PROVINCIAL AND GENERAL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 204, 28 December 1871, Page 7

PROVINCIAL AND GENERAL.

Mr.. Simon Hanlon, who has been some years resident in Punedin, proposes to utilize the seaweed that grows so plentiful in the bays and around the coast ; and has addressed his Honor the Superintendent, asking if the Goverment can assist him in developing this new form of industry. The utility of the products of kelp in a variety of manufacturing processes is too well known to need repetition.

The " Telegraph " describes a little, scandal affair in these terms : To spring in one night from the obsecurity incidental to his position to that giddy height where he is made the subject of general conversation would appear to be the unenviable advancement made by a young gentleman in the Civil Service at Port Ahuriri. Found undressing in a house after midnight by an enraged husband, fired at, and chased through the streets, interviewed by clergymen and elders of his church, made the subject of a sermon, and his exploits referred to in the columns of our contemporary tinder the heading Spit Scandal, surely this young gentleman has climbed to a position of notoriety he little dreamed of reaching, and one which his friends would not have desired for him. The whole affair was one of those cases of which the less said the better, and we can little appreciate that delicacy which prompts prominent members of a church to first pry into and then stir up muddy waters. ■ — A negro member of the Texas Legislature was met upon the street with a large roll of greenbacks in his hand, looking at his pile, and <3ackling so loud that he attracted the attention of a- bystander, who said to him, " What are you laughing at, Jim V Jim replied : " You see that money V "Yes." "Well, boss, I just got that for my vote. I've been bought four or five times in my lifo, but dis is de fust time I ever got de cash myself."

An American paper says : — John Bright is as well as ever he was, and will remain so as long as lie is concent to wholly abstain from any menial exei'tion whatever. If he should once break that condition, his mind would be gone in a week. There is no prospect that he will ever appear again in public life— his career is over. His physicians have told him that he could not recover from a third mental attack. A North Carolina goose has attained the venerable age of thirty-seven years. " Yendome Coluirne" and " Ashes of Paris" are the latest noveliti^s in colors.

The Chicago " Tribune " calls Tweed, Connolly, It-ill and Sweeney, the four Caesars (seizers.) M. Rooheforfc is beguiling the weary hours of prison life by writing a history of Napoleon 111.

The '-News of the World" remarks : — This melanchoty cast; of spe cial judgment is sent us from Rome through " 'lhe London Tablet" newspaper, which duly impi-oves the awful warning. One Morelli, a builder, employed on the public works at Rome, having mounted a high scaffolding, got into a furious passion with his workmen, because they asked for a holiday that they might celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. " I know nothing of your Madonna or your Christ either," "bawled Signor Morelli, in a rage: and then his foot slipped, and down he went, and that, so far as this world is concerned, was an end of Signor Morelli, which proves that if a man must treat himself to a little blasphemy he had better do it on solid ground.

The " Wellington Independent " bears " that there is every probability of a journal to represent the iuterests of the Roman Oathoiic portion of the inhabitants of the Colony being started ill Wellington at an early date." We unnderstand that the journal in question will be edited by the hon. member for Lake Wakatip.

A noteworthy event in our commercial annals (says a Melbourne paper of the 30fch ult.) occurred yesterday, when the large American fore-and-aft schooner Isabel, which loaded up here for San Francisco, sailed from the Bay with the first cargo of wool shipped direct to the States. The acclimatisation of trout in Nelson is threatened with failure from a singular cause. The fish grow too fat and die, of plethora.

It is stated in the " Dunedin Echo " that, " contemporaneously- with the opening of the House of Representatives in Dunedin (now being repoi'ted on by the Clerk ef the House), a new daily journal will be started in Dunedin, quite unconnected with any recent newspjiper proprietory or editorship, and that the position, political, and financial, of the proprietors, affords more than sufficient reason for believing that instead of being a trumperj and temporary rival to the older journal, it will be a permanent success, whether looked at from a political or financial point of view, the promoters being essentially the right men ?n the right place, both as regards money, position and brains, the great requisites for preventing a paper from being a sham, a delusion, and a snare."

There are 943 science schools in Britain, under the direction of the Science and Art Department, ♦

How is this for a scene in a church ? The place is a sacred edifice in Bath, Maine. The pew is crowded. The sermon is long. A respectable citizen goes to sleep. In close proximity to him is a lady. The preacher was in the midst of the closing prayer, when the slumberer astonished the congregation by grunting in a tone of complaint " Come, come, Sarah ! lay along ; don't crowd so f lay over ! lay over !" " Sarah," who wat fortunately in tho pew, also, never for a moment lost her presence of mind, but administered a timely poke with her parasol, which awakened her dormant lord and prevented any further remarks on his part. A warning to sleepy auditors or long-winded preachers — no matter which.

Castlemaine is assuming a very busy appearance, such as it has not presented for many years past. The streets are thronged, aud at the " Corner " a crowd of eager speculators stretches halfway across the road. Every night of the week the same crowd congregates, and business is done up to a late hour. Many old buildings are being razed to make way for others more commodious, and altogether the Great Centre is waking to anew life. Rents are going up, and property becoming more valuable. The reefs all around Castlemaine are being prospected, and it is the opinion of competent judges that ere long Castlemaine will be one of the richest towns in the interior of Victoria.

A St. Louis man, much interested in women's feet, reports that men and boys invariably run the heels of their boots and shoes over outwardly, while women and girls always run theirs over inwardly. Out of 147 men and boys that passed the observer at a given point, this fact was true in every instance ; out of sixty-seven women that passed, it was true iv every instance biit one.

Estimates, based upon the census, fix the number of the negro voters iv the United at 879,110.

An English countess has written a treatise on' the diseases of cats.

