MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1309, 12 October 1883, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

♦ A singular affair occurred in New Haven recently At the closing services of the mission iv St. Patrick's Church one of the Mission fathers asked nil the ! men in the church — and there were '. a nut fifteen hundred of them — to repeat af er him a pledge promising not to go into a saloon from twelve o'clock on Saturday night until twelve o'clock ou Sunday" night for one year. There were not half a dozen nieii in the church who did not raise up their right hand and repeat the words after the priest — ' Chicago Tribune.' - '"" The Rev\ H. W. Beecher, in a bermou on " Poverty and the Gospel," has the following' lament :'■ — "A ten dency of our times is towards infidelity among laboring men, particularly so among mechanics. In other words, the result of a, more intelligent education, and a more prosperous coudition of things among the laboring classes, is to repudiate churches. Of course there are a good many exceptions, and in some communities this will appear much less than ia other parts. I have

noticed that the working men who come from Great Britain to this side are, to a very large extent, Infidel. I notice this too iv our socialistic movements, and in all the questions of political economy. The laboring classes • who think are tending to think themselves away from the House of God, f.'om Sunday, and are substituting arrangements of their own. It is fatal." The Argus has the following: — "Melbourne playgoers whose recollections in connection with the stage date hack some 18 or 20 y;';irs,- will be m t vested to hear that Mr George Faw cett Eowe ( etter known in these Colonies as * George Pawcett') is now ' strutting his hour' on the boards of Drury Lane Theatre, .London, in jv drama called 'Freedom,' written by himself and* Mr Augustus Harris, and founded upon recent events in Egypt. Among the company concerned iv the production of the drama is Mr Harry Jackson, who was tiie principal low comedian at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, during the management of Messrs £L EH wards and Fawcett in IBs9and 186 J." Toyquin, according to the Pa s Figaro, .abounds in mineral wealth: — " Its ;;gold mines: can rival those of California and Australia. The nati ves use that metal for exchange ; the females; of the Muongsofthe Black River, on their way toand fromniark^t, gamble with thousands of francs worth of it, without caring whether they win or lose. The mines of Talan, near Yuenkiangj?6n the Red River, where visited by the Commisionof the Mekong, who found gold there in bars us well as du.-st. Still higher, near the source of the Red River, the precious metal is obtained in large quantities. Silvei, also, is not rare, and copper is found everywhere, all the domestic utensils of the people .being made, of this metal. The tin mines ar not worked, for want of capital, although those worked near Mongtsze, iv Yunnan, near the Rod River, are the most valuable known to exist. Zinc, lead, iroa, and bismuth are also known. The coal-mines, however, are the most important of all." • r John Macdonald, on leaving th general managership of the l Melbourne ' Age,' on pension was presented with an j address and 200 sovereigns. ! Some labourers at -Bromlay (says ; the St. James Gazette of July 5) were startled yesterday morning at seeing a large ballon descending a short disj tance from them. After dragging over a field or two it came to a stand still through the grappling-iron catching a fence. Tiie balloon was occupied iby two aeronauts — one a Belgian s ! named Morian, and the other a French- ; man Da Costa. It appears that the i aeronauts ascended at Courtnii, in > Belgium, on Tuesday evening with the , inteutiou of proceeding iv an easterly s direction and descending somewhere : near Liege or Cologne. When over , Louvain, however, they encountered a , i current which took them over Ostend. •i and, to their alarm, they were c irried out to sea. It appeared us if they ; would cross' the Channel successfully, but suddenly they began to descend. They endeavoured for some time in vain to chock the descent of the balloon, and their position became a perilous one. By throwing overboard ballast, however, they again ascended and before long passed over Dover, -when the balloon commenced to descend agaiu, and yesterday morning, as has been stated, alighted in a field I near Bromley. I The two drawing-rooms held hy the ! Ptiucess of Wales on behalf of: the Queen were the most brilliant and crowded as- ' sembles that have ever been seen for ; years. Clad completely in ivory-white satin, embroider! with seed pearls, liter- ! ally tilazing with diamond-, the Princess ev»-n surpassed herse fin good looks, and ; more than held her own against those of the most noted beauties of the day, such as the Countess of Dudley, the Viscountess Castlereagh, aud other modern Venuses who were present. Thare were several ' sensations' connected with the last of these royal receptions. One lady fell in a dead faint just as she was about to enter the throne-room, and two others were refused admittance oecause they wore the fashiona le tan-coloured Swedish gloves instead of the regulation white or lack kid. The Queen has frequently expressed the opinion that she cannot understand colored, gloves,' and she is obdurate in her insistance on the letter of the court regulations, which specially mention white or black kid gloves as the only court w^ar. A farmer went into a grocery store the other clay, and exhibited to the eyes of an admiring crowd an enormous egg, about six inches long, which he avowed to have bean laid by oue of his ; own hens. He had it packed hi cotton, and wouldn't allow anyone to handle it for fear of breakiug the phenomenon. The grocery man examined it with the rest, and intended to chaff the countryman, and said — "Pshaw! I've got something in the egg line that will beat that." " I'll bet you five dollars you haven't/' said the countryman, getting excited. "I take it up," said the grocery man, and, going behind the counter, he brought out a wire eggbeater. " There something in the egg line that will beat it, I guess," said he, reaching out for the stakes. " Hold on there," said the farmer, "Let's see you beat it," and he handed it to the grocer. The latter held oat his hand for it, but dropped it in surprise on the counter, where it broke two soup plates and a platter. It was of solid iron painted white. " Some folks think they're precious cute," muttered the farmer as he pocketed the stakes and went out, "but 'taint no use buckiu' agin solid facts." Mothkr Swan's Worm Syrup, — Infallible, tasteless, harmless, cathartic ; for feverishness, restlessness, worms, constipation. Is. at druggists. Moses, | Moss& Co., Sydney, General Agents, '

