MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1105, 15 November 1882, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

« A Londoner who lately crossed from Canada to ( 'gdensbury asked his hack driver as to the population and form of government of Ogtlensburg. < )n bein^ informed that it was an incorporated city, the chief officer of which was a Mayor, he inquired—" And does the Mayor wear the insigna of < ffice?" Insigna? — what's that?" asked the astonished hackinan. "Why, a chain about his neck," explained the cockney. " Oh, bless you, no," responded the other, he's perfectly harmless and goes about loose. " Atticus " says in the Melbourne ' Leader^ surely the practice tof the medical profession must have a deadening effect upon the sympathies. It was proposed by a layman at Hamilton that some calves might be inoculated with virus from the patient Wright to prove if he was suffering from chicken-pox or small-pox. At a meeting of the Central Board of Health one doctor suggested that some old man " might be made the subject of the experiment. He did not explain whether the consent of the victim was to be obtained or not. The doctor who made this suggestion is himself advanced in years. Why did he not earn an immortality for him self by offering to play the part technically known on the stage as

11 first old man "on this occasion 1 As' an expert he could examine his own symptoms more closely, and detail ; them more accurately than any layI man. Why was the golden opportui nity thrown away 1 The foil wo wing particulars of the mysterious death in Melbourne, referred to in a recent cable message, are given in the Sydney Mail :— A woman named Mary Cameron M'Phail, 32 years of age, who for some time past has been engaged as housekeeper for Mr. John Campbell, manager of the Victorian Sugar Refinery Company, Yarraville, on the 9th October rented a room in a house occupied by a woman named Harding, in Russell-street, stating that she was suffering from illness. The woman, who appeared pregnant, went out shortly afterwards, stating she was going to Dr. Baker's, close by, for a prescription. On her return she brought a bottle of medicine. On the following morning she deliberately jumped twice down several steps from the kitcken to the back yard, a depth of four feet, stating that it would do her good. On the 13th she took to bed, and was attended by l ; r. Barker until the 17th, when ">'r. Balls- Headly r was called in for consultation. The 1 woman died at 4 o'clock next morning, 1 Wednesday. During the day a man named Kennedy, employed at the sugar-works, and who stated that he was brother-in-law of the deceased, called at the house, and removed the ! woman's effects and medicine bottle. The same night at 10 o'clock he re; moved the body to the shop of an '• undertaker at Collingwood and ar- ' rangements were made for the burial '• at 4 o'clock this afternoon, upon a ' certificate signed by Dr. Barker, giving 1 as the cause of death — primarily, pre- : mature birth and peiitonitis ; secondly, ' chronic disease of the liver and " kidneys The brother of deceased, an " hotelkeeper at Yarraville, came to [ hear of his sister's death, and being 1 suspicious as to the cause, immedi- ! ately communicated with the police, who removed the body from the [ undertaker's to the morgue, to await ■ a post mortem and inquest The Wakamarina correspondent of ! the •' Marlborough Press" thus des- " cribes a rather novel way of min- " ing for gold, or gold seeking, now ' about to be carried on at a part of ' the river known as Maori Gorge, be- ! tween the Deep Creek Gorge Com- ' pany's claim and the Homeward Bound 1 Company, Butcher's Point A Mr Lennie, a professional diver, who was recently employed on the Buller river, * arrived there from Nelson last week with a diving dress, and a man to I attend upon him, for the express, purpose of testing the merits of the former '• claim. Mr Lennie, report says, is well up in the art of diving, or, in other ( words, he can stay under water a , long time without being affected by the confinement, which is, I should say, ' the chief jonsideration, as he may have some distance, in places, to sink through the gravel before reaching the rock bottom, which must be found [ before a claim can be tried satisfactorily. The knowing ones, as usual, | have condemned the plan, but why should ifrnot act? lt seems a cheap way in the first place for prospecting, and . if Mr Lennie can stay some eight hours under woter, as is reported, he would in that time be able to send up a quantity of washdirt, and from what I can learn at the fireside from the oldest miners here, that they have obtained small quantities of gold by what is called "blind stabbing." for the Homeward Bound and Maori Gorge claims. This is performed with a longhandle shovel, where it is beyond their power to work the ground otherwise without capital. Another way of obtaining gold is with an tin matchbox, nailed to a long stick. The box is filled with grease, which is dabbed down upon the precious metal, which is j then brought to the surface quite easily. Such being the case, the diver surely ought to stand a better chance still. Mr James Farley, the underground manager of the Albion Gold Mining Company, a few days ago bought in from Terawhiti some very excellent samples of quartz from the original, otherwise the 80ft, level. The gold is distributed throughout the stone, as anyone interested may see for himself, upon calling at the office of the company, in Gray-street. We are informed that the contract for the engine and boiler is being carried out in a very satisfactory manner by Messrs Luke, Son and Williams, and will certainly be completed within the time stipulated. Upon reference to another column it will be observed that the company invite tenders for the erection of a wire tramway from the mine to the battery site. Messrs M'Lean and Son anticipate being able to let traffic over the Fnangahua bridge ere long. The structure will be one of the largest on the West Coast, the length specified

