Provincial and General.

Otago Witness, Issue 1489, 29 May 1880, Page 8

Provincial and General.

AN EDITOR'S TROUBLES.

An American pater say*: — "The morning mail of the editor <.f a leading daily paper ia not complete unless it contains, in addition to its substantial business, lati^rs from tho following well-known correspondents :— l. The man who wants to empty bis old scrap-book into you. 2, The woman with a ' picea ' of poetry. 3. Tho jvspectable dead-bent lecturer who will furnish his old notes interlardtd with vigorous puffa of himself, and wants to be paid for it. 4. The man with a currency scheme cix columns long. 5. The man who^ importunately asks the insertion of a communication as a favour, and then writes a worrying letter daily, inquiring why it is not in. 6. The lady who wants to be a watering-place correspondent with liberal terms. 7. Ten or twelve men who want to slip in advertisements of lectures, land association*, colony schemes, private institutions, en carte, &0,, urdf-r false pretences. 8. The regular batch oE applications for employment— (a) as a matter of charity ; (b) because the applicant has always boon unsuccessful at c-.v<sry thing else; («) from the man who thinks he would be an excellent journalist because ho has never had any training in thy profession. 9. Tho innumerable host who want 'a little notice."'

STABVING THEM ODT.

The North-Eastern Ensign thus writes respeoting the Kelly outlaws :— " If a constable* or stranger ii seen in the Valley of the King Biver, the facs is carried Rtraight to the Kellya by bush telegrams. It is not necessary that the ' telegraph ' should speak to the Kellys or even see them. A certain way of tying a bandkerchief on the sleeve of a ccat, when riding along a bush frack, constitutes a cypber word which the outlaws can read without showing themselves from one of their watch towers. The gang have given up all hope of being able to break away, and they |are now playing a waiting game, which must inevitably be won by the police ; but whether the end will come in a month, or six months, or twelve, no one can Bay. The present operation of simply watohing the Kellys is costing the Colony nearly LSOOO a year ; and all the return the Colony gets for \he money is this, that the police have deprived the outlaws of all hope of escape, that they are leading a wretched life of anxiety, and daily becoming less and less trustful of their friends. It is some eatiafac 1 tion to know that they have been effectually cornered, and that their capture or death is only a question of time. We kuow < also that anything like another outbreak of crime in the infected district has become impossible." JDVBNIIiE PBEOOOITV.

Have you seen the Children's Pinafore? (asks •• Attiouß "ia the Leader). lam not in favour, as a rule, of juvenile performances, but this one is different from any I have seen. Your " infant phenomenon " is usually a bold little hussey with a nasal twang and self oonceifc unbounded. Whenever I see the talented little minxes make their appearance I wish them in bed. But " Pinafore " is a revelation in infantile development. How Mrs Lewis has taught the little people I don't know, but there is nothing, I believe, in things theatrical which that marvellous woman would not do, from playing Clytemnestra in tha original text to Harlequin a l« Watteau. The ease of the babieß ! The charming way in which Josephine, flirts with the Captain. The dignity of ' Sir Joseph Porter — who looks quite like Lord Nelson with his wounded arm —and tho preternatural archaess of Little Buttercup, As for the delicious little larrikin who plays Dick Deadeye, he is another Bobeon j I should like to spo him in " Boots at the Stvan." But the best of the fun is behind the , curtain. I was privileged the other evening to visit those mystic regions which lie at the back of the drop-scene, and thero was "the gallant Captain" dispensing cake and wine to the company. '* Dif me bococ, Misses 'Ewis !" said one little mit*— ißomei Borne "count*, HRter, or aunt" — •"and me !" " *nd me I" Ifc was like the story <of the Old Woman who Lived in h<?r Shoe. I eball bring some sugar oaody next time. It may be interesting, however, to the rising geueratioa to know that " no followers are al lowed" in the Pinafore green-room. Mrs Lewis forbicta evm f.\thorij and mothers, When the performance is over eho sends the " principals" home fa o*bs, which deliver them at their private residences. " T*uly a Wonderful Woman !" aa Charles Mathews used to say, and one who not only deserves success bufc, ua2iko 6f mpronius, seems able to command it, A PISH EPIDEMIC.

