MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, 23 September 1881, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

In China coal is sold at 3d and iron? ore at per ton. When Machinery is adopted no other nation with be. able to compete with them. The. banks abonnd in money. The deposits are equal of £128 of accumulated savings for every family in N S Wales. The lass nine wool-clips of the colony were worth fifty millions. The thirtynfive million sheep yield two* thirds of the total value of the annual exports ; the year's clip is worth ten millions sterling. The land taken up, during the last nine years was twentyone million acres. The banks bßve among them a large number of sheep; runs. — K. S. W, Presbyterian. In the Legislative Council, Mr Mantel gave notice to move—' That the Legislative Council gallery in the Lower House be rearranged, giving less room to the Councillors and more, the the ladies.' The proposal does great credit ta the mover's gallantry, and, if carried, the concession will, we feel sure, by thoroughly appreciated by the fair viators who evidence so much interest in the pro- ; ceedings of the House. On Monday night scores of ladies had to go away disappointed, finding it utterly impossible to get a seat in the gallery set apart for their accommodation. The writer of the letter from which the following is an extract, and which is published in the Lyttelton Times, saved £100 in three yeors in Canterbury, and then went back to the Old Country. He writes from Monmouthshire, South Wales, and is evidently anxious enough to get back. He says : — ' We are so anxious to get from here, for if New Zealand is bad, this is ten times worse. And now nt the present time I am only getting 16s a week, and have to pay 2s 6d a week out of that for reut ; and coal to buy, and every bit of vegetable, as there are no gardens in this place, so we havn about enough left to buy us bread and butter, for we have never tasted a bit of fresh meat but twice since we have been here.' An Englishman resident in Japan recently recorded the horror which he frit when, immediately aft^r landing he met a wretched crimial walking about Tokio, in f mid winter, uakecj,

with li's hair tied back so tightly to a beam of wood laid aero« his shoulders, to which bis arms were strapped that no matter how far back be strained his head, the hair was almost torn from his scalp. On inquiry he found that the torture was inflicted on the criminal to indicate the abhorrence with which law regarded the robbery of the scanty earns ings of the helpless poor. The miscreant had picked the pocket of a poor blind cripple. The Dunedin Times says s— • A watertight watch is ralher a novelty, and we scarcely know wbat good purpose such an article could serve, except the mer* maids indulge in a luxury of the kind. To them it would, of course, bj invaluable. Whether Mr Baker had in view those ' doubtful critters f as customers we are not aware, but to him belongs the dis* tinction, we believe, of being the sole manufacturer of watches watertight. In vis shop in George street he has new one on veiw which has been in water 14 days, and has kept correct time throughout. It is an English patent lever, made on the interchangeable principle. A peculiar orrurence is reported to have taken place on the railway line between Lancefield an-1 Melbourne. A large eightwheeled bogie truck was seen to dash through the upper railway gates at Foots* cray early one morning, and inqnires showed that it became detached at Lancefield road station and rnn down the line, travelling from Lancefield road t.> North Melbourne in 25 minutes, or at the rate of a mile a minute. Lucky no very serious damage is reported to have been done by the truck, which was eventually stopped of North Melbourne. A plaintiff in a case recently heard in a Northern Resident Magistrate's Court caused some amusement by declaiming, in tragio tones, • That if she (addiessing his wife) had agreed to take ten shillings per week for cooking and washing she should be no longer wife of his.' The better half had been contending that fifteen shillings was the proper wage. Fortunately for her domestic happiness, the lady was enabled to deny having promised to accept the lower rate.