MISCELLANEOUS.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 888, 16 November 1871, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Constabulary returns show that in 1870, 549 families, comprising 2622 persons, were evicted in Ireland. A famine is threatened in China owing to a long continued drought, which has dried up the irrigating canals.

At Bangor, Ireland, a horse which lost a shoe while grazing, walked to a smithy of its own accord, and got shod.

A Liverpool optician has an announcement on his window that " the invisible world may be seen within for Id."

During the voyage of the ship Ambassador, which iately arrived at Hong Kong, the cabin clock, which could not be made to go was struck by lightning, and henceforth kept accurate time.

A curious discovery has just been made in Chatham dockyard. Some extensive alterations are being made in the river wall opposite No. I iron ahip-shed; the workmen, iu order to ensure a good foundation excavated to a considerable depth. When they had reached a depth of about 30ft. thev came upon the complete hull of a large vessel embedded in the ground. It is supposed to be the remains of the Sea Horse, a war vessel that sank in the Medway more than a century ago, and was afterwards towed in to form a part of the retaining dockyard wall. The most curious part is that a large number of the timbers are in a perfectly sound condition, and the oak of which the keel is formed is as sound as when it was laid upon the slip blocks. Only one iron bolt has been found, the timbers having been fastened together by means of wooden " coaks," and a large number of these are in a perfect state. At Ostend, where " social bathing" is the rage, the ladies pay more attention to their water than to their land toilets, Fancy tunics and pantalettes, decorated with a profusion of buttons and braid, are the " thing," and some Roumanian ladies have even introduced the.wearing of necklaces and bracelets in the water. At the last annual meeting of the London Gas Consumers' Association, a paper compiled from Parliamentary documents was read by Mr Flintoff, their engineer, from which it appears that the gas consumed in the district of the Metropolis Gas Acts last year was 10,908,069,000 cubic feet; its cost to public and private consumers £2,045,262 19s 9d, and for public street lamps alone £226,680 12s; while the quantity of coal used in its manufacture was 1,363,508 tons.

So much pleased was the Princess of Wales with the " Two headed Nightingale," that on her departure for tha Continent she left orders that a couple of brooches should be presented to the two-in-oue young ladies. The King of Burmah has gone into the drapery business. He forces the merchants to sell their goods to him on three months' credit, and resells them to them for cash. It is not surprising to learn that he is making money fast.

A London policeman has been sent ti gaol for a month, without the option of a fine, for violently assaultin ; a carman.

At Aston, in Birmingham, a young lady threw herself out of window, on being told there were robbers in the house. The establishment of a school of typography, similar to that in operation in Leipsic, is being advocated in England.

In one week lately, the returns at the Bankers' Clearing-House in London reached the prodigious sum of £122,000,000.

Among the qualifications urged on behalf of one of the candidates at the East Surrey election was that he was a good cricketer. Since the adoption of the shilling telegram system in Britain, the telegraphic revenue has increased by from £2OOO to £3OOO a month. The manufacture of steel rails in England is in a very flourishing condi. tion, and is considered likely to yield large profits for years to come. Referring to the Pope M. Thiers is reported to have said :—" I have no counsel to give his Holiness, but were 1 in his I place would not budge—l would wait." ' ;

In Norfolk a domestic servant has been sentenced for life, for attempting to poison her master and mistress by putting vermin poison in the teakettle.

A children's church has been established in Hackney under the auspices of a number of gentlemen. The services last about an hour, and are especally adapted for children. At Sunderland an old man was summoned for 3£d under a local church rate Act. The amount was subscribed in halfpence in Court, and went to the rector as part of his stipend. The P. and O. Company has 12,000 officers and men in its employ, 8,000 of whom are on their steamers and transports. The average number of persons on their craft daily is said to be over 10.000, besides millions of letters and packages for all quarters of the globe.