GENERAL NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 907, 30 December 1871, Page 2

GENERAL NEWS.

The Nelson farmers are beginning to suffer for their folly in exhausting their land by not allowing it rest, and their experience shoul'l not be without its lesson to their farmers. At a late meeting .of the Stoke Farmers' Club, Mr A. Harley said that at one time Nelson grown barley was the best in the colony, and the brewers.were then very anxious to purchase it; but lately the samples did not make good malt, it was steely and brittle, the opposite of what good malt should be, and he attributed this inferiority to the exhausted state of the land upon which the barley was grown. The Waiinea had been cropped some tweuty years iu succession without any. manure having ever been applied. The new steamer Agra, one, ; o£ the/ Bed Cross line from London to Calcutta, via the Sues Canal, has made the passage from the Downs to Calcutta in thirty-seven days—the shortest yet effected. A new schooner, named the Dauntless, was launched from the North Shore, Auckland, on Dec. 18th. The following are her dimensions: —Length of koel, 72ft; depth of hold, Bfi-. 6m. ; beam, lCffc. 6in.; tonnage, 72 tons builders' measurement. She has a splendid cabin, 14ft. by 19ft. and 7ft. high, which is "fitted with sleeping room for 18 persons. She has also a cabin with berths for eight ladies. It is intended that she. shall be employed in the trade between Tauranga and Auckland. : '•' '

The largest flood witnessed at Hokitika since 1808, occurred on the 13tjw instant. A considerable portion £B£ the town was placed under water, but* no serious damage, so far as we have heard, was sustained. The ship Countess-of Kintore sailed from Auckland, for London, on Dec. 9 th, with a cargo valued at £52,778, and 28 passengers. -Captain Coath, convicted of kidnapping in the South Seas, has been sentenced to five years' imprisonment and to ..pay .a flue, of £SO. '■jj-' •rjA. correspondent of the "Queens. lander gives the following-curelbr sore- - throat:—'"lf cannot be:too generally known that all forms of sore throat, whether simple, ulcerated, quinsy, diphtheria, l scarlet fever, bl* otherwise, • can be either totally cured or greatly alleviated by simply wearing a soft old silk handkerchief twice round the neck, high up and next the skin, especially if worn at night when tho pain is first felt. Like Naaman-the Syrian, people will take any trouble but the right one, and fly to gargle 3, blisters, lotions, pills,, &ci, and keep at them for a month at a timo • but an old silk it's too absurd, and so they hug their sore throat, and 'wonder why it don't get better. Not only does the silk cure the sore throat, but it prevents a recurrence of it. I was formerly a martyr to quinsy and ulcerated sore throat, and used to have a whole month.of it regularly every winter, and in spite, too, of all the usual medical battery of pills, gargles, <fcc„ it-ran its couse till I tried silk • thesoie throat then took the hint and has left ine alone ever since as a bad customer. I invariably kill it:within an hour of any attempt I. makes upon me ; an old sore tK-oatmll take a day to cure. Mind, I. r!r, not pretend to say that the silk v' f \, oure fe. T ">£ or any other sympto r y complication that may accompany -.., ..throat; bi _i '"his I do say, that it wh] cure and remove all pain and difficulty of swallowing in tho throat without tne aid of any local remedy, or it will do it in spite ot them, if you do apply* them and it both; but, without it, cure only comes by nature, not physic, w far as the sore throat goes; other, remedies are neither good nor harip, except as they keep von from trying the infallible silk."

A complimentary dinner was given to Mr H. Redwood, jun., at the OddFellows' Hall, Nelson, on the 20th instant, on the occasion of his removal from Waimea West to Marlborough. Between fifty and sixty gentlemen sat down. C. F. Watts," Esq., in the chair ; Mr Elliott in the vice-chair. At a meeting of upwards ot 1,000 persons, held in Dunedin, Mr J. C. 8. Grant denounced the Otago University, characterising it as an imposture. The great rowing match at Canterbury, to take place on the 15th January, promises great attraction. Canterbury will furnish three boats, and lour entries have been received from outside the province. A Wellington crew are having a boat built in Melbourne, Auckland will be well represented, and Sydney has decided on taking part in the match. A crushing of the Doran reef was promised by Christmas Day, but some necessary alteration in the machinery erected for transporting the stone from the mine to the stampers will delay the crushing by about three weeks—-the Christmas nolidays occurring; in the internal. Froin Collingwood, there is nothing of importance to report. Dredging operations in the Aorere have not yet given the results anticipated, the machinery used not being sufficiently strong to remove the immense boulders which lie in the river. ■:' The "Otago Daily Times" says that a paragraph recently, appeared in the Wellington " Independent," Nelson " Colonist," and Auckland " Evening News," statiug that " steps aro beins; taken to establish a Chinese factory at Milton, Otago." Our contemporaries will please correct the word " Chinese" to " cheese." A match with 12-pounder Armstrong guns between detachments of the Christchurch Volunteer Artillery and the crew of the Basilisk, was won by the latter by ten points. A glue factory has been erected in the Kaikorai Valley, between the Half-way Road and Flesman's tannery, Otago; by Mr Boenieke. Operations have just been commenced and the factory ia now in complete working order. All hopes of the safety of the schooner Rifleman have fled. The captain of the Luna is of opinion that the vessel turned over and sank at sea. The "Lyttelton Times" says, respecting the loss.—" Captain. P. Toomy was one of our best coasting captains, and his loss will be deeply regretted by all that knew him, Mjf Anderson, who formerly had command of the Spray, was mate of tha vessel. Both officers leave wives and families to mourn their Joss." " .' ' ■' ——- ' m ' ~ * i