MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1373, 12 March 1884, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

— . * The London Te^giaph thinks the time is not far distantwheu every night farer will carry his own ray of electricity about him, enclosed within the compass of a machine not larger than the watch now ticking in his pocket. Here are a few facts concerning the relative popularity of authors in America, given by the Tribune, being the result of an interview with the librarian of the Now- York Mercantile Library. Of the novelists Thackeray, Dickens, Bulwer, and Scott, the first appears to be the favourite, " Vanity Fair" being his most popular work. " Bleak ouse" and " The Old Cunoity Shop/ 1 are most called for among Dickens' works ; " Tne List Days of .Pompeii" amoug Lord Lytton's ; and Kenilworlh" among Scott's novels. Hawthorne, Irving, and Cooper aro about equal in demand. (i Phineas Finn' 1 is the most read of Trol lope's novels. Mr Charles Reade aud Mr Wilkie Collins are -said to have lost ground, and"Ouida," too, is not so popular as of old, nor is Mrs Henry 1 Wood. New novels of Miss Oliphaut, and Mrs Alexander are widely read. Of French authors, Dumas, Daudet, Halevy, and Gaboriau are the greatest favourities, and in order named. Tiio reading of Zola is discouraged, but he is | popular. Mdme. Patti's diamonds (Pall Mall Gazette says) are almost as famous as those of Mdlle. Georges, the celebrated French actress, who generally displayed all her jewels when playing before provincial audiences, no matter what her role ; and the announcement that Mdlle. Georges would appear in the piece " with all her diamonds" was a regular feature in the bills. Patti, who usually appears before New York audiences with something like £50,030 worth of jewellery when she signs iv " Traviata," never ventures to take her treasures with her to the theatre. About half an hour before the theatre doors open four men, well armed, in charge of a casket, may be seen leaving her hotel. They are detectives especially told off ny the authorities for this service. They never lose sight of her while she is on the stage, and one of them is constantly stationed at the door of her dressing-room. When the performance is over she carefully puts back the jewels in their case, and hands them to her body-guard to take back to the hotel. A contemporary writes as follows : — "Some of our contemporaries are publishing as news a paragraph giving the text of a document coutiining a written description of tha personal appearance of Jesus Christ, written by Publius Lentules to the Roman Senate. The same document, accompanied by a photograph of Jesus Christ, which it was alleged was a true copy of his likeness, taken from an engraving, was known to be of fabulous antiquity, was sold in all the stationer's shops in England nearly thirty years ago, and was generally regarded at the time as a hoax, and was afterwards, if we remember rightly, proved to be such." It is proposed to establish a new bank in Adelaide on the principle of paying interest on ordinary current accounts, under which system the banks of Victoria are now been successfully carried on. The venture has obtained a firm ground, the whole of the shares having been subscribed for by 30 persons, but few being offered to the public. The capital is fixed at £250,000, in 50,000 shares of £5 each. The provisonal directors suggest establishing 60 branches and agencies, commencing business on March 1 , with Mr S. Dyke as manager. One of the richest strikes known in the mining history of Califonia was recently made (according to the Amador Dispatch) three miles south of this place. A pocket of quartz of almost unparalleled richness was found leas than 100 ft from the surface, in which was contained from 75,000d0l to 100,(>00dt>l, aud about two tons in quantity. Much of this might be termed chunks of gold instead of goldbearing quartz. Some of these pieces of solid gold were about as heavy as a man could lift from the ground. Tinlargest .was an oval piece 16in by 22in, and sin or 6in thick. This gold in almost black, and of the same character as the former rich strikes found in the same mine. We have no doubt that this is the richest find of gold ever known in the United States at one time. During Friday a ton of this goM-avighted metal was taken out. It is not to rich as the gold streak takf-u out f one time ago, but there in vastly more of it, the value of this

bonanza is estimated at from 50,0i)0doL to 100,OOOdols. The ledge is sft wide, aud the whole face of it was held together, as it were, by spikes of solid gold. Altogether 8fr)01 b have been taken from this bnneh of ore,- and ther end is not y.et. The very rich streak from which this miss of fee gold has beeu- taken' ranges from an inch or so up to 20in in width. The previous- seam varied from the" thickness o£' a knife-blade to 3in k A man named Drury has been sentenced to nine months' imprisonment at Wellington for a series of barefaced impositions on the public. Procuring a sheet of foolscap paper from somewhere, he wrote at the top the following:—" Subscriptioif-list for Mrs Stephenson, widow of- the late John Stephensbn, dealer, of Wellington, who, after burying her husband three weeks since, has since broken her leg and is totally prostrated, with 1 1 young children unprovided, for the eldest not having attained the age of 13 years, and is unable to support or maintain the family or to assist the mother in so doing." He then made a canvass of- many of the principal business establishments iv Wellington, and by means of the subscription list j succeeded in obtaining various sums of money, amounting to several pounds. Of course there was no Bach person as Mrs Stephenson. A traveller on one of the London suburban lines of railway, writing to the Standard with respect to proceedings instituted by the North London Bailway against a passenger for riding first class with a second-class ticket, says : "I should like the public to have my experiences for the year iu&t expiring on this important suburban line, and I think, if the directors would like to be thought fair and just by their customers, (the season is appropriate), they will reimburse the convicted person his 20s fine and the costs, and commence the new year providing greater accommodation for their riders. Three hundred and thirty-five times I have paid to occupy a third-class seat from Dalston to the City : 140 journeys I had to stand up ; 35 times (at invitation of their own servants) to 'jump iv anywhere' ; and 23 times had to let the train 1 go without me, owing to overcrowding. So that for 335 fares 1 made 137 journeys, only without great discomfort and delay." At the dinner to the Espiegle officers in luvercargill, Captain Bridge, in proposing the toast of " The Corporation of Invercargill," said : " One of the most noticeable features of this Col. ouy was the large number of cities and towns in it. The intelligence and "business activity were not all centred iii one large place, but. were evenly scattered over the length and breadth of the laud. Tiie consequence of this was the nourishing of a strong feeling of- local patriotism, inducing a healthy Bpirit of emulation, and resulting in the improvement of their towns. In regard to what he would say in his j report, he won id bp most happy to tell the simple truth about the country r and here and the port. He would mention that he intended to try the West Coast coal, as he heard it spoken highly of by competent authorities. He had heard complaints about the New Zealand weather, but from What he had experienced ofithewas not inclined to hear a word against it. If this was what they called a bad summer he wished they would get some of their good ones refrigerated aud sent Home to England."