A PRINCE OF BANDITS. (New York Times)

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 431, 20 February 1875, Page 2

A PRINCE OF BANDITS. (New York Times)

Sbnor Jim. Nepomu ene (J<>r inn ha.« l> en one of the termm i)< the Texan fio nVr sjire I »■« Af-»ieari War. Tm. •niioit {■Hvuli rol the |ilhiu-», whose, life is one c'<>u*t m. t pr »• lest iig-iin t liw one c mriiui >v.4 detiince «il the military l»nm nl t<e Uniteil isi>,fe>j, h.-.s I lie c?o..lne-s and during of ihe In Imii, ihe vivifity an 1 coinage of tn>^&x»tn, an-i ■he iHwnin.j mi vle'y and spl nth I hyporrmi of the lo*> .•Jh-»8 Mexican Wli. n '.is i.ooe «.-ta '"oof in'tht boundart stream Mwien Mr\i o and j.exas il-ere'ie mnurrioii/ on n||r m!e r he river, f,,r well t'»e liar ly her lamen kow f hat tup r s»tci<k wil be <.r H inpe ed bt-M.ini Hie neutral Imp, an I the Aniericm troop* are t>o l« \v and to> w idel,\ gendered io siv them. J M n>w lie i-* more aeiive thin ever in mhU mid robh-ii.^, an I ' c ha* fnen Is who »ou d follow dim io ♦he mnuti'i nf the |iit if lip »|, c i, id c»in »lete I" lli*»ip ci ifinence in UU luck. When T»»l«.r'u ai-mv arr v- (I on tie Kio Urnule. C>rl inn «uB'>ti\v a M^xifiii m»I Uf>r. L> .•* niB<-il 'r«.in the wrvii-f, lie soon hegiu a i ai'e. r -of robber* Hi I si fighter in I'-xn, w'n.- 1 wa* vii ite>T<i >>c I IV » n lSt9 o ISSB- In i he letter yar he whs di'direi an ontlnw. ii ,r he and 'in b v.l grew nc't on plunder. Ai; ides m I 01-i.-r (•••rrupt, M'XU'in <15 iiU wmke I it tUe -p'l.'illj « X (- > I > i r d of t'lrir fouri'iy iiimi, ami m IJ>7J C .rtm*. . 1 -va'e.l io the HiiiiiU jf Q- ner-il, iix^iimed r.>in na "I of Miß Vlex ctti toici* alonjj fe V nercin frontier In that posit iuii he was naintnm'd urn 1 ri-zoruM (••iimlaint-' t mdiijlj iii,>lnnia lie clia'in.'l^ in Inue I iiis G ivecn-neiit, in 1872 **t r'lir- t-e Irlliaiit noldier » d worthy p-itii t lie ita.j not. b<vn :dl<dni a lih two yens >>t aeiieral-" U|». Mmv a »at pw& a I he roisied, mii i m*nv a pc emt. had he d st mbownled, hec ii c tiiev ha I re im- I t > I al u■• *»" t n iiliir,il M . ol thei- t e^jnivs. Citilp sfealmn in Tt-x n vr*-* h s e^prciil and he yov hlnn.-lf n . t<* it with »v Hhindon To-I«j le lea-ln a j !'\ life nf ivvel in ninurituii no.ik «nd on f.-it.il»' pi nit, a> d i^ as mil i a mm a* cv r cut a th-oa . \l s rain-lies sire protected by a mcd !»n ti- Is. an J'• in the fui* o' the in .en " he an- 1 a le^ <<l I i» n-n.-t* kniifhta diinh ito M lt a^ of ol I, tic -oss tte s'ullow river, ov .p rii c 0.-is . a<sa*, xnd ihronjj'i the <Hi^y e'lappHril wl-i -h hulex then. The* -t impede a hiindfed cHirie, » y ay and mur 'er a "few ianke^" lien^m n, hti.l 00/nei w* pillage a >.mill to mi. After them, as -. on us the liewg -pr. a Is. tjillop cavulryn^n from th- U uted .Stitea' forts, hur a 1 (Mat tlm pur»u i'm a «t lor thfir jtains i< t e spray (run the RoR o Ormide <JaB p.fin •heir tat.a bv Ihe hoofs of t,!ie retieitn^ Mexcin hors-s. Ihe eat ile are dnreti aero-s the a'r all wh- c troops can "Ot pu^ue t .em, a d O«rtina, th* irrepies i-» 1,., r.-ianiruj up his pant in;. B teed on the sale «i eof the nv-r, eX'-h.iiij/es 'i revnl er shot nr two wit 1 li'h et emi-<j, and then trmi (jui ly returns to Ins lanclies. Ags», adr.-nf ui-oih. ehivai-i-.us exiß'ene! A fine in-ta> c «.f what «ri'er,rse and dwutit? fun do whtu K-ronded by <rtv<mnn.' circuni^anceH ! Jmn N' pnm'.c im (J.»rtmi, esQ-ii^ril of ~t c .\t'.~\fan '<>ice-, »nu«' lave hm amnseo ent. iniitt .a-n hit liv li „„„} «iHihl! W' y not tU- <auh-aud the live-, .f h aecuraetl (i inyo Mitfer v\hm Ciri o\ «.| ag* dem n ('• if J I- he not Liiu ol th- who'i- fi < iiti.r \V'-o^^a\a liii, (li ,» or who htavs Imti u> »u» alxeniurms oereei"? y () „,*.' Go'iiini^imi« from Wi>lu».t.m c in- mil yo , and labonou*U take cvi.l- 1 cc a.iK.i.jr the tliniiBan 8 of'vtiJers froiu whom Inn ne it- <jj thu,u«ni>U of cattle a.d lnir«ert have been stole., s.nce Crtn-n and Ijh me.., m S W el| »* the ke apim Indiaiii., bf^an tlo-r »Hids from Mextoi C-m-iiuwniiiePH diBi»>ver tJint property Htncuntinj to nenlv • birlv iinllidKS of dollois hus been 'ptolen hw« v from lexa's hi ti.e^e 1 1 i. v ei » : |} IH t the men eng-tgei in tha ihiivin^' expeditions are well n.ounteH, well wrmed, well drilled :~an<l tlmt oHentiuie* H8 Ulsn _, a , | goy cattle a c dr»»en ti» M>x co in one r»i I. They find that the fix-niier potits in TeJf»B are wi(l*»y se ari.tnl ; fi »r th"re is ti«» tel^raphic communication b'lween them ; and that the biHinee* of stock |\i ginif < n the hoideis <•( vVe-teni 'I.x»u 1- well niyfi br.kex up" Bm tlu\ do noi find it ••« y >.> strike *t tte jo t of flje cul. In* pnf-ible Corlna r'.mnot be « oh-hed, >dih>uwli hum re 't. of na d«i»d Inmln is-» en t.unt Imn i'uy »nVI n'fif t Th<- t lurt v tiiiiiioiiß wiiji-ii Le l-a-" )r n insrtjmenlk) in fleul njj ht>ve purH)H«id )»»■> f»Yi>r m Mcx ro, nnd he l\»& ump c proivti.n at iiim.e N<> rir»»»icm«s " Ainer cam» " }»»m- a ies u> S tt»(iiU' % C-iKg, «r P«li(o B'm.fho ih& »,t >«ur>i,'* of t^e dJ r«i«d baiuii . iieAic»n iffirial H )na^ ih< }ii, a aide witJ heed tfo, JB>lJ B>1 Ba ,J B < I>r tUt B ,,, T^ n 4 Hr o f fhe t^ernlla ; ali'wiJl re,p,>ni wjth «hr"Ujj of 1«4 Q shuiil

