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Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 232, 11 July 1872, Page 5

The Coroviaiulel Mail of June ISth says— We are glad to learn that there is every probability of the telegraph line between Coromaudeland Grahamstown being completed in a week's time, notwithstanding the numerous interruptions that have taken place in its construction. The sanitary condition of the City, of Auckland must be in a frightful' state. In a resent issue of the Herald we 'find the following paragraph : — "The stench arising from the sewer at the wharf was, yesterday and the day before, something dreadtul. If the smell ia ao bad in winter, what may we expect next summer, unless something is done in the meantime. We suppose it will require a cholera or a malignant fever to bring the governing powers to a sense of their duty.*'

y~* Taranaki Iron Sand.— The San i Francisco Ntios Letter says:— "The Tara ~ said sand, N.Z., is supposed to be identical ; with the famed beach sand of California. It ' is now used in the manufacture of the finest . quality of steel, and emery paper for burnishing metals." Native Affairs. — At a meeting with the natives at Alexandra Mr M'Lean said:— "He thoaght it right to tell them frankly that he looked for a reparation foi the murder of Mr Todd ; the act was c imraitted in a time of peace, and could not be overlooked ; and, though no hostilities were desired, yet he expected that, when terms were arrived at, Tawhiao would assist in the furtherance of the ends of justice. H-> wan, however, yer willlin^ that this matter, »nd th 5 shelter afforded to Te Kooti, should be included among the negotiations, as no intention existed of making them the causa of a war." The chiefs present recognised the foroe of what was said res|>ecring the murder, and all declared their abhorrence I of it, and their satis'action with the viev % enunciated. The Scandinavians. — Refei-ring to the Scandinavian emigrants, the Wairarapa says:— "We can recommenl no BJ&tp more enjoyable than one to the new ™' settlement above Masterlon, where the im- ' migrants are working. Englishmen may see I? \ many a worae example for them to follow in [ \the wiy oLroatl ranking, and Englishwomen L will lcartfmany useful lessons in the way of their homes tidy, with every disadvantage to encounter, and miny ' wrinkles' in the culinory art. We notice that almost every householder thGre has a spinning wheel in her possession and we expect that we shall shortly see some home-spun stockings, &c , produced by them." An Old Acquaintance. — Writing about Schaefer, the German traveller, the Bendigo Advertiser says : — Adversity, misfortune, and circumstances the occurrence ef which he had never anticipated, utterly exploded Sohaefer's brilliant prospects of travelling all over the face of the civilised world, at least for the time being. The little man has been puled np in his pilgrimage, and has been compelled by sheer necessity to adopt the ordinary vocations of life to win the bread that perisheth. From associating with the illustrious personages of the world, and being extolled as one of the wonders of the age, poor Schaefer has been reduced to < the necessity of getting his living by selling second-hand jewellery in the city and suburbs of Saudhurst. The First Steamer on the Thames. — It is worthy of remembrance that the Ist \ July is tho anniversary of the introduction \>t steam navigation on the Thames. Prior experiments in Scotland bad established its utility, but it had not before been so com pletely demonstrated. The London newspapers give the following announcement of ' the trial, which we copy from Chamber's Book of Days :— " An experiment took place on the River Thames, for the purpose of . working a barge or any other craft against tide by means of a steam engine on a very j simple construction. The moment the engine I was sit to w -ik, the barge was brought ' about, answe ing quickly ; and she made >tsy against a strong current »■£ tlje mte of two miles anil a half an hour." Sudden Death. — A sudden death occurred on the 23rd inst. , at Cox's Port Phillip Hotel, Clyde, of a miner from the Nevis named Patrick O'NeiL of serious j appoplexy. It appear* . the deceased up to the time of his death, was in the enjoy ment nf perfect health. At about 8 o'clock in the evening whilst conversing with a friend, he suddenly dropped his head on the table, On being interrogated a 9 to the cause, he wrote " cold " on the table, with a knife, which he had in his hand, and pointed to his head, and in about an hour he breathed his last without a struggle. The deceased was well kown, and for his quiet steady habits and uprightness of character, was generally esteemed. An inquest was held the next day before Mr E. H. Carew, R.M., khe coroner, when a verdict was returned in accordance in with the medical testimony. Tauranga District. — Mr David Graham, an old resident at Tauranga, on the occasion of his leaving the district, is reported to have given the local prospecting association the following opinion upon the mineral wealth of the locality — " Tauranga was the outlet to the interior. The Natives told him twenty years ago that