PROVINOIAL AND COLONIAL.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XI, Issue 550, 25 May 1880, Page 7

PROVINOIAL AND COLONIAL.

A bi}l will be shortly introduced in 'the. New South Wales Parliamentasking author-1 ity for the conversion of the Sydney Exhibition building into a market.' ','":; The stock of coal in, Melbourne. u now sb low that all orders have been fluspe'ndbd.' • The supply ia barely sufficient for immediate requirements. The dearth is caused by the miners' strike at Newcastle, N.S.W. ' '

A large anti-Chinese meeting has lately been held in Melbourne. The iri an article points out that thenumber.of Chinese! in Victoria has largely decreased of late •years, and that serious competition by them with Europeans is impossible. At Sydney a youth named Ball has been arrested under warrant and committed for trial on a charge of offering Sir Henry Parkes (the Premier and Colonial Secretary) the sum of' £SO as ,a : consideration for' the Premier to: secure him ah appointment in the Civil Service./ At the Milton District Court last week, before -Judge Harvey and a jury of 12, Isabella Hamlyn was tried for concealment of .birth, Mr Donald Reid, who defended the prisoner, made a yery, able, .address to the jury on her behalf. After a few minutes' deliberation, 7 the jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty,', ; / During a gale last Tuesday at Ashburton a slaughter-house was blown down, burying R. .Lancaster (well known in these parts) and another man who was working in the building at the time. After being dug out the men received medical attention. They were cut and bruised about the head, but not seriously injured. At Oamaru on Wednesday morning while a man was looking for a frost-fish, he came upon the. body of a man lying upon the beach between Ribble and Eden streets. He at once gave information to the police, and the body was removed to the Commercial Hotel, where it was recognised as that of Michael O'Keefe. There were no marks of violence on the body, and deceased was seen the previous evening by the police, when he appeared to be perfectly sane, although under the influence of drink.

The skill of the Celestials in legerdemain is exercised even in their cookery, and at a recent Chinese banquet to Americans in San Francisco, some very curious dishes were produced. Each guest, the San Francisco News Letter tells Us, received an orange which appeared to be in its pristine condition, but, on being opened, was found to contain five different kinds of jelly. No trace was visible of any cut in the orange to extract the pulp. Colored eggs were also filled with jelly, nuts, meat, and sweets in a similar manner. The interpreter when asked for an explanation, declared " Melicah man heap smart, why he not findee out ?" - > A Sandhurst paper relates how two boys played truant from school, and to keep out of sight, selected a cutting on the Danger Hill, Calif omian Gully, which divides the Hercules claim. After sitting down and playing for some time, one of the lads, named Rose wall, observed something bright sticking out of the and on closer examination found it to be a lump of gold. The boy returned home, and, very properly, received the usual thrashing from his mother for playing truant, after which he showed her the oval nugget. The nugget is of pure gold, and was waterworn on one side. When gold the price realised will be about LIOO. Ex-Mayor Gatehouse, of Melbourne, and his sons must be playful " cusses." They have been visiting Geelong lately and playing up there, much to the annoyance of the townsfolk. They visited the Exhibition, and created some consternation by their eccentricities, and made fools of themselves by marching about the streets carrying dilapidated umbrellas and penny buns. After almost drowning an old swagsman with beer, they conveyed him to a hair-dresser's shop, and, during the absence of the proprietor, shaved off one side of his beard, and cut off the opposite side of his hair to the scalp. Numerous other practical jokes were played. The " gay old cuss" was lined LSO for his pranks.

The Australasian has a long obituary notice of the late Mr T. W. Wills, from which we cull the following extract:—-Mr Thomas Wentworth Wills, or " Tommy Wills" as he was familiarly called, was one of the pioneers of cricket in Australia, and not many years since his name was a household word wherever the game of cricket was played. He was the chief of that band of cricketers whose disinterested exertions (so different from what is too frequently the case now) caused Victoria to assume the proud position of the leading cricketing colony of Australia, and of that band no one contributed more to bring cricket to its present flourishing position than "Tommy Wills." He was a good all-round cricketer, and as a judge of the game and a general no one has ever seen his equal here. As a bowler—at times "a thrower"—he was facile prmceps. As a batsman he was always "all there" when wanted, with a heart always in the right place, and if not an elegant style, yet a dogged defence, combined with hard hitting, that nonplussed so often the best bowlers to whom he was opposed. He was a capital field anywhere, and as a skipper always alive to take advantage of the least opening that presented itself. He was in fact'' the Grace" of Australia, but unlike that celebrated player of the Old World, Tommy Wills was as well-known for his good nature and kind heart as he was famous for his skill as a player. In addition to his prowess as a cricketer, he was also one of the best footb*ll players the colony has ever had.