GENERAL NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 883, 4 November 1871, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

The "Bruce Herald" publishes a statement prepared at the request of the Synod of Otago and Southland, by the Synod Temperance Committee, regarding the trade in alcoholic liquors in those Provinces in 1869 —the latest year for which official returns can be obtained. According to this statement, there is an average of nearly three gallons of spirits consumed by each person above fifteen years of age. Adding to the value of imported liquors a sum" of £50,000, for the value of colonial ale consumed, it is calculated that £368,000 was spent on strong drinks, £5 lis for each person ; while in Britain the average amount spent is £3 6s. If, however, the difference in the price of liquor in Britain and Otago were taken into account, the apparent disproportion in the quantity of liquor drank in the two places would soon disappear. The following is the concluding paragraph of the statement: —•' The number of convictions for offences of every kind was 3777 ; and for drunkenness alone, 1091. Of this last number, 868 were convicted once, or one out of every seventy of the population was convicted for drunkenness." The " Southland News" states that an idea of the immense volume of flame emitted from the burning pile of buildings at the late fire in Invereargill may be formed from the fact that at Sandy Point, eight miles distant, the fishermen residing there were able to read small print by the light. With reference to the £115,000 referred to by the Controller the other day as having been spent by the Government without passing through his bands, we learn from Wellington that, according to Mr Vogel's statement, it was made up as follows:—Short-dated debentures issued in anticipation of the loan, £110,500 ; brokerage and commission, £3750 ; advertising, £155 ; stamps, £ll9 4s; printing, £312 ; supervising printing, £29 16s; total, £114,866. A whale fifty feet long was captured oft* Waikouaiti, Otago, on October 24. It is expected to yield six tons of oil. The "New Zealand Herald' estimates that there are about 4000 bona fide miners on the Thames goldfield, and that these support a further population of from 8000 to 9000.

Biwi Tutaki, a friendly chief, died at Rangaiwhia, Auckland, a short time ago. He leaves to a little girl, between four and five years of age, 350,000 acres of land in that district. Two gentlemen at Bangaiwhia have become trustees for the child.

At Napier, a few days ago, a man was found in his house with his head

battered in, and in a very precarious condition. The " Hawke's Bay Herald"' learns that the injuries were inflicted with a poker, and that robbery as well as assault was committed. The following additions to the many usee of the blue gum is related by a correspondent of the " Wakatip Mail; —" Take fresh gathered branches of blue gum, place them in or about a rose bush infested with blight, and an immediate immigration of the insects takes place. The gum leaves should ■be changed as soon as withered or the scent gets faint. If this is done two or three times it effectually relieves the roses of the presence of the pest." A seam of coal, said to be of very superior quality, has been found in Blackman's Gully, Dunstan district, Otago.

Mr Carruthers the Colonial En-gineer-in-Chief, is to visit Timaru in a few days, to examine into the feasibility of the harbour works there. The Auckland Justices of the Peace have been unfortunate on more than one occasion, It is but a short time since two of the unpaid Magistrates had to pass through the Insolvent Court to save arrest for non-payment of heavy damages for illegal conviction in a case of B ly-grog selling. At the present session of the Supreme Court, we see a verdict has been given against'two of the great un-paid, for illegally sending to prison certain miners employed in the Bay of Islands coal mines. The conviction was quashed by the Supreme Court, and a jury has just awarded as damages to one of them £2B. We hear that the others have agreed to take the same sum, and that the damages including costs, will amount to upwards of £3OO.

Eecently a workman assisting in making some joinery repairs at the Bank of Australasia, Ballarat, had occasion to remove the drawers from the counter, when he found in a crevice behind a drawer, a mouse's nest and upon examination, discovered that its material was a number of bank-notes, more or less gnawed into undistinguishable fragments. It was found (says the " Star") that the larger portions represented one £lO-note one£s-note, and one £I-note, along with a mass of minute fragments of other notes which may have represented any imaginable amount. Beyond the fact of the figures on three of the notes having been left decipherable, nothing is known of the original value of the hoard, but it is possible it may have amounted to a £IOO or more. How the notes came within reach of the mice does not appear, but it is probable they- were extracted piecemeal, for building purposes, or may have passed over in repeated shuttings of the drawer The fact remains, however that the evidences of a considerable sum of lost money have been brought to light, and outside people are left to speculate how it has happened and how it is to be accounted for. It is said that many years ago there was a teller of the bank who did not lose his situation on account of a deficiency, but had to refund the amount. Possibly Thursday night's discovery may have something to do with that remote transaction.—Melbourne Paper.