MISCELLANEOUS

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 5366, 10 December 1885, Page 5 (Supplement)

MISCELLANEOUS

Mr Lindsay, of Adelaide, is about to lead an expedition into the interior. Captain Armstrong, of Sydney, claims to have invented a submarine telescope. In Denmark the publican is obliged to send a drunken man home in a cab. Beer is more dangerous than whiskey. That is the verdict of the Scientific American. Natural gas has been struck in Ithaca, New York, while a well was being bored for water. Twins, who were joined at the breast by a strong growth of flesh, were born dead in Milwaukee recently. The latest report of the South Australian Mining Association shows their property to be valued at £128,638. In 1862, the average price paid for gas in London exceeded 4s Id per lOOOfr. This has now dropped to rather less than 2s lid. Four thousand persons are "annually buried in the " Potter's Field" of New York city. Mr Balraer, solicitor, who lately left Oamaru suddenly, is now, it is said, at Honolulu. During the past year 20,000 articles left in London cabs were delivered up by drivers, to whom rewards amounting to upwards of £2000 had been given. The society for promoting the use of Roman letters in the place of the German is fast extending in Germany. A daughter of Sir F. A. Weld, late -Governor- of Tasmania, has entered a convent recently in England. Queensland's output of gold is now about three times that of New South Wales, and is increasing. Indeed, it is not going too far to claim that it is the coming gold-pro-ducing colony of Australia. "Do not marry a widdower, " said the old lady. A ready-made family is like a plate of cold potatoes." "Oh, I'll soon warm them," replied the damsel. There is no legal tender in China, and silver is the money metal of that country, passing by weight. The number of plants used by man does not exceed 3000. The ladies of a sewing society were busily engaged at their work when the seven-year-old son of the hostess asked Mrs Bentley if she belonged to an archery club. "No, Bobby," she replied, amused at the question, " What put that into your head?" "Pa did. He said you can beat any woman in town in drawing the longbow." A glove contest between Matthews, the American boxer, and Burke, of the Thames took place at the Academy of Music, Thames, recently, Matthews proving victorious after a punishing battle. The American, who knocked out his opponent in three rounds, says Burke is one of the gamest men he ever met. Dr Germain See rscently read a paper at the French Academy cf Medicine on the treatment of obesity. The method which he recommends for getting rid of superfluous flesh is simple. Azotised food is, he holds, the great cause of fat, and accordingly he insists on a sparing consumption of meat. Alcoholic beverages he proscribes altogether ; but he allows the victims of corpulency as much tea as they can drink. This is the entire programme. What becomes of the sour beer ? This was a question that was put in the Nelson Court a f ew.jdays ago to. three brewers, all of whom were pressed hard for an answer, but the only one that was forthcoming was, "It is utilised." This is a convenient team, but it leaves the mystery unsolved. It is stated that the Postmaster-General has refused a pension to Mr Cornwall, late S cretary of the General Post Office, Dublin, who, while reiterating his innocence of the charge against him, will not proceed further with the libel action against Mr O'Brien, M.P., editor of United Ireland. His salary has been paid to the date of his resiguation. During the three months the Exhibi- | tion was open the only articles reported to be missing from the buildings were a ball of twine, which disappeared from the Picture Gallery, and the cover for a picture. The Republic of Chile now owes an account of her railways £5,000,000. In 1883 these railways earned a revenue of £1,000,000. The railways of the Argentine Republic are on the average earning an annual dividend of 6| per cent. Great complaints are rife at Antwerp with regard to the quality of the water supplied by the Waterworks Company. An official enquiry is urgently demanded. The farmers on the Scilly Isles have abandoned potato culture to grow the narcissus and other flowers, which prove a more profitable crop for the London market. The amount of land in Scotland devoted to deer-raising is estimated at about two million acres. On this land about 4650 stags and an equal number of hinds are shot each year. A Toulon special to the London Times, dated August Bth, says:— The sanitary state of Toulon is excellent, in spite of reports to the contrary, emanating from unscrupuluous newsmongers. The English railroads are having as hard times this year as our own. Only one of the fourteen principal companies pays a higher divi<l ■ id than lost year, while ten have reduce : their rate. The San Francisco papers record the curiousseriesof coincidences thattheEdderside and Lochee, ships, which both sailed from Newcastle for that port on July 21, at the same hour took their pilots off the American coast, and arrived also in port together, and yet during the voyage neither was in sight of the other. The first Protestant mission in Guatemala was opened by the Presbyterians two years ago. The city has a large population, of which 180,000 are whites. The Gospel is preached with .entire freedom, influential classes welcome the missionary, and the President himself sends five children to the first school opened. A Protestant church, the first in the city, was organised last December. According 'to the statement of Mgr. Raimondi, apostolic vicar of Hongkong, the Roman Catholic Church now numbers in China 35 bishops. Of these 17 are French, 12 Spanish, 3 Belgian, and X Dutch. These conduct the administration in 33 vicarites in the various provinces. Under them are found 566 foreign and 542 Chinese priests. More than a quarter of a century ago the "fcoung Men's Christian Association of Chicago established a free bureau for tho benefit of employers and those wanting work. About four thousand are annually employed through this agency.