Mr Cheeeman, curator of the Auckland Museum, lins (says the New Zealand Times of May 17tb) returned from a trip to the North, where be had gone with several other gentlemen to make an investigation iato the cause of the vast inorta'ity amongst the fish of this coast. The psirty were somewhat late, the mortality having ceased before they got to the coast. A good specimen was, however, obtained, which, as we stated a few days ago, shows that the deaths have been caused by an epidemic disease, tho nature of which will probably be better ascertained hereafter by microscopic examination. Astonishing evidence was visible of the extent of the devastation earned by the plague. From Whangarei Heads to Waipu, a distance of 14 aniloa, the ■ whole of the beach was ■covered with the dead fish which had baen floated on shore. Over the entire distance there was not a space of two yardß without a dead fish, and the seagulls must have had' an abundant h&tvmt When one considers that nearly the whole eastern shore of this province ftas been covered in a like manner, that the fith were floating on the (surface of the sea for aniles out, it is clear that the numbers which (perwhed must have been enormous. Yet this igreat mortality does not sesm to have aff edted the population of the sea, for great nhoals of trevallf were found off the coast as lively and greedy as ever. Fully eight-tenths of the dead fish consisted of schnapper and trevalli Th« mullet appear to have escaped, probably owing to their very different feeding. WATO!HIN<* THE BATS. Some curious facta are related about the swimming powers of rats (says the Southland Timei>). It is well known that they enter vessels by taking the water and climbing up 1 the chains. Thoy swim from the mainland to h islands when inducement offers. Of late years V'{ by this method they have taken possession of {;,' J - I t>ne or moro of tho muttonbird inlands to 0;; 1 /which tbe Maoris rf sort fiom Stewart'^ Island, g.'p qpd there they dispute with the human v \. lf y?sitors the opoil ot thw young birdf', which '" have been hatchoil in holee, and are the , favourite food of the Natives. Oa Saturday '"''•" c lßSsm large brown Tat, pressed by a retriever ';<■• i 4cfgon the bank of the Otaulau liiver, took to c- foafer, and escaping the notice of its pursuer, i;>.;'vawam down the stream. Partly perhaps from Oil) toeing frightened by a person on the bridge, and the scent, it dived suddenly and swam under water for a considerable dißifTi^i^w&^lP?^*"'^ 8 3 us k ur) d er the surface, and '• $hen iose/ "After Bwimming perhaps 80 or 80 "f^mr alEotfMer. it effected a landing, having V 9 3m Wie&r #ili isnuffing among the flax at $ho ntortfog-poibtt

AMERICAN SPRING AMUSEMENT.

The New York Herald remarks that" the spring opening in ;tho murder line is decided!] lively," and nobody veonld (says Truth) bo disposed to cavil at the sUtpmen'c after reading a single day's tragedies. In 'a Southern towr several rowdies entered a bar and assaulted a policeman, who shot one dead and wounded another. At St. Nicholas a waiter shot dead a commercial traveller who found fault with the quality of the eggs supplied for h.U -breakfast. At Slaughterville, Kentucky, the Marshal having been threatened with death by a citizen who considered himself wronged by that ofScisl, went to tho house of his enemy and shot him dead j and the same fate befel a man engaged in a strike ; while a coloured boy of 14 cut the throat of a coloured girl because she refused to get up to find him a pen. Pretty well this for ono day.

SPELLING FOB SOUND.

