MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 288, 17 March 1874, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

Very odd excuses are soinotimcs put forward in courts of justice. A French Republican, condemned to death for murdering his wife and child without extenuating circumstances, demurred to the. sentence, becauoe capital punishment had been abolished in Erance lor political offences, and he htd killed his wife and child for no other reason but because they were Legitimists. An Irishman accused of' perpetrating a bigamous marriage, justified the act on the ground that ho was not a consenting party at his firifc wedding ; the friendu of the lady who claimed him for her own, having carried him before a priest one nigbt, and married him in ipite of his reiistance ! A thief charged with stealing a Bible, pleaded he had been led aw»y by his pious propensities. At Liverpool, a publican, summoned for having sundry false measures in his possession, declared that he only used them for tboso wbo got drunk upon credit 5 and a greengrocer excused his use of a false beam because new potatoes were so dear, that he could make no profit out of fchem unle»§ he cheated his customers a little. A witness told by tbo judge he must not speak so quickly, at it was impossible for him to follow him, replied : ' I can't help it, my lord ; I've got an impediment in my speech ; I had it since I was born.' Another, charged by the examining council with prevaricating, abked how could he help prevaricating, when he had lost three of hit front teeth ! This witness must surely hare been own brother to the gentleman wbo, using the wme at a public dinner not wisely but too well, was called to order for indulging in language more free than polite. ' I beg pardon,' said ho, ' I did not mean to say what I did say ; but I have had the misfortune to lose some of my front teeth, and words get out every now and then without my knowledge.' We do not suppose an army was ever yet defeated without plenty of proof being forthcoming that it ought to I have been victorious, but it would be hard to beat the way in which & Yankee, .bragging of his countrymen's warlike achievement*, disposed of the Englishman's reminder tbat they got the vrom of it at Long Island. ' Well, yes,' said he, ' you did whip iv there ; but then, you see, in that battle the Americans somehow didn't seem to take any interest in the 'fight.' This was as pure an invention as the story with which Doctor Chalmers aunt averted the punctuality-loving doctor's wrath, when she came down late to breakfast. She laid the blame of her bedkeeping upon a dream, exclaiming, bofore he had time to spsak, f Oh, Mr Chalmers, I had such a strange dream ; I dreamt that you were dead ! I dreamt that the funeral day wa& named, the hour fixed, the funeral cards sent out. Then the day came, the folk came, nnd the hour came ; but what do you think happened ? Why, the clook had scarce done chapping twelve, the time named in the invitations, when a loud knocking was heard inside the coffin, and a voice came out of it, saying, " Twelve's chnppit, and ye're no liftin' !' " Both these ingenious excuses lacked the basis of probability, without which no excuse can be hold to b& & good one, and therefore cannot contest the palm with Barham's apologetic explanation, when called to account by his college tutor. for his absenco from morning chapel. • Tho fact is, Bir, you are too lato for mo ; I cannot sit up till ■even o'clock in the morning. lam a man of rogular habits, and unless I get to my bed by four or five at latest, I am fit for nothing next day !' This deserves bracketing with Charles Lamb's well-known justification of his late appearance in Leadenhall-strcet : ' You must remember, sir, lam always the flrit to leave !' Quaint excuses wore quite in Elia's way. When a correspondent of the London Magazine claimed the London Templar for a Wiltshire man and a brother, Elia repudiated the construction put upon his words, 'By the word ' native,' I may be supposed to mean a town where I might have been born, or where it might be desirable that I should have boon born, as bring situated in wholesome air, upon a dry, chfilky soil, in which I delight ; or a town with the inhabilantb of which I passed some weeks, a summer or two ago, so agreeably, that thpy and it became in a manner native to me, Without some such latitudo of interpretation, I see not how we can avoid falling into a gross error in physic*, as to ooncoivo that a gentleman may be bom in two places, from which .all modern aud ancient testimony is nliko abhorrent." Having said this much in explanation, Lamb addi (let clever folk who think to bolster up their theorj' of an author's private life by internal evidence, ponder his words), that he hath not so fixed his nativity— like a rusty vane— to one dull spot, but that, if he sees occasion, or the argument demands it, ho -n ill be born ugain, in future papers, in whatever place, aud at whatever period, shall seom good unto him.— C/umbers's Journal. A startling rumour comes from Wcipaw*, Hawko's Bay, it is that all tho public houses in that township are to be shut up. The Good Teirplara number two-thirdo of the population, and are resohed to protest next licensing d.iy, against the renewal of the licenses.

