THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRT-WEEKLY WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 1, 1880.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, 1 September 1880, Page 2

THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRT-WEEKLY WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 1, 1880.

The Carandini company made their farewell appearance on- Monday evening, to a moderately full house, overflowing with appreciation. The programme was a really recherche one, and was gone through with dashing spirit. The company left for Ahaura yesterday morning, and notwithstanding the arch admonition o( Miss Marie, to Beware! Beware! a large number of the young men of Reefton went " fooling "about the bridge to have a good-bye look at the young ladies. Mr Cooper, one of the operators in the ?ocal telegraph office, lias resigned his ap* pointment in the service rather than accept the beggarly pittance offered as ea'ary. The famous, or infamous, as you like it, ease of O'Conor-Johnston and JohnstonO'Opnor. which ba9 been dead and buried for sope time, has been dug up again, by the arrest yesterday of John Gilmer, one of the witnesses in the case, on a charge of perjury. The accused was brought up on Monday, and remanded for trial at the Magistrate's Court, to-morrow, bail being accepted. The House, which was expected a fortnight back to adjourn in the course of a few days, seems to have taken a new lease of life, and it is difficult to say now bow long the session will run. The Grey members have succeeded in repairing the mischief caused by their absence from the House on the occasion of the voting for the Grey liarbor works. The vote has since been raised to the amouut originally fixed by the Government. The fares direct to Melbourne by steamer will, after the 18th instant, be reduced to £14 for cabin, and £8 for steerage return tickets, which will b<» available up to the 30th of November. It will thus be fairly within the means of a large class of West Coaiters to witness the opening of the Exhibition, We believe that the amateurs will proceed at once with their rcbemal for tho hospital concertThe monpy hiving been voted by Parliament for the completion of road eommunica* lion between lleefton and TJekon, it is to bs hoped that no opportunity will be let slip in urging the Government to etuvt tbe work. It is of quite os much importance to the people here, as to those of Nulpon, to create 1 traffic on that line, and as fcl'e representatives of both places are now at bend quarters the time i.« ripe for spnring on the worl». General E. HmvV-y or O^nec»enfc is n Republican canOvlsite for Cor^n-esp. end lately obtained the services of his friend Mavk Twain to introduce him to the electors. The meeting was held at Elmira (N.Y.), and thus t'.»e famous humorist in port delivered I'imßnlf— ''I s*e I am «dverti3ed to introduce the speaker of the evening, General ffawley of Connecticut, and I pee it is the report tbnt lam to make a poetical speech. But I ttm here only to give him a character from his laffc place. Ana pure citizen, 1 respect him ; as a personal friend of years, I have the warmest regard for him; as a neighbor whose vegetable garden adjoins rn'inp, why— wby, I wittuh him. Thai's nothing ;wo nil do Hint with any nti>;h.hor. General ]linvl,. y keeps his promises not only in private but in public. He is gn editor who believes what ho wiites in his own paper. He is broadsouled. generous, noble, liberal, alive to his moral and religious responsibilities. Whenever the contribution-box whs passed, I never knew him to take out a cent. He is a square, true, honest man in politics, and I must say he occupies a mighty lonesome position. He bus never shirked a duty, or bicked down from any position taken in pub-ie life. Ho is an American of Americans po brmul, so bountiful, in his character., that he never turned a tramp empty -Landed from

ht'a door, but always gave him a letter cf introduction to me; His public twist* have been many, and never in Hie slightest did bo prove unfnthful. Pure, honest, incorruptible — that is. Joe Hawley. Such a man in politics is like a bottle of perfumery in a glue factory— it may modify the stench if it doesn't destroy it. And now, in speaking thus highly of him, I haven't said any more of him than 1 would say of myself." All the ladies nre talking about the new artificial diamonds, or " Diamante Briliants," in •which the clever workmen of the Jura Mountains have at last succeeded in imitating with wonderful fidelity the refractive power and beautiful blue tone of the precious stone. They are an improvement even on Ihe false diamonds exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1878, and, even if they are not generally accepted in the drawing room, would be invaluable for the stage or for ceremoninl purpoees. It is curious that the discovery has been made by a lineal descendant of one of the oldest manufacturers of the Jura, where in the year 1760 a workman made a com« position called " stras?," after his own name Stras, which composition has for a century 'ormed the basis for the manufacture of artificial precious stones. It was subsequently purified and improved by a lapidary called Martin Luncon, who ingeniously mixed ft combination of potash, oxide of lead, and silica. It is needless to point out that all the stories about husbands discovering that their wives had raised money on their diamonds and substituted . false ones were" entirely mythical, in that before the year 1878 nny c child could have told the difference between a false and a true diamond and it is in the highest degree improbable that any husband or any section of society would hive failed to detect the domestic fraud. Hitherto, artificial diamonds have lacked refractive power altogether, and, what is worse, have rapidly become dull and opaque, owing to the excess of lead oxide. All this, then, is obviously inconsistent with the theory of duped husbands and lost diamonds ; but now that sparkle has been obtained, and durability en« pured, no one can tell what will happen, unless, indeed, ladies,' necklaces, rings, and aigrettes ai'e to be tested occasionally by a professional connoisseur appointed to pounce down very unexpectedly on the jewel"case. — Illustrated London News. It is now urged by English correspondents that Herat is the natural Northern gate of India, that the occupation of Cabul necessitates that delightful acquisition. Herat is one of the cities of Central Asia that has been the seat of great eplendor and prosperity in the pust, the description of which always excites the imagination- It was a great capital in the time of Genghis Khan and its prosperity did not disappear under the sacker of cities, Tamerlane. It was said before its conquest by Persia, in the beginning of sixteenth century, that Herat had 144,000 occupied house?, 12.000 retail shops, 350 schools, and 6000 baths and carnvansa-nes. It was the richest city in Central Asia under a good government, the resort of poets, theologians, learned men, as w.ll as travellers from afar. The Persians built up Meshed at the expense of Herat, and it decayed in importance. Since 1749 it has been in the hands of the Abdali Afghans, and irs fortune has been better, but it is linked with Cabul politically, and has never at all regained its old supremacy." Its position on the high road between India and Persia, the centre of an extensive, fertile, and welli-watered valley marks it as the pasture, garden, and granary of Central Asia. A Mr, Forbes, who visited Herat in 1783, describes it os surpassing Candahar in. its markets. He saw there 100 bankers and traders from India. Captain Christie, who spont a month in disguise in Herat in 1810, describes it as'situated in a valley i>ix miles in length from caat to west, and ha]f!*|hat braadrh, fertilised;' to an un?urpnf spd degree by living streams. The whole valley was full of orchard, gardens, and cornfields. To the north rise lofty mountains ; the traveller coming from the south rode for four boiiM through luxuriant fields and gardens before he reached the city gate. The city 'covered a space of four Entrl'sh square miles, and in its vast market he found wares from Indii. Persia. Samarcand, and as fpr' nqrlh^ os Orenberg. He reckoned the populiitiou at 100,000, of which omlv 10,000 were Afghans ;^t!' ere \vere?6oo Hindus and a few Jews, Arthur Connnllv. who visited Herat i:i 1831, more than confirms his predecessors as to the resources'and capacity of the country ; but these resources had been wasted by Afghai misrule, and the population had declined to 45,000. He glows over the natural beauty of the scene ; gardens, vineyards, 'cornfield', and hamlets stretched four miles north' to the mountains and twelve miles pouth in unbroken beauty. The water wns the best he ever t:>.sted, and ihe fruits rare p,nd delicious in^ftivor. So plentiful were they that the people were allowed to enter fcliejfg-irdens and pick for themselves.