The Canterbury Council lately was left unreported in the papers through the inconsiderateness of that body towards the reporters. The Council of Bath, on the other hand, when it was making alterations to its Chambers, invited suggestions from the reporters with regard to the convenience of the latter, and made a point of seeing them all carried out. The first London directory was brought out by Sam Lee, in 1677. It consisted of 64 leaves Bvo., and contained 1790 names of tradesmen, besides a separate list of 64 goldsmiths who kept "running cashes." A copy of it is to be seen in the Bodleian Library. Germany has consented to the resumption of the importation of swine from Austro-Hungary. This action has produced an excellent impression in Vienna and Pesth, and ia regarded as the first step on the part oE Germany to a clear understanding bt the Customs difficulty which has been^prevalent so long. Signor Vecci and wife, who were arrested with feignor Dorides, editor of the Moniteiir de Home, for selling a foreign Power the plap of the Italian maritime defences, hav,e attempted to commit suicide. The ] issegna says that Dorides intended the pi ns for France. Gas injures eather. Russia and calf suffer most, anc morocco least. British polio man are prohibited from voting at Parlia oentary elections, The Paris Myaro was willed by the original proprietor to a committee of gentlemen engaged on the literary staff, who draw £3000 a ylar out of the concern. They cannot individually part with their shares, but as eack one dies his share goes to the survivors. (The last survivor will probably be very rich before he dies. A reporter went?, fco his office early one morning and f oum [ the door locked while the editor and h s staff were up on the third flat too bus;i; to hear the knocking down below. The reporter at once took a cab, and going to the Ceneral Post Office telegraphed back to his editor to send down and open thje door. On returning to the office he fofcnd that the telegram had taken effect. Experiments took place at Woolwich Arsenal recently to test the practicability of photographing the interior of guns by the electric light, so as to detect flaws during their manufacture, or cracks after firing. The experiments were regarded as satisfactory. Last year 18,761 elementary day schools came under inspection. These schools had 38,999 teachers bearing the certificates of the department, and provided accommodation for 4,826,738 scholars. The nun?ber of names on the registers of these schools was only- 4,337,321, so that had every child on the books been present, there would have been not far short of half a million empty seats. j The Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations was to hold its annual conference at Hamburg from the 12th to the 21st of last month. The Congo Question, the International Protection of Telegraphic Cables, Conflicts of Marriage Law, Shipowners' Liability, and Collisions at Sea, are among the subjects io be discussed. Since the p^eath of General Grant an ex-traordinary-Impetus has been given to recruiting in the Grand Army of the Republic of New York. • The records of the office of the "Assistant-Quartermaster-General at Brooklyn indicates that nearly l.O^ja.soldijpSj^s^bj^v^ad ..inarinesj^lio , served in tfie Union Army or Navy during the late war Have been mustered in throughout the state", and applications for charters for new posts ate constantly being made. .. / From cork chippings, once thrown away, thousands of yards of linoleum are now made at Delmenhorst, Germany, where the industry is Jbeconiing quite important. '. There is (says the Times correspondent) a fair prospect that the works for the improvement of fche-Danube waterway will at last be undertaken. The commission of experts appointed to examine the I means of remov ng the obstructions at the j Iron Gates is noarly ready with its report, and meanwhile the Hungarian Government has granted £150,000 for dredging operations on the Hungarian part of the Danube. This money is to be recouped by tolls on shipping. Dom Pedro, of Brazil, is the oldest living sovereign. He "has reigned 53 ; years, or since he was six years old. Brazil has still 1, 000, 000 slaves. The wholesale uprooting of edelweiss in the