MISCELANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1405, 26 May 1884, Page 3

MISCELANEOUS.

Thpfirsthistoi'ie novel i>i Icelandic has | "been published in Canada by £i lady tearing the euphonious name of Torfhildur Thoronsfeimloiur Holm. The. title of the novel is "'isier to.pronounce. It is " BryisjolfiirSveiiisson" and the plot is laid in l-.-e'and in the middle of the seventeenth century. A lemarkahla. throne ij7 cut j^'ass has been madft by Mes-rs Oslr-r &. Co.. of Bix'minorhani, to the on lor of an Indian prinon. F'-n.'^ >; ? l>a<ik and aims of the tb? p o:'<i tl ,c : - ■ ai'e spring pillars, suppoi-ti-t.f ,-i dfim^-sliaped conopy. above which anpfrns a lavp:e star. Every portion of the surfaoe has been cut, the pine-shaped finials •which surmount the arms having no fewer than 824 facets. The ornamentation of the dome is especially elaborate, and it is at present illuminated by two incandescent electric lamps, ■which are fixed beneath it, it sparkles like a gigantic diamond. The work is believed io_he the .best example of cut glass that has ever been made, and the effect is singularly brilliant. At the Circuit Court, TownsviH«, in Queensland, Jas. Canning M'Groarty, the presiding officer at Woolc;ar durin.i,' the Burke olectiou, was charged with

, misdemeanour as a public officer in i having returned a fak« Statement oi the poll to the returning officer ac Georgetown, declaring that 117 votes j had been polled in favor of Mi* Hard- | v/icke, whereas only 19 men voted I a! together for (,lih three caudiciales. The ac.cusitl, who ably defended himsflf, was foiind guilty witii a rec^mmendc',tion i.o mercy. He was sentenced t< six rno.xtlis' imprisoameut, with haul lahov, in Townsvlllc Gaol. The Jurl^e s;iifl that it was the worst case of the kind that had ever -bei-a tiied in Queensland. The d'doli is aon'ouiKHid f."Oin Nap!"? of Cipnaua, La Gal, thenust ie; oeioivs b'-i-^dtid oi modern ti.nM's, whuj-ii took place a.t Portoferiuio, on l-ie Island Oi Elba, where lift had been coiiii.ucl lor a nunibev .o£ years, chained U> a wall. La Gala has been proved guiLy of 5 j lunidtis and nuim roya lobbe, us, a" well as* a: son. He coitt-neaced hi , career as an officer in tiie Bourbon militia. Iv 1860 ha became a b i^and chief, the terror of Southern It.ily. He colleoi'.-rt ai-OMiid hi'.n a baud of 700 malerii'.'iors, rtijrl ruled them with an iion wiilpn-ii.Vni-'g tiie smallestdisobedience with diatli. He was only oc small, slender stui.irc, but his pi«:ciii.:r dark eyes showed bis indomitable wsll. He wo>e a long black bertrd, coming down to the in id (11k; of his chest. G\Jj. affected to he religions, and went frequently to mass aid cpiu'e.sslou. His skull is to be pressed as a pluenological curiosity. A correspondent of the Mary .o; on :'i Advertiser stales thdt, he h.ts m^e '2io gallois of wine .£.Ol ft a. qivn if. -y.c ■■: vineyard. Iv )'e^ly to a query in B<*ll s Lue. the following was returned :■— "I 1 ").:- ■; | are 1 8,698,5«0 aces iv Yorkslnie, and | 3,565,480 letters iv the Bible." I A curious lecture was given at M< 1i bourne recently. Mr J. A. Knip , a ! well-known auctioneer in ijiai; city, traced the history of the land manias of Melbourne, and giuve examples of the enormous increases of value that had taken place in various blocks. The plot on which t'le Royal Mail Hotel now stands was a pait of half an acre that wasi bought for 13s a ioot, and tiie whole of which was to-day worth £350 a foot. The Royal "rcade block, originally purchased for £42, was Jo-day ] worth -35,000. During the mania of ! 1853 "i-ftat areas at Caulfield, Oakleigh, I and adjacent places were purchased, I but very few of the blocks were yet ; settled on. Nowadays syudicates ' were formed to buy up the large p>.o- --: perties. It had been swoiu iv the ■ courts that a Melbourne syndicate had, within the past eighteen months, purchased laud of the value of £350,()00 ; which meautover two millions in sell- '-. ing price. His experience was thst : most of the land sold by syndicates was' useless. He urged that the : Legislature should provide heavy penalties fov selling at auctjous to : ("irunkrn m":i, as it was known that , numerous cases had oceuriitd wiiei"e i men inflamed by liquor had been induced to give extravagant bids for laud. Another knight of the hammer, who ■ was present gave a flat contradiction to Mr Knipe's assertion about drunkenness in the sale-room. He said that men who intended to buy were the very men who did not go into 'hotels. Great Britain, including the Channel Islands, possesses abont 28,000,000 sheep; and the United States, 50,00(>, 000 ; Australia and New Zealand boast between them of no less than 76,u00, ()00 sheep. But this number, lai o e as it is, must yield the place of honor ro i the 94,000,000 possessed by the River Plate provinces in South America. The growth of sheep in these provinces has Ween marvellous, and bids fail* to increase at the same rapid rak 1 . Enormous tracts of laud still remaia i:o be taken up, and big runs can be got very chfj.ip. Th.i diaut is most suitable for sheep, for Mi." plains rarely j suffer from droughts. ! A Khartoum oespatoh d.iV-d M.uch • 23 states that Gone: a I Gordon, licfore making his soi'lie r.n tiie lQt I',1 ', . '-nf. : the following procrl inuition '.o i lie ; veb«l chicks :— " Con'.e lo me wit'.iont i i"c.;r, as I have come *o you in al! contiu-. j i}cn. I* came not to fight, hue | ,aloiife with the Kelp o,t' God, and God is with me." The shieks replied : "We hayeiread your letter. .You say you | at-e with Gpd. If you are with Gotl 1 you nro with us, because Got! is v/iih ' us. -If you arc nol; with us tiieu GcKi.-i {?■ against thee, and we shall do wii'f thee as we have done with Hicks 1 Pasl.a." The Dunedin .S/arthus comments o;Sir George. Grey's recent polhi.Ail ' speech in that city : — "The village publiehousesin thy We^t ,. .<^, £»i^**w«lv dispense of liquor. w!n\;h ruKtt&lled ' tKldlywink,' 'made by tircT^rtople process -of pouring water into recently emptied beer casks and giving them a good shake» up. The result is a rather light beverage, with no body to speak of, which is sold at about a halfpenny a glass. The address in the Garrison Hall by Sir George Grey involuntarily reminded US of Devonshire, and we i think, without, offence , but with truth, I it may.be described as ' political tkldlyi wii/k.' The almost universal feeling of 1 the immense audience -was one of grave ! disappointment, and we do nn feigned ly | regret that oik; who has done tie State such service, and who personally holds so high a position in the esteem and regard of hisfellowcitizens, should have j committed himself t« such a deliver- ! ance." According to the last report of the i Panama Company's chief engineer, M. Dinglair, the works, are now being pushed on actively on 14 sections of the canal. M. Dinglair hopes that the, canal will be entirely finished in three and a half years — that is to say, a little before the period first announced by M. de Lesseps. The total number of men now engaged on the works iv 15, 000, • ■