GENERAL NEWS.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6137, 25 August 1886, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS.

It seems remarkable (says the Sydney Morning Herald) that though New South Wale 9 has this year a very poor crop of wheat and has to depend for more than half i's pupnly of breadstuff's on its neighbors, yet flour and wheat are quite as cheap here as in the other colonies. The explanation of this fact is, of course, that I our ports aie free. Breadetufls have been poured into the colony from Victoria, New Zealand and South AuPtralia, and the compet i' ion has given us wheat and flour at prices as low as 'hose at which they are procurable in Melbourne, Adelaide, or Christchurcb. The colony buys from them all, and though they have to send their surplus 500 to 1500 mile?, they do so, find have to be content with prices which they accept at home. If a duty of 2s per cental were imposed on breadstuffs, as charged in Victoria, we should have to pay jd per pound more for our bread. The Taranaki Herald reports the fol lowing s'ran«e occurrence: A settler at Inglewood lost one of his cows the other dny. After several days hia dog discovered the animal's body, with its bead between two logs on a steep bank of the river which passed his section. The settler set to work to chop away one of the logs in order to release the carcase, and allow it to fall into the river and be carried away. Just as he had nearly accomplieh-d this, he was more than ordinarily surprised, as may be expected, by finding another of his cows coming down tbe bank the same way as tbe 6rst. 1* was only by the exercise of great agility that he avoided being struck by tbe second beast, which, as with the first, met with death by its fall.

A correspondent of the Timaru Herald writes : "On Thursday, the l£hb, at daybreak, knowing that the river Ophi was rising fast I got into the 6addle. My attention was suddently called to the peculiar position of a number of horses, cattle, sheep, and at least fifty hares walking constantly round an island in the middle oi a paddock formed by the sudden rise of the river. On my nearer approach with the dops the hare? took the water in all direc'ione, some iea;hingthe flax, gorse or willow bushes near by. When caught by 'he dogs they howled most piteously I noticed also two cats which had taken refuge high above tbe willow tree, and one I noticed remained there the wbole day, notwithstanding the repeated assaults of a hawk which hovered around puss for hours. But at dusk the cat was still in the willovr — master of the situation.

A romantic story of shipwreck and residence on a small island in the Caroline , group among ths natives for 15 months is told by Joseph Bri«kin and Gus Weswend, Bailors. They sailed from Newcastle, Australia, November 16, 1884, in the Borthwick Oastle for Amoy, China. The captain lost bis reckoning and ran out of his course, striking on a reef of the Mokin Isle, in the Caroline group, on January 3, 1885. The ship went down at noon, alter the crew of 18 men'had taken to the boats, and with a small quantity of food and clothing reached the land. To their surprise and joy they found it inhabited. They were very kindly treated by the people, taken (o their huts, and made at home. Tbe natives are described as finelooking people, who have very little intercourse with the outside world. After a sojourn of a year and a quarter, Brinskin and Wenswend were taken off tbe island by the ship H. L. Tiernan.

While the ptop'e of the Taie i and Dunedin have been nearly drowned by the almost incessant rain of the past week, the people of the Wakatipu district have says the Tuapeka Times, been calling out about the drought, In that district, with the exception of a slight shower or two, no rain has fallen for tbe past three months.

A cutter bearing in towards Orepuki on Monday afternoon caused quite a nutter of excitement in that locality (says the Western Star) on it being suggested, by one who professed to know, that the veaael was the notorious Sovereign of the Seas. Equal to the occasion, and with visions of a L2OO reward and speedy promotion in the "foorce" sticking out, the local guardian of the peace quickly doffed his official attire, and in plain clothes and a couple of " shooting irons" in his pocket headed a party of civilians to the beach with the intention of making an attempt to capture tbe desperadoes. Having arrived there the parly had not to wait long in suspense, ac the craft running before a strong easterly breeze soon neared the land, and iwhen she got under the lee of Monkey Island cast anchor. A couple of suepicioMs looking men put off in a dingey, and as they approached the landing great disappointment was expressed on the visages of the leader and other members of the party, on tbe rovers turning out to be no other than Billy Thomas and his mate of the Riverton cutter Champion. They had been ost on a fißhing cruiße, but owing to their being unable to reach Rivertoa through adverse weather they had jun for Orepuki to obtain a supply of provisions. {The disgust of the valiant band on discovering their mistake may better be imagined than described.

" Some ol my best trade," said a Cincinna'i tobacconist recently, " cornea from women." \ou would be "astonished if I gave you names, but it would ruin my business wilh them. Do they use the tobacco openly? By no means. They all smoke in secret. Often several women assemble at one house, Bhut out the outside world, and enjoy an old-fashioned fliaoke, just like the men at the clubroom. Most of the women smoke only cigarettes, but after a while these are not strong enough, and they must have cigars. One customer in particular I have, a wealthy widow, who would be deeply offended did auy gentleman smoke in her presence, and I venture to say no man, boy, or women eDJoys a food cigar better than ehe. Many servant girls get to loving the W«U from seeing their mistresses indulge."