The Provinces.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 20, 30 March 1870, Page 3

The Provinces.

The representatives of A uckland at the Colonial Prize Firing, which ia to bo held iu Otago this year, will bo about 40 in uumbet'. Pheasants are b;:cou»iag a complete pest in the Lower Waikito country, Auckland. The birds are so numerous and commit such depredations amongst the cultivations, that the natives have petitioned the Government for compensation for the dawuge done by them. The. total number of applicants for employment at the Thames at ss. a day was 51. Employment will be provided lor the remainder of the meu at the Thames on Government works. We learn by the arrival of the mail, that Roberts, the champion billiard player, lias been beaten by aMr W. Cook. They had played two games, the first 500 points, and the second 1000, both of which were won by Cook—the first by 105, the second by 290 points.— Wellington Advertiser. " Polly Plum," writing in the Southern Cross, says " Early settlers grew to love colonial life, it was so free, so easy. A lady • could answer her own door, or be seen dusting her own drawing-room without any fear of losing caste ; and a gentleman in easy costume could be his own gardener, ami cared not if all the world passed his palings whilst he busily handled the spade. Now, alas, we are losing all that, and what are we getting in exchange ?—Formality, long bills, ami bankruptcy !" An instance of the careless use of matches came under our notice a day or two ago. A m in, after Ugh ing his pipe in a publichouse bar in Charleston, cast the match on the floor without extinguishing it. Soon after a woman entered the place, her muslin dress came in contact with the burning vesta, and in a few minutes she wus in fl imes. Luckily the landlord and another person were present, and they immediately surrounded h;-r with woollen cloths and thus extinguished the fire. The woman escaped with the destruction of her dres?, and a slight scorching of her hands and arms.— Charleston Herald. A rat with very queer teeth indeed was shown to us yesterday by Mr C. Morton, who entrapped it at his place. One of the lower incisors had grown until the point pierced its unlucky possessor just under the left eye, causing a wound that must have given him great annoyance at feedingtime. The curve of the tooth, about an inch in length, was very perfect, and reminded us of an old boar's tusk on a small scale. The corresponding upper incisor has grown downwards in a similar manner into the animal's mouth. Between the two, the veteran must have led a very uncomfortable life, and we half fancy he went into the trap on purpose to end it.—Soutltland Newt. A beautiful but extraordinary phenomenon was visible in the eastern sky between ten and twelve o'clock last night. In looking from the town over the Maungatapu m uutain, a strong glare was visible, as thou ,'h from an enormous fire, and every now and then, from the centre of this light, a lofty blood-red column would shoot up into the skv, remain a few minutes, and then gradually fade away. Had this been visible in the southern sky, we should at once have set it down as the Aurora Australia ; but,as we have never yet heard of this phenomenon being visible in the east, we, with many others, are at a loss to account for the beautiful sight of last night.—Hfelson- Evening Hail. Last evening,. Mr William Munro, shooing smith, of Durham-atreyt, performed a marvellous feat of strength and endurance. For a wager of .£lO he was to cany two weights of twenty-eight pounds each, one. in each hand, from Auckland to Newmarket. Bets were freely laid at twenty to one that it could not be accomplished,, as almost everyone is aware how a weight seems to increase after holding it in tbo hand. He started from the Anchor Hotel with one weight in each hand, and arrived at Newmarket, a distance of two miles and three hundred yards, in thirty-four minutes, without sitting on the way, easily winning the wager.—Auckland Evening Star. A deplorable circumstance occurred at the Bay of Islands last week, showing the extreme folly of masters of whalers in cmploying natives to capture runaway seamen. It appears that on Fi iday last twoseamen belonging to one of the winders in port, made their eßcape from the ship. On the following day, the master, finding that they were missing, engaged three Maoris to track them. The runaway sailors were soon caught, and one of them gave himself up, but the other, who was armed with a revolver, refused to l>e taken, and said ha would fire upon any man who attempted to capture him. One of the natives, named Ben Hamoue, made an attempt to capture him, when the sailor fired and shot him through the chest. He also fired another bullet, which penetrated his left side. The other two Maoris then followed up the sailor, and succeeded in overtaking him. A desperate struggle ensued, and the sailor was eventually brought to the ground by a blow on the back of the, head from ono of the Maoris, which rendered him quite Bflnselcas. Ho wna then conveyed back to the- Bliip. Wbeu the Coquette left the Bay, Hamone was lying in a very precarious state, ami it was not expected i that he trould recoveri