WAIMEA EAST. [FROM A CORRESPONDENT.] January 30.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 10, 3 February 1869, Page 3

WAIMEA EAST. [FROM A CORRESPONDENT.] January 30.

The grass on the plains is actually burnt up from the scorching heat and drought, and want of dew at night. I have seen the young apples dried up on the trees like a spongo in several orchards. The fine dry weather we have had lias been everything that could be desired for harvest work. I am happy to say that the farmers have taken advantage of it. I could hear daily the sound of the reaping machines in every direction, and sec the scythes and reapinghooks at work, while young and old were busily employed in binding up the corn, tossing the hay, &c, &c, and carts were removing it to the inelosures near tvlio barns to be stacked. The corn 13 nearly all cut down, stacked, and thatched ; the hay is also saved and secured ; so that the farmers are not only prepared, bufc looking out anxiously for a few refreshing showers, which they generally expect on or about the day of the anniversary of the province. The crops have been more than an average this harvest, the corn in the ear being well filled, very heavy, and of excellent quality. Auditor of Accounts foe Westland. — Edward Patten, Esq., has been appointed Auditor of Accounts for the County of Westland. Proposed Tramway between Westport and tut: Orowaiti River — The Westport Times, of the 26th instant, informs us that " It is not improbable that we may see a line of tramway laid down between Westport and Orow;>iti river before many months. Several parties have expressed their willingness to take shares in suoh an undertaking, and Sir. Jones, of tho Bridge Hotel, has offered to take half the number of shares required for currying out the entire speculation. The ground being level all the way, and there being plenty of timber at hand, the cost of laying the rails can be easily estimated. For tho present one carriage and a couple of horses would be sufficient, and it is believed by those best able to judge that the passenger traffic alone would pay good interest for the capital invested, Some time ago Mr. Courtney laid down between Brighton and St. Kilda, a tramway which is not now in use, and if the owner of it could be treated with reasonably, as, doubtless, might be accomplished, and the rails shipped at a email freight, the contemplated expenditure might be considerably lessened. A meeting is intended to be called at an early date for the purpose of discussing and testing the project." The Friendlies at Wanganui and the] M'Donnells. — The New Zealand Advertiser says : — " Kemp and Wirihana have refused to serve under or act. with Colonel M'Donnell any longer, but, commanding the natives as an independent force, willingly obey Colonel Whitmore's orders. A correspondent writes, ' There can be do advantage in concealing the fact that a strong indisposition is manifested by both Kemp and Wirihana to work under Colonel M'Donnell,' and in this they are entirely supported by their men. The feeling is so strong that, when Edward M'Donnell was attached to their force by Colonel Whitmore as quarter-master and interpreter they declined to avail themselves of his services. Lieutenant-Colonel M'Donnell, having, we supposed, failed in his attempt to raise the 200 Maori militia he tnlked of, has joined his division of Armed Constabulary (No. 2) as Inspector. Mrs. Te Kooti. — The New Zealand Advertiser, of the 29th ultimo, reports : — "Te Kooti's wife is with the Arawas at Wanganui. When it was proposed to send her away, in accordance with the wishes of the Middle Island natives, who offered to take charge of her, there was a great commotion amongst the Arawas, and Mrs. Te Kooti cried for two clays, until it was finally settled that she should remain." Supposed Murder in Otago. — The Evening Star, of the 23rd ultimo, reports that, " Three men are in custody on suspicion of having been implicated in the death of a miner, who died suddenly from injury received at a brawl at Waipahi, a few days ago." Sudden Death in a House of 111-Fame. — " At about, half-past ten o'clock on Friday evening," says the Duneclin Sun of tho 25th ultimo, " information was given to the polico that a man named John Alcorn, in the employ of Messrs. Wilson and Birch, brewers, had been found in a dying state at a house of ill-fame, off Eattray-streefc, and occupied by a Mrs. Lavalley. Dr. Beaver was at once sent for, but before he arrived the man expired. An inquiry as to the man's death was held before Dr. Hockin, City Coroner, at the Star and Garter Hotel, on Saturday evening, when the woman Lavalley was examined. Her statements were of such a contradictory character that it was deemed advisable to postpone the inquest until this evening, at seven o'clock, in order that a post mortem examination of the body might be made." Singular Case oe Animal Poisoning-.