MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume XI, Issue 1754, 8 September 1886, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

I • ■ An important discovery was ma.le : by the nViPi-tives of M^oume (says : tho A runs) of up.i'fy £300 worth of diamonds, ami other pinions stones, • medals, and gold, which were recently j stolen from the Australian Museum j (College street, Sydney Art Gallery.) I The robbery completely pnzzled the Sydney police, to whom it was immed lately reported. It had evidently bean committed by some person who had secreted himself in the. institutions until after they were closed. A strict search was made, hut the only result was the recovery of the ivory brooch which had lieen pawned in the shop ot » Mr Collins, in Sydney, by * man who gave the na>ne of C. M. Cook. The name in which the hroocti was pawned attracted the attention of the detectives, ns it was similar to that adopted by Donald M. Forest, who » nnder committal for trial for hiving stolen Baron Von Mueller's medals from the Technological Museum, when he pawned those medaH Inquiries were immediately set on foot to establish corroboration of the so*« picion. Inquiries of the principal jewiWs eli,t.d the facts that a ring in whi-'h a topaz had been set was awnHng the owsierat one stop, whilst the proprietor of another had bought 13 diamonds for a few pounds from a man who si id he had recently arrived fom the KimVrley diamond-fields. South Africa. The stones were then on their way r,o England to be cut. Th^e dfsenptions «»iven to the detective 3by these various persons of th» ?nnM they dealt with asrreeS with that of Forest. The prisoner is a telegraph operator. He arrived in Sydney seven months ago from California, »nd has since passed several times be ween Melbourne and Sydney. Steps have been taken to have the diamonds returned when they reach England. In connection with the statements of the Government Resident it Appears fiat Sergeant Troy brought down to Derby the statements of men on the field .'and the Resident selected som« eirht or nine, which he read. The correspondent of the Melbourne Argus says these were on the whole very honefnl and favourable, and though many of them differed in their anticipa- ! tions of what the field would torn our, they all tod the same tale in one important particular. They had all ! ?ot some cold— even in th« d^pth of th- 'by season, wlien some of the best jjnl'ies could not be worked for want of water. One man found a gully coitai"ing niv-iblo gol ' on the M*r* caret rive* . but. nit heing «'»!«• to work if for want of wit^r. roturned to M'Ph'-e's g'i'ly. S*arti'i<» to work one afternoon he o'> f ii«'-d 26dwt, and estimated his avem^e duly take at •t!nn» l.iz. A.Dtl.er j^i-rty of five had n'.tanvd 92 z i«"?j»j*r» the end of M<c'iivd t'i'> b»*r'M»ni"-c of June. Th«» in." a l ' mo ••'»•>■ •<V < f !» <l( 'r reports tli« v»"-y witlo )>r . . s>" '••"•d by f!.e »y.»ld. and m»ny expr v d their firm baUef

that good reefs would he found. One man estimated that tV alluvia! »oU) would support a population of.2iOp men for two years. Another 'jnan stated that he got ibout » in a pan of dirt One old miner, in giving his daily avenge, it Ided, " B-sid«-* nuggets, wljieh we t-fi-kon chance finds, and don't count." Experience does not appear to be an ••s<ential in getting the pre-ious nn-tal, for the police went out o-ie morning and not several pennyweights— men who hud never «e«u ga)d "growing wiU" before. Glowing accnuntshave reached Port Darwin of the appearance of the Kv«>]«en silver mine. Tin- first return is expected about six weeks hence Robingon's silver claim i« said to be opening up well, and Solomon's claim. near the Eveleeu, is turning out good ore. Reports are frequently made of fresh discoveries, but the. localities and particulars are suppressed. In connectioi with th*» recently* report^ gold.Vlds at Moivtr Lyail, Tasmania, it will be wort iy of acol lection that ?om« exfraordim-ry ■■»••*» auriferous quarhE was* found in the King River initvs and a!so in an adjoining njin<», * f< w years :ii">. So»ic ©f the ston« wa* ?vbibite<l at !i.u. ; - « ton, and it wn proMbly the •« !i«-t r it« kind ever se^n in Taxman 1 ••> mi* ;■■■■>.. it not the ri<-h«'st ev-r ev!iihiii-d m Australia. About 20 zof ")ld «<■•> extracted frcin 2cwt of stone. A ! «)aira in the locality, for instan.p, paid a dividend of 6d per share from a tingle barrow 'o«d of Bpefimens, despite the fact that the c'-ihm had «ot ttTrned out successful ventures. A London paper says : '• The new* that a flwbatance has boon discovered which is 230 times sweeter than svga' 1 tineaten* to effect a domestic revolution. We may expect that ere 'ong «u'j;a» basins will disappear, and that, i*i then* place, tiny silver cups, of the size of acorns, containing homwpatliic globu leg, will come into fashion. Jhe fact that the new substance, the name of which is saccharin, is a product of coal tar, is, in these days no drawback to its general adoption : from the same source, we draw many of our essences, to gay nothing of Colo in<; matters. Moreover, tar is a product ofc-oul, which is itself a product of wood. There, is no reason, therefore, why it should be more objectionable than «ugar derived directly from the caiift The new substance is already coining largerly into use in the hospitals of Berlin, as it appears that it can be used, in some ailments, where cane sugar would be injurious. At present its price is very much higher than that of sugar, bnt in proportion to its sweetness it is even now cheaper; and we may be sure that mw methods of pro duction which will enable it to cope with cane sugar, will soon be discovered."