iiw<r only 14 lb, is supposed to contain 80 ounces of gold.

Upwards of 60,000 horses were eaten in Paris. How many were used up and, eaten during the war, it is impossible to tell ; but it must leave a very large demand for them as soon as things settle down again after peace is established.

A correspondent informs the Auckland " Herald " that " arrangements will shortly be made to transport desirable farming people very cheaply from New Zealand to California."

The distance between the cities of Dunedin and Wellington has been ascertained, !)y astronomical observation, to be exactly 321. miles.

Fresh discoveries of auriferous leaders, says the " Cromwell Argus," still continue to be made on the Carrick Range. Last Saturday, while Mr. Scott, one of the shareholders in the Heart of Oak reefing claim, was clearing a site on which to erect his tent, he struck upon a very fine seam of quartz, from which several rich and promising specimens were readily obtained. We shall shortly be in a position to give a general description of the reefs found and occupied in that neighbourhood. At present it may be remarked that the show upon the hills will preclude for some time the prosecution of mining operations at any great altitude. A brisk stir, it is anticipated, will take place on the Carrick Range on the break-up of the winter season.

The Pleasant Creek "N^ws" vouches for the subjoined: — "Romances in real life are not always to be met with, and the adage that truth is stranger than fiction is, after all, not very frequently borne out by everyday experience. One of these cases, however, did occur in the family oF a wealthy squatter on the Wimmera a few months ago, a servant engaged to attend on the children having stepped into a title, and a property of £40,000, under the name of Lady Elizabeth Morton. It would appear that the lady, while acting as servant in the family, frequently assured those around her of her aristocratic connections, but no one credited her tale. She came out, it appears, to this country without an education at all adequate to her position, and it is not improbable that but for the efforts of an able lawyer in Melbourne, Lady Elizabeth Morton would have remained in a dependent position to the day of her death."

The New York " Tribune " reasonably asks, "Is not this, related in a private letter from London, rather a remarkable story ? About 10 years ago a young American, from New York, Walter Hastings by name, dining in London in company with Lord C , expressed the opinion that solitary confinement in a dark cell was not so dreadful a punishment as had been represented. His Lordship — 30 goes the tale — offered Hastings £10,000 if he would undergo entire seclusion for 10 years. The proposition being agreed to, a cell was fitted up in Lord C 's town house. It was from 12ft. to 15ft. square. The prisoner was to be allowed candles, a few books, writing materials, plain food — the latter served by a man who was not to be seen. In this way Hastings has been living for a decade of years, his term expiring about the Ist of the present month He is now released, and has received, we suppose, his hard-earned money. He emerges from his dungeon in rather a dilapidated condition, appearing, though only 35, like a man of 65 years of age, his frame stooping, and bis steps tottering, his face sallow, his hair and boarA white, his voice tremulous, and his speech hesitating. He is coming directly to America, and we shou'd not wonder if Mr. Barnum knew something about him. Count Bismarck is reported to have said that the now famous war-song, " The' Watch on the' Rhine," aided the German's in the late war more than a well-equipped army of 100,000 men.

An Auckland contemporary informs us that : the Parnell Highway Board are using a donkey and cart to carry metal for the roads. The unfortunate beast formerly belonged-to the Bishop of New Zealand. • , The Emperor Napoleon attained the ,age of (J3 on the 20th A priT last. He was born in Paris on the 20th of April 1808.. i .'*".' I James Gordon Bennet, of 'the "New York-Herald," .is .said to-. hii\re"<a.' fontune of 10,000,000d015. ■ |

A singular feat is recorded in a Vic-torian paper as having been peijformed a few day« ago by an active bushman. He waa engaged to a girl who lived at a township a few miles from the station upon which lie resided. One day he received a message that the priest was there, and that if the knot were not tied that day, it might have to be postpoued for an indefinite period. He was busy mustering, and could not be spared for long, so he mounted his steed, and galloped thirty miles, got married, got the mail, had his horse shod, and was back again in a little more than five hours. He certainly could not. be said 1o have wasted any time, either upon the journey or his bride.

Mr. Roff, of Gre mouth, the inventor of a mac'iine fo" weighing yes c's and their rar^oes, has been offere in

Melbourne £2,500 for a fourth share of his invention.

