MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 307, 2 May 1874, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

A. few days ago a young man named Jobn Downing ea into Narrabri keeking adviceand aisistance under the follow peculiar circumstances :- — About 14 jean ago there wa corroboree of the blacks held at Callendoon, on the Qpee land border, at which tha attendance of natives was ti large. At Caliendon also at that time, lived the parents the children John Downing and Sarah Maria, bit lit aiiter, ttoen aged about 3i yean. The camp was broken i and with the disappearance of the blacks came that of t little girl* What had become of her the distracted porei were unable to ascertain. Years passed, and by all but t mother the child was given up as gone for ever. In x>u of time the family moved to Warwick, where latterly you Downing bat followed the occupation of 1 a teamster* plyi between that town and* the Stanhope Tin Min4s, Whi thus engaged, word was tent to him from Gundawixcli, b; man of the name of Clifford, that a white girl, iMwen the description of what was likely to bo the lost sister, r living with a small iparty of blacks in the Narraki diitri and that her age might probably be about 17.; *lso that those who had seen brr were- satisfied that sle was rriti half-caste, but the child of veritable white, parents, l! news- was- imparted to John Downing. about fcu>r w«eks *in lie immediately took horse and came down rtn 'IVnterfie ! Aahford, Warialda and Moroe, and near Milho found t girl he was in search. of, in company with a small -party blacks, with one of) whom she iiod been for some time I habttingt Before- leaving home his parents had instrucl young Downing' os to certain marls thai' might lead identifying the girl, should she be^jM^iis surmised, th daughter. Those marks, one on the right leg, the other the left arm, were found o» the girl, 1 but, a« might supposed, after a lapse- of so many yenrs, were not vt distinct. The girl, who had lost all memory of her youth ,day», expressed her willingness to come away with her .» <tisan^brother, provided she woro Rnt veil insured of 1 truth of his statements, and, tliere appraring no haj course to -pursue, the aid of the- police was invoked to M her away from the camp, that identity might b& in established. Failing, however, to obtain the assistance i sought in the neighbourhood of the- discovery, and'fnrll I fortified in his certainty as to the girl being Ids sutenby t j unanimous opinion of the residents thereabouts, who li known her for a period of thirteen or fomteen years, tl she was of white descent, ami the contradictory accom given by the blacki as to how she came into their Lcepn Downing camo on to Narrabri>and laid the matter befc Hie stipendary magistrate and Mr Garland, the Ihspec of Police for the Tamwortli district, prating that, under t Vagrant Act, the girl might bo apprehended as a wli girl 'consorting with the blacks, and that t hen, on her i identity being established, she might be handed over to t custody of' her friends- Downing informs in tluitdj Gordon, of Mille, and several others, trace a inoshdutrn family likeness between himself and the girl, ami feels mi she is a white girl. Duly armed with a warrant; seni sergeant Cleary, accompanied by the brother, started Saturday* last, in search of the girl, and having apprehend* brought her into town on Monday evening. On Tuesd she appeared before the Bench. The. case was dismisie and prisoner ordered to be roitorod to . her parent* ; t Bench intimating that any attempt'on her part to return the blacks would be met by putting the law in force apnii her, the penalty to which she would render herself lial Being six months imprisonment. Instructions hare be received from the Inspector-General to furnish police esc< for th» girl for upwards of 100 males of her journey bon wards, so that th» probabilities are she- may reach there' safety. — Herald. Mr George Grant, a wealthy English capitalist, .recent purchased a large tract of land in Kansas for colon isotio known tut Victoria, and situated on the line of the Enni and- Pacific railroad, between Salina-and Denver Sana is one of the most fertile States- of the Trans-Missoi country, and the district in which Mr Grant's colony hi been established is possessed of extraordinary resource^! offers-* wide field for agricultural enterprise. These region v*hioh were once known as the American Desert, are- cover! with luxuriant grasses, springing