it was the ' kopu' (belly) of New Zealand. There were rumors of gold being found at Tauranga. He had himself seen nuggets of three and four pounds weight. He had seen a nugget that size which was full of mundic. He believed there was there the greatest silver mineral field in the world. From information of which he was then possessed from the Natives, of the quantity, and from the nature of specimens shown him,, which they declared could be found, he had no hesitation in saying that it was one of the richest mineral fields in the whole world, not excepting South Australia and California. A Defect in the Law. — The following curious case hat just been heard by the Resident Magistrate in Auckland : — The defendant, Mrs Mew, had rented from Mr Overton a cottage in Cook street, for which she paid him one year's rent in advance. This she proved by .producing Overton's receipt, the authenticity of which was not denied. Mrs Overton now came forward produced a deed by which, previous Overton's letting the premises to / Mrs Mew, Overton had conveyed the property to his wife It was admitted that Mrs Mew might know nothing of this arrangement between man and wife, as she swore she did not ; still, in law, Overton not being the owner of the property, it was ruled that not only must Mrs Mew, the defendant, lose the L4O she had paid to Overton, but she must pay Mrs Overton the rent due for the term of her occupancy. His Worship admitted the case to be a hard one It may be stated that immediately after Overton received Mrs Mew's L4O for a twelve month's rent in advance, he had left for California. Statistical. — The Gazette of 17th " May, containing returns of the value of imports and exports for the quarter ending ' 31st March, 1872, is worthy of analysis, as showing the progress the Colony is making generally, and the position Otago holds in relation thereto. The imports for the Colony were, in the quarter for 1872, L 1,219,497, and for the same quarter of 1871, L 1,023,277, leaving a balance in favor of the year 1872 of L 196.220. The exports of the Celony for same quarteis amounted in the year 1872 to 12,411,787, and in 1871 to L 1,758.79', leaving a balance In favor of"1872 of L 652 996— a very gratifying state of affairs. In making np the rvturcs for this Province, it will be seen that the progress of trade has been more expansive than any of the other Provinces of. New Zealand. The returns show that the yarious ports in Otago imported L 522,580, while the same quarter of 1871 showed a value of 1304,927, leaving a balance infaVor of 1872 .of L 217.653. The exports show the large return of L 1,068,319,, 068,319, the same quarter in 1371, being L 638.609, leaving the large balance of 1429,713 in excess of last year. It will thus be seen that the balance in favor of exports from the whole Colony for the quarter of 1872 was the Bum of L 652.996, in excess of 1871 ; and the portion contributed by Otago amounted to no less a sum than ' L 429.710, or more than two-thirdj of the ;

A Good" Speculation in Wool. — AGcelong paper mentions a good speculation in wool. It says :— " As showing how some fortunes have been made during the late rise in wool, it may be stated that a woolscourer in this district (in Victoria) purchased in January, 1870, 146 bales of washed locks at the rate of 64d per lb. He kept them for some time, and in November, 1874, they were sold in London for 17d per lb. The bales averaged nearly 4001bs each, and his profit was an average of Ll9 10s per bale, or a lump sum of L 2,868 18s. This was only one among other profitable ventures that were made by the same gentleman." The Ruling Passion. — A good story is being told in Wellington about a private in tho Armed Constabulary, who a short time ago was a station owner in the Middle Islaud. One morning he was doing sentry at (iovernmtnt House, and on the afternoon of the same day, after dressing in civilian's clothes, he paid a visit to Lady liowen. Whether it was done out of "cheek," or from a lack of discrimination, which should have taught him that for a private to intrude us a visitor at Government . house, >ras scarcely the thing, it is hard to say. Karori Lunatic Asylum. — The Karori Asylum case has been completed, by Mr and Mrs Sutherland being fined, in the Magistrate's Court, L 6 and costs. To many this seemed a remarkably light sentence, but it should be remembered that the Su'lierlands, besides losing their situations, incurred fully L 25 or L3O expanses over the trial. In th •- meantime, an improvement in th« treatment of the patients, and consequently an improvement in their state is already observable. One patient, who for eight years has never been admitted out of her cell because she was sometimes ' violent, is now to be seen working at sewinij sensibly enough in the day-room. Of course she has paroxysms, and when they are coming on she is put in a chair till they have passed away, when she is let out again. Another patient, who for years has had nothing but dirty cocoanut matting to sleep upon, was given a bed a few days ago, and she absolutely revelled in it as a pig will roll in clean straw after its sty has been cleaned, and looking up to the new mistress she said, in