A discovery of much interest has been lately made in thM course of the works now proceeding for the construction oW the Indus Valley State Railway* At a place named Vinj- I rote, near tlio P'^ni Nullah, and 2 miW from the boundaiy of the State of flnawulpoor, the executive engineer in charge of the undertaking seems to have lighted upon the ruins of a very ancient Indian city. The country around is dry and sandy, with many< hillocks, soino showing remains of | masonry and brickwork ; and it is among; these that Mr llobortson has oome» upon the relics. The spot had been always known beforehand by the natives as " the ancient town" and it was in the course of excavating to get ballast for the line that the workmen came upon gold ingots, carved work in stone and marble, and broken pottery. One lliudoo found 28 to'as of pure gold m the rums, but all this was without any mark. We hear, however, of silver coins, of bricks, baked and unbaked, beariug characters ; with many utensils of clay, and figures of gods and goddesses. There have also been found lifty large stones, standing upright, which the discoverer thinks must have fallen into this situation from the shock of an earthquake. An European superintendent is to watch over the excavations, the debris of which seems refer to Alexander, about 350 B c. The inscription, hower, recording this may be comparatively modern. But to whatever period the buildings (which are singularly entire) may belong, there seems to be a probability that we shall greatly enrich the antiquarian researches of the present century by many splendid additional discoveries. Tlio preservation of Moses in the bulrushes was not more miraculous than that of a little boy in Illniois, who Mas lately saved from death under the following circumstances :-J It seems that a Mrs King and her infant son were pafl sengers on board a steamer, the Jennie Howth, that struck a snag and sank in the Ohio river. Several passengers were drowned, among whom were some children. Mrs King was rescued and brought to Shavrneetown without her baby, whom she gave up as lost. The next morning a party of mon went out to the vessel to recover the bodies of the lost. Soon after daylight a mattress was discovered floating in the cabin, which was filled with water nearly to the ceiling. Upon examination a little boy was found on the mattress »iwp ; »q «<> p^oofully as though nothing unusual had happened. His bed was not dry, but still ie floated bravely with its living freight. The child was at once sent to Shawneetown, where the other passengers were landed the^ evening before, and a csowd of mothers who had lost their^ children at once gathered round it in a state of painful excitement. Great was the joy of Mrs King when she recognised her own baby, who had been tossing about on the waste of waters all night. Jos. Harris's plan for grain growing is given in the American Agriculturist as follows : — My plan of improved agriculture does not necessarily imply the production of any more grain of any kind that we sell than we raise at present. I would simply raise it on fewer acres, and thus lessen the expense for seed, cultivation, harvesting, &c. I would raise 30 bushels of wheat per acre every third ysar, instead of 10 bushels every year. If we summer fallowed and ploughed under clover in order to produce 10 buahels every year, no more produce of any kind would be raised. But my plan does not contemplate such a. resnlfc. On my o-n farm I seldom summer fallow and never plough under clover. I think. I can enrich the farm nearly as much by feeding the clover to animals and returning the manure to the land. The animals do not take out more than from five to ten per cent, of the most valuable elements of plant-food from the clover. And so my plan, while it produces as much and no mare grain to sell, adds greatly to the fertility of. the land, and gives an increased production of beef, mutton, wool, butter, cheese, and pork. It is common to supply horses with their necessary noon luncheon of oats or maize by means of a canvas bag, made like a bucket, and hung from behind the animal's ears over the nose. To securo a mouthful the horse is obliged to give the bag an upward toss, which fills his mouth, but at the fame time, throws out and wastes a portion of the feed. The aggregate waste of feed from the use of the common nose-bags is estimated at something enormous. A variety of devices have been invented to prevent this, loss, one of the latent being that introduced by H-J). McGovern, who puts an additional bottom within the big, on which the grain is placed. Under this bottom is a spiral spring. Tne weight of the oats compresses the spring, which expands as fa»t as tho