MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 17 June 1881, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

The police are blamed — sometimes ' justly frequently ud justly — for carrying out their duties in a harsh manner. Ie is right therefore (says the Lyfc- • teltou Times) to record what may be said on tho other side of the . questioi.: nreentiy the wife of a I citiz nof Wellington, over-elated af< '

a turD for the better in her husband's prospects, developed such a strong tendency towards dipsomania that the section of the Act which provides for incarceration in a Lunatic Asylum of persons afflicted, had to be brought into force. The constable charged with the duty of arresting the lady, learning that the form which her insanity took was that of extreme extravagance, and that amongst other of her requirement was a mangn ; ficen f mansion commensurate with her husband's increased* means, hit upon the plan of presenting himself in the capacity of a honse agent. The lady cheerfully entered the cab in waiting and on being conveyed to the Mount. View Lunatic Asylum/inaantly offered a rental of £95 per annum, and took immediate possession. There was both tact and kindliness in the proceeding. If we may judge from the following 'extradt from a letter, written by a at the Cape to a relative in Hamilton affairF in the Pouth African possessions of Britain must be in a sad condition. The writer says, (the letter is of a very recent date) : — Our poor colony is in a terrible state of commotion, wars all rouud. This Boer rising is by far the worsb of any and those is likely to be much more blood' shed before it is done with. England has disgraced herself by the ignominious peace she has tried to patch up, and all through South Africa feelings on the subject are bitter. Our Union Jach has in some cases been floating half-mast, tied with crape and it has been wound round the door mat. Some of the papers have put a broad mourning border round the terms of peace. In Cape Town the' British Lion has been paraded through the streets blindfolded, and Gladstone has in more than one instance been burnt in effigy. I think if we were burned in reality, it would be better for our honor which he has most certainly tarnished for us.' According to New York Herald th« electric light continues in New York. Its success now seems to depend only on its becoming fashionable. The Sydney Mail saya the Scotch divinity students will probably hear a * call' from New South Wales when the intelligence reaches them that owing to the success of the sustenation fund organised by the llev. J. M Moss, the minimum stipened is £300 per annum. Here is a story they are telling just now in London ot a troop ship : In the ladies' cabin were four wash basins, one of which was much larger than the others. There were three ladies ra the cabin whose husbands were about equal in rank. The womm always think they have a right to presume on the rank of their husbands when taking choice of berths, &c, and there was a great discussion as to who was entitled to the use of the big basm. It was referred to the paymaster of the ship, who could settle nothing, and eventually the captain. He gave a decision worthy of Solomon. After first asking them if they would abide by his verdict and not give any more trouble in the matt r, which they readily agreed to do, he said he thought it was only fair that the oldest lady should have the biggest basin. The basin was never used during the voyage out. According to native belief, the devil is peculiarly amenable to the charm 3of the drum. Whenever any one is ill and consequently supposed to be possessed of the evil one, he is treated to an engorama, or drumming. Wuen the devil, captivated by the so-called music, has his usual 'cuteness dulled, he is enticed by a medicine man into a stool, or some article ready for his reception. He is then carried about from place to place to the sound of his favorite instrument till he is so completely bewildered that he is unable to find out his former victim, and consequently decamps in disgust. The following contribution of the Lyttelton Times special at Wellington must be taken cum gmuo :— " I hear on good authority tint on the Home meeting. Ministers will submit anotber scheme of retrenchment in the Civil Service. The 10 per cent, reduction of last year will be remitted off the salaries of all retained in the Service, but there will be numerous dismissals and special reductions in cer* tain individual cases. So far as I can learn, the police force is the only branch to which a general rule will be applied ; all under the rank of subxinspectors will it is said be reduced Is per day! Iv cases of firsts-class sergeants this is equivalent to 10 per cent, reduction, hut beneath that grade considerably more, pressing most hardly on the worst pnul. It is nlso rumored that Post and Telegraph Be* partment officials will be least affected by the proposed changes." We take the following from the San Francisco Journal of Commerce :— lt is a grand, feasible, and commendable .;chemc — that of draining L'kf Ok^eimbee, iv South Florid,'.. Therefore *vo hope it is !ru\ as rrp-r.'toK Unit a c^atr.;C' h

