Grass Seed.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3161, 23 March 1889, Page 2

Grass Seed.

" : Gibborne, March 22. The grass seed shipped away so far tbi? season' smoupts to ,6500 sacks. £ large quantity remains,-'which-'will

Releasedfr Auckland, March 22. . George Clune, a prisoner .undergoing: a sentence . of two year's imprisonment in Mount Eden Ooal for the passing of valueless cheques, died to-day.

HANGING AN ELEPHANT

Adam Forepaugh's elephant Cliidf, was. executed lately by strangulation because of his murderous disposition. The dangerous and difficult task of putting a rope about the elephant's neck was promptly assumed by Adam Forepaugh junr. A rope half an inoh in diameterand 12ft long was Becured and the showman stepped fearlessly into the stall occupied by Chief, who was in a frightful rage, and could liavo orusbed him with a single stroke of his great trunk. But happily the habit of obedience • predominated at the moment over the brute's rage, and with a deft movement Mr Forepaugh slipped the big rope over .the trunk and hitched it with a slip knot over the tender part of his neolc and over " the jugular vein.. Four feet of the rope .was left dangling on either side', and having accomplished this} the most, dangerous part of the business, Mr Forepaugh rushed out of the stall, Two of the trained elephants —Biaruiarck \md Basil-were then brought in," and one placed oil either aide of Chief. Chains were attached to the ends of the rope about Chief's-neck, and they were fastened securely about the shoulders of Bismarck and BLsil. A keeper took possession at the sides of each of these elephants, and at a sign from Mr Forepaugh gave the word to them, and the animals started to ran in opposite directions. The shock'threw Chief to his knees. The two trained elephants.puUed the rope taut, The noose closed tightly over Chiefs jugular vein and windpipe. He struggled with a great convulsion for a moment, and then rolled over dead. Chief was one of the best known elephants on exhibition in this country. He was purchased nine years ago, by Adam Forepaugh in Germany when lie was twenty-four years of age. He has in. his career killed eleven men; and on October 8, in a fit of anger, broke from his keeper in the Forepiugh quarters at Lehigh Avenuo and Kdgeraont-s'treet, and came near killing several people then. At that time a cowboy put ten bullets in his body, which only had the effect of sending him back'to his place with a disdainful snort,—Springfield Republican,

Sporting Nominations, ■ Why the Canterbury Jockey Club will persist in th 6 practico of allowing their nominations to close at other places besides their own official room we cannot understand. When the Victoria Raoing Club invite entries for the Melbourne Cup they simply specifiy that they shall close either at the V.R.C. office, or the Australian Jockey dub's office, and they close at each place at the same time, 4 p.m., and any entries received in Sydney are at once wired to Melbourne, and are published together with the Melbourne entries in the daily papers of the following day. The Canterbury Jockey Club's advertisement as regards the entries for the Nei? Zealand Cup stated that entries would " close at tbo offices of tho C.J.0., Cliristchurch; D.J.0., Dunedin; A.R.0.,-Auckland, by 9 p.m.; and at the V.R.C., Melbourne, by -1 p.ui,. pn Saturday, Maroh 16." Application for the entries at the C.J.C, rooms on Saturday night after 9 o'clock elicited the siatement»that they would not be issuod till the entries from Dunedin and Auckland were received. On Tuesday our representative was handed a list of 47 horses, appended to which was the proviso—" Melbourne entries, if any, to ba added." We'must confess that when we saw the entries first we were surprised at the absence of several Dunedin nags, whose nominations wo regarded as little short of a certainty, and behold their entries were receivod by the C.J.U, on Wednesday afternoon, and added to ik list I Kow . about the rules of Racing the O.J.C have so often, and rightly too, been foremost in conserving? Let them be consistent at any rate and do away with a method of receiving entries, whioli is a model of laxity ,—N,Z. Referee,

Meat Preservation. The London correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald writes:— Tli© most remarkable incident in practical science is the recent test and exhibition of a new process of meat preservation. I have beep a witness of the marve!—a most cheap and Bimple process of food preservation of the utmost interest to the colonies. Hero is one thing that it claims to do, and which I have no doubt about. It can treat 80 carcases of oxen for 80s, the time occupied being three hours, and send them a six or twelve weeks' {Hp as ordinary cargo, and guarantee its arrival fresh and good and as pure as the day the meat was killed. I saw meat, iruits, fish, many weeks old, &3 good in appearance and flavor as when they were subjected to the inventor's simple operation. London scientific men havo subjected the foods to severo tosts, and are satisfied that at least one of the greatest problems of tbe day iB now solved. By-and-by the " fairy tale" will be public property. I mention it here as something of the very greatestmoment to Australia. Ice is not a factor in the new method; no ice room is required, and'the meat is not saddened, not the fruit softened. Imagine the possibility of Australia turning rabbits to aocount; they are a popular article of food throughout Great Britain; by the aid of the new invention they could be paoked like herrings, and arrive not only sweet and good, but, could he kept a week or so at the poulterers afterwards. In Englaud during the year tons of fish are destroyed through being too long at sea, or from arriving at an overstocked market.' ■ Every smack and steamer oan be fitted with "treated" water, into which fish, when caught, can be thrown. Tliey will thus remain fresh as when oaught for weeks. I saw eels and white herrings which had been kept a fortnight that had as .iresh a sea smell as if they had just come to market. What a blessing to the poor if all this works out in practice as the inventor claims, and as I "sincerely believe it will.