MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 7 May 1880, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

» Mr Frederick Manning, brother of Cardinal Manning, died at Leamington on riiurstny, aged 84. The deceased had reided at Leamington for many years in -etirrment, devoting n j s WPn lth to the erection of Protestant churches, nnd supnor'ing local eh-riMe* and the poor. His father, M> Wilton Manning, was M.P. for LpJimingfon. Smrthesdale. Vic»or!a,i<j suffering from a plague of rahbifs; All the cr *s* has b»en devoured, the gardens have hees ravaged, and the bark of fruH trees is being eaten off by these destructive pests. Leo XTTT. was Wl last week with a «evere c Id, and the peneral andipnces were suspended. He received, however, in private andienees the daughter and heire«s of (he Emperor of the Brazils and lier hu*b«nd, the Count d'Eu. Hp also received M* n sign or FFostlet, who brought the Pone 60.000? in gold from Carding W'Closkey, of New Torlc nnd a French Breton bi«hon. Mon^nor Bourret. who brought 150,000? as Peter Pence. Monsiirror Kirby, the rector ot the IrMi College, Rome, for mi v year«. i« to be created a bishop in partibus infidelium, and will retire from the aetiv manage* naent of that institute with which he was long so honourably connected. Re will be succeeded by Dr Vprdon, nephew to 'he lafe Cardinal Cullen, and late Superior of Clonliffe College, near Dublin. A singular action was tried '"n fhe Brighton bounty Court on Friday, January 30. A phvsieian, Dr, Barker, having sued the trustees of the late M»j >r Barry for £66 125., the defendants raid £10 into court, the sum for which plaintiff had already given a recpjp* in full of ell d-mands, but had returned. It appeared the defendants had represented that Major Barry had died insolvent, whereupon Dr Sarker reduced his account to the amount claimed, wbpn he was told that if he did not take £10, which was offered, be wou'd get nothing. After giving a receipt for the latter sum, Mrs Barry called upon him, and, in the course of conversation with her, he related what had occurred, when she indignantly repudiated the position of her husb'ind's affairs as stated. Dr Barker at once returned the £10 to the trustees, and claimed for the amount to which be bad reduc°d his charge. The judce ruled that plaintiff was not, under the circumstances, hound by the receipt wliich he had given, and entered a Ferdict for the amount claimed. Still another railroad across America is now being undertaken — not, however, across the broad pxianse of the TTnitpj S'at°«. but over the Ipss rerpiexing breadth of fhe Tsfl>mu<! of Tehuan*eppc. According to the M nifeur de la Piotfe, enainpers are already surveying the conntry to be traversed, ani making hoardings alonp the co»-t to determine the re of the docks frrm wliich the railtrav is to start; 2000 tons of steel rails Inrp been orderpd fc thp linp, while lurge qnintitip* of othpr materials hnve been purchased in Galves'on, Ppn«acola, and Npw York. On* the Atlantic side the rai'way is to start from thp Goa ( zacos'co« Rivpr, and a powerful steam dr-»dg'ns machine has heen ordered, to remove the bar across the entrance, it being esti mated that in two months the depth of water can h<* increi«ed sufficiently to allow of the passage of ships drawing 22 fpet. A concession has been obtained from the M-'xicin Government allowing a j period of three yenrs for tlip c^n'trix-tinn I o p the line ; Imt n section of 83 kifome^a« (40 mile ) is to be eomnleted pach The concession is for 99 vpar«, amy^^^| to the cotipany cetnin lands «ide of the line. At the eKv\m^^^^^^M period t?