MISCELLANEOUS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 261, 30 January 1873, Page 9

MISCELLANEOUS.

If the establishment of new woollen factories goes on at its present rate of increase, the colony ought soon to be independent of foreign supplies of cloth. One factory was opened in Melbourne the other day, another is going ahead at Ballarat, and now Warrnatnbool is coming to the fore with a similar project. The latter in fact is going in rather heavily for all sorts of new industries, and here is a formidable list of them, culled from the " Warrnambool Standard. Our contemporary says : — Two farming factories, a wool factory, a brewery, a malting establishment, a fellmongery, a tannery, a rope walk, and a cordial manufactory. Can town any of the same size in the colony, or in the world, show such an array of new manufactures ? And all owing to the industrial license, which some misguided creatures call " a swindle ! " The licensees are in for it now, and must either set their factories a-going or lose their land. — " Hamilton Spectator." The example of some hon. members who spend their honorarium of £300 a year, or a goodly portion of it, in offering prizes at the various schools within their constituencies, cannot be too highly commended, or too often spoken of pour encourager les mitres. It therefore gives us pleasure to quote the following from the " Hampden Guardian ":—"" :— " The Hon. "W. Bayles, M.L.A., has this year forwarded to us, for distribution to the various schools in the eastern portion of the electorate of Heytesbury, a number of handsome books for school prizes. Parcels addressed to the undermentioned schools are now lying at our office, and can be obtained on application: — Pomberneit, Ewing's Hill, Cobden, Cobrica, and Ecklin. Mr. Bayles writes: — "If there should be any school omitted I will be glad to send prizes, and if any of the books contain matter that may lie deemed in the slightest degree objectionable, I shall be glad to have them exchanged for others. The books have been carefully selected so as to be free from any denominational bias. — " Wangaratta Dispatch." TJtah, like other places, has its school system. "With a population of 87,000, it has 277 schools, and 375 teachers, male and female. It has 25,000 \ children from 4 to 16 years of age, of whom 16,000 are on -the school rolls, and 11,400 in actual attendance, being 45 per cent, of the whole. The schools are open for about sevep months in the year. The Melbourne "Leader" says :— " There is a split among the ranks of the Spiritsts. A number of persons have started a " Magnetic Institute," lAder the presidency of an illiterate washerwoman, but are denounced by the orthodox as heretics and madmen. Some of the follies recently committed by persons, hitherto believed to be of more than average intelligence, are almost incredible. One gentleman, a man of great scientific ability, has resigned an honorable and lucrative appointment in the civil service at

the instigation of a spirit from the sun, who has taken his abode in the body of the aforesaid medium. Another has for similar reasons withdrawn his children from school, and apprenticed them to occupations not usually affected by persons of wealth and position. An old proverb tells us that the quarrels of rogues are not injurious to the public weal. Perhaps the disputes of fools and enthusiasts may prove equally advantageous. Things kot generally known. The racoon is a native American. He resides among the heavy timber, and takes charge of the neighbouring cornfields. During the winter he ties himself up in a knot and goes to sleep by his fireside. He is not a depraved vagabond like the alligator. He will, however, steal what he can eat. I have tamed coons by the dozen, but would advise no one to keep many on hand. If the racoon would give his mind to politics few could beat him. — A kicking cow never lets drive until just as the pail gets full. — Old dogs nurse their grudges, but young ones fight and then play with each other. — The fly is not only a domestic but a friendly insect. How they are created I don't know They make their grand rush in the middle of June ; they stay with us until the cold weather ; some lose their lives early, some find a watery grave by getting drowned in milk-cans. Flies morally considered are like other human beings. They have a remarkable memory for forgetting things. I believe they are of temperate habits. They are the first ones at the dinner table, and see a great deal of good society. A fly is a perfect gentleman. — The cat is a domestic animal. They are as meek as Moses but as full of uncertainties as Judas Iscariot. All there is about a cat that is domestic is that you can't lose one. The most wonderful thing about a cat is death. Tou may kill one as much as you please, and he is as good as ever, j They are very reasonable and very plenty. — The codfish is the friut of the ocean, which accounts for their saltness. They want a good deal of freshening before and after they are eaten. They have been called the salt of the earth. Ihe codfish is said to be an aristocrat, and claims to be a relation with the whale, but this is rather fishy. The Sydney correspondent of the " Southern Cross " writing on October 25, says :—": — " There is now in Sydney a treat which, to those who are able to appreciate it, is capable of affording an infinite delight. I mean an exhibition of water-color paintings of New Zealand sceneiy, by Mr. Ra worth, a gentleman who has come amongst us a modest stranger, unknown to fame, but who, judging from the treasures he has brought with him, seems destined to create a sensation as a landscape painter. The pictures are about 112 in number, and represent, for the most part, the mountain and lake scenery of the little-known parts of the South Island, the result of several years' travel amidst some of the wildest and grandest scenes, that New Zealand has to present. Glacier, torrent, extended plains, quiet lakes, and steep mountain sides that rise into jagged peaks crusted with ice and snow, seen in sunshine and in storm, are brought before the eye in a remarkably impressive manner. In their presence one is hardly aware they are paintings at all ; they are transcipts of nature, seen under peculiar aspects, translated by an unmistakably poetic mind, and the eye rests on them again and again with a renewed and genuine pleasure. Henceforth Mr. Raworth will take his place among our most renowned landscape painters, and we shall be looking out for him at every exhibition. It is possible that your readers may have an opportunity of seeing some of these pictures for themselves, as Mr. Raworth i has signified his intention of making ' his next sketching tour in the North Island of New Zealand." The " Spectator " says : — Here is a delicious story illustrative of the religions importance of two sharp Yankees, suddenly confronted with death. They were in a yacht on the Delaware river, in imminent danger of wreck. " Seth," said Peleg, " say a prayer." " I can't," said Seth, " I don't know how." " Then let us sing a hymn," replied a Peleg. " I can't returned Seth. " I never could sing." " But Seth, we are drowning men and must do something religious. Let us make a collection." And they made it. And no doubt this is one remarkable Anglo-Saxon doxology. The "Auckland Star" says :— " One of onr fellow-townsmen, who had read frightful accounts of milk adulteration, thinks his milkman safe from suspicion, as the article he furnishes is to weak to bear any deleterious ingredients. The tone is blue, about the tint of a newlymraried man's countenance when his first milliner's bill comes in." There are two reasons why some people don't mind their own business ; one is that they haven't any business and the other is that they have no mind. Holloway'? Pills. — Weakness and Debility. Unless the blood be kept in a pure state, the constitution must be weakened, and disease supervene. These wonderful Pills possess the power of neutrab'sing and removing all contaminatioas of the blood and system generally. They quietly, but certainly, overcome all obstructions tending to produce illhealth, and institute regular action in organs that are faulty from derangement or debility. The dyspeptic, weak, and nervous, may rely upon these Pills as their best friends and comforters. They improve the appetite, and thoroughly invigorate the digestive apparatus. Holloway's Pills have long been known to be the surest pi-eventatives of liver complaints, dreadful dropsies, spasms, colic, constipation, and many other diseases always hovering round the feeble and infirm.