THINGS IN SAN FRANCISCO.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 818, 30 May 1871, Page 3

THINGS IN SAN FRANCISCO.

The "New Zealand Herald" publishes the following extracts from a private letter received from an Auckfonder in San Francisco : —Things here are dreadfully quiet; trade evidently seems overdone ; many people are leaving. However, lam told that an improvement in business is early looked for. My life here is very monotonous, and I should like to be more active. I do enjoy plenty of work. From what I can glean, salaries range from 50 dollars to 300 dollars per month. Living here can be done very cheaply. I will give you an idea how I pull through. I pay for my bedroom (which is most comfortable, furnished well, and in a good situation) two and a half dollars per week. Eat breakfast at a restaurant for from 20 to 25 cents (10 to Is). This provides you with coffee, two chops, bread and hot roll, butter, radishes, and, if at Is, some nice buckwheat cakes and syrup. For lunch, by going into a bar, and taking a glass of lager-beer (awfully weak), 15 cents (7d), you can have soup, or a slice of corned beef, with potatoes, free ; and this at one of tlie best bars in town (Exchange). Dinner costs me from 25 to 50 cents, sometimes 20 cents ; at 50 cents you can have a crack feed. So, you see, <rae can save money here if he has the will. I stayed in the Occidental Hotel for a week (one of the best in San Francisco) which coat me 12 dollars a day, and not overmuch, when you take into account the style. I have been in many hotels in Europe, but the Occidental surpassed all. Strange to see whole families staying in a hotel. American women don't care about the trouble of housekeeping. I hare been all over the environs of San Francisco. I get along with the folks here pretty well, and will soon come into their habits. Heard Punshon last night, and was very much pleased. You must bear him if he comes to New Zealand. Some very nice fellows here are daily increasing my circle of friends. And now, good-bye, &c. Mr. Webb has not yet opened an office here, but I understand will shortly do so. SEASONS FOE DESERTION. Ws give A few of the various reasons assigned for desertion by men admitted into the military prision, Dublin, having been sentenced to be marked with the letter D, as being deserters' —"Hamtssed and annoyed in lis company. Married without leave ; wife and child. Went on the spree and missed the boat. Went from Halifax to Boston; women and drink. Eeturning off furlough was robbed, and then would not come back. Tormented by the aerjeant-major. Didn't like the service. The vagabond women in Church-street kept bim absent. Married without leave ; refused a pass. Because, I was not punished fair. Bothered by the serjeant-major. Tried for disgraceful conduct, and got no peace afterwards. Went to Punchcstown races. Would rather be a sailor. Coaxed to go by a comrade. Inveigled away by a comrade. Teased and annoyed. Didn't like soldering. Got married without leave; spree. Didn't like riding. Got drunk and went mad. Picked up by a girl and stopped ; absent. Met with young 'un ; was robbed, stripped naked; ashamed to come back. Was left money by his uncle; went on a spree. Wetit with friends to the races. Ran home to my mother." LEAVE OR DIE. A correspondent of the Denton " Monitor " says a handsome, dashing woman rode into a village in that region a few days ago, and, alighting from her horse, went rapidly to a drinking saloon, where a number of " sovereigns " were having a high time. She singled out the finest looking man in the crowd, and, walked up to him, seized him by the arm and ordered him to put down the glass which he was about to drain He daahe down the glass and rushed away; the lady followed, and finally cornered him in the billiard-room. She told him in a firm and determined voice, that the place he was in and the course he was pursuing would not answer for her husband ; that he was wasting her property, and that she would no longer consent to be disgraced and impoverished by him. She demanded his Eistol. He refused. She took it from im, cocked it, and presented it at him, and told him he must leave or die. He concluded to leave. She marched him out as a prisoner of war to where his horse was hitched, ordered him to mount, and in a few minutes the two were leaving town, the wife riding in the rear of her captured lord, With his sii-shooter in her hand. AN AMERICAN STRIKE. A. strike of an unprecedented nature has just taken place in the coal mining districts of Pensylvania, by which 100,000 men have eeased work. A despatch from New York states that Wl the collieries in the Schuylkill County and the Lehigh and Wioming Valleys struck work on the 10th instant. By the terms of an agreement these 100,000 men, in consideration of stopping from work for a ®onth, and receiving in the meantime aid from an organised strike asatcia'v l Ve agreed to become members, ; which_they have hitherto declined to This strike which conios very unexpectedly, throws 100,000 men out 0 employment, the number Voing dia-

iributocl as follows : —ln the employ of the big companies, 85,000 men; Wioming Valley pits, 5,000 ; in the Lehigh Valley, 15,000; and in Schuylkill Valley pits, 45,000. In consequence of this great strike a large number of railroad employes will also, doubtless, bo thrown out of employment; and the Deleware, Lackawana, and Weston Railroad, which transports 700 waggon loads of coal each day, will probably discharge about 150 engine drivers, stokers, and brakemen. The Central Railroad, which transports about 2000 waggon loads of coal each day, will be compelled to dispense with the services of 100 engine drivers and stokers, and 300 brakemen.