A Wellington correspondent writes as follows : — During the meeting of Parliament, the good people of Wellington found it rather difficult at times to distinguish the grade of stran-

gers temporarily residing in the Empire City, but after a little experience it was found to be a very simple matter. As a general rule, strangers could be identified as beloujing to one of three classes, and dealt with accordingly, viz., members of the General Assembly, members of the Constabulary or Civil Service, and commercial travellers. The grand discovery was made by a local tailor, and the greater credit is due to his discrimination, because it was not the result of accident or inspiration, but the product of patient investigation, founded on a large experience in the way of trade with numerous specimens of the various grades of character on which his classification was based. He found that as a rule our legislators were rather shabbily dressed, did not pay sufficient attention to the style of \he period, and wore shockingly bad hats. That, on the contraiy, our gallant defenders of the Constabulary forces and those spoilers of foolscap — the junior members of the Civil Service — were distinguished by a well-got-up and fashionable exterior, and their movements marked by a jaunty and swaggering gait. The commercial traveller is a milder type of the constabulary, with greater tendency to jewelery, and a more cool and undeniable assurance of manner by some mistaken for impudeDce — and the usual trait of the inseparable striped parcel wonderfully folded. Armed with this knowledge — thanks to the tailoi-'s researches — the knowing Wellingtouirtns seldom made the mistake of being misled by appearances."

It is not often we hear of a marriage by auction. A recent San Francisco paper gives an account of one. i\ man residing in a village close to Burdwan , unable to find a proper match for his daughter, or too indolent to find out a bridegroom himself, determined -to sell his daughter by auction. A day was fixed, and several suitors came in at once: After a hob bidding for some hours, two of them found they could bid no higher, and the father thought he had enough by the marriage, and fixed upon one of them for his wouldbe son-in-law. The day of marriage came, however, when lo ! the two men. were found at loggerheads with each other, each struggling to have the girl to himself. The father was equal to the occasion, and his ingenuity was immediately displayed in the proposal for another bidding. The contest now became extensively hot, when the richer of the two of course prevailed, and the whole bargain was concluded by his offering to the father the sum of 450 dollars. The girl soon became his.

Mrs. Cady Stanton is led to believe that war between civilised nations is pretty nearly at an end. She thinks this because Great Britain and the United States have settled a difference by treaty and arbitration. Half the editors in the land have been preaching the same sermon from the same text, but we. did not expect it from a man of Mrs. Stanton's good sense. "We hope it may not be regarded impertinent to — not inform — but remind these estimable people that international disagreements have been settled by .treaty upon several occasions,

and also that good humans like themselves, have been predicting the speedy termination of war ever since the blessed science of prophecy was known among men. And yet, of all years in the history of the world, the last has been the bloodiest year ; of all decades, the last has been the. bloodiest decade ; and of all centuries, the last has been the bloodiest century. Christianity, the religion of peace and brotherly love, is also somewhat more widely professed than at any former period ; and, bj a singular and most exasperating coincidence, nearly all the slaughtering is done among, and by the most Christian nations. How do we explain this ? We do not explain it ; we refer you to his Reverence Archbishop Alemany, and his rival Reverence Bishop Kip. — " San Francisco News Letter."

The " Wanganui Herald is severe on Mr. Haughton, M.H.R. In a late edition of that paper we find the following :—lt: — It is understood that that quintessence of a political loafer and vagrant, Mr. Haughton, is using his powers in trying to edify the readers of the " Independent." This member of the loafing fraternity in the House is what is called tho " Government whip." He whipped for the Stafford Ministry, and whips for the present one. It is generally supposed, that he receives about £60 for his session's work in this " department." and this amount is of sufficient importance to retain his services for any Government that may come into office. The sum is subscribed by the leading members of the Ministry. This is the type of a class that is trying hard to ruin the Colony. Without any sense of responsibility, the members of it go in •for expenditure no matter how the money be procured — they have as -little hesitation in appropriating the funds of a Savings' Bank as they have in bleeding the people by a receipt stamp tax. Their unceasing activity procures them seats in the House, where the same quality obtains for them billets of every description. If the Colony should become insolvent this is the class to the result will be due. But then they will have vanished from our shores to find fresh fields and pastures new A Napier paper has been shown a h-it made of the native flax, plaited in the same way as straw, which it much l'esembles, but superior in one respeel, as the length of the flax does away with the necessity of any sewing. This hat was manufactured in Poverty Bay, and fully proves that this industry can, like many more, be successfully carried on if properly encouraged. According to the "South Australian Register," an exploring expedition is soon to start to investigate the continent to the westward of Stuart's track. " It is intended that the new expedition, instead of losing time by setting out from the inland frontier of the eastern colonies, shall start from Mount Freeling, situated some sixty miles southward of Central Mount Stewart, thence proceeding 'in a beo line , to Perth, The total distance to be accomplished will between 1000 and 1100 miles, without allowing for deviations, so that the trip will be one occupying many weeks. It is not creditable to our enterprise that the maps of Australia should be disfigured by a huge blank, unrelieved by the tracing of a river, undistinguished by the presence of a name other than the hideous one of terra incognita. Itseerns tbat already about £100 has been raised by private contributions in Victoria, £50 being the private contribuof Dr. Von Mueller, and that March next has been fixed upon for the start from Mount Freeling.

The establishment of a school of typography, similar to that in operation in Leipsic, is being advocated in England.

At a public meeting of planters, a+, the Fijis, it was moved " that this 'ere meeting do adjourn for a drink, it being d — d hot."

Republican Clubs now exist in Birmingham, Leicester, Manchester, Newcastle, Tkindee, Glasgow,' and other large towns. In London a paper entitled the " Republican " has been Started as the official organ of the movement.