THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam." DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1864.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22612, 2 July 1935, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam." DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1864.

SEVENTY-ONE YEARS AGO.

Perhaps few more amusing histories could be written than that relating to the buying and selling of horses, If all the queer transactions in connection with this branch of business could be recorded a strange collection would be gathered. Occasionally one or two episodes leak out through the newspapers, are read with wonder and amusement, and then pass into forgetfulness. The pages of “ horsey " literature were remarkably enriched by a trial which took place in Dunedin two or three days ago in the Supreme Court, in which the plaintiff gained a verdict. Dr Richardson sued the Superintendent for the value of a horse which he alleged he sold to the Commissioner of Police for the use of the Government. The Commissioner of Police denied having purchased the horse; he admitted that after he was repeatedly urged by the plaintiff to make the purchase he at last consented to send for the, animal to look at it. The horse, however, was averse to the arrangement, and smashed its head against the wall plates of the shed sooner than submit to the indignity of subjecting itself to the inspection of the Commissioner. The two troopers who were charged with bringing it in reported only its decease.

. . . Moses, who in the “Vicar of Wakefield" obtained a gross of green spectacles for his horse, wopld be a very “ leary ” fellow in comparison with one who would buy a nag without seeing it merely because he was constantly solicited to do so.

The immigration and emigration returns for this Province for the quarter just ended show a balance of departures against arrivals of 4233 souls, . . . Large as is the balance against the Province, a little consideration will show that the loss is not so great as it appears, and that the Colony as a whole is no very great sufferer. The balance against the Province composed of the departures to foreign ports—principally to Melbourne—is much less than is generally considered, being only 1,334. That balance is entirly made up of male adults, there being a considerable excess of arrivals over departures in respect to women and children. The great drain of population has been caused by the rush to Marlborough. . , .

The Brim Herald mentions a rumour to the effect that gold has been discovered in the forest land on the coast between the Clutha and Mataura Rivers. It is' said that some men are working there and making from ten to twenty shillings per day.

The new Congregational Church in Moray Place will be opened for Divine Worship to-morrow, The services will be held in the forenoon, afternoon, and evening. . . .

The Lawrence (Tuapeka) correspondent of the Bruoo Herald, in his last letter to that journal, says that the highest hills in the locality are discovered to be highly auriferous. Unlike all other, diggings, the higher the digger ascends the greater the yield of gold. As a proof of this, those diggers whose claim is the highest, almost in the top of the bill, have netted for the last 60 days the handsome sum of £l2O per man.