Untitled

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 11, Issue 822, 29 January 1867, Page 3

A Life Strangely Preserved.— lt is not often we hear of a man's life being preserved by a twirl of his walking stick, remarks the Ararat Advertiser^ but such a circumstance occurred to a gentleman residing in this district during one of the hot days which visited us a little more than a week ago. The gentleman alluded to was returning from inspecting a piece of ground which he has under crop, and while walking through a patch of long grass waa switching his cane about pretty strongly (a habit which is habitual with him), when he felt his foot pressing on a soft substance, and at the f same instant his cane came in contact with an obstruction that was not presented by grass or timber. Looking down, he found himself in a very perilous position ; he was standing on the tail portion of a snake, and the upper part of the body was lying on the ground disabled and broken by the chance blow. The reptile, which proved to be five feet long, was soon despatched. !No doubt, the snake was arrested in springing on our informant,

by the lucky stroke of his walking stick,

An Admirable Invention 'for the use of bush travellers is exhibited at the Victorian Exhibition by Mr. Crownson, the patentee aud inventor, whose agent is Messrs. Myers and Cantor, Vickery's building, Pittstreet, Sydney. It is a framework compos-' ed of seven thin rods, divisible at the cen-. tre, and brass-fitted and hinged. These can in three minutes be arranged in the form of a tent for one man, and, covered with oilskin or a light mosquito tent, make a covering for a man who has to bush it. The whole apparatus, with the mosquito net, j only weighs lib., so that the portability of ? the thing is on a par with its usefulness. Had this been in general use, many valuable lives, shortened by diseases contracted from exposure, would have run their natural length.— Australasian. . .

Paper from Fi*ax.— - Dr. Mueller, Director of the Melbourne Botanic^ "Rardeiis, writing to his Excellency Sir George G^By/ under date Christmas Day, forwards Vjiaui-',^ pie of excellent writing papeVpre^w^d ill/ his phy to-chemical laboratory, fr6tn ; the" fibre of New Zealand flax,- and sayß;tH|,t,he;,y has on view in the Intercolonial ExHi>itio# 'f thirty "different ki^ds of paper fr^TmiiiaVi^^; foliage, grasses, sedges, &c. : . ;. A W J-/:~k