from a soil from four I 20ft in depth i The water- supply is ample, the count j conntry* being traversed in many places with rivers ai streams, while at all times it can be found at a depth rangii from 50ft to 175 ft. It is believed that large subtcrranej streams fldw under the vast plains stretching from theßocl Mountains to the Mississippi, which can be reached an made available, and'it is a well-ascertained fact that' the raj belt has been yearly extending in widtb. Under' tbej circumstances, lt.is confidently anticipated that in the couij of time these great plains will teem with the rich cultivatij of forests and waving grain. But to effect this change gra skill; combined with 1 large capital and a vast expenditure I labour, will be needed. Mr Grant has undertaken thisw in th* colony* of Victoria, where he owns 550 square ttM New Yor]i capitalists have purchased ten square miles I these- lands and' will commence tbe work of reclamation I the spring, and several wealthy English and Scotch gentlem are at present entertaining the prospect of making lar purchasers! One liondon capitalist has atrcady secured large tract of land, and will send over stock and agricultui labourers early in the spring. A' number of smaller pu chases of from one to five square miles have been also mat and the work of improvement will be pushed forward wit out delay. Mr Grant has now 2400 sheep, 100 Gotsvtolc and 45 Biscanthorpe rams of tho Kirkham breed, which s in England for $200 each. He has eight short-horn bu and four black Abecdeenshire bulls of th© highest pedign and 150 Cherokee cows. Next summer he expects to ha 100,000 sheep npon bis vast farm, besides 10,000 cattlo i superior quality. Some ten days ago he sailed for Euroj and early in the Spring he will bring over several famili from England and also a large importation of cattle. I recently purohascd the entire stock of Mr Charles Clinc of Wakefield, Kansas, and' such is the superiority of h cattle generally that he has taken all the first prizes wher ever lie has exhibited them at the annual fairs this jß> During the Skimmen serson Victoria was visited by number of Englieh gontlomeni who speak in very natterh: terms of the ohmato and resources of these regions. Tl soil consists, oh if fly of a rich dark-brown sand loam ■ considerable- depth, which is capable of producing evei kind of grain. 'Xhe land is entirely iree of stones, but Him stone suitable for building purposes is abundant in sorer parts of tho property. Good water for household use I generally found at a depth of Irom 10ft to. 4oft. The healtj of the inhabitants in tnis part of Kansas will bear favorabl comparison with the sanitary- recorls of any other pnrkJ the country. Next summer a church will bo ereoted lrnl also a com mod 10 lv school-house. Upwards of 1000 acres cJ prairio land wetc broken up last spring, but the settleil arrived re late in the season to do any profitable farming Next jwar 500,000 acres will be ploughed and agrioultuni upon a largo scale will be inaugurated. Large tracts o land will beplnnttd, farms will bo reclaimed, and the ex isti m-o of the colom will be felt Jor mile* along the loudli-v - iVfi' York Tim' i.

The following, written by a passenger on board the Tartar, vrill be read with interest: — " Off Kandavu, Fiji, Saturday evening, March 21. "We arrived here niter sunset to-day, too late to enter the harbour, and are now almost motionless on a beautiful smooth sen, waiting for daylight, to go into Kandavu. * * * After the first twenty-four hours from Sydney we obtained delightful weather, and there win no such thing as sen-sick ties* on board ; but on Sunday night last a poor little baby — the child of u secoiul-chi*:) passenger — died, and wa« committed to the deep at sunriMJ on Monday morning. Another dentil al-o occurred je«l<>rdoy morning — a poor yoiinu man, who left England la«t \eiir for the benefit of his health, ciune on board in Sydney, nniious to get back to England to die. He wes evidentiy fur gone in consumption, and anyone could see bis hopes could not, m all human probability, be fulfilled. Poor lei- j low! He plajed a game of chess with the doctor on Wednesday night, and seemed Tery cheerful. On Thursday ho looked hbggard and weak, and grew worse towards evening. The weather was very hot, and he was brought out on an easy-ohair under tho hatchway to get the freasli air. That night I slept on deck, and at half- past two o'clock I took a walk to stretch