tones that brought tears into the eyes of her hearera, " God bless you, dear woman, God in heaven bless you." Novel Jumping Case. — Jumping a mining claim is a thing of every-day occurrence, and often proves successful. The latest phase of jumping met with is the | jumping of a newspaper office. This fact is reported as follows by the San Francisco Chronscle :— " A. Gilroy date of the 27th has this cnriouß item : — W. H. Clipperton, pro prietor of the < ilroy Telegraph, a weekly paper, having obtained an appointment in the mint at San Francisco, employed a Mr Shaw to edit and publish the paper during his absence. Mr Shaw, it seems, has changed the day of publication from We 'nesday to Saturday, and also changed the title from the Telegraph to the Gilroy Union. I Clipperton returned from the city to-.laj', and demanded possession of the office, and was promptly ordered out. Shaw has been arrested, charged with larcency, and ifc remains to be seen if a newspaper can be as easily and successfully jumped as a mining claim. The Nelson Examiner, from which the above paragraph is quoted, saya— 'l he Mr Shaw spoken of is said to be well known in Melbourne and New Zealand journalistic circles, A gentleman of that name was some time ago proprietor of the We*t Coast Times, and Major of Hokitika; but whether he is the hero of the above-named exploit we canaot say. Personal. — Mr B. L. Farjeon's new story, "London's Heart," now ruuntng through the pages of Tinsley's Magazine and Harper's (New York), seems likely, says the Home News, to create a sensation when it is presented to the public in a .complete form. The third number, in which is narrated the incident of a clergyman of the Church of England refusing to say prayers over the body of a Methodist, has attracted much attention, some papers going so far as to state that Mr Farjeon wrote it for the express purpose of supporting Mr Osborne Morgan's Burial Bill. Mr Farjeon, on the other hand, asserts the incident is taken from actual fact, and brings forward printed evidence of the occurrence, which took place a few months ago in a parish churchyard near Gravesend. Mr Farjeon, in addition to his literary labors, has struck out a course which is not unusual with popular authors. He has read " Blade o' Grass " twice during; the present month ; on the second occasion to a very numerous audience. He met with a most gratifying and exceptional success. The London correspondent of the Melbourne Australasian announces with all the gravity of a fact the mirriage of Mr Farjeon and Miss Cairie > elson. This can hardly be true, for, first of all, Mr Farjeon never had the pleasure of seeing Miss Nelson, and, secondly, he ha* > never had the privilege of being married to anybody. Invercargill Circuit. — The recent criminal session at Invercargill was the heaviest known there for some years. There was but little of public interest in the cases for trial with the exception of that Kee Chang, of gold notoriety who was arraigned on three separate charges of disposing of base metal for gold, and who probably disappointed many of the court lawyers by pleading guilty to each, receiving as his reward, cumulative sentences of one year's imprisonment on the first, and six months on each of the other charges. The total, being but two years, may be considered by some as a rather ight punishment for the three offences. , The receiver of a portion of the proceeds, and who was tried as such, was fortunate enough to escape "scot free." There is a singularity i in the result of this case that gives some countenance to the proverb — " It is better to be born lucky than rich." The money fqund'upon upon the prisoner was identified by two witnesses as part of the money that had been paid to Chang, and an application j was made by counsel on behalf of the Bank I of Otago that it should be handed over te them as being best entitled to it, but as the prisoner's counsel applied to have it returned t > his client, the Bank of Otago would gain nothing by the action but the certainty of having to pay counsel's fees. The Grand Jury found no true bill against M'lntosh, a settler at Limestone Plains, against whom an indictment was preferred on these grounds : — He had sold his crops of oats to a merchant in Riverton, and had obtained an ad vancc and bags (between 300 and 400) in which to deliver the oats, and had subsequently sold oats and bags to some one else, at any rate he did not deliver the one or the other to the first purchaser. In the case of Robert Hitchcock, for shooting a settler named Wymark, the evidence went to show that the prisoner's mind had been unhinged for a time prior to the occurrence, but nothing was elicited to show that the quarrel arose from jealously, as was asserted. The evidence adduced for the defence in Ingpen's case showed that the prisoner invariably kept his accounts loosely ; and that he was never good at accounts. One witness— the Depnty Registrar of the Court— said the prisoner who had been Registrar, "could scarcely add np a column of figures correctly." On the nrst day of the session one of the jurors appeared in Court intoxicated ; and the Judge sentenced him to 24 hours' imprisonment for .contempt