Mr T. B. S prae;ue, the well-known and abk actuary, is one of those erratic persons whose actions are not easily understood. In the Journal of the Institute of Actuaries for January last there is a paper by him '" On tht Hate ov Kercarryge among Widoers," printed 5n the Spraguean style of orthography, while his reply to the discussion which took place on the paper at the meeting of the Institute imprinted ia the usual common-sonse way of spelling. What dott Mr Sproguo mean ? (askf the Australian Icmuranca and Banking Re cord). Seeing: that he baa a hobby, why can not he stick to it ? The change in the mode of spelling referred to shows a weakness of mind in the eccentric actuary with which we would not have credited him. With reference to the outraqe^us mode of spelling generally adopted by Mr Sprague, one of the London insurance papers suggests as a reason for the members of the Institute tamely submitting to the disfigure ment of their journal that Mr Sprague ie the only actuary capable of editing it, and that, therefore, he does pretty much as he likeß. Why, then, it says, should he not be consistent, and jprint the whole of the journal in the perspicuous and elegant orthography invented by himself ?

SOMNAMBULISM EXTRAORDINARY.

The Guildford correspondent; of the Mount Alexander Mail relates the following singular instance of somnambulism which occurred recently at Tarilta : — Mrs Edwards, who has two suns, aged 15 and 9, allowed them to go on a fishing excursion up the river Loddon, with the intent to stop all night. The younger, who had previously walked in his sleup, was cau tioned. and the elder enjoined, if they slepr, to carefully watch his brother. The night— or, rather, the early morning— became pitch dark, and the boys, who intended to keep awake, decided to lie down ; and in a few minutes the clever lads improvised a mia-mia and slept During the pitch-dark morning the youngei one got up, and, with his eyes closed, started for home in a bee or direct line, and wher reaching it took off his boots, opened the window abutting on his bedroom, crawled in, and slept. In the morning the mother wat astonished to find her child in bed. Inquiries and examination proved that the little one had not tie slightest idea how he got home. The boys were four miles from their residence, and the ascertained track of the somnambulist boy showed that he had come in a direct line, but in a direction never previously traveroed by him, and over country that a man would in daylight hesitate to cross,

SETTING A BROKEN LeG AT HERAT.

The Times of India states that M. Ferrier give? an amusin instance of the way some hakims of Herat went about the treatment of a broken leg belonging to a sirdar, who had been thrown from hia hoim " Tha doctors and bone setters who bad been called in to sot the leg arrived one after the other, and two hourc elapsed before they examined it ; they were another hour discussing the mode of treatment, and of course, witbout agreeing about it 5 one wanted to wash the wouud made by the nail' of the horseshoe, another proposed something else ; at last the Vozir's surgeon arrived — be was for washing it ; and the dresser who was firing the splint stopped short, declaring that be would do nothing further .unless a moolab came and said the prayer usually offered during an operation— a prayer beforehand constituting in bis opinion at least three-fourths of the chanca of a cure. A good hour again elapsed befoce the Kazi arrived, who then recited a loEg orison ; aod as it finished, the leg yea& wretchedly and most unskilfully sei,, the horrible agony and loud cries of the patient being little regarded. The surgeons then put on a pla«ttr mada of barley flour and yolks of egge to facilitate the joining of the bone, but even at this point tbey had not done with tin oufforer ; a new dispute arose as to the general treatment, how be was to be dieted ; one wah for complete abstinence from food, another abstiuenea from liquids; one was for hot drinks, another for cold; and, as they could not agree, it was determined to have recourse to the tesbih, a chaplet with which Musfmlmans consul l ; fate. On this authority, and that of a constellation given by an astronomer who was present, it was at length settled that the patient was to have no driuk at all, but ac much as ever he could eat, while he, without the least appetite and nearly moribund, declined everything that \va« brought to him. Ar the Yuzlr's surgeon had some authority in the midst of such a mob, and was supported by the favourite wife of the sirdar, the discussions, propositions, and arrangements were at length brought to a close • they had occupied four hours, and if it had not been for these two per sons, they would not have terminated till the followiug day at tho same hour ; but it should be remembered that to mend a leg is not a small thing at Herat."

COUNTING THEM BY SIGHS.