myself, and saw the poor invalid. The doctor was with him, and I could see on his wan face that indescribable change which invariably occurs just before death. I did not, however, conceive that dissolution was so near, and I went back to my rug on t eck and fell asleep. About two hours must have elapsed when I was awakened by the , tramp of feet on the quarter-deck. Some sailors were carrying a burthen covered with a Union Jack — tho poor boy had died while I slept, and was alteady prepared for his ocean burial, which, like the first, took p!aco at sunrise — the captain reading our beautiful service. It was a very touching and mournful scene, and my heart ached when I thought of the poor fellow's loneliness in his last moments — none but strangers round htm. * * * With tho exception of these two deaths everything has passed olf satisfactorily. We have, however, too many passengers for absolute comfort, though nil are agreeable, and wo get on very well together. An entertainment was got up a few days ago, consisting of singing, piano music, reading, and recitatmg, and was very successful. Sunday morning, 9 a.m. — We got into the harbour, about half-an-honr ngo, and shall take our departure in a few hours. The Macgregor hm been got off the reef; but the is too much injured to go on to Sydney without repairs. I find that, although wo are already crowded with passengers, we are to receive thirty more from the Mongol, just arrived from New Zealand. Where they are going to be stowed away is a mystery at present ; but I suppose they will shake down into their places as tune wears on. Tho purser is waiting to make up the mail ; so goodbye ! " The following caution, which we extract from the Ballarat Courier, can scarcely fail in possessing interest for all persons : — '' A little girl, three and a-half years of age, the daughter of Air Munro, of Eyre street, died suddenly on Thursday evening. She was seized with vomiting aftei . dinner. Dr Jakins was Bent for, and he administered emetics, kc. The child did not improve, and Dr Nicholson was also called in ; but the patient died at 11 pm. Both ; doctors refused to give a certificate, because there was nothing to indicate the cause of death ; an inquest was therefore held on Saturday by Mr Gaunt, P.M , acting ■ coroner. Dr Jakins performed the post-modem examination in the presence of Dr Butler, when the cause of death ; was found to be enteritis, and, on the medical evidence, the jury returned a verdict that the child died by the • visitation of God, in a natural way, of the disease aforeaaid, and not by violent means whatsoever. From the -, evidence of |the [child's father, it appeared that she , vat well and hearty previous to eating her dinner, when she complained of a pain in her stomach ; her dinner consisted of boiled beef, cabbage, and < a -rots. Dr J.ikins said that the fermentation of thu food probably caused the inflammation of the bowels, and led to the child's death ; meat and vegetables stewed together frequently caused vomiting iv healthy people, especially in thundery woather. 2 Dr Butler quite coincided m Dr Jakms's opinion." The ban Francisco Bulletin, speaking of the new line of steamers trading between New Zealand, Australia, and America, says that Commander Meade said the best coal he ever saw for steam cost him, in Australia, $2 ,r)oc, r )0c a ton, j and that the same coal could be laid down in Honolulu for ' $9 a ton. "If we cannot have an Australian hue under the Amciiean Hag, the next best thing la to have it under ' the British Hag, and thereby socuie a class of steamers ■which wJI go far to ensure success. Tho Hall and Webb line met w ith the natural fate of pioneer enterprise. Hall Mas obliged to accept such steamers as he could charter in Australia ; and Webli ti led to utilise the side-wheel wooden flterUiieis which hid been built for an opposition line on the Panama unite. Although comparatively new steamers, < yet aftei they were drawn oft from the Australian line, a survey showed tli.it they would requne laige repairs to nuke good the loss, from decay, which had already set in. * The Austialiuii line opens up a more direct communication 1 •with popul itioim speaking the English tongue, amounting c to nuuly SO, (MM ). 