oats arc eaten, thus keeping a supply alwaji at the samel level within the bags. The principle is the same as the spring candle holders for coaches and cars. A correspondent writes us with reference to this diteasedestroying tree (the Eucalyptus), of which an account was quoted from the Homeward Mail in The Times recently. He say 3 that he has several of the young trees, grown from seed, in his house, that they grow remarkably well, are very pretty, and emit a very pleasant odour, much resembling that of the black currant. They retain their green leaves through the winter. The only objection to them as house plants is that they become too large ; but it is very easy to provide a succession of them by sowing seeds again. There are several varieties of the eucalyptus, three of which — the wattle gum, the blue gum, and scented gum*-are now growing in his draw ing-room, and arc very much alike iir all respects, both as to odour, and otherwise. It is at leastJ doubtful whether the plant is sufficiently hardy to endure^ our winters when planted out of doors. That is a capital idea cf the New Zealand Government shipping their prize criminal, Sullivan, off' to America. It is a thousand pities the affair got wind. The game might have been kept np until the gaols were completely emptied, and what a, saving that would have been to the colony ! Now I fear there is nothing for it but to enter into negotiations, like generals] after a battle, for an exchange of prisoner!. Or a bureau might be established, where T>r and Cr account could be kept, as is done in some cases with oustoms duties. If Australia were to open books of that kind with England, what a debt we should be proud to owe tho mother country. We should go on paying ont criminals for years before we were entitled to strike a balance. How atupid it it of us, whon a good healthy malefactor starts off on. his own repponsibilj, that we take infinite trouble to catch and bring him back again. The New Zealand authorities would never act in that absurd fashion. — JEgles. * I. G-. Irwin' asks whether grease (i.e., meat frymgi, bacon greaie, and lard) is considered the wrong thing to apply to galled places and bruises. We do not know that there is any objection to the nse of such refuse grease. We often use lard and gunpowder, as a mixture, to prevent white hair from growing on a saddle gall : and we use salt water for bathing scratches and bruises. As grease and salt used separately are not injurious, we see no reason why they should be whan used in conjunction. At the same time we are fast gaining faith in tho use of simple hot or cold water and dry and finely sifted earth for all minor treatment, and we are gradually dropping all our old remedies. — Aynerican Agriculturist. A correspondent, writing to the Telegraph upon neuralgia and its cure, says :—": — " Much has been the suffering of thoie troubled with neuralgia. Although it is one of the most painful things which so many suffer from, yet no certain cure has been found. I therefore call your attention to a simple, easy, and certain cure, which will ensure good health after trying. Take about four gallons of cold water and ( pour over the head and back of the neck as long as it is conveniently possible to bear the cold. Repeat thi» every morning or second morning until the patient is cured. Ido urge all who suffer to try this simple remedy. — Yours, &c, JEW." We find by a Sydney exobange that Mr William Pocook, late of Auckland, and whose excellent cricketing we noted in the match All-England Eleven v. Sydney, was the recipient, recently, at Mr Punch's hotel, of a testimonial, presented by a few admirers of the skill displayed by him in the late cricket match of New South Wales against the All- England Eleven, on tlie Albert Ground. The- testimonial, which amounted to tho sum of fifteen guineas, was presented by Mr Mannix, on. behalf of the subscribers, and was suitably acknowledged by Mr Pocock. — Telegraph. For rough out-door work there is nothing better than a . mixture of fine-sifted quicklime, wood ashes, salt, and coloriiig matter enough to givo a warm or a slaty tint. If you go to the trouble of applying it hot, mix in a gill of dissolved glue. Where cattle come the salt should be left out. For fences and old sheds what better wash do you want than common whitewash ? The salt, ashes, and glue all tend to make the wash more lasting. An English paper received by last mail says : — At a meeting at Leamington of the Executive Committee of the National Agricultural Labourers' Union, Mr Arch stated that in a few weeks Mr Leggett, secretary of the Oxfoid district, would accompany a party of 500 emigrants from. England to New Zealand. — Lyttelton Times