When he does got a chance a weather-beaten station hat>d can " pile it on " to a new chum (says " JEglett "in the Australasian). Such a one up North was riding over the run with a young and correspondingly innocent late arri val. The veteran was unfolding the mysteries of travelling stock, and keeping up a running fire of croesj-examiaution all tho time. " Now, young 'un," said he. "if you had a mob of 300 head of cattle travelling, and you put them in the camp at night, how would yon count them?" The disciple knew nothing but the ordinary method, and was then informed, "You bop, th«y always turn over and sigh at 12 o'clock midnight, aod iv the darkest night of the year you can clifi^k over y>ur mob by counting the sighs." Young Suckdove firmly believes it to this day. Do you ?

THE N. S. W. ABORIGINAL MURDEUEE.

Tho circumstances convicted with tl>e murder for wfiieh an aboriginal wad recently executed in |New South Waks are of a somewhat r<« markuble character. Tho pi issuer and another male aboriginal w«re fallow servants of an aboriginal woman on a station. They paid her some attention. Ultimately she went away with one of her lovers. The prisoner, in a fit of jealousy, loaded a gun with a bullet, proceeded to a hut where tbey were lying auleep, and fired at the woman's back. The buller. struck her ribs, paß<ed round them, and entered the a 1 d»inon of the man. Tho woman survived, but the man died. The prisoner was tried before Sir William Manning, found guilty, and ftentenced to death ; »nd the Executive determined that tne law should take its course

A SOLDIER IN HIGH COMPANY.

The Prince of Wales (says Truth) knows how fco do a kindly action. During the Afghan debate m tho Housa of Lords he noticed amongst tho spectators Lieutenant-general Sir Samuel Browne, who commanded the Khyber column during the operations in Afghanistan last year. Sending for him, the Prince said, " We are going to have a quiet dinner in one of the private rooms here, and if you have nothing better to do the Princess, and myself will be delighted if you can dine with us." Sam. Browne, a rugged Boldier, was somewhat nonplussed, for he left one arm on a battle-field in the Indian Mutiny, and occasionally feels a little awkward when cut off from his own combination knife and fork. However, hearty assistance was offered by the Princess of Wales, Princess Beatrice, and Princess Frederic*, of Hanover, who wera present.

PRESERVING FISH IN BLOCKS OV ICE. Fish-freezing is the newest form of the preservation of fresh food. It is already being practised in India. Fisih are frozen up in solid blocks of ice, andean then bedeliveredin any part of India, while the surrounding ica can be used for the ordinary purpose of cooling drinks. The fish are suspended in wire nets in the freezing water, and are found in excellent condition after five or six days of such enclosure. The same treatment has been tried and found successful with flowers. In this way fish are now being sent from Bombay to Lahore and other parts of India. The experiment is novel as to frozen fish, but it was tried some time ago at Glasgow with salmon eggs, when two million salmon egga were frozen up with, three feet of ice round them, and arrived ready for hatching ia New Zealand after 110 days' voyage. Ab some hundreds of thousands of those eggs were actually hatched, the Glasgow experiment may be held to prove that the fish frozen in Bombay undergo no physical change whatever. But it is seen that it may be possible to give another development to this prooess, and to equalise the supply and the price of fish by storing the surplus stock of one time when fishermen are fortunate for the demands of those days in which the fresh aupply is so insufficient as to compel a considerable rise in pi ice. LAND ATTRACTIONS IN THSI NORTH ISLAND, The Taranaki Herald states that the land at Ngaire, which will be open for sale on the Ist proximo, is attracting the notice of Southern farmers. Some time ago two delegates from the Co-operative Land Association in Christchurch arrived for the purpose of inspecting the land, and they returned to Christchurch highly gratified with the result of their inspection, and sent in a moat favourable report to the Association. The result is that an application was immediately made by the Association for 40 forms of application for land, which were supplied from the Land Office. Since then a further application for 20 additional forms has been made. Another land association has been formed in the same city, which has sent a requisition for 30 application forms, making a total of 90 forms, which will be supplied to these companies alone. The blocks, which will be opened for sale on the Ist June, are Nob. 10, 13, and 14, Ngaire, and block I, Hawera.

ASTRONOMY.