Austrian Alps is to be prohibited by law, to prevent its absolute and speedy extermination. A congress of Orientalists will assemble next year at Vienna, arid on that occasion an exhibition of articles brought from the East will be held in the Oriental Museum. A commemorative pamphlet will also be issued containing illustrations of the principal Oriental curiosities preserved in Vienna. The latest official list of officers of the German navy shows an enormous increase aa compared with the state of things ten years ago. The number of officers in active service is now more than thrice "as many as in 1873, when the plan for the formation of the navy was settled. There are 1600 kinds of pears, 1500 sorts of apples, 150 plums, more than 150 varieties of gooseberries, and about 125 of strawberries.* An old farmer found himself by chance in a London eating-house one day. The waiter asked him what he would take, Hodge didn't know. " Shall I bring you a bill of fare, sir?" " Well" said the farmer, "I think I'd as lief have a plate o' that as of anything/ Doctor—" Have you ever tried sea-bath - ing, sir?" Invalid— " Yes, I tried it once ; but it is too hard work. Dressing and undressing are very tiresome." Doctor — "I don't quite understand." Invalid — "Well, you ; see, the doctor I had there said I must take a toddy after each bath."' Doctor — "Yes; but suppose* he did ?" Invalid— "lt kept me bathing all J the time." Thing 3 One Would Rather Have Lefc Unsaid.— Mrs Parker (who is accompanied by two daughters)—" By the way, Sir Blake, we've just seen your friend, Mrs Pophanv and her two pretty daughters !" Young Sir Biuks— "Have you really" I've been looking for them everywhere. Such a crowd, you know ! One's always meeting the wrong people !" — Punch. . The Natives of the Carolines, numbering from 28,000 to 30,000, belonging to the brown Polynesian stock, are of large size and strongly built, with a nut-brown complexion in the eastern section, and a dark copper color in the Pelews, the people of which, however, belong to a distinct race.

Aa economical American suggests the idea of burying the dead in an upright position in order to save room in graveyards. The cause of the death of TiYhistler, the American athlete, who disposed of Dinnie, Miller, and all the other leading Victorian athletes, was simply through neglecting a cold he caught before he wrestled Miller. It afterwards settled on his lungs, became acute and inflammatory, and death followed. All the athletes in Victoria followed the funeral, and also hundreds of others. Prince Bismarck recently told a Russian diplomatist that he had decided never again to use tobacco in any form, and that he regarded cigarette smoking as extremely noxious, and ridiculous to boot. Fifteen hundred telephone instruments in Buffalo are supplied from electricity made by the water-power at Niagara Falls. A very precise person remarking upon Shakspeare's line, "the good men do is oft interred with their bones," carefully observes this interment can generally take place without crowding the bones. Mr Aarons, the manager of the Ravenswood Gold-smelting Company, left Townsville for Melbourne, with two bars of silver and gold, weighing 8600z., being the first results of the local treatment of mundic and silver-lead ores. The results of the working by small furnaces have been so successful that the company has ordered a furnace of much larger capacity, which is now on the way from Sydney. This will obviate the necessity of shipping mundic ore 3 from Ravenswood to Swansea and Freiberg. Hugh Childers, once of Australia, and late Chancellor of the Exchequer in the G. O. M. 