MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 209, 13 November 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

A i.irii.K girl, named Collins, aged nine, daughter of a labourer, was killed by lightning while sitting in her home at (ireat Paxton, uear St. fteots. Her little brother also was knocked down and rendered unconscious, but is recovering. His body i* marked with the complete outline of a tree, the branches being shown distinctly. The lightning came through the roof, making a hole in the ceilintr.

The Coolgardie Courier relates : —" The mine had boon sold to an English proprietary for a large sum, and, as is not unusual, the Home shareholders had greater belief in an English manager with many letters behind his name than in a practical and unlettered Australian. The new chum, being installed, continued the southern driTe, notwithstanding that the reef had dipped underfoot. At length a shareholder with some mining knowlodge made an underground inspection and remarked, " What you want hero 13 a winze.' ' Ye?,' replied the manager, ' I quite agree with you ; I have been intending to get one. I will telegraph to the London office and have one sent out by the next mailboat."

A Dunedin correspondent writes : Founding on the fact that nearly 4000 electors on the Dunedin roll have at the last two elections in that city failed to recortl their votes, and assuming the figures to be typical of other electorates proportionally to the members on their respective rolls, it is proposed that an Act of Parliament, should he passed whereby every defaulting voter shall be fined 20s or 48 hours' imprisonment, except for one or other of the fol'owing causes : (I) Inability from sickness or bodily ailment ; ('2) absence from the district on business; (3) in orrectness in marking the roll, who eby the elector is made to appear as not hiving voted when he or she did vote. For all such errors as mentioned in No. 3, if any, the Returning Officer shall be lined iis each.

A. depth of 1465 feet has now be 11 reached ill the fourth petroleum) bore at Moturoa, Taranaki. The six ino'i casing stands at 134 S feet where it effectively shuts off water. The new driller, who has been engaged from Australia, Is expected to arrive within the next fortnight, and then double shifts will be renewed. The singular immunity from accidents enjoyed by the company during recent operations encourages the directors mi hop ng that should they now strike the same supply of oil as in No 3 I ore, tin y will this time succeed in shutting olf water an 1 olitiin oil in payable qu 11 ities. We (Herald) learn from Mr .Samuel that the. company has ordered a new drilling engine of a most improved pattern from the Oil Wells Supply Co. at Bradford, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. This is intended to be used in connection with boring inland on Frankley Road.

In the course of experiments in the Royal Arsenal on firing gas in mines, conducted by Captain Cooper Key, R.A., under the Home Office, a special gun is employed, says the Engineer, to do duty for a borehole with a charge of high explosive, and pressed cylinders of raw dry clay 3in Ion,; and IJin in diameter are used to represent tamping. To stop these plugs when blown out a cast iron target plate lin thick was placed 2oft in front, at an angle of 45ileg., in order to break them into dust and throw them upwards. After three or four shots with this arrangement the clay plug, weighing 7io/., perforated the inch iron plate, and the hole thus made has been steadily extended since. The familiar tallow candle passing through a door must hide its head before a ~\ot. plug of clay perforating an iron plate an inch thick at an angle of •lijdeg. Doubtless the velocity must be tremeudous.

The Gazette contains the following rovised dress regulations for certain branches of the New Zealand defence force to come into force on the Ist, November, 1896 :—l. Prom the dato when these regulations come into force any volunteer corps enrolled under the provisions of the Defence Act, ISS(>, and being mounted corps, garrison artillery corps, field artillery corps, engineer corps, or infantry corps will bo allowed to adopt such uniform as thoy respectively think fit in accordanoo with these regulations. "2. Previous to such adoption the commanding officers of the corps shall transmit to the commander of the forces a specification setting forth in detail all the particulars of tho uniform which such corps desires to adopt. 3. The commander of the forces may make such modification in, or addition to, any specification he sees fit, and, subject thereto, shall intimate to the commanding officer of tho corps tho uniform so approved which shall then be deemed to have been adopted by the corps. 1. All existing regulations in force which are repugnant to these regulations are revoked.

The evolution of the lady in possession (writes Mr Labouche.re) was merely a matter of time ; therefore, I am not surprised to hear that a well-known linn has during the past week had a number of ladies officially certified to act as bailiffs. Certainly with the lady in possession an execution should lose half its terrors. The shabby man, with his short pipe and unutterable prevailing odour of beer, will no longer linger in the halls, or camp out in the diningrooms of those who have manured to outrun the constable. Instead, a neathanded Phyllis, subservient even to cap and apron, will add distinction to the cashless mvmuje while she keeps an eye upon the plate and furniture. I foresoe endless possibilities for romance in the innovation. The moral story of the future will present the beautiful bailiff as the heroine undertaking the regeneration of the youthful rake. There is another side of the picture, however, when she enters into competition with the hard-visaged lady of the house, and, perhaps, supplants her in the affections of the distrained-upon lord of the house hold. Mr Justice Jeimc appears in the closing scene of that romance. It cannot, however, bo looked upon in the light of a triumph for the shrieking sisterhood ; though in this unconventional guise, perhaps, it may be a little difficult to reeoguise woman as still occupying her premier positiuu as a ministering angel.