stolen outlJe ar» got\t>. Who will dare to predict tlmt rbi*. fortune will bfflui thi» invincible b»n ir in i is ]>r-suh rampatgn P thall he not l>el^ to steal tluitjf uiilHunt more ? / \

Good keeping fruit is always more valuable than that which requires tp be oonimmoed as soon as gathered, an the former will keep tooaths if proj>erly q ithered and stored, and always commands a higher price from midwinter to the following senson. £. good fruit, room ia as necessary for an orchard as a dairy is for a farm, and it should always be put up i i the highest and coolest part of the pledges. A side of a hill facing south, and cut down i» toften a Ural-rate spot for one, so long as a deep dram runß round the foundation, and the latter l)e oarried up a fqpt or two above the surface. Any material which will permit of an even. temperature is the best to use. Wood without double walls ia the worst ; stone or brioK are perhaps the best, it gught to be so built that perfect ventilation is secured. A. fruit room cannot be kept too dark ; th^ side slips may even be partially stopped up ttft&i^any work is done in-^he room., Shelves shoulfKbe placed »ill round the building, and one in the middle if space allows. The shelves out to be about a foot apart ; if the battens are rounded off with the planeso as not to cut or bruise the fruit or harbour insects, so much the better. The floor will do admirably for storing bulbs of any kind. Air should be allowed pretty freely at the first, as fresh fruit contains a great amount of moisture, but after a faionth or bix weeks it must be vtry sparingly ad mitted. — Economist.

