COLONIAL AND GENERAL.

Lake County Press, Issue 74, 1 November 1872, Page 3

COLONIAL AND GENERAL.

The Japan Rifle Association have forwarded a challenge to the Otago Association to fire a rifle match, and it has been accepted. The Timaru Gazette says :—On Friday last, we embraced the opportunity afforded of inspecting the work performed by a three. furrow plough, the property of Mr T. W. Hall, on his land. The plough is the make of the celebrated firm of Howard and Co., Bedford, England. The frame is constructed of T iron, which, whilst it increases the strength, diminishes the weight of the plough, which is just the reverse when they are constructed of the common flat iron. It is so constructed, that instead of the ploughman following the plough on foot, as is the case with other ploughs, a seat is constructed towards the end of the implement, so that the ploughman can have a better command over his team, and also over the plough itself. The ground which Mr Hall is having ploughed is very hard, rough, and hilly, yet the implement, in the hand of an experienced ploughman, can, with the greatest ease, turn over from three to four acres per diem. The British Medical Journal hears that Mr Holloway, of pills and ointment reputation, is about to erect at his own expense a middle class asylum at Virginia Water, one of the most beautiful spots in England. The asylum will cost from £70,000 to £IOO,OOO, and will accommodate 200 patients. It will be maintained for a year b)- Mr Holloway, after which it is expected to be self-supporting, and will be handed over to the management of the trustees. A lady contributer to a contemporary writes:—“l wish, sir, I was an editor of a paper. I would put such a lot of nice things in it as to make it so interest ng and instructive to its readers tha f they would not take their tea without it.” . a ge of slops has an undoubted influence upon the development of business talent. The following “ready made” anecdote testifies to the great capacity of the Victorian salesman who disclosed to an acquaintance of ours the mode in which he had often succeeded in disposing of his coats : When a customer came in, after letting him try on several coats, he would say to him that he had a coat which he had given a gentleman the night before, but he was not satisfied with it, and returned it, perhaps it might fit his customer. “ Now, you know,” says he, “ mea are more or less dishonest, so I put a pocket-book in one of the coat pockets, which cost me thirty or forty cents. Now, when the man tries on the coat, be puts his hands into the pockets and feels the pocketbook and he buys the coat at once for a considerable advance on the usual price, and he never comes back to see about it.” Information was received at Maryborough (Queensland), that Mr Dalrymple has discovered a cave in the ranges near Cardwell, covered with extraordinary pictures of known and unknown birds and beasts, some apparently monkeys. The ground work is deep red, and the figures are in white and blue. Some of the figures appear to be very ancient, while others are comparatively modem. The cave is away from the coast, up in the range. The communication between Adelaide and Port Darwin has been proved by numberless experiments to be instantaneous. The current passes over 2,200 miles of new wire lying between those with greater facility than over the twenty one miles of old wire which ; separates Mount Barker from the metropolis. On Friday week, the message, “ What o’clock is it ?” was sent from the operating room in Adelaide, and within twelve seconds the answer came, “ 21 minutes past 3.” In a case, Pinkerton v. Ollivier, heard at the R.M. Court, at the Ahaura recently, Mr Guinness is reported by the Grey Valley Times to have asked : drunk, maudlin drunk, intoxicated, in liquor, inebriated, temulent, fuddled, mellow, boosy, flushed, groggy, top heavy, potvalient, overcome, elevated, screwed, lushy, or muddled?” The witness, Dr Phillips, asked if counsel would repeat the definitions, as he did not think Ollivier was in any one of the described conditions. The case was ultimately dismissed.