's Ministay, is a greedy fellow. He receives a retiring pension of £2,000 a year, also a pension from the Victorian Government of £850 a year. All this time he gets £1,000 a year, as English chairman of a New York Insurance Company. This beats Yogel. In the burning climate of the African Sahara, the water-skins, which at 2 o'clock have occassionally a temperature exceeding 100 degrees, will, by the excessive radiation during the night, be frozen before morning. In Fezzari, where the December sun has been known to raise the mercury at midday to the terrible height of 130 degrees, just before daybreak, it will fall 7 degrees below the freezing point. China, which only six years ago had but six miles of telegraph lines, has now completed a system by which .Canton, the capital of Southern China, is brought into direct communication with the metropolis of the north. News of the principal cities can now reach London within four hours. The London correspondent of the Lyttelton Times writing under date Sept. 25, says : — The feeling which seems to be entertained in England by the promoters of the South Island East and vVest Coast Railway is that, while annoyed at the rejection of their scheme, they cannot but admire the skillful engineering by which the opponents of the project in the North Island and the southern portion of the South Island have maintained sufficient unanimity amongst themselves to ensure its defeat. The scheme, however, is not by any means dead, and negotiations are proceeding with a view of carrying it out on different lines. A rumor is current in London that a guarantee of £30,000 in■l?tea4 il --bf-' ; '-'fi97;oOp r 'peT'-annum--- would be .accepted, but, on enquiry, this report was^ not verified. What is more probable is? that, instead of taking up money in a way . that would enable them to rush the works through in three and a half years, the promoters will proceed more leisurely, and be able to do their financing on much easier conditions, carrying the line out in about 10 years — a plan which thoir arrangement with the Government would enable them to adopt. Nothing, however, at the present time, is settled, and it is doubtful whether the negotiations now proceeding wll close within a week io-ra month. A new explosive, known as kinetite, is at present being studied in Germany. It consists, it is stated, of a mixture of oils and gun-cotton, and it is said to be superior to dynamite, as its manufacture and manipulation are absolutely without danger, because it will detonate only under peculiar and well defined conditions of shockl Only the part exposed to concussion explodes, and when fired it burns quietly, with a brilliant light. The true composition is being kept secret. At Ghent a curious case is being tried. A woodman some time since called attention . to a man hanging from a tree, cut him down, and sold the rope at one-and-a-half franc an inch to a number of people who believed in its talismanic power. It now appears that the suicide had shot himself, and the woodman, willing to turn an honest penny, strung him up. The buyers have brought an action to recoiggr their money on account of fraud. In charging a Lewes' jury in a breach of promise case recently Baron Huddlesfcon remarked that he was not one of those Judges who thought that actions of this character should be discouraged or abolished ; and he considered that if a man broke a contract to marry a woman the woman was as much entitled to ask for damages for this breach as she would for a breach of any other contract that was made with her. The bicyclists have scored a dubious triumph. A gentleman was summoned before an English Magistrate for riding down a hill at the rate of 16 miles an hour, with his feet at rest. The Magistrate, however, said he could see nothing in the Act against driving which could affect a man upon an inanimate machine. Bicyclists, therefore, are apparently at liberty to go as fast as they like or can. Thadeus O'Kane relates how he tackled a lawyer with his own weapon, thus : — Mr L. W. Marsland, who has turned sour lately in consequence of some articles in [ the Northern Miner, sent his clerk with an advertisement to this office yesterday, so his clerk says ; the advertisement was paid for — 7s 6d. This morning a note comes from Luke saying the advertisement was not intended for the Northern Miner, but for the Towers Herald. The advertisement was in consequence handed back to Mr Marsland's clerk, but when he demanded the 7s 6d we demurred, and finally said, ' No. We charge 7s 6d for perusing the advertisement.' We have received half-a-mile of a bill of costs from Mr L. Marsland, and almost every third item is '6s 8d for perusing a telegram.' Now, we don't see why we should not charge Mr Marsland 7s 6d — an editor being higher in the scale of creation than an attorney —for ' perusing ' his advertisement.