— A singular case of animal poisoning was recently reported from Wagga Wagga, where a man named Alexander Eobertson was taken to the hospital, dangerously ill from the effects of a fly having settled upon his bare arm from the carcase of a sheep he was preparing to destroy. The case, like several others which have been recently treated at the same institution, yielded to the administration of doses of hyposulphite of soda, and the patient is now rapidly recovering. Before the discovery of this remedy cases of this kind were almost invariably fatal. Shires's Snake-Bite Antidote Successful. — The Tarpeena correspondent of the Border Watch writes, on December 12 : — " On Thursday last a man named Smith, in the employ of Mr. L. Egan, when working in some long grass trod on a grey snake, which immediately sprang up under the leg of his trousers and bit him in the leg. He made a sudden spring, but the snake had hold of him. He took his penknife and cut the place, and in doing so he found one of the snake's fangs in the wound. Immediately afterwards he became very sick and sleepy, and the leg became black and swollen. Mr. Sheppard was sent for to apply Shires's antidote, which Smith at first refused to have applied, but on getting worse consented. The antidote had a most marked effect. However, he continued, very sleepy and sick for several hours ; but in the morning he felt quite well. Another case of snake-bite was of a mare belonging to Mr. E. Boneham, of Kalangadoo, which trod on a snake, which tmmed and bit her in the belly. It was some four hours before the mare showed symptoms of the bite, when she began staggering and became quite sleepy, Mr. Sheppard applied the antidote to the bite, and in the morning she was quite well. This makes now two men, one marc, and one dog that have been saved by the antii dote since Mr. Sheppard has been at Tarpecna."

An Over-Officious Constable. — Tho Grey River Argus has the following :—": — " During the recent election of a memborofthe Nelson Provincial Council for Westport, a question was raised, curiously enough, whether it is a breach of the law to speak to a voter on his way to the polling booth. Mr. Turner was about to enter the booth, when Mr. Leslie caled him back, and asked him who he was about to vote for. There was no obstruction offered, but a constable interfered, seized Mr. Leslie by the arm and back of the neck and pushed him to the lock-up. When tho case for tho prosecution was stated in Court the Magistrate is reported by the Westport Times to have said : — ' What is the use of going into it ? This case is quite clear. The whole root and gist of the matter lies in the alleged interference with Mr. Turner. Tho question is what is the constable's duly afc a polling booth, and how for can ho interfere ? Tho only duty imposed on him is to keep order. There are no special duties. And keeping order is to prevent any disturbance of tho peace. But the duties are not different from those of a constable at any other time. In this case there was simply one person coining up to another and asking him a question. It would bo a monstrous thing if one man could not epeak to another in the street, simply because he was going to a polling booth. There is no law to interfere with a man doing all that he likes to persuade a voter to vote for 0110 candidate or another. If Mr. Turner had said to Mr. Leslie ' I do not want to have anything to say to you, ' and Mr. Leslie persisted in stopping him, it might have been different, bufc to say that a man cannot ask a question of another is the most monstrous thing I ever heard of. I quite believe the constable thought ho was doing his duty, bub it is certainly my duty to say that my opinion is quite the reverse, and that it was the constable who interfered with Mr. Leslie, and not- Mr. Leslie who interfered with the voter going to the poll. I do not think it necessary to say anything more. The case is dismissed." Auckland and Thames Brewing- Company. — The Herald, of the 9th, says^: — " We understand that a .brewing company of this name, under the ' Joint Stock Company's Act,' is in course of formation. The capital to be £5,000, in 500 shares of £10 each. The subscription list, as shown to us, has 327 shares taken up, and, looking