MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1528, 30 March 1885, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

All that most of us known of the little island of Tristan d'Aeunba (says the Post) is that it is an island in the South Atlantic, exactly in the track ♦f vessels making the run out from 'England round the Cape of Good Hope, and that it is often the only land sighted between the Cape de Verdes and New Zealand. Although they often sia;ht the island, vessels seldom call there, and it will interest our readers to know that the barque Kenilworth, which arrived in port this morning, forms an exception to the general rule, as she brings its a little budget of news obtained from the residents of the island. It appears that on the 6th of January, whil* ten miles from Tristan d'Acunha, the Keuilworth was boarded *>y the islanders, who were in two whaleboats, and stores wore exchanged. They reported that the population of the island at that time consisted of 19 families, or 101 sojls in all. They complained of lieiug very short of provisions, and expressed a wish that more vessels would visit tbem in their island homo. Most of the residents are mulattoes, forn on the island. Among them is one Yorkshireman, whe has been living" with the natives for 16 years. Their minister had left them in November, his time having expired, but they did tho 'fip«t they could in Im absence ; j in fact a 'wedding Wil s coming off two | day« after the Kpniiworth's visit The island, they said, was infested with rats, which had reached it from the hull o? a schooner which had been wrecked on the reef at the south end of the island. The captain of the Kenilworth speaks of the islanders as decent and quiet-- people, who were quite willing to baner potatoes, fowls, and Other produce for ship's stores. In October last Vienna was startled by two murders committed in bread daylight, one case being' that of an author named Kostler, and the other that of a woman who kept a second-hand shop. At the time the police had no clue but they have now succeeded in discovering that a vouag tinsmith, committed l»oth crime-?.* At first he denied energetically. but he confessed when a scrap «f paper Which he left behind him, wheu he tried to sell his watch as a pretext for enter tng the second-hand shop, was produced, and fou,nd" exactly to fit' into a notebook he carried. He murdered Kostler and the woman with the same tinsmith/i hammer, and succeeded in finding on ib* two a sura total of »nly about sever fartin*. As he is under 20 years of ag« h* cy*rj »/"!/ be aenteuced according U t fa. \*w >o 20 years' haidlalwur. ff M r fy» (Ais.y, at pnjs ut residing fn i*.*rrtv.t'A Gail, in of a Lterary tun tyimnf, he » tv a position to write i

very interesting account of what tnaj happen to a Chinaman io Otago, A Miss Docberty invoked the aid of thf law for tbe maintenance of ber child . a summons was taken out against Lo Choy, but the officer of the law, puzzled by the striking resemblance that one Celestial bears to another, served tIV piece of blue paper on Mr Gong Sue. « n order was'made for the pay ment of 78 a week, in default six months' imprison ment. Lo Choy in the meantime was peacefully and ist'iorantly following his ordinary occupation ; but a few days ago he found himself arrested and thrown into .fiol. On making inquiries he found chat he had been declared by a court of law to be a father, and liable to m ike a weekly payment in consequence. Lo Choy declares that this was the first time he «*vor heard of the matter, and that if he* had an opportunity he could prove the contrary. As matters stand, however, it appears very doubtful whether be will have a chance of doing so, as such a strange occurrence lias probably not beon contemplated by law-makers, and there seems to be much difficulty in the way of getting liim out of gaol before t'.iesix niDiiths have expired.