Lord Salisbury's Cabinet . contains I thirteen members of theßritishariatocracy, ' who own 650,000 acres of land. An extraordinary passenger has just arrived at Liverpool by the Royal Mail steamer from Africa in the shape of a magnificent lion of such enormous dimensions as are rarely found in zoological gardens, where lions were generally bred for generations in captivity, and are for the most part small in size and partly deformed. As this monarch of the wilderness is still in his younger years, and is likely to grow considerably yet, he promises to be the largest and most beautiful lion ever seen in England. Although so very strong and powerful, the noble beast is as gentle as a lamb, and was the pet of the whole ship, from the captain down to the cabin-boy. He hails from Central Africa, and was brought over in a cage the size of a large room. His food on the voyage consisted of 24 sheep and 18 goats. It is 24 years sihee an animal this sort was landed in Liverpool. — Liverpool Conner. An emigrant found himself on his arrival in the same lodging-house with a newly-arrived lady, and sat next her at supper. "I looked her over," he afterwards said, and saw a round, strong, cherry-looking lass, with a laughing face, and thought she'd do. I didn't know how to go f oolin' round her to find a soft placeT, and when we came out into the passage I gave a squeeze and a kiss. Says, she, 'How dare you?' Says I, 'I wants to marry you, my dear.' 'Marry me,' she said laughing ; 'why, I don't know you.' j 'No more do I you,' says I 'so that it makes it all fair and equal ' She didn't know how to put a stopper on that, so she ; only laughed and said she could not think of it. 'Not think of it,' says I, 'when you've come all these thousands of miles for the purpose ?' ' What do you mean !' she said, starting. 'Come now,' says I ; 'don't tell me. I know what's what. When a man emigrates it's to get married. You may say so at once.' Well, she wriggled a bit ; but we were married two days afterwards!" Such ia the story of a new settler. The new rifle with which our troops are to be armed will, according to Truth, be the most perfect military arm in the world, and great results are expected from it. In principle it is much the same as the Martini- Henry now in use, but there will be a slight decrease in the calibre, and the system of rifling will be different. It >vill fire a much lighter bullet with the same powder charge, which will give it a, very high velocity — about 1600 f.s. at starting is expected —and the decreased calibre will make its path the' more dangerous. The built up cartridge, of which so much has been said lately, will give way to one of " solid drawn " metal, and if there is any more jamming of cartridges it will then be impossible to lay the blame on the cartridge itself, but the proper delinquent— in nine cas a s out of ten either the rifle or the firer — will have to bear the brunt. Tor the present the rifleis only experimental, butwe shall see it in the service before long. That clever enthusiast, Colonel Hope, V.C., has at last induced the Government to look with some favor on his invention, "the gun of the future." By an ingenious contrivance in the chamber of the gun he is able to distribute the strain caused by the exploded gunpowder to such an extent that charges may be used in guns of various sizes of six times the strength of those now in' use,' thus^iricreasing the velocity, penetration, and range of an enormous extent. ; Qdlonel Hope's gun weighs 7$ tons, but it" is to • fire the same weight of powder as" our 38-ton gun. The Government have also directed.-- Mr. Maxim to apply the. principle of his riflegun to one on a largar scale, suitable for a fixed platform on board ships or in boats, to fire shot and shell instead of rifle bullets, where there will be less chanoe of the complicated mechanism getting out ol order. 1 do not know of any surer way of predicting the changes in the weather, says a correspondent of the Cincinnati Enquirer* than by observing the habits of the snail. They do not drink, but imbibe moisture during a rain and exude it afterwards. The animal is never seen abroad except before a rain, when you will see it climbing the bark of trees and getting on the leaves. The tree snail, as it is called, two days before rain will climb up the stems of plants, and if the rain is going to be a hard and long one, then they get on the sheltered side of a leaf, but if a short rain, on the outside. Then there are other species that before a rain are yellow ; after it blue. Otherß indicate rain by folds and protuberances, which before a rain rise as large tubercles. These will begin to show themselves ten days before a rain. At the end of each tubercle is a pore which opens when the rain comes, to absord and draw in the moisture. In other snails deep indentations, beginning at the head between the horns and ending with the juncture of the tail, app ;ar a few days before a storm. Every f :rmer knows when swallows fly low that rain is coming ; sailors, when the sea gulls fly towards the land, when the stormy petrel appears, or Mother Carey's chickens, as they are called, predict foul weather. Take the ants : have you never noticed the activity they display before a storm — hurry, scurry, rushing hither and yonder as if they were letter carriers making six trips a day, or expressmen behind time ? Dogs grow sleepy and dull, and like to lie before a fire as rain approaches ; chickens pick up pebbles, fowls roll in the dust, fties sting and bite more viciously, frogs croak more clamorously, gnats assemble . ' under trees, and- horses display restlessness. When you see a swan flying against the wind, spiders crowding on a wall, toads coming out of their holes in unusual numbers of an evening, worms, slugs and snails appearing, robin redbreasts peckingat our windows, pigeons coming to the dovecote earlier than usual, peacocks squalling at night, mice squeaking, or geese washing, you can put them down as rain signs. Nearly all the animals have some way of telling the weather in advance. It may be that the altered condition of the atmosphere with regard to electricity, which generally accompanies changes of the weather, makes them feel disagreeable or pleasant. The fact that a cat licks herself before a storm is urged by some naturalists as proof of the special influence of electricity. Man is not so sensitive. Yet many feel listless before a storm, to say nothing of aggravated headaches, toothaches, rheumatic pains, and last, but not least, corns. Harrington has returned to New Zealand from Sydney, and according to the Riverton Star, efforts will now be made to get up another match with Hearn.

