The Arrow Observer, AND LAKES DISTRICT CHRONICLE. Arrowtown, Thuesday, April 1, 1880. Local and General News.

Lake County Press, Volume IX, Issue 464, 1 April 1880, Page 2

The Arrow Observer, AND LAKES DISTRICT CHRONICLE. Arrowtown, Thuesday, April 1, 1880. Local and General News.

The ordinary monthly meeting of theCounty Council takes place on Monday next. Mr R. Low announces that he is about commencing business as a saddler and harness - maker in the Arrow. "We believe there is a good field before him, and wish him every success, as the want he supplies is a long-felt one. The shooting season commenced on Monday last. Several parties from the Arrow started in quest of game, and made fair mixed bags. So far, ducks do not appear too plentiful in the district this season. This week we were shown some magnificent bunches of grapes, Hamburg variety, grown in Arrowtown by Mr E. J. Foord. The flavour of the fruit was delicious and goes far to disprove the belief hitherto existing as to the impossibility of ripening grapes in this district. The bunches in question were grown under glass, but in an open conservatory in front of Mr Foord's residence. Yesterday evening the Opera Bouffe Company gave their first entertainment in Arrowtown, and at the same time, we venture to say, gavS very general satisfaction. The two nights to follow will, doubtless, show the appreciation in which true and legitimate talent is held by this district. We can safely aay that, for a very long time, such a choice and varied melange of talent has not been presented here, Messrs Crothers, Browning, and Fisher are simply inimitable, up country, whatever they may be elsewhere. The serious, sentimental, and comic parts are rendered in such a way as to suit the varied audience of a goldfielc". The pianist, Mr Milburn, is an artiat -whose performances alone-are worth the price pi admission. So to all who appreciate an evening's solid enjoyment and genuine fun, we simply say go and hear the Opera Bouffe Company. The Company will depart from the usual course and favor Macetown with a call on Monday and Tuesday, when wo hope the residents there will show their appreciation of the concession by rolling-up in strong force. Queenstown is billed for Wednesday next. Vol. Hayes, of the Riverton Rifles, when attempting to get on a train in motion on Friday last, was knocked down and had two of his ribs broken. The celebrated race-horse TempJeton, while taking exercise on Monday, cannoned by some extraordinary mishap against a cow, and smashed his shoulder. The injuries were so severe that he had to be shot. Sinking Fund also met with an aooident during the week. A lad named Curtis was shot dead by another lad named Cox at "Wallacetown on Monday. Curtis was standing outside the railway station when Cox mischievously fired a rifle from the inside through the door, the bullet passing through the deceased's neck. There seems to have been no malice on the part of Cox, as he was unaware anybody was about. A plucky little fellow has just performed a rare feat of courage, common sense, and presence of mind in Berlin. A milk cart, containing no one but a little girl about three yearsold, was being wildly dragged along by a furious horse, and no one dared to- rush at the bridle of the galloping beast. A boy, apparently not more than thirteen years old, sprang forward and rolled a large empty tub, which waa standing at a shop door, into the centre of the road. This brought the horse to an instant's pause, and when he tried to pass by its side the boy seized the bridle and hung on, at the same moment throwing up his legs and clasping them tightly round the horse's neck. This heavy burden in so- unusual a place brought the horse to a full stop, and the bystanders hurried up and lifted the little girl out of the eait. "While all manner of questions and soothing speeches were being addressed to her the little hero of the action quietly slipped away, no one knowing his name or dwelling. Some 50,000 men are now out of work in London. What a vast amount of distress thie must involve may easily be imagined. And little, it is to be feared, can be done in the way of finding them even temporary employment. The working man must wait patiently, like others, for a revival of trade. At least, so says Professor Leone Levi. But he sensibly adds—" Pray impress upon our friends the need of being thrifty when trade is active and wages high, for we all know that it does not always last." The Emperor of China "sleeps with eight handmaids sitting upon his bed, and sixteen underneath it." They evidently know how to do things in the Orient. Eight girls sitting on a fellow's feet all night might seem a trifle strange at first, but doubtless when one became used to it it would be pleasant enough. And then just think of having sixteen virgins to break one's fall in case the bed broke down f —'N. Z. Sun.'