Don't use stimulants, biit nature's brain and nerve food — H>p Bitters. See. {For rest of nnws see fourth patje.')

Atthf Melbourne City Uuu ;, a <-,y daysago, a youn;_( man naii.ee! J:v..i'--Cook wa3 charged v. .th I:uy:. Jil from Annie Keane, a l>avm:i,ii\ \,x means of false pveten .-..-s. " It ;s;-, a,'.that recently advertisements have '». en inserted in Melbourne papers ;'or 20 girls to prooticu to vjiu> urta to act a barmaids during the ensuing exiiib. tion. A number of girls, not content ■with their present positions, answered the advertisements, addressing thwii letters n* rlr o. ted to J.C., care of Gordon and Gotch. In reply, they received a printed circula stati i% h:r Lhey were required io* *-»• vjiu.:. Hotei Company, of Calcutta, asid as v guarantee of good faith that the\ would accept an engagement when tin manager arrived at the terms stated, £2 per week, with a free second-cUis: passage to Calcutta and back to Mcl bourne, they were required to forward J.C. the sum of £\. Iv a nun) her or cases the foolish girls have forwarded the money as requested, but as the manager did not attend at the appointed time the 15th inst., the complainant in the case before the Con t reported the matter to the police, a d L'tttctive OLbnnell, who was entrusted with the case, after some trou le succeeded in identifying and arresting the prisoner. He was remanded, ■when other chargea of a similar character will be preferred against him. He is believed to be a reoeufc arrival fiom New South Wales. At the meeting of ihe Canterbury Lawn Tennis Club, it was stated that two letters had been received from Auckland with regard to teams from that province visiting Canterbury about November next. One proposal was that six players should make the tour South, aad the writer inquired if any arrangements could be made V.y which a portion of the visitors' expenses cuuld be counted upon. After some conversation, Mr G. Hogben moved that it be an instruction to the secretary to write to the Auckland Club and arrange for an interchange of matches — each Club to bear its own expenses. Failing this, the Committee to make the most advantageous arrangements possiMe for securing an lnterprovincial match. A very general feeling was expressed that the quesiion of gate-money should be left out of the affair. There are 50t0 Civil Servan s in Victoria. ;■ A lively sceneoccurred on September 8 in what is known as the disputed territory between Narracoorte and Apsley, on the borders of Victoria and New South Wales.- At about 4 o'clock on the previous morning Joseph Bennett, a contractor, who has lived in Narraeoor c for several years, and was rather deeply in debt, loaded three drays and a spring-cart with different kinds of goods, aiid started wish his wife and family to V ictoria, so as to c vade the payment of his debts. The heavily loaded drays got bogged fr the bad road over the disputed ground, which detained Bennett. The facts of the case coming to the knowledge of three of his creditors they rode after him, and subsequently four other men wich ropes followed, intending to tie him down at the border until tiie bailiff could arrive with a waiTant from Narraeoorte. Bmaett threatened them with an axe ; , but on a revolver being produced, aud .other signs of determination being shown, he gave in, satisfied the claims of the three creditors, and then contin ued his journey to Victoria. Bamiett's departure was not