at the names of the parties who have already subscribed, we have no doubt but that the whole shares will early be taken up, and that the company will meet with success in their undertaking. The place of operations is to be, in the first place, at Newmarket, where the company have procured fifteen acres of land immediately opposite the proposed railway station, and on the Great South Road from Auckland to Onehunga, Otahuhu, &c, and believed to bean excellent site, in every respect, for brewing purposes. The Company have in view tho erection of a branch at Shortland, Thames gold-field. Plant of the best kind is now in Auckland and ready for immediate use, and as soon as the necessary arrangements can be made no time will be lost in erecting the same. One of the principal promotei-s of the company i 3 a brewer of twenty years standing." Proposed Commercial Union of the Australian Colonies. — "In his speech at a farewell dinner in Hobart Town, Colonel Gore Browne," says the Mercury of the second instant, "expressed a wish that his tenure of office had been prolonged till he had seen the proposed Commercial Union between all the Australian colonies carried into effect. Such a union would, he believed, be attended with the best possible ell'ect upon all the colonies, but upon none move than upon Tasmania, which would then be able to buy and sell in a larger and more certain market." The Mercury adds :—": — " In this his Excellency gave utterance to the unanimous opinion of the colony, and il is a matter of congratulation that the nearer time of the proposed conference approaches, the niore widely is the desire for such a union spreading among tho other colonies. The absence of a Customs Union hampers the trade of Tasmania, and the vexatious and irritating restrictions on articles of produce and manufacture have all bufc extinguished some branches of industry, and have very injuriously affected our agricultural interest." Canine Sagacity. — The Otago Daily Times, of the 22nd instant, relates the following :—": — " One of the most remarkablo instances of canine sagacity of which we ever remember to have heard came under our notice to-day. A gentleman residing in this city had his wife and family brought down from Wellington, where they have lately been residing, by the steamer which arrived in Port Chalmers on Sunday morning. On their coining up to town, they by accident, left a retriever dog which had been presented to one of tho family, on the steamer. On Monday morning the dog snapped afc one of the sailors who was teasing him, and the man threw him overboard. He swam thrice round the vessel, and then ashore, near the coal hulks. On hearing of this his owner, of course, gave him up for lost, when to his astonishment, the dog turned up at the hotel where he was staying on Wednesday afternoon. He had hung about the house all day, and had been turned out several times, but refused to leave until he had made his way up stairs, and saw his owner. The most wonderful part of the story is that he had never been in Otago before, and must have tracked his master backward from the Port to the hotel iv Dunedin, that gentleman having walked over from there to meet the steamer on Saturday night. There is afc all events no other way of accounting for this remarkaable case of instinct or sagacity, whichever it may be." Monster Wine Cellar. — The Melbourne Argus gives the following account of a Monster Wine Cellar being constructed in Albury, on the borders of Victoria and New South Wales :— " Mr. J. T. Fallon, of Albury, is constructing in that town a wine cellar of immense size, and admirably adapted for tho storage of wines. It is being excavated in Kiewasfcreet, and will be 200 feet long by sixty-six feet wide, and ten feet deep. Over the cellar there will be a solidly-built brick building, of the same area as the cellar underneath, and with an elevation of seventeen feet above the level of the ground — the roof being of galvanized iron. The cellar will afford ample space for 200 casks of 1,000 gallons each — seven feet being allowed for each cask, and twentyeight casks being ranged along each wall, with other rows of casks down the centre of the cellar. The cellar will not be arched, but the floor of the room or wine-house, will accommodate as many casks as the cellar below, and will be used as a fermentingroom, or a store for new wine, means being providod by trap doors and pipes for racking off wines in the upper into the casks in the cellar. The work is being actively proceeded with, and the building is intended to be ready in time to receive tho must from the next vintage." Pearl Fishing in Western Australia.