;The Atiekjan& Sistitute ha& %>ine~to / a bold resolve and appears resolved to carry it out vigorously. It is not very creditable to the enlightenment of the province in its councils in times past f, that nothing should have been done for this institution. No dpubt the plea of poverty may be urged, and so far as it goes it is a good plea. But Provincial Governments and Councils have once and again/found money for other things that wer^ not more urgent than the aid of our only scientific institution. But accepting the past as we find it the attitoide now assumed by the members of the Institution is a highly creditable one. The Government has done nothing but give them a site on which to build; the Council has done nothing except make two small grants of books; and now the members have determined to put their own shoulders to the wheel and try what can be done to give Auckland a Museum and Institute worthy of the importance of the place and of the purpose to which the buildings are de- " voted. And the Society has made a < good beginning. We scarcely expected 1 to find two settlers here at once able and willing to make such a donation as each to such an object, and we are gla"d that public spirit goes so far. But having made so good a beginning, let them go on and make a thoroughly good job of it while they are about it. It is not because some fifteen people subscribe for so excellent a public purpose that the members of the Institute should rest content with making up a paltry hundred -or two more. It is true will build a shell of some sort that will answer the purpose of a Museum, and we presume a meet-ing-room for the Institute. But we -< Trpxt more than this. When we are " apUfrit we should like to see the Institute" building made really creditable to the City, and suited to the purposes for which it^ is intended. Let the members bestir themselves now, and it can be done. Probably those members who proposed to raise the funds for building by appeals of various kinds I' before^ the result of sending round a • subscription list was tried might not have ;/ suggested these expedients if they had thought of so much money being subscribed so readily. But no harm is done. Five thousand pounds would not be nearly enough money to do what is wanted to make the Institute building, and the . Institute Museum and library what they ought to be. Of course, without aid from the Government we don't expect to see • ,£5,000 raised, but we see no • Reason why, with the aid of bazaars and an active canvass for subscriptions, a large part of it might not be got. » We heartily wish the efforts of the - Institute success. Its members have already shown that they don't want to , get off cheaply at other people's expense. It will be for other people to show that they too take an interest in * the improvement of the city by suitable - public buildings, and yet more, that \ they also value the investigations of and the material benefits of ; intelligent, and organised observation. ' It is even possible that tlte Provincial 1 Council pay distinguish itself at last l>y showing some adequate appreciation of the value of these things, and that some grant in aid may at the efeyenth hour be forthcoming for this important public purpose.

We are to have a new Provincial Hospital^ ' No doubt it was fully time that we did. The existing structure is not only an inconvenient patch work of unsuitable wooden buildings, but must be loag ere this impregnated with much that rkeeds disease. It is, however, clear that we ought to be very sure that in building a new hospital we do the thing well. The Provincial Government has not been hasty in their proceedings we believe, and yet it is quite possible^ they have over-looked important considerations. If this be so we hope it is not even yet too late to reconsider the position. Of course we know nothing of the rival merits of contending medical men. Dr. Medico who favoured us with a letter the other day may be right, or Dr. Ellis who replied may know best on points which are purely medical or surgical, and on these points we shduld be slow to give any opinion. But there are a good many things which involve common sense only, on which plain men may form nearly if not quite as sound an opinion as doctors. On one or two of these we have a word to say. It is discussed apparently with some warmth whether a hospital -on one floor or on several is best, and on the medical arguments pro and con we' -can say nothing. If, however, it is a question of the comfort of patients every man who has lived ™mers in^evv Zealand ' on. Few7*if" -any iuld inhabit a two ->uld inhabit a ' this climate accommodasingle floor, •iifficully in " r ound is •s all our >st of a Dt to be mestion means 5r >q a hat so. ey vy V

advantage of wards of this kind it is clear that, being separate, -they will involve additional space being provided. Patients who can pay might indeed do better at such a hospital than in a private lodging, but they may do pretty well at the private lodging nevertheless. If the arrangement can be made without too great a cost let it by all means be made now, because without doubt it will be useful now. But if it cannot, then let the plans carried out be such as can be expanded to meet the case when the funds expand enough to provide for it. Above all let no attempt be made to burk discussion on such a subject. In such matters no harm and often great good comes of discussion. No matter how excellent an architect may be, no matter able and popular a Provincial Surgeon, these gentlemen cannot be expected either to know or to think of everything. What we want, as we take it, is a really good hospital building* and a really efficient hospital system in Auckland — tyro things hitherto unattainable in this place. Bickerings^ and small professional jealousies are sadly out of place in a discussion having for its object the attainment of these things, and we hope that the profession, the public, and the Government will think of but one thing in the matter, and that, the establishment of the best possible system in the best attainable building.