generally known until late in the day, or probab y other of his creditors would have taken similar action. The Morinbus at Salt Lake City erected, presumably without the assistance of any European professional architect, a "tabernacle," capable of seating 12,000 persons — abont 7000 in the body, and 5000 in the gallery. . The •whole congregation of 12,000 persons can get out in one minute and a quarter. For the body of the hall there are twenty double doors, each 9ft wide, opening outwards. Through each of these six ptople can walk abreast, giving a total of 120 persons abreast at one time ; n'f ty-eight such rows would give 6960 persous iv a procession thirty yards long, which moving at the rate of one mile an hour, would take just one minute to get through the doors. * i The Trafalgar Square demonstration j to protest against the exclusion of Mr , Bradlaugh from the House of Commons on the 6th August was one of the grandest of the kind ever held, the crowd of syxnpathiers being estimated at from 80,000 to 40,000 men. A clergyman of the Church ot England, the Key. S. D. Headlain, was voted to the chair. Mr Bradlaugh made a most eloquent and impassioned speech. The law is on his side, and the Liberal feeling of the country is coming over to his side also. The following anouncement from the death column of the Argus speaks for itself, and is reproduced free of charge:—" Hards.— August 3, 18S3, at Sydney, Julia Alice ; January 17, 1874, Joseph Baldoclc, second daughter and fourth son of Richard and Mary AnnHardF,ofMittagong;graiideliildren of the late George Hards, Esq., sen, of Kensington Gardens. Brighton, England; also of the late John Butcher. Esq., of W.llmiiigton, Kent; great niece and Lephew of the late Drs Henry und Joseph Baldock Butcher, M. 1)"; ! also of the late Baldock Butcher, R.N. ; great grand niece and nephew of the late William Baldock, Esq., banker, ofPetham House, Petham, Kent, England ; great grand niece aud nephew of the late Richard Robinson Lord liockeby, baronet. j Mr Richard Proctor makes a ve:y ; curious fcu,i,'gestion in a recent numb, r i cf his paper, to the effect that the | spreading of so large a quantity of j iion upon the turiace of the earth, as ! modem science i.-> doing, will in the '

fuvuie exercise a very decided influence of its own upon electric currents and a! ;v-:nti<' storms, and in tiiis way to exorcise a very material in a ■>. cnolog.'cal influence. j A medical piper si;*: s vh-t ten tons of linseed meal are ns.-il annually for poultices in one of ti< ; ..ge^t London hospitals, and the yea/iv bill foi' lint foots up to over £400. The potato disease has appeavsd in several districts of Antrim, Ireland, and a good deal of uneasiness prevails tiuong the farmers, who dread a repition of tue disastrous results of former years. The species known as " flounders "is the variety now attacked, i^o far, Derry seems to have escaped thu bli-ht. The annual value of England's harvest of the sea has been estimated by a competent person at a little over fourteen millions sterling, of which over three and a-half millions are represented by the herring, and about six millions by all kinds of roui.d and flat fish. Shell fish of all kinds also total up to three and a-half millions. Flies an Bugs. — Beetles, insects, roaches, ants, bed-bugs, rats, mice, gophers, jack-rabbits, cleared out by " Rough on Rats." 7^d. Moses, Moss & Co., Sydney, General Agents.