General Intelligence.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXVII, Issue 1362, 28 May 1895, Page 3

General Intelligence.

The profits of Stoddart's cricket tour in Australia amounted to £7OOO. Over 100 grocers called meetings of their creditors in Melbourne during the month of March. There are said to be 535 solicitors practising iu New Zealand, or one to every 1361 inhabitants. Mr J. C. Anderson, of Stirling, gets £6l 10s for the pigs destroyed owing to the oubreak of swine fever. Messrs Black more and Palmer, the New Zealand pomologists, are visiting the fruitgrowing districts of South Australia. During: the course of a divorce case in Melbourne the petitioner (the wife) alleged that her husband was liviug with another man's wife, whom he had purchased for £1,500. Tt is said that a certain Auckland resident threatens to test in the Divorce Court the right of his wife to devote her time to politics aud leave his dinner uncooked aud his shirts minus their buttons. The result will be anxiously looked forward to, and won't there be a rush for the evening papers on the day on which the decision is given 1 In the New South Wales Assembly recently a motion that " every married man, being an elector, shall have an extra vote for his wife and an extra vote tor each child ; that every unmarried woman of the age of twentyone should have a vote, ana that widows should have a vote for themselves and their children" was negatived on the voices. The settlers in the Braid wood district of New South Wales are having a very unpleasant experience. They report to the Minister of Lands, who has been visiting the locality, that they could make both'ends.meet were it not that a new disease known as liver rot has played havoc among their flocks during the past two or three years. During 1894 one settler lost 7000 sheep, another 11,000, and a third 16,000 sheep from liver rot and fluke. In a civil case brought by a commercial traveller against a Wanganui hotelkeeper for £4O 17s, being money stolen from the complainant's pocket while sleeping at the hotel, it was alleged that the hotelkeeper was responsible for the safekeeping of the guest's property, but it was held that as complainant neither locked his door or handed his money to the landlord to keep, he had not availed himselt of the means at his disposal for securing the safety of his money. This opinion was upheld, and plaintiff was nonsuited. Dan Floyd was a typical old salt, dwelling iu a rude little cabin in a small western fishing hamlet. Since the death of his first wife old Dan has been sorely tossed about by the rude blasts of the widower's life, and he eagerly longed to enjoy once again the peaceful sailing on the matrimonal ocean. An elderly Peggotty of the village seemed capitally suited to his wants. One day Dan called at this lady's cottage, and at once told her the state of his feelings. " Look here, Peggy, lass," he said, "my old vessel fails to weather this 'ere kind o' life. Wilt thou come abroad and be my pilot ? " Peggy seemed almost to have been expecting the visit, for she had this neat little answer ready at hand : " Nay, Dau, I wunna be the pilot, but I'll readily step aboard and be thy second mate." Admiralty blunders are not (says a Paris correspondent) a privilege of Great Britain alone. The Freucli Minister of marine kept at St. Pierre Miquelon, near Newfoundland, a stock of empty barrels which had contained lard, wine, and sale meat. The Colonial Governor, not knowing what to do with these " empties," which were rotting and falling to pieces, asked that they might be removed. The Commissioner of the Minister of Marine ruled, however, that they must be sent to France. As no transport was to bo found in the Newfoudland waters, it was necessary to charter a sailiug vessel, the Sealiower, which was on its way to St. Malo. The vessel landed the other day, its precious freight, a sum of £IOO being paid by the admiralty to the owners. The barrels were sold by auction and fetciied the sum of £G ! Thesh are the Oamaru Mail's conclusions on the Waiareka school case : " As a matter of fact the whole ol the more serious charges were proved, but, beyond a gentle reproof, the Board did .not deem it necessary to administer any punishment to the inspector found guilty of grossly irregular conduct aud neglect of duty. If it be a settled opinion that the requirements of the case have been met, then faith in the Board, as well as the bona fides of school examinations, must perish, and it must be clearly understood that teachers are left to the mercy of an inspector who relies on a treacherous memory, whose bearing is autocratic, aud whose general demeanor disqualifies him as the repository of implicit trust. Out of all this there might arise a demand for some change that will restore confidence in those who have control of education in Otago, and in those whose duty it is to report honestly and without bias upon the work done by the teachers. Two things are clear : One step further has been taken in the direction of removing inspectors from the control of Education Boards, and the proposal to set up teachers' appeal courts comes none too soon."

Christchurch Truth remarks that Treasurer Wan I should ask the Bank of Knglttnd to start a branch, in the colony. A Hindoo withdrew a sum of money from the Warnambool Post Office Savings Bank on Saturday, and refused to take the interest with it, remarking "Me don't want any money but my own." The interest was placed in a poor box. Mr Wilson, M.H.R., recently addressed the electors of Sanson, and, when the time for questioning came, a voter rose up at the back of the hall and asked the speaker if he would then and there take the pledge and become a Good Templar. Mr Wilson was palpably surprised at the request, but rallied sufficiently to inform his interlocutor that no pledges would be more sacred to him than those given to the electors at the time of his return to Parliament. Whereupon a smile went round, and the questioner retired into the inner most recesses of his shell.— Advocate. The following is from the Wellington Post :—The Illustrated London JS r ews of 30th March contains a full page advertisement headed " Mining in New Zealand— Achilles Goldfields, Limited." There are four illustrations. It will probably be news to most of our readers to learn that this Company "owns the celebrated Phceuix Mine, known to be one of the richest gold mines in New Zealand," which is situated at Skippers, in Otago. £50,000 has, it is stated, been already spent in developing the properties and on the machinery. There is no signature or name attached to the advertisement, but investors are invited to "go to the New Zealand Colonial Office in Victoria street, Westminster, and see that the property is a genuine gold mine, and has paid in the past." A Japanese journal says that from the 12th of. June last to December 20th, in the China-Japanese war, 17 battles' were fought, which represented 17 decisive Japanese victories ; that in the actions 418 Japanese lost their lives and 1,665 were injured ; that.of the Chinese, 6,620 were said to be killed, 9,500 wounded, and 1,164 taken prisoners; that ammunition valued at £507,000 sterling also fell .to. the conquerers, besides arras, tents, specie, vessels of various sizes, three men of-war, and other spoils; and thac the gain to Japan is represented by a sum exceeding 7,300,000 .dollars, while, as to these figures must be added the booty at Port Arthur. It is declared by the same authority, the grand total of the property is represented by a sum of 700,000,000 dollars.