>e railway is to rev^^^^^^^H Government, the latter pnying f»t» of 40.000 r . per kilometr^^^^^H £2000 per mile. _ The follow ; ng hVer, sig^^^^^^H K"clilpi% Noumpa,' appenrs i n^^^^^^H ney Mail : — 'Sir — By chnnce I day The Fate of Lp'chardt ' in tl^^^H of the 21^t F-brnarv. The f llowlßl msy thr^w <nmp ligh' on the fiibjpet : — I We, Charles Bnrk, Olp F^enson, and myself, started from the Rfheridjp. via Nortnanton and Bourke'own, fnr P^rt Darwin. We startid about six wpeks beforp Messrs Mulligan, P^tpr Brown, and party started for the Palmer. We had 17 horses, a pocket compass, one riflpj one shot-aun, and two useless re« volvers. A'tpr Ipaving Bonrketown we had to keep well up under the table-land op account of the rpe^nt wpt season, the lower country being too boggy for horses. After frayelling abou* six wpekn, reckoning from Normanton. we came to a hrg* 5 fl^t, timbered epnerallv wi'h gum and bloodwoort ; the soil was sandy. In a cluster of shady trees we saw three or four slabs of «tone, about 3 hieh, shaped artistically, with thrpe distinct colours ingrainpd thereon — Mack, rei, and gray- The s'ones were coloured from the top to thp surface of thp ground like parallpl lines alterna'ply. The npar--St rangP was at least two miles off. if T remember right. Therp were »I<jo several hollow trunks of trees, about 3 feet Ion? and about 9 inches in diameter, with hones therein. Tlip«p trunks were placed in a vertical position ; the stones were placed vertical also. In the branp l p< .< •h" «h-'d'P«t tree* nmnl'cr- o r rpnnj-u'' werp paced, wrapped i" ti-tree hark, each placed separat ly. We examii.ed the , affair about ten minutes, and went on our course. After travelling a few miles, we came to a river. We had to run it up s>me distance before we could cross it. We S'iw natives several times, bat in- ' variably on our approach they fled. ' After crossing the before*mentioned river, we came in contact with natives ; but, instead of running away. they < motioned us to their camn. The conn" try v?t\* 7erv broken where we saw the p natives. We declined to go to thei r wmp. They fol'o«ve-l ns nf least 10 'Miles tn O'lf next c»mr>. The first repor* liev i>f'ril trr>m flip of our arms sea*

tered them, they ran in all direction*, showing that thty were not familiar with Breartns. We noticed one of them being more far than the rest. He bad a sort r>f netting aroond his loins. We struck tph road leading to the overland telegraph line, tbout 60 miles south from the Roper Hirer depot. Other parties that came from Qippnshnd generally come to the river about 20 nvles below the Koper Hirer depot, showing that we were at ! ea«t 80 miies sooth of said parties. I iiave related *iie above to serera! orex* landers bat none have seen anything like the foregoing. We kept a diary of thf» j urnev. I think I have a copy o the same • if required, I shall try to find it. I may have made some mistakes, because it is ail frora-memory. Hoping some of your numerous readers may «olve the foregoing and throw some Hgbt on the soi jpct, I am, sir, respectfully.' The ves'ry of St.. Luke's Anglican Church, Adelaide, has resolved to sever connection with tbe Church of Fngland. The reasons assigned are the growing Ritualistic tendency of certain clergy meo. Tie Yietoriun Gazfcte notifies tbst the Act requiring Civil Servants who cm promise with creditors or become bankrupt to resign, will be rigidly enforced henceforth. f h^ Mayor of Melbourne has offered a prize of £200 tor an essay on the best scheme of underground drainage for that city. The hundred yards sw mming match for 'he chanaoionshi > of Austnliaaud £100. was decided at St Kilda on Sara'dav, April 24, when M'lndoe btat Xi z easily. A Chicago j^u-nai, the Factoby and Farm, give* an account of the targ-st plough that was ever known to be nr»de, recently turned out by an Illinois 6r<n of agricultu^^ machinery mik a rs, for use on the Sr. Louis, Iron Mountain, and" Southern Railway. It is calculated to cut a ditch 30in wide and 2't d*ep, and is worked by attaching it to a platform ear of a em« ijtrueHon train by means of timbers framed and extendiu? oat so that the plough cuts its ditch a sufficient distance fr ra the track. It cuts a furrow Sin deep each time, requiring three of thpm to reach the proper depth,, and it will m:ike one mile of ditch 2ft deep and 3 t wide every f our hours, thus d>ing the work of about 1000 men. The beam is made of swamp oak, and is Bin by 14in. the land side hping made of bar iron Sin wide and] 1£ thick, which had to be forged expressly for the purpose. Its total weight is 1700 b. tbe use of thi§ 1 plough will mark an era in all ditching work, especialy in connection with railways, and will go far to supersede the navvy. c