RATES OF POSTAGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 54, 29 May 1852, Page 1

RATES OF POSTAGE.

Ship Letters, not exceeding J oz 2d Do., do., exceeding \ oz. and not cxi ceeding 1 oz 4d. i Exceeding 1 oz. and not exceeding 14 oz. 6d. " 1^ oz. " " 2" oz. Bd. And so on in proportion, bein<j 2d. for every half I ounce, or fractional part of half an ounce. j i Letters for any part of Neio Zealand need not be ! prepaid, aiifl Xeccspapers are sent Free. i - j ! List of Uacla^mpd Letters and Newspapers in the j j ' ' Post-office, Otago. ' ' j

i I j Saunders, James M., 9 letters and -12 newspapers. | Ste\ens, Captain, schooner Otayo, 1 leiter. | , Sutherland,' Daniel, carpenter of the Thames, 1 I letter. j Anderson, 3lrs., Dunedin, 1 letter. I Buchanan. John, do., 1 letter. j Bates, Mr. do., 1 letter. j Fereens, Thomas, do., 1 letter. I Grieal, W., ' do., I letter. j Hamilton, William, do., 4 letters and 5 ne^vap. linox, James, do., 1 letter. MacLeod, William, do., 1 letter. Machines, Peter, do., 2 letteis and 9 newsps. I M.ieCurley, T. do., 1 letter. | Iloberts, Miss M. A., do., 1 leiter. Smith, Mrs., do., 1 letter. Tod, Michael, 1 letter. A. W. Shaxd, Deputy-Postmaster. Post-office, Otago, May 2% 1' 3 52.

Cape of Good Hope. — The " Graham's Town Journal*' of January 30 says :—": — " The cattle recently captured by the troops across the Kei have been since sold by public auction, realizing very high prices. The largest portion was ! I sold at King Williams' Town ; but no particulars have as yet reached us. Of those taken by General Somerset's division to Fort Beaufort; upwards of 400 were sold at that place by public auction, realizing an average of 30s. per head. 1506 were brought to Graham's Town, and were sold on Thursday by Mr. B. D. Bell, the whole drove, a very inferior lot, many of them being mere calves, giving an average of 82s. per head. The total amount of this sale was £2,508 3s. The proceeds of these several sales are, it is said, to be distributed as prize money among the troops actually in the field at the time of their capture." What I would do. — If I were possessed of the most valuable things in the world, and were about to will them away, the following would be my plan of distribution : — I would give the whole world truth and friendship, which are very scarce. I would give an additional portion of truth to lawyers, traders, and merchants. I would give physicians skill and learning. I . would gi\e to printers their pay,. To gossipping : women, short tongues. To young women of j i good sense, modesty, large waists, and natural i teeth. To young sprouts or dandies, common i sense, little cash, and hard labour. To old ; maids, good temper, smooth faces, andgood,] husbands. To r>ld bachelors, love, pretty wives, < and prattling children. i

New Outlet foe. the Population of Ireland. — We have heard of a new outlet for the overcrowded population of Ireland, which must solve their existing difficulty for all loyal Irish subjects of the Pope. The Spanish Government have, we are informed, conceded a grant of 2 jO square miles of country on the banks of the Guadalquiver, in the provinces of Andalusia and Estramadura, "containing more than 160,000 acres of land, of the richest quality," to be colonised by Irish settlers, under the following conditions : — "Exemption from taxation for twenty-five years. " Admission of their furniture, clothing, and agricultural implements free of duty. " Privilege of felling timber for building in the royal forests. " Power to appoint their own municipal authorities." The district in question having been depopupulated by the expulsion of the Moors, has never since been fully occupied. Railway Trade. — A regular trade is now carried on between London and the most remote parts of the -kingdom in every conceivable thing that bears moving. Sheep have been sent from Perth to London, and Covent Garden has supplied tons of the finer descriptions of vegetables to the citizens of Glasgow ; every Saturday five tons of the best fish in season are despatched from Billingsgate to Bir- | mingham ; and milk is conveyed in padlocked I tins from and beyonJ Harrow at the Eate of about one penny per gallon. In articles which are imported into both Liverpool and London, there is a constant interchange, according to the state of the market; thus a penny per pound difference may bring a hundred chests of congou up, or send as many of hyson down the line. All graziers within a day of the rail are able to compete in the London market ; the number of beasts arriving weekly at r Camden Station average from 500 to 2000, and the sheep from 2000 to 6000; and they can be brought from the farthest grazing grounds in the kingdom without any loss of fat; oxen were formerly driven to Smithfield from the rich pastures round Aylesbury, or the valley of the Thames. — (From Sidney's Rides on Railways.) The Priest's Curse in Ireland. — The " Clare Journal" states, that on Sunday the 28th of Sept., last, at a chapel in the county of Clare, sentence of excommuni.ation was pronounced by a priest, at the altar, on all the people of lulbaha, who had sent their children to Kiltreliig school, or who would send their children there for the future. Consecrated candles were extinguished, the bell -was rung, the book v.as closed, the crucifix was prostrated, and the following curse pronounced : — " I pray God to send down vengeance on all those who sent their children to Kiltreliig school on last week, particularly, two ; may the devil be their guide on the right and on the Jeft, lying and rising, in bed and out of bed, sitting and standing, within and without ; may all misfortune attend their families and labpurers. And any person or persons sending their children to this school henceforth, may they be struck blind and deaf, so as never to see any.of their children again ; and may the ehHdren sent to this school go wi^ld; may they never leave this wor^d until they be such examples as that the marrow may come out through, their shin bones ; may they be pained both sitting and standing, and may, they never leave this world until they^are in suoh a state that .the dogs could not bear coming near the carcases when dead. I pray to God that every child who goes to the school, that for every day he spends in it his life may be curtailed a twehemonth, and that fhfj ma y never enjoy the years of maturity; and those'people who send their children to the school, that their crpps and their goods may be taken away by, the devil, and may all these misfortunes attend any person t.iking their posterity in marriage thirty years hence. f pray the Almighty to hear this prayer, as "the Minister of God ; and I now strictly command this jongregalion to kneel down and pray to God to jran: my prayer.'" " •