Mr. E. J. Wakefield, M.H.R., has been fined by the Resident Magistrate of Christchurch for drunkenness. This is probably the fiist occasion on which a member of our colonial Assembly has been punished for this offence. The disgrace has, happened to one of the oldest members of the House of Representatives, and to one by no means of the least able. There is something exceedingly melancholy in this record of the humiliation of a man of excellent abilities and inheritor of the name of probably the ablest man connected with the history of New Zealand. It might not be unprofitable to inquire how much of his fatal vice of intemperance this gentleman owes to the institution known as " Bellamy's " We can remember some twenty years ago, when Mr. Wakefield was a member of the Assembly along with his father, the late Edward Gibbon Wakefield. And who shall say how much the attendance at many sessions of Assembly, and many hours of relaxation in Bellamy's, may have had to do with the degradation which twenty years has wrought in this colonial politician? Our Good Templar friends may depend upon it that " Bellamy's " is a greater obstacle in the way of any amendment of the liquor law in the direction aimed at by them than almost any other influence at work in the matter. We do not know that Mr. Wakefield is the victim of this institution, but ue are confident that he and not a few others who have frequented the Colonial Parliament have good reason to deplore the existence of this place. That it is needless the example of the Auckland Provincial Council has clearly shown. The Bellamy license was four year ago abolished in this province on the motion of Mr. Carleton in the Provincial Gouncil, and the effect was most salutary. The work of the Council has ever since been better attended to. Thfe members of the Council have got through more work in less time, and they have done it better. The experiment has "succeeded on a small scale, and we venture to say it would succeed far better if tried on a large scale in Wellington. We desire to say nothingharsh ; we are far from'wishing to speak evil of dignitaries. But truth compels the admission that Bellamy's has proved the most wasteful institution to this colony, and the greatest curse to not a few of our representatives in Parliament. If it Tfere done away with, so far as its character of a drinking club is concerned, j the work of the country would be better done than now. The sessions would, we believe, be shorter, at all events their results would be better for the colony, and the risk of other promising politicians following the downward footsteps of Mr. Wakefield would be greatly reduced for the future.

The Bruce Herald, in an article on the subject of immigration, says that :—": — " a nominated emigrant named Samuel Lowe, and his family who was to be sent to Tokemairiro, was sent out to Auckland, and who, naturally enough, had not money sufficient to pay the passage of himself and family to Tokomauiro. [ The bi-weekly issue of the Wakatip Mail 'has been discontinued. The scarcety of labour throughout Hie Colony is truly lemarkable. The Auckland and Mercer Railway is delayed for lack of hands, and at Port Chalmers ships arc lying idle at the wharfs, notwithstanding the liberal offer of 2s. per hour to lumpers. Simultaneouly we learn that applications have been received, both in Auckland and other parts of the Colony for immigrant labour, and that engagements are already open for those expected in the Vessels now on the way out. From Napier we learn by telegram that all the immigrants per Hudson have secured employment excep.t about x dozen A Wellington telegram states that in consequence of leave of absence having been obtained by Mr. Mills, collector of Customs, at Lyttleton, and his probable retirement on a Civil Service pension, he will be succeeded by Mr. Rose, landing surveyor, at this port. Mr. Rose's appointment being filled by Mr. H. W. Brewer, now waiter, at .Wellington. Mr. Slater of Dunedin is mentioned as Mr. Brewer's successor. Both Mr. Rose and Mr. Brewer have proved themselves most efficient officers, and their promotion will be viewed .with satisfaction by a numerous circle of friehds and acquaintances in Auckland. A Wellington telegram states that the Native Lands office there sold during the month of January 3,056 acres of land, which realised There are sixty settlers at Whatatrhata, one of the old military camps during the Waikato war, but ho school, and the sound of the church-going bell is never heard. No clergyman visits the place, and the inhabitants have an impression that they have been handed over to the tender mercies of the devil. Mr. Berry, of Gisborne, has taken the contract for the erection of a Court-house and lock-up at Waiapu. The natives are very anxious that a Native Lands Court should sit at this place to settle disputed land claims. A memorial is on the tapis at Awanui to the Gsneral Government praying that a mail steamer may call once a fortnight at Awanui. The Opotiki and Poverty Bay Road is being rapidly pushed forward, but there is still a scarcity of labour. After completing the arrangements for the Opening of Ohinemuri Sir Donald McLean vill proceed to the East Coast, where a neat miber of local grievances await his attention. Eleven of the Armed Constabulary, under a •>nt, are npvf^%tribitt|ec| j|t^^ the East] ; sKtween 'P^lj^j ar"* Cape $W J