being about 780ft. The wood to be used (the Lyell ' Times , says) is all black pine and totara, with the exception of the " chocks" which are to be of Australian jarrah. The piles have to be driven with a "monkey" two tons and a half in weight. Ihe custom of appointing young lawyers to defend a pauper criminal, says the £an Antonio, Texas, Herald, received a backset the other day in our District Coui-t His Honor J udge Noonan had appointed two young lawyers to defend an old, experienced horse-thief. After inspecting his counsel for some time in silence, the prisoner rose in his place and addressed the bench : ' "» ir them to defend me ;' ' Yes, sir,' said his Honor. * Both them,' responded the judge. ' Then I plead guilty,' and the poor fellow took his seat and sighed heavily. Profossor Fritz, of Zurich, who has studied the years when floating ice was most abundant in the lower latitudes of the Atlantic, declares that sun spots and abundance of detached icebergs are synchronous. From 1788 to IS7O, epochs of maximum sun spots, and there have been ten such periods, have been pretty nearly the years of greatest frequency of floating ice. The masters of the North German line of steamers, who have kept detailed accounts of ice met with every month in the Atlantic, show that from from 1820 to 1^69 very similar weather, with pretty nearly the same temperatures, was found and that during these years the greatest amount of floating ice was found. Now, going back to the cause, the present temperature is not caused by a cold Arctic winter, but rathei by a warmer one, " which has prevailed pretty uniformly over the north Atlantic and northwestern Europe, and which has detached a larger proportion than usual of A rcticice fields. ?>un spots are made to explain innumerable things other than meteorological ones, for a great many periods of human strife show some coincidence with these solar outbursts, commencing with 1788 and ending with 1882. A special report in the South Australian Register, describing the match between the Australians and All England Eleven, says : — -" I cannot attempt to convey to my readers the excitement of these last te n minutes. Spoflbrth was bowling in his deadliest style, and a shudder of fear for the wicket of the defender seemed to go around the gound as every ball was delivered. No one who ever saw the finish of this match will ever forget it. The coolest, the most staid Australians fairly lost their heads. I saw Melbourne bank managers frantically assisting to carry Boyle and Spofforth to the pavilion, and it may be fairly said the A ustralians in London went mad." i he frozen bodies of De Long and his ten companions of the Jeannette are to be brought home in east iron coffins especially made for them in New York. ihe coffins are lined with felt, ground cork, «fcc., by which the bodies will be kept from the outward air. Being frozen, they are expected to change into adipose or waxy tissue, the features always preserving their natural expression. The caskets will be shipped to St. Petersburg. The " Bay of Plenty Times "mentions that during the present season a mare belonging to Mr James Kllett, of Mangere, gave birth to a foal, which presented the most hideous and monstrous appearance conceivable. The general formation of his head resembled a donkey's, even the hair that covered it and its ears were longer than those of an ordinary donkey; it had but one eye, and that centred in the forehead, fiery red in appearance, and protruding an inch and a half, shaped like an inverted thimble. 'I he upper jaw was very peculiar, whilst the under jaw curled over its mouth, and closed or rested on the face, just umler the eye. There were peculiarities in other respects about the head, but the body was fairly developed. The foal lived a few days, but, of course wus unable to suck, and Mr Hlett thinks that, in trying to feed, it choked with the milk. It is intended to preserve the carcass, and it has been sent to a taxidermist for that purpose.