MISCELLANEOUS.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 6952, 30 January 1890, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

A min'fter, while tricyo-ing near Godftimiog, was run into by a trap and killed. The occupant of the trap did not pull up, but tbe alleged driver was taken into custody on a obarge of manslaughter. The overhead wires are a real danger in London. One fell diagonally across Fleet street in front of the ChrUtim World office during the reoent Ugh wind. Several pedestrians were struck, but escaped without injury. Miss Spicer, sister of tbe High Sheriff of Wilts, was killed while hunting. Utr dress caught tbe pommel of the saddle, and she was dragged along the ground. B»ron Nathaniel de Kotbsebild had a narrow escape of being killed on bie estate in Sileaia. While riding over a wooden bridge it gavo way, and be and his horse rolled into » ditch 30ft beneath the bridge, n T J*T JU", bwa another terrible flood in China. A river overflowed its banks for a distanoe of 100 miles drowning 1000 persons, and ren-

derlog 15,000 more homeless and ■tarring. Tiro men in the Leedi Forge were reported to have been suffocated by wat«r-gas. Fire surgeons, while male* ing the post mortem examination, beoame ill, aod one fainted. A boiler exploded at Ilkeston, killing two little ohildren who had taken their father's dinner, and seriouely injuring three men. Another Atnerioan town, that oi Lynn, has been almost entirely laid in ashes. No fewer than 154 blooks oi buildings were burned, the loss being estimated at two millions sterling. Tlit* homeless people took refuge in churches. Peter Laing, the Elgin centenarian, who last month entered upon his 106 th year, has been presented with a bandsome orook, inscribed with a horseshoe, emblematic of Peter's oalling as a oar. tor. The old man is hale and hearty, and boasts that if he had other feel and legs his body would stand good toi 4 quarter of a century yet. A rerdiot of not guilty has been returned against a lad at Northampton who was charged with setting fire to i staok of wheat. He had been reading Robinson Crusoe, and, in imitating the hero, rubbed two stioks together with Huoh success that the staok was set on tire. The judge said this was the firai time poor Defoe had arson laid to bi< charge, Mr Justioe Wills, who had tw< ahooting cases before him at Bedford caused through the reokles use of fire arms-— in one of whioh a little boy wai killed— laid it was terrible to think ol the loss of life every year througt persons carrying fire-arms without anj reaion for doing so, and legislation wus needed to make it moderate!; punishable. , 01 '" I ''^^ At Pyrford Keotory, near Woking a young man, hearing a noise in th night, went downstairs with a gun, He was stabbed by one of two burglars and be attempted to discharge the gun but it would not go off. The agricultural returns show ai improvement. Last year there wer 574,840 ocoupiers ot land in Grea BriUin — 427,384 in England, 63,001 in Wales, and 82,453 io Scotlandmaking altogether 4634 more than th preceding year. There was a riot at Glasgow Uni versity. At the last capping ceremon; tbe students indulged in horseplay At (he last graduation oeremony it wa decided to lock them out of the ball Thereupon they smashed in the panel of the door and drenched som of the professors with buckets c water. K'pe strawberries were gathered in November in r garden at Tor-point, a/so the long spell of mild weather cime to an end, A sharp frost was followed by snow showers, At Liverpool the snow and hail were attended by thunder and lightning, A lady gaardian at Paddington protected against the dead bodies of paupers being out up in the dissectingrooms. A dootor also took the same course, but it was deoided to allow the bodies of the paupers to be dis«eoted unless they had objected during their lifetime to suoh a disposal of their remains; A timber vessel was abandoned on the voyage from Amerioa a year ago, and in that time drifted 3900 miles. It was recently townd into Madeira. The Ewrl of Carlisle has realised L 250,000 by the sale of outlying portions of his estate on the banks of the Edeo. H.M.S. Blake, the most powerful oruioer in the British navy, was launched st Chatham a short time ago. She is larger than some of the firstolass battle-ships, and will be able to overtake any irooolad, as she carries engines at 20,000 horse-power. She will be armed with guns powerful enough to shatter the thiokesk-skinned monster afloa*. The lion whioh esoaped from Womb* well's menagerie at Birmingham, and took refuge in a sewer, attaoked a liontamer who entered the cage while the fehowwasat West Bromwiob. Before the animal oould be beaten off it lacerated his face and shoulders. In the London Sheriffs Court LlO7O for tbe loss of a huaband was awarded to the widow of tbe captain of the Killooban, which was run down by tho Neriad off Dungenest, 20 lives being lost. The owners of the Neriid admitted liability. A nephew of the late Pope Pio Nono is bringing an action against the present Pope for tbe reoovery of some millions sterling, which his unole had deposited in London, and whioh is now tbe possession of Leo XIII. A carious marriage is reported from Eiton Brsy, near Dunstable. The bridegroom was a laborer, aged 50, and tbe bride, whom he bad taken out of tbe Leigh ton Buzzard workhouse, was 86 years of age, and had boon a widow 36 years. A 'bus driver in Leeds has been bfqueathed L7OOO by an old gentleman whom the former was in the tbe habit of seeing home at night from his favorite tavern. Last year's gross receipts of the railways of the United Kingdom amounted to L 73,000,000, a sum not far short of tbe v total Treasury reoeipts from the Customs and Inland Revenue taken together* A young American lady, aged 19, is , about finishing a voyage round the world, ard expects to complete the entire journey in 77 days. The objeot of her journey, she says, is to prove that an unprotected female, speaking only the English tongue, can traverse 1 the world without help from anybody, | Does marriage terminate " infanoy V A l«dy sued for divorce through her guardian. Mr Justioe Butt, on asking tbe reason, was informed that as the petitioner married before ehe waa 21 years of age she was compelled to sue by her guardian. The Judge remarked that it was a strange state of the law, for he should have thought that a lady having married would have a wife's rights. The Judge pointed out that the age on the certificate was given as 21, The petitioner explained that she gave thia aa her age to prevent any | objeotloa being raised to her marriage.