PROVINCIAL AND GENERAL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 219, 11 April 1872, Page 9

PROVINCIAL AND GENERAL.

Tie Chatham Island correspondent of the Hawkes Bay " Herald " says :—: — " It may interest the curious to know that our extensive lagoon is margined on one side with smooth, hard, crystalline limestone rocks, all of which are as copiously inscribed as the walls of Sennacherib's palace. The characters are of the rudest description, in basso relievo, not unlike the carvings on old runic monuments, and some are as sharply cut as if done but yesterday. The aboriginal natives are utterly ignorant of these characters, or for what purpose, or by whom they were thus graven on the rocks, no traditions relative thereto having been handed down."

The Melbourne " Argus," in an article on the English news items by the last Suez mail, says: — "Mr. Farjeon, who commenced his career as a novelist in New Zealand, and who is proud, we are told, to acknowledge himself an Australian, is proclaimed to be a genius of the first water — a man to whom publishers bow down. We must candidly admit that a perusal of this gentleman's works has not given us that high sense of his merits which appears to be entertained by a certain section of the British public, but still we will not quarrel with our friends at home in conquence of the estimation in which they hold a returned colonist."

We have heard a good deal about " what may happen in Victoria," but really the way they manage affairs in Fiji rivals all previous experience. In a Levuka paper of recent date we find the following :—": — " The Parliament House is bristling with arms, in fact is quite an armoury, the principal department for the deposit of weapons beiug the reading-rooms. Not onlj is this department filled with a large number of weapons, but when we visited it one of the most prominent features was the gin bottle. But a gin bottle in Fiji to grace a readingroom is only in keeping with the Supreme Court, on Thursday last, when a bottle containing brandy was placed upon the counsel's^table, and the contents quaffed alike by couusel and prisoner." " Epicurus," in tlieTalbot " Leader," writing on the representative institutions of Victoria gives it as his decided opinion that with but few exceptions, members are elected on account of their social qualities. He says : — "jit is an indubitable fact that the jolliest men about town, the best tellers of naughtynice stories, and the most finished adepts at the solemn mysteries of comic song singing are to be found in the Assembly. It is doubtful, indeed, whether a good dramatic company, a capital cast for a low comedy, or a minstrel troupe, could not be obtained from the present Assembly. My conclusion is, that any man who can spuu*b moderately well, can sing a song after lodge business — and owns a local mud puddle, potato patch, or quartz reef, is pretty sure to be elected, even should his opponents combine the respectability of a Harker, the nationality of a M'Culloch, and the vigorous sense and eloquent declamation of a Higinbotham."

A new Scotch Church, to hold 900 persons, is to be erected in Collin-i-street, Melbourne, at a cost of £20,000.

The correspondent of the Melbourne "Argus" in Western Australia says there is not a single bookseller's or news agent's shop in the whole of that colony. The question of annexing Tasmania to Victoria is being again seriously discussed in both colonies. Tasmania finds it hard work to get on alone since the withdrawal of the Imperial troops and penal establishments. It is estimated that 150,000 acres of the best timber in the United States are now absorbed annually in supplying the demand for railway ties alone.

The Thames tunnel turns out to be no novelty at all. There was one under the Euphrates, at Babylon ; and the ancient Egyptians had a Suez canal.

The following conversation in the Auckland Police Court will show how the new Sharebrokers' Act is evaded by persons dealing in mining shares :- - Mr. Brookfield: You are a sharebroker, I believe? — Witness: Well, no, not a sharebroker. lam a sharedealer ! — Mr. Rees : Ah ! that is a distinction. Perhaps it will not be easy to say where was the difference. It is generally reported, with what truth we cannot say, that the proverbial coach-and-four is being driven through the new Act lately come into operation : and that not a few sharedealers do not find themselves in a much worse position than when they were doing ths old-fashioned business at the Corner.

The Pleasant Creek " News " says: — " The acme of meanness in that department of crime known as petty larceny was attempted on Tuesday night, when some persons sought to raise the foundation-stone of the town-hall, ' well and truly ' laid by Mr. Barry, with the view of abstracting the coins. A light which was struck in a house adjoining the site frightened away these meanest of robbers. For the benefit of those whom it may concern, it may be -as well to remove from their minds the idea of there being anything approaching ' treasure ' within the cavity. The total value of the

coins is £2. In thi|? case the garre is certainly not wort'/ the candle."

An exciting race-for some*new ground decUred open to be taken up by holders of miners' rights, took place at lnang.Uuia the other clay. The local paper thus describes it: — "The ground • ..s so declared by the Warden during the sitting of the Court, _ and with oi.e accord some fifteen "■ or twenty competitors made a rush from the Couit House. These were joined by several others in the vicinity of the Court; and altogether about thirty miners were seen running at top speed in an exciting race of ten or twelve miles. Ihe majority of those who left the Conn made their exit at the door, but a miner named Deegan, who was completely hemmed in by the dense body of people at the upper end of the room, shot through one of tlie side windows, and thus got a good start. Gaffney. who opened up Gaffney's line, was the first on the ground, and Deegan second.

Country settlersare often at a loss to know the correct time. Clocks run down, watches are left unwound, and occasionally a stoppage occui-s from some accidental cause. In such, cases the time becomes very uncertain, till some one brings it from town. The following rule will enable all persons hereabouts to correct their time at noon on any sunshiny clay. Lay a compass on the ground, and note carefully the exact direction of the magnetic north. Then mark off a line permanently with rods or pegs, running northwards in a direction fifteen degrees to the westward of the magnetic north. This will be the true meridian, and every day when the sun is exactly over this line it will be 12 o'clock solar time. The time so found will however have to be corrected by the equations given every few days in most good almanacs, thus — "clock — mins". — sees, fast," or '• clock — mins. — sees, slow," meaning that the true time is so ir.ucli fast or slow of the solar time for the clay on which the note occurs. By attending to the above, our country neighbours may readily set their clocks within a minute ,or two of true time. " Wanganui Chronicle."

A Cape newspaper states that the discoveries at the diamond fields are on the increase, and estimates their value at no less than £5,000 a day, or £1, 500,000 a year.'

The constancy of love is beautifully illustrated in the case of an aged couple in Wisconsin, who have been engaged to be married 50 years, and during that time have never been out of gaol together long enough to have the ceremony solemnised.