A Curtain Lecture Society (Limited) is the latest American notion. Jeffersonville, ludiannpolis, is the locality giving birth to this novelty, and it appears to be dv* to t'le inventive genius of a lady. The object of the society appears from the prospectus to be to secure a hall and fit it up as a resort for married ladies whose husbands are in the habit of staying out till two or three o'clock in the morning. Ladies who are so unfortunate as to have such husbands are to be put to bed and allowed to sleep in peace until such time as their husbands are in the habit of returning home, when they are to be awakened, furnished with refreshments, and then accompanied home by half a dozen or more of the sisterhood. Ou their arrival home the derelict husband is to be " gone for" in the most approved plan of the late lamented Mrs. Caudle, and this is to be kept up until the husband abandons his bad habits, runs away, or dies.

The following paragraph is going the rounds of the English papers : — " It is already noticed that at all Court ceremonies and in all Court publications the Marquis of Lome is treated as of inferior rank to his wife, the Princess Louise. Prince Teck and Prince Christian always receive the full honour as sons-in-law of her Majesty, but the Ma-guis is not treated with such consideration. Thus, when the list of the guests at a Queen's dinner party is given the names of the two German Princes arc recorded with those of their wives ; but, in the case of the Marquis of Lome, his name is not given with that of his bride, but is' included in the list of minor visitors. Again, in the programme of royal processions, it is remarked that while Prince Teck and Prince Christian ride in the same carriage with their wives, and are chronicled by the Court newsman as having done so, the Scotch Marquis is sent on by himself in the procession, and the Princess' follows in a separate carriage by way of assertiug a precedence."

Speaking of the lecture recently delivered in Auckland by Mrs. Colclough — «• Polly Plum "—the Auckland correspondent of the " Hawke's Bay Herald " says :—": — " One gentleman of my acquaintance has been perfectly miseiable ever since the evil hour in which he took his lady to hear " Polly Plum." He is a good husband and an affectionate father, and the contemplation of his domestic fecility formerly gave me very much pleasure. The poor fellow told me yesterday, with tenrs in his eyes, that he "couldn't for the life of him tell what came over Emma." He said, "you know that we always lived at home most happily until the other day ; in fact, Emma and I never knew what it was to differ. Now' she sits and mopes or cries half the day at a stretch. I can't bear to s.;e her miserable, but know of no retnedj, for when I ask her what is the matter, she only sobs 'and says she wants her ' rights.' In vain I ask her what she meaua, but she either can not or will not tell me. The poor children, that used to be so fond of us both, now look upon me as a monster who is killing their dear mother.' I can assure you this was no ideal scene, but one that actually occurred, nor is it the only one I could mention."

Speaking of the refusal of the British Government to annex the Fiji Islands to Victoria or New South Wales, the Melbourne " Telgraph " says : — " This decision may perhaps retard settlement a little in the isles, but it will probably lead to a more certain growth. It ig the belief of many of the settlers to this day tha£ had there never been a British soldier nor a British cannon landed in New Zealand, the native difficulty would have settled itself j there would have been no implacable hostility ; there might have been a mixed Government Buch m the Fiji chiefs are trying now to establish. After all, however, it appear* at if the restless adventurers who, not content with coming to Australia, want to go on a little further, will not have long to wait before administering the estate of the Fijians. Accounts published in the last number of the "Wesleyan .Chronicle" represent that disease -and intemperance are doing their work in the isle*. The minionaries circulate the Bible, and the storekeepers the bottle. The- clergy have shown the blacks their titles to . mansioijs in the skies. Like good" Christians, the settlers are putting . •them in' immediate! possession."^

. JZolfaway's^ ,£"ilt§. -—"Worthy, of especial, note. — These .purifying Pills . excel evtery other medicine for regulat- - ' ing thi> digestion, acting healthifj on the liver and bowels, invigorating* the nervous system, and strengthening the body. They cause neither pain nor other inconvenince. At all seasons the system, is liable to sudden checks. In such cases these Pills restore the balance of the circulation, and ward off dangerous attacks of diarrhoea, dysentery, or cholera. They are the best correctives of the stomach, wheu disordered by over repletion or by t c presence of indigestible food. T.icy speedily rectify the flatulence, weight, and general uueaaiuc»B winch are experienced in the bowels priro to the accession of more serious ailnienta, w'uich debilitate, if thoy do not eudauger.