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Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 80, 4 October 1879, Page 2

..4 BjJiii's-BTB ExTRAOBDiNABY.— A singular,accident bccurecl at Kyneton, Victoria, during the rifle practice of : . the. local Volunteess. A boy was marking, and haying cleaned the taygst, retired and made the usual "all-right " signal. Mr*. Smith,, of the Malmsbnr-y Hotel, then eigh/ed- for a shot, when just at that moment" the marker, who had negleefcerl to do something, rushed out of cover and stood right before, the target. Seeing his danger some of the Volunteers shouted to Smith not to flre, but too late, the trigger having been piOlec 1 . The bullet struct the lad, passert through his right side immediately under the •hort [:rib, and hit the target^vight m the bull's eye. Happily the marker's wound was not ; even dangerous, b.nt h,ia e3.ca.pe was wonderful. • . ' : A GoHiß&b; Jobs. — A good stjpy is told of Professor Blackie. . On the door- 0? the (3-reek class-room m Edinburgh University Professor Blackie had, occasion to. put iip this . notioe :— •" Professor Black'e ( regrets he itf unable td'day to meet 'v's _claasea." waggish ~ jtf.ude'nt ; sjiving tM«, scrapefl' bxit the ihifcialr/letteis of the 'la3t word of the sentence, and made it appear as if the professor was regretful at his inabil"ty to meet.thdse fait" >peeimens r 6f '■ humanity familiarly, known outside the college -quad'r rangie as the '" lasses. 1 ' ' v ßut : who can joke with Blackie? -The keeti«eyed old man, noticing f;he prank that had been played upon htm- quietly-erased anpt'ier letter, add left.'tlie following So be read by whom . it migh. concern :— "Professor Clackie regrets ha is unable to-day to n^eefcrhw aass», J" AM^arcAK OoMPßrmox.— On the subject of the losses made on American mills, the Chicago Daily News', of Juti'e 21, wiutes: r^" Here is'the. manner. m which.; we ipi'ospoiyat a time 0 when it is claim.cd we ari» suwjessfxiWy competing with- English- Tnanufactures m. their. :ow.n markets : BoMer City Mills, :capifc»l 1,Q00,000d0]., have lost every cent ;; of, iti :; Sagamore . Mills, ,. have sunk Bd^O^—iill; its capital • 200,'000d01, m^re put in— .that. is also! lost. "Union Mills, with nominal capital >f iVOjOOOdoL, but property wbrta 80D,000t16i., ha^lost everything. Tecnmseh MHI, wifh a oaptfcal of 5a0,O00dpl;, lost: 40p,00QdoK V. 'Robeson Mill, with a capital of 260i000dol;, lost 156,000d01.' Fall Bivar Print Works, capital 100,000.,- all lost. The actual loss m all. the above mills -is; 4,s>°ftoPo,a!ol. Of this the'pebple- of- Fall River. (Mass.) and vvioinity lost 4,0QQ,000d01. It is by ttpkmg such losses ns these that th& cofcton manufacturer of the TJhifed State's are competiug with those of the rest of the! 'world. In other words, we are furnishiag manufuctured cottons abroad' almost for npt'iing.;.and agreeing to find ourselvjes at th« same time.. If there is any money m this sort of business we certainly fall to see it.". Roj^AKTia-— At. a wedding wh^ich took a'few days ago at Waimate (says the' lijfttelton Titiies), a fair;, friend of. the bride, possessed of more, muscle, than sonse, — oa at 'lsast more'zeal than discretion — -threw an old boot at'the bride, with such force and so tone an aim as temporarily to stun he? unfortunate, victim. The bridegroom waa a fortunate man who came, recently intp a handsome fortune, m a most romantic, and .uvi;-nineteenth' century-like, fashion. Some yeiirVago Mr. — — —^was working on a goldfield with a partner, and between the mate* a sm6re5 m6re than usnally warm friend»hip sprung xxfr. When they parted they pledged each other to make wills, by which, m the evemfc of, the death of one, his. property should Ibe left to the surviVor. , In due • course Mr. — — — ■, who is. a Germain, came to Wav.riate, now some years ago, whilst his Damon went to Sydney, where, haa^cumulaied a handsome propertr^ A few months since the latter died, and adverHsemenfcs enquiring f or the fwherefibout.s of 1 his le.ontee appßared m. some New Zealand papers- and at length, attracted the attentipnof a friend of. Mr.— — *— '.' The., latter at once went over to Sydney to clflini possession :of his rbranjitieaily acquired for|.nne,- » and tis claim has been duly repogn.ised. I.t is; said that he has been 'offered- d&jSOOO. for s a portion of the, estate, situate, m- Gborgestreet, one ot the. principal thorpugbf^r«» m Sydney. ' " "*"■■ The Babbit NtosanoS— la an article on toe' rabbit question, Land and Water make 3 the following^minents :— "ln - New Zealand too, there, seems tp He 'mu.cn cry '. aboufc-rabbits, and "'.little wool 'l indeed m the literal ! reading of.. ' the s adage,* for we. gather that a Mr, Crowan. a runholder. m, Southland, New Zealand^' states t.ha^ on his run of 29,000;^^?? he killed rabbit s m four months the-cost of destroying them was 3d. per rabbit.; while, he, got no moTe. lb&. per skin for the skins' in winter, Their pre?eiice on his land had reduced the lambing of his uo<*k by 20 per cent. Another gentleman, resently stated m the N.,ew; Zs&-

land House of Representatives that tracts of land had boon rendered almost valueless by the rabbit nuisauce. On twenty-four holdings m the Bouth during 1879 no les« than 1,059,030 rabbits. were destroyed. On the same rum there were 153,003 sheep leu than were shorn previously, and these runs produced 1700 bales of wool less than they did fermerly, That amount- of wool, taken at a modorate. compiiWion of £15 per bal would,, he estimated,- bring a return 0e£25,000 which, at'lO' per cent., would ret present a capital of £250,000. _ It is estimated that a couple of rabbits, will m the pariod of four years, increase to the enovinous total of 478,062, end the figures are arrifed at by assuming that a wild rabbit will breed at si* months old,.Vill bear seven times annually, and bring forth fire young ones each time. We should say that fi>e is path er iv high an average, a9 also seven kindleain the year. Making these allowances therefrom, we shall be nearer the truth if we put the figure at 350,000 atotai whioh we believe s a fair estimate. ;