AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIV, Issue 114, 15 May 1890, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Melbourne, May 7. Early on Saturday morning, the 3rd May, Mrs CaH, P.M.. was found in her bedroom at her residence, Extern wick, burned to death The oocupants of the house on Friday night were Mrs Oa 1, her two daughters and servant. About half past ten p.m. the two Misses Call went into their mother's bedroom to say good night to her, and found hsr in bed reading a book, with a oandle burning on a email table near the side of the bed. They retired to rest, and heard nothing till about six o'olook on Saturday morning, when they were aroused by a servant, who had been awakened after being almost suffocated by dense smoke which had permeated the whole house, The yo-.'ng 'adiea hurried to their mother's bedroom, and as they opened the door were driven baok by the great volume of smoke which rushed out. The window of the room was foroed open from outside, and as soon as it was possible to entei they went in and found the remnants of the mattrasses and bedclothes still smouldering on the bedstead, and on the floor they discovered the body of their mother, charred and blackened almost beyond recognition. It is supposed thao the deceased fell aaleep while reading, and that somehow the bedclothes caught fire. She was sixty years of age, and leaves a grown up family, some married. Mr James Minima 1 statement shows liabilities £373,000, and assets (consisting chiefly of landed property), £370,000, the deficiency being £3000. In calling i'or tenders for the annual Gove nment supplies, the Supply and Tender Board of Adelaide have decided to invite competition in such a way aa will enable them to discriminate between imported articles and those of looal manufacture, so that in every ease the preference may be given to the latter. There was the usual excitement at the midday meeting of the Stock Exchange of Adelaide on 6th May, when it became known that one of the leading* speculators was unable to "deliver a large quantity of stook which, he had sold. He was known as a " spec " seller, that is a speculator who sold shares in anticipation of a fall, intending when they had come down to buy in, and supply the people to whom he had sold at a higher price. Unfortunately for the dealer in question, tbe market went against him, rising rapidly, and he found himself oversold on 2790 shares, including all the leading lines of stocks iv the Barrier mines. It was only the day before that a meeting of creditors of another broker named Simon Barnard was held, his liabilities being £13,900, against assets, mostly book debts, of £1820. Sheep feeding on grasshoppers is, to say tbe least of it, an extraordinary ciroum* stance. A drover was driving a flook ol sheep from Stawell to Hamilton, says a correspondent of the Leader, when grasshoppers in millions passed over. The sheep devoured all within' their reaoh greedily, and appeared to bb greatly delighted with what Lhpy evidently considered a dainty repast. The Sydney Daily Telegraph, of the 23rd ulc, says :— lt is uoi often thac people get a chance of seeing a real live judge perched on a policeman's baok, wading to the throne of justice. That was the case at Walgett yesterday, however, when acting Judge Bennett found a aea of water intervening between him and the Cou-.tuouso. Hastily summoning a policeman, his Honor vaulted on that astonished officer's back and commanded him to go ahead, which ho did, and justice arrived dry and impartial as ever. A most rascally case of levanting with other people's money has occurred in thia district (says the Advocate). A man took a contract at a hemp mill to produce the fibre at a certain price per ton, and engaged the hands and made himself personally liable to storekeepers for supplies. A few days ago he went to Wellington and drew, it is said about £200, and instead of coming back to pay hia hands cleared out for Australia. Two tradesmen have got accounts against him to au amount of £30 each, and all the hands have beea left without a farthing. Unfortunately he had left the country before any steps could be taken to secure him. Some of the men, we hear, had been working gratis for the Rangitikei Fibre Company previously, and theirs is a particularly hard case. A curious irregularity in a School Committee election was reported to the Board of Education, Christchurch, last week. Six householders of Hiuds complained that seven members ol the retiring committee shut themselves in the schoolroom at the hour appointed for the public meeting of householders, and elected themselves, keep* ing other persons out of