MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 6, 23 April 1877, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

A warrant has been issued for the apprehension of a man named Moffat, who, has been manufacturing powder wholesale for tlte natives north, of, the Wanganni; district. A holy of friendly natives bare, been sent »©. apprehend him. "A. novel action was heard In theDistrict C*wf on Thursday, M«rch 15th. Wt the Sydney Kfpninfr Newc rtftles. "in which a solicitor's «Jerlr» nxmed Lee, sought to recover £30 Iffem the C[areiie©. ; and Richmond Hive*- Sfftm Navigation* Company, for breach of *n Agreement to take htm (Lee) frorathe Macleay liiver to. Sydney, in one of their steamers. The .^ company uleaded— firstly, not Sffril^j $*- seconlly, th it from the contract made, the defendants, were discharged by the* band of God, namely that the- state of thebar of the harbor at the Macleay prevented the passage of tile steamer;, and thirdly, that there waa a mutual rescission of the contract and a new one. agreed- to. The evidence showed that about the middle of August last year Lee went to the company's office, aad paid £& for a retain ticket to the Maelesy Btver. On his arrival at the Madeay Biver he left the steamer, aad transacted what business he had to do in the district.. By the advertisements in the papers, and. by an. understanding with the company when the ticket was paid tor, Lee was led' to believe th*t he conld return to, Sydney on Wednesday, the 28r4 ApguaK On Miat day (Anoint, 23) Lee ascertained from Mr F«*u*on, the agent hf~ thecompany at Kempsey, thaf there wouli be no boat that day, as the be* wait uncrossabie, and that the steamer Ballina,. the usual steamer, had gone to thei larence so as not to be kept idle watting forthe4>artobeeome«roasab!e* ThereuponLee sent telegrams to the comp ny complaining of the hardship he suffered by ' being detained fromhiawprk* a* well as incurriag great expense. The companyin reply agreed to reftind him £% and said that he could return to Sydney by the steamer that would leave Port Macqnarie on the following Sunday. On Saturday Lee engaged a horse and rode from Kempsey. to Port Maequane, where on the Sunday, he embarked On board, th^ steamer and was brought to. Sydney. Lee now claimed £30 for loss of time, hotel; expenses, &o. t occasioned bybis detention from the Wednesday to th* Sunday following. His Honor Mr | District Court Judge Dowling held that the plaintiff had not made out any special, contract with the defendants, and even, if he had done so,, the defendants we» prevented by the act. of God from fulfilling ths same.** A. work entitled "The Story of the Clyde," by Mr Deas, is the subject of an, article in Chambers' Journal of November. The reviewer visited Glasgow in 1824, and describes the-Hlyde as then a small stream about th* width of the Tweed, but not so deep. Its shipping at Broomelaw consisted of small sailing boats and lighters, and two or three steamers of the class of the Comet, which drew four feet of water,, carrying forty passengers, and making the trip to Greenock in one d»y m favorable weather, always supposing.it escaped the-ahtllowi, At the present day drawing twenty-three feet three inches have come from Greenpek to Glasgow in one tide. These improvements have been, carried out by the Clyde Trust, its sole revenue, being tonnage dues on, vessels using theriver. The expenditure from 1770 to, January 1875 amounted to six millions, seven, hundred and seventy^four then* sand pounds, and in the same period the. population of Glasgow has risen from thirty-fire thousand to half a million

la&krng the aecond city of the Empire mth apparently no limit to its wealth anJ importance. Mr Deas presents a narraii?e of the proceeding for deepening and straightening the river, which in some places wm so shallow that it could be forded on foot, Where sandbanks were bare at low water, land -Roughs were used to break up the banks so that the current might carry the sind away. Where the banks were tinder wnler, they were torn up by harrows attached to Steam tu'43. an I swept away by t 1 c tide. Then dredging W ;ts resorted to, and where rocks were encountered these had to be blasted ; one bed of whinstone rock nine hundred feet in length alone cost sixteen thousand pounds ia its removal. JJredgmK » still persevered with unceas"M? «J»*JSyt. the machines depositing the dredging m hopper barges which empty their contents at sea at a total co3t of about five pence per cubic yard. The writer remarks that on bis visit to Glasgow in 1824 the predominant idea of that keenwitted and 3elf*reliant community was t0 ttake Glasgow a seaport, and in aeßiefing this wonderful success the result reflecting credit on the far-seeing intelligence of the community ; the rise of Glasgow being one of Great Britain.