MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 31, 20 June 1877, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

A squatter, residing at Mount Gatubier South Australia, put a few flukey sheep into a paddock to die, but they recovered, presumably from drinking water that had remained in a shallow iron tank till it was the colour of port wine. I Mr. Gustav Thureau has gone to f California on a mission for the Sandhurst School of Mines. Mr. Thuroan who is a fellow of the Georgraphical Society of London*, has been lecturer for some time at the school of Mines, and has been chosen for his ability, gonero! knowledge and experience in gold-mining and mining machinery, to visit California for the purpose of ascertaining the modes in use there of saving the precious metal, the binds of machinery in use for boring, sinking, and gold- saying, as well as the character of the mining country, and formations of metallic lodes therein. The difficulty felt in Queensland with regard to the inundation of Chinese is almost at a crisis point. Steamers are constantly arriving at Cooktown with from 600 to 1000 Chinese on board, thousand more are at Hong Kong waiting for means of transport, and already at the Palmer there are some 14,000 Chinese to about 1400 or 1500 Europeans, # Many of the shipa comiDg there are tainted with small pox, and in some two cases the captains have flatly refused to go into quarantine, and one landed his passengers on tho beach in open violation of the laws. Io this position of affairs the news comes that the measure passed last session to impose special charges for miners' righfa and business licenses on the Chinese, which was reserved for royal assent, has been disallowed, and a good deal of indignation is the result. The problem h really one of extreme urgency, and it is highly difficult to find a solution. The new Press law in France proposes to abolish all pecuniary deposit — some 30,000 francs, before a political journal can be started ; and in the case where a newspaper be fined, and fails to pay the amount within a fortnight, the journal will be suppressed, and the proprietors, * all of whom mu3t be duly registered, will be tried for any offence committed by the ordinary common law. Absolute impunity the Press is not expected, nor has it UPrlr been, save by extreme Republicans, that have, happily, little weight in France. In the noisy Cassagnac affair, the question is not one of liberty of the Pregs, but of preventing a Deputy to indulge in a misdemeanor by sheltering himself under his rights of representative. As long as laws exist, to be respected, they must be obeyed.