At a recent public meeting at Mercury Bay a proposal to veto the granting of further publican's licenses in the district was negatived, and the tables were turned upon the would-be abolitionists by carrying a resolution in favor of establishing a third public-house in the district. Mr. Mason, the district schoolmaster, having resigned, has been succeeded by Mr. Bok. The Immigration Commissioner has received applications for <!ouble the number of immigrants expected by I lie India. Agricultural labor is much h <k-unnd in the Waikato at very high rates of wage-.. A large number of men are also requiied for the Kaipara railway. The Auckland and Mercer railway is' completed t» within eight miles of Mercer, and it is expected that within another week railway communication will lie opened with the Waikato. Mr. Hugh Craig has been appointed agent of the New Zealand Insurance Company at San Francisco. Last evening's Thames Star gives the following account of a fiacas between two members of the theatrical profession which occurred on Saturday night. The theatre had been out some time, and the streets were becoming fast deserted, when some one in the road opposite Allaway's was heard to invite some Other one to come on and have it out, no time, as he philosophically remarked in parenthesis, being like the present. The other came on. and the twain stood regaiding each for a little like Dick Swiveller and his rival ; then some angry words were heard, accompanied by personal' allusions and the mention of names which discovered who the contentionists were. Then No. 2 made an accusation against No. I. Then No. I called No. 2 a liar ; and then (apparently from No. i), flop ! thud ! and then a pretty little stage scream was heard from a pretty little stage throat, and a pretty ltttle stage lady rushed out. of Allaway's and thrust herself between the fierce fightists : said rightists, it is thought, welcoming the intrusion as a highly-coloured coup de giace, before either or both had been compelled, from motives of self-respect, to continue a combat when they wanted to leave off. Mr. M. R. Miller has sold the Mohaka run at Hawke's Bay, to Mr. J. Sutherland, the late part proprietor, for the nominal sum of ;£3>4s°Miss Bowen, a lady who has had considerable experience as a school teacher in Queensland and England, has been appointed assistant at the Waiotahi Creek school, which is attended by upwards of one hundred scholars. The Wahanga is the name of a perfectly unique publication issued at Pakowhai, Napier, and the property of Henare Tomoana, a Maori. It is printed in English and Maori, and is said to have a chculation of 500 copies. The publication irfay possibly be useful in many ways amongst the natives, but the translations into English are very slovenly, ungrammatical, and far too literal. Woise than this, there is a tone of disaffection here and there, which we cannot approve of. The- foflowing specimen we wish some one learned in the mysteries of language would put into plain English :— lt is the small basket (rourou iti) for cooked food of (Tawakehanga,) which cannot be all properly explained the words, and meaning of the several proverbs of the Wannaga first and second also, which has came to (Ngapuhi,) but although they are several meaning in the words, has are reveald by the Wananga, but thou they are large, but the largest of all is the first which says, it us join together in one mind. But we know that they are different meaning to the word, that is how we were seeking to which meaning, it was printed in the Wananga, you are the only ones that knows. At Salt Lake City theie is an aged Mormon, who is the husband of a woman and her two daughters. Thus, his first wife is his mother-in-law, his step-daughters are his wives, his son by his first wife is half brother to his other wives and a sort of uncle to his other children, and— you can study it out further, if you want to. The imported bull " Fiist Lord," brought to Poverty Bay, died recently. The Brisbane Telegraph refers to the intioduction of measles from Sydney, wheie the disease has been raging for some weeks. By the Lady Young, from Sydney, a woman and five children weie passengers to Cleveland Bay," via Biisbane. Soon after their an ival at the latter place one of the chikhen was discovered to be suffering from measles, and they weie at once placed in the quarantine station on Pearl Island. The authorities at Brisbane appear to have been seized with a panic, and they commenced a ligid search of eveiy house, fearing that other new arrivals from Sydney weie similarly affected. Thompson Waitatakuia, of Mohia, writes to the Wahanga to the effect that dm ing the season he and his party captured four sperm whales and eight scamperdowns. A communication has been made to us relative to something or other. But what it relates to is quite another thing. Colonel Rawlinson, who made out the meaning of some of the Assyrian inscriptions, would have been doubly puzzled had he been requiied to decipher this without even the aid of the " Rosetta stone," which helped him 50 much in his hieroglyphical investigations. The letter is supposed to have been written on some subject or another, but what it is no one can possibly make out. We have heard of a spider" dropping into the atramental fluid and then scattering his legs about a sheet of white paper, but his extravagances must have been solid sense if we compare the vagaiies with the inexplicable contoitions of the letter before us. When Sam Weller sat down to write his valentine he had only to assist the motion of his pen by that of his tongue, but our correspondent must have had not only to use his tongue but eveiy member of his body to produce these most extraordinaiy contortions developed by the caligraphist, who signs himself " John Giles," or something which may be either that or anything else. The Napier Teleg/ap/t gives a list of the names of no less than twent)-four children who died in Napier between the Ist and 26th January. We unrlei stand that the old public favorite, Grace Egerton, will shortly pay New Zealand another visit. It is now nine yeaissince thislady and her husband, Mr. George Case, visited the I colony. Dining that period they have given j entertainments in England, America, India, China, Japan, and other parts of the world with their accustomed success. Several Berlin newspapers express great astonishment and displeasure that portiaits of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh should be so extensively circulated among the inhabitants of the Duchy of Saxe-Cobmg-Gotha. They declare thajC.it is a monstrous thing that an English Pqnfce should be allowed to succeed to a Germa&JDuchy, and insinuate that if the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Biunswick should die without direct issue advantage should be taken of the circumstance to convert both these Duchies into Reichslander, or immediate dependencies of the Empii c. We have not yet heard the last of the Creville correspondence (says the London coi respondent of the Manchester Guardian). The issue of these memoiis has caused annoyance in the highest quarters by the revelations they tain of the social condition of the upper classes of the last geneiation, and it is now anticipated in well-infoimed ciicles that Mr. Ree\e, the editor of the memoirs, will be called upon to resign his post as Regisliar of the Pi ivy Council. The grounds upon which this expectation is based are that Mr. Gieville was sworn to secrecy as an officer of that Council, and that in transmitting to Mr. Reeve the information contained in these volumes about incidents that occuned at the meetings of the Council, and othei official matter of a like nature which he discovered by virtue of his offioßjhc was gujlty of a breach o^nvikige - t anctTSfrr Reeve V^. "u,, of~-^Hh§gfe brj&shjHKthe.*»art' r *u&73r\