For the forthcomiag lectures of Mr R. A. Proctor, the distinguished orator and astronomer, the Melbourne Daily Telegraph, in a leading article, thus prepares its readers :— " It may fairly be asserted that Mr Proctor's lectures will be of a stamp not in the least unbe6tting the pulpit on Sunday evening. He is, in truth, a lay preacher of a very noble order. He knows the secrets of the boundless universe as few men have ever known them, and his talent for rovealing them to other minds is unrivalled. He can give us the very latest report from the Sun's flaming envelope ; or the newest intelligence from the comet whichis now away on its travels through infinite space j or the last accounts from Skins; or tell us when the next Btorm-Bhower of meteors may be expected ; or show us in his magic mirror those complex movements of the heavenly bodies which produce the oc cultation of Orion at stated periods ; or divulge the mysteries of the star depths far beyond the Milky Way ; or carry ub with him, in fancy, round the measureleßS circuit of tha ' flaming walls ' of tha physical universe— the # resulting emotion from the amazing survey being aa indescribable blending of wonder, awe, delight, and intense intellectual enjoyment. No sermon on the marvels of the Almighty power in creation could be more powerful, more arresting, more moving."

PLAYING IHE TRUANT AND ITS RESULTS.

A Sandhurst paper relaloo how two boys played truant from school, and to keep out of sight, selected a cutting on the Danger Hill, California Gully, which divides the Hercules and Energetic Company's lease from the North Hercules claim. After sitting down and playing for |some time, one of the lads, named "Rosewall, observed something bright sticking out of toe ground, and on closer examination found it to be a lump of gold. The boy returned home, and, very properly, received the usual thrashing from his mother for playing truaut ; after which he showed her the oval nugget. The nugget is of pure gold, and was waterworn on one side. When sold the price realised will be about LIOO.

NEW ZEALAND V. MANITOBO AND WINNEPEG.

A correspondent to the Daily Times says in reference to the climate of Manitoba, to which immigrants are at present being attracted in considerable numbers by the extremely liberal land laws , which have recently been passed :— Referring to the climate of Manitoba and the surrounding settlements, I will quote the following from a reliable work published by the Messrs Chambers of Edinburgh, showing the nature of the weather throughout the year in that part of the world:—" Martin's Fall, on the Albany, near Manitoba, which flows into the southern extremity of Hudson's Bay, is exactly in the latitude of London. This circumstance renders a record of tho progress of the seasons ojf interest. December, January, February— Dead winter months ; intense frost ; snow permanently hard. March 16-^ Snow often melts at mid-day. 20— Tops of the nig grasses appear. April— Slight crust on the snow from the day thaw and the night frost. A few insects appear in bright mild weather. 22— The grey goose ot Canada and stock ducks sometimes appear; often forced back to the south by the northerly blasts. 25— A few spots of ground bare. 28— The American robin and other birds> are now arriving, feeding on benumbed grubs and caterpillars. May— Ground getting barer; srujw i»"elf«in/r rapidly. 10— Ermines and rabbits become altogether brown, 12— The buds of poplar, aspen, and various willows 'swell. 16— The larger rivers break up, swamps and stagnant pool? are thawed. JuneInsects on warm days are busy on Jhe bushes and ground. 10— Night frost sometimes occurs. I£— Country covered with verdure ; the latest shrubs I^vp leaves ; birds are nestling. July— Summer month ; weathor often very warm ; strawberries ripen ; mosquitoes numerous. August— Summer month; raspberries and currants ripen. September— The air generally cooler ; winds stronger ; frosty nights looked for. 10— Many insectivorous birds leave ; night frosts frequent, and leaves begin to turn yellow. OctoberPools and swamps crusted with ice; mosquitoes utterly defunct. 6— Foliage falls, and snow succeeds rain. 20— Small lakes and rivers sometimes fast frozen ; the American hare and ermine change colour. November— Ground covered with, snow; rapids .closing fast with ice ; swamps passable ; rabbits and ermines entirely white. Tha Red River freezes in JJoyember and opens in April, but Lako Winnepeg remains olosed till the end of May." We often hear complaints about the New Zealand climate, but how would, that of Manitoba and Winnopeg suit?