INTER PROVICIAL NEWS.
There is a song that once was very popular of a certain Dutchman that had a wondrous wooden leg made for him, which had the power of perpetual locomotion. Whatever might come or go the leg went on for ever", a..d with it the unfortunate Dutchman, who was a sort of Wandering Jew, doomed to" journey over the earth on a wooden leg. But the Dutchman had not, like the other, existence in the flesh till " the crack of doom," and when the leg was last seen on its perambulation some relics of his mortal frame were noticed adhering to " it. There has been in the Dimedin hospital for the past twelve months.or so a case of a leg of this disposition, or more correctly speaking, the stump of a leg, but minus the walking power. The circumstance has given rise to extraordinary and exaggerated tales, and for that reason the Otago Daily Times narrates the simple facts, which are as follows : —The victim of misfortune, whose leg was injured, was once.a miner in the Tuapeka district. He had a thigh broken by a fall of earth, and was taken to the Tuapeka Hospital. In that institution the leg was amputated, and on a subsequent occasion was again amputated, this time two inches above where formerly cutoff. Owing to some injury to the nerves, the remaining part of the leg is subject to a rapid pendulumlike motion, which often lasts considerable time till it exhausts itself. The patient remained in the Tuapeka Hospital after the,wound had healed, lie was aftcwards, with a number of patients from various country hospitals, and who were regarded as incurables, sent to Dimedin hospital. This was about a rear ago, and he has continued in the Dunedin hospital ever since. He is often kept awake during the night by the vibratory motion of the stnmp. The Kcw Zealand Herald says: —A correspondent writing to our local evening contemporary, the Star, narrates, we know not with what truth, the particulars of a race between the steamships Phcebe and Albion, in which the latter was beaten. We could only' wish that our colonial marine law for this very serious offenco was as stringent as it is in England, where the masters of these vessels, had the charge been substantiated against them, would have each received three months' imprisonment with hard labor. Pacing in colonial waters has from time to time resulted in very serious consequences. Within the last s.even years exactly this number of vessels have been Wrecked, and in two instances several lives sacrificed through racing. If captains are regardless of the safety of vessels entrusted to their command: the law at least should interfere to protect the lives of crews and passengers' from being jeopardised by what can only be looked upon as a most uuseamanlikc act. At the last meeting of the New Zealand Steam Shipping Company, accounts were presented which showed the affair? of the company to be in anything but an uncomfortable position. An ad interim statement, made up to the 30th of April, shows that the receipts had, in round numbers, amounted to £55,090; the expenditure had been £45,266 ; leaving a balance of profit amounting to £9824. At the tame date the capital stood at £14,160, in 1 U6 shares of £lO eaoh ; the bank overdraft was £3G,OGS ; and the loan account was £6OOO. At the meeting of the Port Gore Gold Mining Company, held at Pictou last
month, it was unanimously resolved to effect amalgamation with the Turner Company.
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Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1200, 7 August 1874, Page 3
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592INTER PROVICIAL NEWS. Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1200, 7 August 1874, Page 3
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