000. S<m Francibco will gain as much from sin h a line as any poit on the Pacific ; and that fact may console us for the lailure of our side wheel steamcis, and f loin a commerce which is nominally under a foreign Grumbler*, ns a rule, do not need nny other form of pwnpathy than respectful attention. They do not care to - wuke tho spirit in others In this they differ from the j 0 fretful temperament, which desires to irritate, and resents • passive meekness. Li«beth in " Adam Bede," "at once ] atient and complaining, self-renouncing and exacting." J r whose wail was to Adam the most irritating of all sounds, | j - p<ents in her son Seth the immovable sweetness of his i 8 temper. "Thee was nllavs like the bag o' meal that mn ne'er be bruised." She longed for something to fret against, to hurt in its resistence, to provoke to i response in kind ; therefore she loved Adam best, who . would give a sharp answer, and illustrate the authors obscrvatiun th.it "we are apt to be kinder to the brutes that love Ui than the womrn that lore us. Is it that the brutes are dumb " nnd yet fretf illness is timid and cowardly, j and presumes on tolerance and forbearance. Perhaps all ac lye forms of temper that exercise themselves in divisiug provocations act on the expectation of an answer in kind — they wish to lnitate, net merely to crush into trembling subservience. The «ullen temper can nourish itself in silence — waiting to be roused. There is a sort of temper that Kirks out its ill-humour, and vents itself after fits of moody siltiue in short, sharp insults and injuries, relapsing into sullenuess again. We should call this the least enjoyable ill- - temper to its possessor, except that Charles Lamb has re- I corded the pleasures of a sulky fit in the way to touch every c one's conscience. Sullenness is the familiar den-on that has •polled many a seeming prosperity. Self-love and morosity, •ays the ancient moralist, together with luxury and effeminacy, breed long fits of anger, which gather in the toul like a swarm of wacps. — Blackicood's Magazine. One of the industriou» trillera who supply the Figaro with \ ■tones of the green-room and theatrical gosiip generally has " been at the pains to compile some »tntistic* which are not % without their interest. They show that dramatic authors in Franco aJe not altogether exempt from that straining after tho sensational which is the prevailing vice of modern literature. Fresh from a visit to the Porte St Martin, which M. d'Euuery has supplied with a drama of the most approved fashion, ho points out that in tho numerous piecos written by that gentleman there are included 19 widown, 16 sons, and 2 daughters of men who have been guillotined, 196 ' orphans, GO blind peosons, 10 persons shamming blindness, 23 abductions, 22 fratricides, 9 purricides, 1 15 foundlings, v 102 children lost. 116 children stolen, and 124 changelings; 212 forged will*, 216 robberies of note-cases, 128 duels with swords, 168 with pistols, 8 with knives, and 10 with hatchets; 13 cases of arson, and 123 of arson accompanied by murder ; 136 poisonings, 46 drownings, 26 convicts rightly and 62 wrongly sentenced, 80 convicts sot at liberty, and 35 escaped from prison; 77 eases of asphyxiation, 215 escapes from violent death, 206 cases of lunacy, and 250 of adultery This, no doubt, is a formidable li«t of crimes, but the critic - in question should read lomo of our popular novel*, nnd he « would arrivo at results e\en more startling — Pall Mall i Gazette. C jEgles says : — As a friend of mine was entering the Tele-graph-office tho other day, he espied an habitual loafer, who for some time had sponged upon him with untiring pertinacity. He only wondered what form the next application would take, but wasn't long left in doubt. As he composed lm telegram he became conscious of the proximity of his ' friend in tho next compartment similarly encaged. l Ah,' said the lattor affably, ' n that you W— — . By tho wa> , I am a couple of ■hillings short for an important telegram to Port Darwm. Can you lend mo tho money?' 'No,' mid ' WW — — , ' I happen to have only sufficient change for my own message.' Poor Worseluck's hopes were dashed, but to keep up In* littlo fiction he went to the counter nnd asked the rnto of telegraphy for ten words to Palnierston, started with ' well-affected surprise at the amount, and audibly announced his intention of going to his office for tho required sum. 1 think W almost regret* that ho didn't allow himself to ' bo onco more the victim of such laborious ingenuity. The late Bishop Wilberforce, during tho -10 years of his ac tive ecclesiastical life, collected all the pamphlets that came * n hiswav rclatiug to the controversiei of the busy days in which he* lived. 