been agreed upon between the Sate authorities and parties representing capital* ists in Philadelphia and on the Pac fie coast fur <hat purpose. If this scheme succeeds 12,000X00 acres of the lest sugar land in the world will be reclaimed. The territory reclaimed will include the celebrated EverglaJes, and will be in extent twice as large as the Slate of New Jersey. This is the largest contract on record, and when completed Florid* can produce more sugar than the United States now consume. The reclaiming of this vast and inexhaustibly fertile tract is sare to be effected sooner or later, as we have before pointed out. The fall from the lake to the ocean, and^especially to the Gulf, is sufficient, Tho sooner the work is done the better. When it is done, if well done, the land of flowers and orange groves will proceed to the front frank of agricultural States, and become conspicuous for her products of cane, rice, and corn. The cultivator of corn on this laid will not stop at 100 bushels an acre, and may reach 150 bushels. According to a dispatch from Paris, the famine which prevails in~~sora3 sections of Eussia is terrible in its effects, lif the villages people die" oT starvation every day," and men rob and pillage for the sole object of being imprisoned, where, at least, they are fed at the expense of the State. Ten million tons of debris are annually washed fiom the hills by the 1000 miners engaged in hydraulic mining in Cahfor nia.'to the ruin of the agricultural laHds and valley streams, the owners of which are uniting to stop hydraulic mitring aU together. Professor Swan described his electric lamp for domestic use at a semi-scientific meeting in Liverpool, recently. They could light from 150 to 250 candles'by an entjinejof l|»horse power, and make as many divisions of the"light*"as they wanted. The lamps were so simple that if broken'a seryant'could replace them. An impudent theft was committed in Paris in November in the Eve ViVienne. A postman was violently pushed by three men, who were apparently hastening to pa s him, and shortly afterwards he^mis* sed eight registered letters, said to containing securities anJ 600,000 f. in bank notes. The supposed thieves have not yet been caught. The Nihilists may and ougtt to aspire t° office dignity, and honour. They shall mutually help' each other with all their might* They shall denounce the false bretheren and the suspected. They shall employed every raeansj to assint the re« volution, which'consists in the most^utter and radical destruction of the existing order of the society. No more monarchy ; no more recognised religions ; no more proper'y ; the land belongs to all the soil is like the air, everyone has a right to sustenance ; no more administration ; no moro armies. Kings, soldiers, priests judges, the possessors of privileges and of wealth are our enemies ; at these we must direct our blows- Sentence of death is passed on every official of the Emperor who shall show himse'f directly or indirectly hostile to our plans. The Melbourne correspondent of the Wakatip Mail says: — The police must think something of Captain Standish for they intend presenting him, on his retirement as Chief Commissioner of Police, with a most handsome capket of gold and silver, weighing about 165 oz. It is oce of largest specimens of gold and silves work turned out in the colony. The makers are Edwards and Kaul, the well known silversmiths of Collins street. The casket is 16in high, and 9in. deep, in unpolished silver and the decorations which present appropriate inscriptions on each side are let in gold-plates bearing — one group of Australian plates and the other flags of all nations. The endsars Qngraven — one with a growth of Australian forms and the other with a grouped mass of Sturl'a desert pea, being both from nature. At the back is a most spirited engraving of a gold escoJt dashing through the bush at full gallop which shows the bight finish of the work. At the four corners of the casket stands figures of footmen and troopers, fully accourted •vith arms belts etc. The top is sur* mouuted by the fi^ura of a mounted trooper, which is a five peice ol statuary, in fajt. I haie not seen anything like it before. Three huadreJ thousand pounds lately arrived at Berlin from St: Peter* sburg to be despoited in the foreign banks for the Princess Dolgorouki, the Czir's second wife. After peace was concluded with the Boers each of the England Cabinet Ministers received a card from unknown source, bearing the following word; — 'Sacred to the memory of Honor, Johu Bull's wife. She suffertd greatly in Tndia and died at the Cape. Her end was Peace.' Says an Oamaru telegram . — Long' uiau a farmer on the Tables, was killed by the wheels of a threshing machine over his body ou Friday night. lie was in the act of jumping on to the macbine when he got eul angled in the reius and was jerked oif. He w.'.s ujumried.

A row took plic at "»"ni;r:in^a on the night of the 25: h ul. 1 . Is com* : menced by a- ' gay an 1 foslive* uative flinging a pewter pint pot at the head of a barmaid in the Commercial Hale?. Two pakehas endeavoured to pat tho Maori out of the house but woro act upon by about 40 tntivn. and before aid came they had been ducked in a neighboring stream, and severely beaten about the face. Ou th ; nrriv.ii of the police the disturbance was put down but not before one or two natives had received rough tr&.itment at tho hands of the Europeans- Two natives were brought before the 11. M. on the 26 ulfc ; one was fined 40, and the other remanded. A brute, named Jamns Stone, Ins been commuted for trial in Victoria for ill treating a c<v.v, Amongst other cruelties ho is -said to have left an adze stuck in the c^w. The wife or a digger sued her husband for cruUy he 'would provide her with gloves. The Court decided that gloyes were not articles of necessity tor the spouse of a man who was not above frying his bieon on a shovel, mending his clothes with fl >ur sacks, and^enting his" pork and' beans oil' tfie lid of the ' billy, in which he boils his tea.