the room till after 7 o'clock, when they admitted them and announced the result. The Board declared the election invalid. The Saint Maur Company are delighting orowded audiences in Auckland, and the papara aperik in the highest terms of their performances. In the critique of •• Jim the Penman " the Stay- says : — Miss Florence Seymour's impersonation of Mrs Ralston was a revelaiion. It was the most subtle, delioate piece of character acting thai has ever beea seen or will be sep.n in Auokland for aoma time. But far abova all the rest, is the magnificent facial and mute aoting in the third aot, where she aooiiea ally discovers her husband to be the forger of the two letters. She and her huabaud are alone. He has just lbarued from her lips that Redwood was in the conservatory on the night of the diamond robbery, and is moodi y thinking it over. Her back is turned. Her bank book has just arrived. She is looking through it comparing the returned cheques with the amounts. Ona ohtque she can't remember signing. At last ahe r..ni9mbers it is the cheque her husband wrote for her the night of the dinner party, signing her name. She laughs and looka curiously at it; gradually a shade ol ourioßity comes over her faoe, then at a terrible suspicion that the hand that signed the ohequa and forged the love letters is one and the same. The letters are dragged out and oompared. Suspicion ohangos to oartaiaty, and certainty to hata. She rises in magnificent wrath and denounces him with the most terrible scorn. Nothing finer than her acting in thia aofc has ever been seen in Auokland. It was far superior to the aoting of the lady who took the part when the play was produced in London. Everyone was delighted, but the audience scarcely seemed to appreciate the delicacy of the mute by-play as much as they should have done. The American Congress has passed the Bill authorising 1 a world's fair, to be held in Chicago in 1593, and authorising the President to invite all nations and countries to participate. Chicago is getting ready to make it the be3t World's Pair. Her Corn* mittee hivo a fund of £1,000,000 already on baud, and p wnost? rasing at least as much more. The railways centreing in Chicago have submitted a proposition to the Corn* mittee to show the visitors around by a series of cheap excursions on a circuit covering Milwaukee, iho citus of St. Paul and Minnapolis, Council Bluffs, and Omaha, Kansas City, St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis. Fast palace car trains, cheap faiv>s, attractive cities, and as fine a country as the sun shines upon will be one of the attractions. The Americana can show the world something 1 as much finer than Parisiau brie a brao as the full moon is do a Chinese lantern -as much more inspiring' as the rocking emerald lake ia bettor titan a ttiuonary was.istnud. Tde cir.iea fill al.tntf Uio rou Q *vill trig up. Tha villages, to sns, and farms will put on holiday at'iiv. < bicago will accomplish whateverit uudortak p. October 9, 1871, Gaioago was a wooden city. October 11, io waß a black prairie, October 9, 1873, it waB a oity built of atone and bricte in the higheßt Btyle of : architeotur. j . £40,000,000 was expended in i building the new oity the Srat year after ib was lurnt. To say ih id aucb a people cannot get ready for the World s Fair iv two years ii to exhibit a forgeifalneaa of reoaat history. The death of John Jacob Astor, of New York, has made a sudden and radical change iv the fortune of a young man. who up to this time has not accomplished much ia the world, or for the world, beyond writing one or two insipid novels. Through no merit of Ms, and purely by the acoident of being the son of his father, he has become, I presume, the richest man ia the world. He is now the proprietor of 2,700 dwelling houses alone, with an aggregate rental of £108,000 a year ; is also the owner of numer« ous farms, large accumulation of securities aud a mass of diversified personal property the income from which is £2,400,009 a year I At a reasonable rate of interest this represents a capitalised value of £60,000,000. Since the estate last changed hands it has multiplied seven times. How muoh it may multiply during the life of the present holder no man knoweth, But if he live as long as bh father tbe natural appreciation will reaoh a billion of dollars. Hia father's banefaotions amounted to £160,000. What will the eoa do with the rest of h 2 No man in this country baa a larger fortune, bat *t the anm.i time no man in thia country has a larger responsibility or greater oppor* tnniiy. Hg will go to the grave ss poor aa anybody,

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