Two Irishmen at Temufca Lad a fight, and after punishing one another -well, were conveyed before the 8.M., who punished them again to the tune of 20s and costs, or deprivation of liberty for a time. One paid his shot, and was leaving the Court, when he saw that his comrade in distress was, for want of the needful cash, being marched off by the constable to gaol. Pat's generous heart forgot the recent quarrel, and he went back and paid h:s enemy's fine. A Chicago journal gives an account of the largest plough ever made. It was recently turned out by an Illinois firm of agricultural macianery makers, for use on the St. Louis

Iron Mountain and Southern Railway. It is calculated to cut a ditch 30in. wide and '2ft. deep, and ia worked by attaching it to a platform car of a construction train by means of timbers framed and extending out, so that the plough cuts its ditch a 'sufficient distance from the track. It cuts a furrow Bin, deep each time, requiring three of them to reach the proper depth, and it will make one mile of ditch, Bft. deep and 3ft. wide, every four hours, thus-doing the work of 1000 men. The beam is made of swamp oak, and is Bin. by 14in., the land side being made of bar iron Bin. wide and 1 Jin, thick, which had to be forged expressly for the purpose. Its total weight is 17001b. The use of this plough will mark an era in all ditching work, especially in connection with railways, and will go far to supersede the navvy. Wonders will never cease ~ says the Rangiora ' Standard.' Not at all events if Sir Julius Vogel can help them to never see the broad light of day. All New Zealand i» convulsed at the present moment with what is called the "Teosinte plant," Sir Julius has sent a package of its seed to the New Zealand Inspector of the Bank of New Zealand; ominous soundsj by-the-bye. This is a wonderful forage plant. It came from Egypt and when mown down, Sir Julius says, it will grow again at the rate of afoot in four days I It is rich in saccharine matter and is highly nutritious. It is a grass of enormous size requiring a somewhat warm climate, but Sir Julius is of opinion that the New Zealand climate will suit it famously. It is- said, to be grand food for cattle, horses,, or sheep,, and as it grows so rapidly and attains in a very few weeks a height of some 12 feet, surely the millenium has arrived in this hard-pressed colony. Let the results be realised as anticipated and surely every farmer in New Zealand will bless Sir Julius Vogel for ever and a day, A man down South went through the bankruptcy court. He owned a fine horse and gig, and they both disappeared for a time ; but by-and-by the horse and gig were doing service for the same owner again. On being asked what this meant, the man's reply was.- "I went through the bankruptcy court, but the horse and gig went round."

There was a ludicrous scene at a country Police Court the other day. A deaf witness was called upon by the clerk to "kiss the book." The old lady only caught the word "'kiss," and at once offered her face to a solicitor, who was close by. The court-room resounded with shouts of laughter, and the magistrates found it impossible to preserve their gravity.

" During the week," writes a correspondent of the North-Eastern "Ensign," at Strathbogie, "a man carrying a double-barrelled gun called at a number of selectors' places in Strathbogie. He is perhaps insane, for he declares himself to have been specially selected and sent out by the authorities to catch the Kellys, and as he knows where they are to be found, he intends having them run to earth very shortly. His manner to women and children is bounceable, but when a man appears he is particularly civil. Upon leaving a house he invariably fires a shot, and upon one occasion what might, at all events, be looktd upon as a very strange coincidence happened. No sooner had the man fired than a horseman emerged from the scrub some little distance away. The matter was mentioned to> Mr Haley, J.P., who ridiculed the idea of the man having anything to do with the outlaws, but the general belief is that he is in some way connected with the Kelly gang, which is not at all improbable."

A CaKfornian paper received by the mail s*B the following : O'Malley Baines, of Fenian renown, has gone to Australia by the steamer City of New York, for the purpose of raising a treasure of £60,000, buried by Frank Gardiner, a notorious Australian bushrang«r. Gardiner, prior to his imprisonment, had buried the swag obtained by countless robberies about a mile from the Fish .River, in a clearing between Goulbourn and Bathurst, New South Wales. After his release he came to San Francisco, the vigilance of the Australian police compelling him to leave his booty behind. Here he has become a total wreck. The only person who befriended him was Baines, and knowing that he had but a short time to live, he confided to him the whereabouts of the deposit, which is said to consist of gold coins, bills, and jewellery. He has furnished Baines with accurate plans and diagrams of the buried treasure, which is to go entirely to. him, with the condition that he shall provide for Gardiner during his lifetime."