How beautiful, how noble is the poet's art when used to soothe the mourning heart ! One of the sweetest and tenderest specimens of elagiac verse has been composed by an English gentleman who accidently got the remains of four wives somewhat mivcd during their removal to a new burial ground. He was determined, was Mr. Spaiks, that there should be no mistake as to the vaiioas Mrs. Sparks' last abode, and he accordingly calmed his greatly bounded and displayed strict tiuthfulness by the composition of the following beautiful inscriptions :— " Here lies fane (and piobably pait of Susan) Sparks."' "Sacred to the memory of Maria (to say nothing of Jane and Hannah) Spaiks." "Stranger, pause and drop a tear, For Susan Sparks lies burial here ; Mingled in some perplexing manner, With Jane, Maria, and portions of Hannah." Great scandal is caused in England regarding the prize money distiibuted to the troops engaged in the Ashantee affair. King Koffee paid a small tribute in barbaric trinkets which were sold for ,£12,000, and out of this each colonel gets £40, a major .£2O, and a private soldier £ 1 15s. Miss Joey Gougenheim, an old favourite in Auckland, has- been playing successfully at the School of Aits in Brisbane m the character of Mrs. Oakly in .the "Jealous Wife." An ancient widow was walking the other day in the Avenue dv Maine with her dog, which disappeared in the Rue de la Gaite, and shortly leturned carrying a piece of bacon, which it buried in some soft earth. " Your dog is clever," said a passer by. " Poor thing !" said the widow, 'She has younj ones, and this develops her instincts." So saying the widow uncovered the bacon and placed it in a capacious pocket. Presently the dog reappeared with a pair of socks. This seeming to be a sign of over-anxiety for the welfare of her young, the passer-by pointed out the widow to the police, who found in her pocket a cake, a pair of small boots, a knife, the piece of bacon, a sausage, a book, and some other matteis. The poor dog was sent to be slaughtered, and the widow taken to the policestation.