MISCELLANEOUS.

Otago Witness, Issue 847, 22 February 1868, Page 7

MISCELLANEOUS.

Tho following particulars .' yrith. regard to the wreck of the Wm. Mtskin, are furnished' by a correspondent of the Oamaru Times :— '> " I yiaited the scene of the wreck on, aTues-ua Tues- u day morning, and was struck w.th tho ex;tenfc!j of. the .desolation. . - A bar of sand,' one m'ilo . in length, divides the sea , from a lagoon ia. Whale's Creek, and from one end to tho other, ;ib was thickly strewn with "pieces of the -wreck! and portions of the cargo.' There were on board, under bond, 185' bags sugar; -anil 25 i-ehests tea. " Some r of the latter were washed as»hore, thoroughly ' soaked, aud, of courae, useless, but none of the sugar could ba aoeu. ■ Ail that -remained - of the vessel standing .was a part of the port bow, with, the steamer's name on it, the en- , gines and -boiler, and; a piece, of hor stern. A favorite black dog of the cautain'a-was lying on the sand, scarcely recogniaab'e. Mr f?a*erson, of Wright, 'Robertson; xm.il Co., hftd purchased a bugyy at Uunedin for L 45, and all that remained of it ou the beach was one of tho shafts. Mr M'Pherson.'a young man, just arrived by the ship E P. 'Bouverie/ from Glasgow, had transhipped his baggage to the Miskin. — valued at Lloo— and has lost all — among which was a full Highland dress,' ,with cairngorm and silver ornaments, skene dhu, &c.'\ ■ , . „ ,

Speaking of Southland's immunity from the late fl oda, the Southland News says :—: — " It vvas difficult for the inhabitants of this' Province td realise at first the possibility of • auch widespread ruin from storm- and flood '> as was told in . the , telegraphic despatches., from Ofcago. That, there lad been a heavy , g*le from the eastward they knew, fcufcsaying at the port (Bluff), its force was ,' neither considered unusual, nor was it ,ac- " compnnied with particularly heavy rain, ' There waa, however, room for slight ap- ' prehension of flood fiom the melting of") tha snow on the mountain ranges in the- ■ interior, which "were noticed last week to have renewed their icy covering. In fact, the rivers have since been rather high, but ' not more so than is often the case after rain j. ■ and throughout all this calamitous timd, w©- ., have enjoyed au immunity for which w&, should be grateful. 1 The conformation of th& country botwoen this Province and the'.easfe coast 01 the island,, intersected as, itjs by high* .mountain. ,ra ages, /is 'such 'as to haveyarded off, or rather to" have attracted to " itself, the 'suroha-ged' clouds whVse descent-, 1 .wrought the" .ruin that we can only' deplore,, "' It seems, almost as if ia' compliance with'soms*' Inysterious law '6i ' compensation* that we- - who have suffered from long-contimied T de- ! pression, should have been spared the disaster-,' which so nearly approached; ns." ,

1 The 'following 'particulars ■ of- the recent'extraordinary case~6f murder'ahd suicide in the Province of Nelson are givanv in th& Examiner: — il A young ■ man named Tvy^ Augarde (eldest surviving son of .,.*tr Augarde, of the Turf Hotel), in the service of Mr T. ' Carter, and in charge .of hia cattle station on the Clarence, lately entrusted a letter, addressed to a young woman living in the Wairau Valley, to a man known, as German Charley. Augarde was averse to placing the letter in Charley's bunds, and wished another man, who was travelling' the same road," to ! undertake its delivery, but the latter excused ' himself as he 'was not likely to pass where the young woman resided.' ' Charley appears to have resented tho mistrust which' Augarde" showed towards him, arid to have in. revenge . opened the letter, -and rend its 4 contents ' atiall the stations hepiaaed on his<wajv and 1 • when . he subsequently delivered, it, informed the young woinau of what he had done. These circumstanc j s having reached Allgarde's ears, lie vowed to. avenge himself on Charley whenever he should meet him, and this meetiug took pUce on Wednesday last,, somewhere near -the junction of 'the Alma' with the Acheron, some -distance beyond Tarndale. A fight here took place between* the two men, the result of which" wa3 unfavorable to. Augarde, who thereupon got upon his Lorse,' anil ro le off to the nearest - . st.ibion, a distance of several miles, and ob- ,' tamed a gun, with which it is supposed he ' shot Charley, aud afterwards himself, as the bodies of both mem we iv found on the road, . the latter with his skull blown off, and the gun between his logs." j A new description, of sheep-washing is tbus noticed by the Oamaru Times : — " We have been shown by Mr Farrer a sample of wool ?rom Messrs. Donahs, A'derson, and. Co.'s station,' at Deep Dell, M*craes Flat, washed upon' the' steep's back by the new spout-washing prc-ci'ss. It is beautifully ' clean, and almost as giod as scoured wool. Id must he re'membere I, of course, that the present has • been an unusually favorable season for the jiroct'sn, m consequence of the absolute abdrnee of dust, . but ifc is evident, from. Llio e\cel'ence of thesample, and the s;nallucs3 of , the . cost, triat the syst-in :s , well worthy theadoption of all our woul-gru\vcrs. Mr J?arrerstates that the sheep are ' placed in a hot water 'cemented tank,' lieat 108 d" j g., after- ' which they are immediately, bron^ht under a'heavy fall of clem, cold water — height of fall, Sft Giu — after 'be.ug thoroughly rinsed with this, they arc. passed on to a jet. A heavy la 1 of water goea iutb a box, 4ft x 4ft Giu wide at the bottom ; a number of plates, with slits |in apart,- are at the bottom of this box, aud the-.waX'ir pl.iys from, these jetswith great force a.niust 'the sheup, going into tbe skin, and taking out all dirt of every desor.prion.. From lilOn to 12 0 wcthera and . 15 months' wqulW hoggets have been washed* in eight hours, by nine meu at a cost of l^d I vst sheep. 1 The saints in question can beseen by nuy person interested in such mat- 4 tew,. at' oar office. " '