MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 70, 19 September 1877, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

A Melbourne correspondent of the I'asmanian Mail is responsible for the folbwing :— " I presume that you are'aware ♦ur goal has long been known a3 Wintle's Hotel. The present head of the 1 estabIshtnent is quick to see a good jpkp, even han advertisement. I met Mr Custieau, governor of the goal* lately, and he told ne that among: his receipts by the mail vas a price-list from a firm of pianoforte Manufacturers, and within it a circular conveying, under the circumstances, the following"" singular intimation :— ' Your liouse is long and favourably known to the senior partner of our firm.' I think this too good to be lost." At the Ohristchurch Police Court the other day, two young girls about sixteen years of age were brought up, as having been found by the police in a house of bad fame. One ef them respectably connected, disappeared from hat home last week, and though vigorous mm «w. Cmaaie, she was only discovered yesterday fin the house with some twenty other ' you n 2 girls. A number escaped, The Sub.lnspector stated in Court, that for some time past, angular system of oh* dueling young girls hud been in force in the city, and wan ants were obtained against a nnmbor'of offender* who are to be nrrested and prosecuted. _ Mining at the Thames has received a ne!w fillip, or mining speculation at all i~ events' This time it is the Alburnia which is giying rich yeilds, and promise to give richer. Moanatnians keep at nHout £8. Albumins have risen from 20< to 105s in n couple of days, nnd are lilcely, apparently, to go higher, as they Imve Tjaid a good deal already in dividends, and yield more than ever. If the lender does not " split." or " a horse ' come into the winze, or " fhe slide " cut it off in the middle, or the machinery break down, or some one or other of the thousand and one contingencies of mining occur, the Alburnia will continue to pay dividends for some time to come. At all events, it adds one 1 to the list of those which are yielding well and proving profitable— a list, I am happy to say. that his increased materially during the last six months. The Times, in referring to the movements of the Russian army, says : by the time this huge ioeherff has drifted down to Constantinople other vultures will scent the battlefield, 'and she willbeonlv one of many nations there. This is almost as successful a diffusion of figments of speech thai of the man who smelt a rat, and; saw' it floating in the air, but nipped it in the bud. H. Lewis of the Haford, Swansea, has invented-,^ new engine of warfare, which will be ver.v likely to attract the atten- . tion of the War Office as an appliance calculated to place, its possessor in an advantageous position over an opponent. It consists of a canon so arranged as to discharge a sharp sword-blade crosswise in the direction of the enemy, the knife or cutter 'being so poised in its career through the air as to cover the whole space in a longitudinal direction described by the blade itself. An B«inch ball would carry a sword 14 feet in length at 600 yards, literally mowing down every human obstacle in its path. The London correspondent of the Hsmpshira Telegraph says he has un* doubt© 1 authority for stating that Sulieman Pasha, the redoubtable Turkish t general whose skilful stategv and fearless ** onslaught have made him such a formidable foe to the Russians among the Balkan passes, is a' Mussulman in nothing more than in name, and even that by a not very far -fetched, metamorphosis becomes transmogrified to Tom Sullivan. It appears, according to the writer referred to, that Tom during the Crimean war enjoyed the rank of full private in the gallant 88th or Connausht Eanger3, and was as brave and -^ devil-may-care a soldier as ever put; a rifle to shoulder or headed a forlorn hope ; and his utter contempt of danger on the field of battle must have ensured his pro*' motion, but he had a little weakness — ac which of us have not ? — which was that trben off duty the canteen had charms for him too strong to be resisted, and as a natural con«eqnence he became pretty well acquainted with the interior economy of the euard-house. The Wellington correspondent of the TTawke's i!ay Herald says :— " The Hon Dr Pollen's health has again given way, and honci? have arisen rumours tint ho j ■will rpfim from tlift Ministry, ami be Giicceeclod by the Hon John J Call. These rumours prevailed lnst yenr, but with returning health the Minister deoiderl to retain his position ; probably if bo docs not break down more seriously, he will still cling to his scat iv the Cabinet. His

retirement would b&j great loss to the Ministry. He is so wise and learned, possesses such a thoroughfknowledge of the workings of a government, and man* agps the Upper House so well that if he left the Ministry would be seriously weakened. Of course the Hoa John Hall is mentioned as his successor, and cither he or the H on J. A. Bonar would make ♦ory good substitutes."