'J hesc wero always arranged from yeur to | year, and carefully indexed by his own hand ; and the}' went on accumulating until, at the time of his death, they 1 mustered a formidable phalanx of no lewer than 175 thick 35v0. volumes, all of which had inscribed on thoir bluj morocco back;, tho particular date to which they belonged. Not only is tho series quite mvaliiablo to the eontroveisinl student, but its interest is frequently enhunced by the oircumstnnce that a large proportion of tho pamphlets, being presentation copiei, carry tho autograph of the wrfters. At the Bishop.s sale there win a spirited competition for this ' lot, which wa« eventual!' knocked down to Mr Sothcrnn. of the Strand, from whom it has been purchased (for £100) by the National Club. We heartily congrgtulate the Club on the acquisition of so unique a prize, which, wo believe, will occupy a berth in the committoe-room. whore the very nnpoitiint library presented by the lulu llvbtrt M'Gliee is' all cad j esliibliihed.— Ro>:k. (

, There has been a miracle in Califormn which but for one or two little defect* deserves to be ranked among the most abounding phenomena of the present ape. It seems that la«t spring a young lady mimed Collim excited a great sensation in San Francisco by declaring that she had been \ isited bj the Virgin, and al«o by the appearance on her hands, feet, side, am) he«d of the stigmata or marks of crucifixion. Mi-s Collins who had been educated at the Coment of Notre Duuie in Suu Jose, was supI posed to be of a "deeply- re)u'io>i« disposition," und with a com- • panion, a Mi*s Anner, had st nted .1 little est iblinhment for the instruction of childien und the relief of the sii k. One day she was taken -violently ill, but alter u set ere swoon *he cntireh recovered, and then stated th it during the su non tho lilf"»sr<l Virgin had come to her, e\;>rt»-*ed nppimul of the course of life she a\iw leading, and gi\en hei some urn ful hints lor her gmd- I ance in future. Some time alter this "-he began to complain of | pain in hr r temples and in her hands and feet, and on the f riday | before Good Friday— the Feast of the Soyen Dolors -tke stigmata became clearly visible in ipots on the hands, feet, side, and I temples. On Good Friday ihe appeared to suffer intense auony, I and the stigmata became even more clearly visible. A number of persons were thoroughly couv.nced of th« reality of tho mirad?, and the case of Miss Collins wa' the subject ofgenei.il discussion in San Francisco The only weak pnrtof the story is that now told bj the "San Francisco" Post," which states that j Miss Collins and Miss Anner «ere sent by order of the Archh shop and the Catholic authorities to the housejof the sisters of charity, Mount St Joseph, where Mian Collms'wM placed under the medical charge of Dr Short, who has discovered that she j herself was the author of the stigmata, which »he produced by a free use of cr nails. She hus now, it in stated, ''gone oft' somewhere," and h«r friend, Miss Anner, has ontered a cotnent — a not altogether satisfactory ending to a reputed miracle. — "Pall Mall Ga/ette." " j A story that recently went tho round of the papers respecting the poverty that. Kossuth, the Hungarian statesman, was reduced to, id contradicted by his nephew in a letter to tho Chicago Tribune, as follows :: — ■" He is, lam happy to say, very far r»moved from indigence, having enough of his own to live upon snuglyjbut comfortably and pleasantly ; not to mention his two sons, who, instead of being dead arc in good 1 eiltli and live with him — both grown to mat. hood — and who in their capacity of civil engineers, earn largely more than sufficient for their individual support, and arc but too glad to share what they have with their beloved and respected father " The late eminent French surgeon Nelaton had some fine shooting to which he used to invite his friends. One day a careless sportsman hod the misfortune to lodge some shot in the legs of a peasant who crossed his fire just as he was discharging his gun at a hare. Piteous were the fellows cries as he pointed out his wound to the illustrious surgeon ; and while the shot were being extracted lie indulged in some rather strong language at the expenso of hii aggressor. ' What do you mean ? ' at last cried the exasperated uportiman. 'You have the conscience to complain when I have procured you tho honor of being attended by Nelaton for — nothing ! '