— From Nicol Bay we have a fortnight's later intelligence, but there is little news except that all the pearl-shell gatherers were doing well. The banks fished last season were yielding again a plentiful harvest. The two Sydr>ey vessels with their " Kanaka" crews were said to have between them about thirty tons of shells. The master of one of the fishing craft has brought down a magnificent pearl, about the size of a boy's marble, and as nearly perfect in lustre and shape as possible, and worth, it is said, some fabulous price. Two boxes of tortoiseshell have been sent down. A Locomotive for Roads. — The Yass Courier states that " Mr. Giles, of Marulan, has discovered a principle on which to form a, locomotive engine that shall traverse tho roads of the colony. Ho says, ' the engine shall not cost more than £500, its weight when charged with fuel and water shall not exceed four and a-half tons ; its width shall not exceed sft 6 in. ; the wheel tyres shall be smooth, and not necessarily more than 4 in. broad, and it shall not injure the road in travelling as much as a colonial wagon carrying the same weight ; its capacity for speed shall extend to fourteen miles per hour on a good road. As a test of its capabilities, it shall draw a load of twenty tons over any piece of good road, with gradients not exceeding one in thirty-five, afc a rate of four miles per hour, and at a cost of not more than Id. per ton per mile ; or shall draw a load of five tons up an incline of one in twolve afc the same rate of speed ; or shall draw a load of ten tons through from Sydney to Goulburn

by the Great Southern Road in thirty-sis hours, at a cost of not more than 1-Jd. per ton per mile, excluding tolls.' Mr. Giles is prepared to undertake the construction of a specimen engine for Government or for a private firm, and will deposit a sum equal to half the estimated cost of the engine, which lie will forfeit if, when constructed, it fails to fulfil its object. He gives calculations showing that from the present termini of tho various railway lines to specified places — iVom Goulburn to Gundagai, from Eathurst to Wellington, and from Muswellbrook to Armidale, he can, supposing the roads to be amended, convey freight for 3d. per ton, and passengers at 2d. per head, at a speed of from six to eight miles an hour, and return a very handsome profit to Government, after covering all expenditure in improving the roads and constructing the engines." A Rattling Storm. — The following is reported in an English paper : — " A storm of snails had fallen at Milbury-heath, near Thornbury. The storm reached along tho Turnpike road for a distance of about 100 or 150 yards, and lasted about ten minutes, covering the road with a quantity of small shelled snails, similar to sea snails. Some persons in the neighbourhood recollected a similar occurrence at Tockington, a few miles distant, about forty years ago. Another somewhat remarkable affair has recently been noticed near Thornbury. During several days the earth for several miles adjoining the river Severn, in the neighbourhood of Cow-hill, Oldbury, and Shipperdine, was thickly covered with insects commonly called ' lady cows.' It was impossible to walk along the ground without being covered with them ; and persons bathing, who left their clothes on the earth, on returning found them completely covered with them. The insects were somewhat finer than those of the same kind usually seen." Treatment of Sunstroke. — The patient should be played in a recumbent position in the coolest possible place, with a free current of air. The clothes should be removed, and cold water applied to tho whole surface ; or, if the symptoms be urgent, the clothes should immediately be saturated with cold water, without waiting to remove them. If the respiratory movements be failing and feeble, the cold douche is a powerful excitor ; but if the breathing be rapid and laborious, it is better to envelope the body in a wet sheet, and to quicken evaporation and cooling by a fan or a pair of bellows. If the patient can swallow, let him drink iced water freely ; whether he can swallow or not, iced water may from time to time be injected. The marvellous effect of hot venous injections in cholera collapse, and the urgent need for cooling the blood in heatapcena, suggest the expediency, in extreme cases, of injecting into a vein the same saline solution as has so frequently been employed in cholera, only injecting it cold instead of hot. — British Medical Journal.