VICTORIAN ITEMS.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1208, 4 September 1874, Page 2

VICTORIAN ITEMS.

Rather a good joke is passing (says the Melbourne Herald) among the lawyers') It is said that last week, daring the dry-as-dust arguments of .a well-looking timid young barrister,: who was pleading before his father on the bench, another member of the bar, recently admitted, and who has cultivated a naturally fine voice until he has attained a considerable ventriloquial power, succeeded in throwing his voice into the four corners of tho court, and calling out the name of the advocate, much to his astonishment.. The court was convulsed, wheu the same unknown voice, in-the pause of dead silence caused by this undignified added the words, " Keep your eye on your father, , and he will pull you through !"

The Melbourne Herald relates a curious discovery as having been made by a child, daughter of an employee of. the Melbourne and Hobson's Bay Railway.-' She was picking food for rabbits on the line alongside Flinders street, when she picked up an orange. Being, child-like, overjoyed at her good fortune, the little one ran homo to her mother —who, by the way, lives in a house of the company's close to the Morgue—with her treasure. The mother inspected the fruit to see there was nothing wrong with it before allowing the child to partake of it, when she was struck with its peculiar appearance and weight. Opening tho orange, tho contents were found to berather valuable. The works of a horizontal watch in yood order, two cornelians (one bearing an inscription of Shakespeare's head, the other a crest with tho letter " W S."> The property was immediately handed over to the police authorities, and was identified by Mr Dandier, of the Exchange Hotel Williamson street, as being a portion of some property which he lost on Saturday night and for;the recovery of which a reward has been offered. ...

The Sydney evening News .records' the death of a member of the theatrical profession, we'd known to many of our readers; as follows:—Poor .Too Chambers is dead ! This simple announcement will be read .by very mauy persons with sincere' regret, especially by the members of that profession in which the deceased was for many years an ornament. As,a ballet master, Mr Chambers was well known in this colony, add for many years held his own against his <$ numerous rivals in ballet teaching and danciug. Latterly, however, Mr Chambers has led a life ! of much suffering, and was forced to relinquish his profession, for which he had an ardent and genuine ail'ection, aud finally suceumoed to thai most trying aud insidious disease—consumption—" at the early age of 38 years. The latest development of; lar* rikinism that has been made known is at Geelong, where a police inspector told the bench, the other day, that''an association had been formed. among the young blackguards of the town for mutual defence, of the police, so that if one was lined the other paid the penalty." This is a noticeable extension of the joint stock and co-oper-ative system, aud ought to show magistrates the necessity of awarding punishments that those to'whom they are given will not be able to pass over to their Society, but of which ihey wid have to bear the smart and inconvenience themselves. " In reporting upon this district," says the Ballarac Courier, " ourßuninyong correspondent writes! -- 'ln making my rounds to-day to ascertain the names of the several , persona suffering from typhoid, 1 was surprised to find that every patient was a teetotaller,, and from my knowledge of the parties I can say that they have conscientiously observed the obligations of thoir order.' Our correspoxp dent supplies the names of the sufferers, which it is unnecessary to give. Without placing any stress on tho stat uncut, the circumstance is some- j thin* remarkable; j Mr E. L. Marks, of the lauprrdor?, f Eendigo School of Idiues, gives tV.'o | Beudigo Advertiser Uio'ToilowiLg in- I

formation: —" From numerous places along the roadway of High street and Pall Mall, I collected a parcol of the tailings or " bliudings," so liberally spread by the City Council, and having well mixed them, I selected a portion of them for assay, with the following result: —1 lb weight treated in the laboratory, yielded 1. lGth of a grain of gold, equal 5 dwts. 20 grs. per ton. i'rom official sources, I learn that about 250 tons of the tailings have been distributed, by which you will see that 5 lbs 10 oz troy of gold may fairly bo assumed to enter into the composition of our street paving." Some light into, the mystery of Grecian bends has been thrown by a factory girl's letter to the Me] bourne Age. She says: —" Messrs "Beuth, Sehiess, and Co.'s employees say they cannot earn the money they are said to do without taking work home and working four or five hours when they get there, sometimes more; and some of their machinists, to earn anything like wages, are obliged to do the same. As regards some of the factory girls being able to earn £2 per week without taking work home, they cannot do it. But let their employers stand at the door, or anywhere they like, and turn up the girls panniers or dresses, j>nd see what their Grecian bends are composed of—coats, vests, trousers, whatever vocation they may follow—perhaps they will then know whether the hands take home work or not."