A Southern writer says there will bo a lartje decrease in the Postal Revenue thia year through the abolition of sweeps. It is said that Mr Macandrew will soon be put in the Council, and that two candidates are canvassing Port ChalmersLarge quantities of Australian wine it ia found are being'sent to Europe, where it is. fixed up and re-exported to Australia as prime French vintages. Much wine i3now being stored in Australia to acquire age and the sale of it is increasing rapidly. A few days ago a horseman, riding at a fair canter, kept for sometime easily head of the train from Lower Hutt to Wellington. The absurdity of the situationcaused some amusement amon^ the passenger { At Washington the other day a sparrow' , got stuck in the melted tar of the asphalt.^ pavement(the weather being very/hbt). Ls piteous crie3 brought its mate, >.who stuck too, and presently seventepft^birds flying down to the rescue were allstudk. The Warsaw police have unearthed i;i that city a most formidable Nihilist c^»spiracy directed against the person of theCzar. No fewer than forty persons-have-already been arrested. Most of the prisoners are of good social standing, and. two of them are university -professors of note. Someone looked over the names of 300 women to learn which were the favorites, and throwing out fancy names and keeping the figures of cases where names are favored to the extent of five each or upward. Mary leads off with 30, but is rather clo3ely pressed by Anna with 24Elizabeth is third with 17, and Laura is . a good fourth with 16. Margaret, 13, and Katherine, 12, are the only other double figures. Then in order comes this choice of names : — Helen, 9 ; Emma, 8 ; Lilian, 8 ; Clara, 7 ; Jane, 7 ; Caroline, 7; Emily, 5 ; Louisa, 6 ; Alice, 6 ; Harriet and Florence, 5. So apt are people to go in droves that it is:quite likely these proportions would hold in 3000 names, or in any other number as well as in 300. REMEMBER THIS. If you are sick Hop Bitters will surely eid nature in making you well when all, alse fails. If you are costive or dyspeptic, or are j suffering from any other of the numerous diseases of the stomach or bowels, it ia - your own fault if you remain ill, for Hop Bitters is a sovereign remedy in all such complaints. . If you are wasting away with any form of Kidney disease, stop tempting Death this moment, and turn for a cure to Hop Bitters. If you are sick with that terrible sickness Nervousness, you will find a "Balm in Gilead " in the U3e of Hop Bitters. If you are a frequenter, or a resident of a miasmatic district, barricade your sys- „, tern against the scourge of all countries-i---malarial, epidemic, bilious, and intermittent fevers — by the use of Hop Bitters. If you have rough, pimply, or sallow skin, bad breath, pains and aches, and f ?el miserable generally, Hop Bitters will give you fair skin, rich blood, and sweetest breath, health, and comfort. ' In short they cure all Diseases of the stomach, Bowels, Blood, Liver, Nerves, Kidneys, Bright's Disease. £500 will be paid for a case they will not pure or; iielp> _ Druggists and Chemists keep. />T .*. That poor bedridden, invalid wjjfej: ; sister, mother, or daughter, can be made ; the picture, of health by a few bottles of • Hop Bitters, costing but a trifle Will you let them suffer ?