MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 18 June 1880, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

The official estimate of thp Chinese population in Victoria is 20,633. Melbourne and its subur! s have 20C0 ; Ballast, 2192; Sandhurst, 1062; Castle* maine, 1872 ; Ararat, 996 ; Mar) borough, 2031 ; Beecbwortb, 2455. In a London newspaper we come ajross the following instance of death in a man from p'euro pneumonia. " Yrsterday Mr Cullier h Id an in-* quiry at the London hospital, on view of the body of Charles King, aged 22, a dock laborer, employed at the Millwall Docks. At "a qurtrteivpast two on Wednesday the deceased was en* I gaged as one of a gang wheeling bones from a barge to the quay along a plank, 11 inches wide. He was reburning with th > empty barrow, when he stumbled, a»d dragging the poor fellow with it he fell on to another plank, benea'h, crushing in some^Sf his ribs. These pressing into "the lougs caused pleuro-pneamonia, ol which he died. The jury re urne^a verdict of " Accidental death.** &np added that they considered all planks u^ed for such work oujb* to be wider. | An exchange says i — "A st >ry a!- --| nost without parallel of a young woman going through the ceremony of tuarr'age without either her knowledge or consent was unfolded at an English pelice court recently. Application was ma le to the magistrate for a summo is against a young man named Barnard for making false declaration ;n reference to the age of the com* p'ainant. .It was stated that Bar* narJ had been for some time wanting the young woman to become hs wife, whch she refused to do, staling that she did not care enough for him to take such a step. At his earnest solicitation however, she went with him to a registrar's office — for the purpose, as she believed, of going though the form of betrothal, common amongst persons ot the Hebrew persuasion, to which rll the parties be* longed After the ceremony was over, s be found that without her wish and consent she had become a wife. Bar« nard wished her to go home with him, but she returned to h >r parent's home, and she refused to have anything to do with him since- She w|||reaily onV a little over sis teen, wnereas at the Registrar's, Barnard gave her age a* eighteen. The Registrar's office being out of the district of the Court, the applicant was referred to another magistrate. Under the circumstances it appears that the knot that so eas ; ly tied will be more difficult to unloose.*' One of the most remarkable and curious instances of discovering aa in* beritanee is that of John Vv*ood Geeson, which (says the Ballarat CGtirier) shows to what a trifling circumstance he owes his good fortune. He came to Victoria from the old country many years since, leaving a Chancerv suit behind him, having reference to some valuable lands and tenements in Spalding, Lincolshire. Haying followed a farm and station laborer's occupation, Geeson, last week, after vears of rovin?, found employment a.t Woodstock, Bet Bet ; and, having been there about twerry fonr hours, he was sitting in the stations hands quarter, where a fellow servant was lighting his pipe with the remains of a Government Gazette dated some five months back. On taking up one of the pnges, Geeson read an advertisement of en* qairy as to h'u whereabouts, and also notifying his accession to the disputed property : whereupon he placed himself in communication with a firm of solicitors in Melbourne, and in a few weeks more will be on the road to England to take possession. Perbap* the most remarkable part of the affair is thnt <»eeson had not seen a Govern* ment Guzette for years, and how it came to circulate among the hand* of a station, where .ighfer literature is generally preferred, is beyond ordinary comprehension.