LOCAL & GENERAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1823, 29 October 1886, Page 9

LOCAL & GENERAL.

About 20 miners engaged by the Kaitangata Coal Company to take the place of the men on strike left town on Tuesday for the mine. In case any hostile demonstration might be made by the men lately at work Inspector Moore and several constables accompanied Mr W. F. Watson, the manager of the mine, and the new men. No disturbance of k any bind took place during the day. Inspector Moore remained at Kaitangata all night.

A highly influential meeting of laymen ia Sydney has formed an association to restrain improper practices and illegal ritual in the public services of the Church of England, and the clergy are also moving in the same direction.

Some of the paintings sent by Danedin artists to the recent Wellington Art Society's Exhibition attracted considerable attention. The two large oil paintings, one of .Kinloch, Lake Wakatipu, and the other a study .of Lake Hayes, exhibited by MrL. W. Wilson, were purchased by his Excellency the Governor. ,

The five men charged with committing an outrage on Jane Taylor at Singleton were tried at the Circuit Court, and Bruderlein and Jenkins were discharged ; and as the jury was unable to agree in regard to Ellis, Balfour, and Chick, these three were bound over to appear when called upon.

It is -stated that there are 1600 ironworkers out of employment in New South Wales at thd present moment. The amount paid in wages .fc £187,000 less than if the men were all at work. The depression is the severest that has' been known in that colony for the past 25 years, and it has been gradually increasing during the past two or three years.

Private letters received from Madrid (says the Melbourne Age) state that Spanish society has been thrown into excitement by the' sudden exile of one of the handsomest and most dashing officers of the Queen's Guards. The officer was continually on duty in and about the royal palace. He fell violently in love with his Sovereign! and, making no concealment of the passion, revealed it in various ways. One day he made his way to the Queen's boudoir, and throwing himself at her Majesty's feet, poured forth his tale of passion. But alas for Wb devotion ! the Queen banished him from her presence/ and hinting to her Ministers that his absence would contribute to the repose of her mind, the Secretary for War intervened. He signed an order next day, ordering the removal of the cavalry regiment to which the officer is attached to a town remote from the capital. The gentleman belongs to a powerful aristocratio family. Nevertheless, he is likely to have a' warm time in the regiment, which, in consequence of his escapade, has been ordered into virtual exile. In connection with the defalcations of Stoddart William G. Campbell, paying teller of the Bank of Australasia in Melbourne, and a. prominent cricketer, it appears suspicion was aroused in consequence of a statement which was made to the bank authorities by the manager of ' a suburban branch of another bank. Campbell's cash was checked, and it was found to be defi- , cient. He was called into the superintendent's office to explain the deficiency, and he then confessed that he had taken the money from his till. The specific charge is that he stole £450, the money' of the batik, although he confessed that the sum appropriated by him was greater, and a subsequent examination of his accounts showed that the deficiency amounted to between £1900 and £2000. The warrant for his apprehension was entrusted to Detective Ward, but all efforts to trace the accused have Jproved fruitless. He has a wife and several young children. The greatest confidence was placed in him by the higher officers of the bank, because he appears to have lived in a quiet and well-conducted manner. Before leaving the bank he bade an affectionate farewell to several fellow clerks, and this act was construed by .the more imaginative of them into an indication that he intended to commit suicide. Our cablegrams have informed us that the friends of Campbell subscribed the amount of the deficiency, but no* thing was discovered as to his whereabouts.

Is it, after all, quite so certain as we like to assume (says the Pall Mall Gazette) that in the animal kingdom man is cock of the walk? Take even so poor a creature for instance as the rabbit : its place in the history of the world has still to be written; but that it will be a very con* siderable one is already certain. There is Heligoland, for instance, which the rabbit is eating away, they say, into the German Ocean; and in that Greater Britain of the South, in which we are always told to believe the future of our race will lie, the rabbit is the one question .of primary importance — beside which Imperial Federation is mere moonshine, and policies in the Pacific only idle talk. What profit would jt be to the Australians if they annexed every island in the Southern seas if all the while the rabbit had annexed their own continent ? And now in England also, where the rabbit has hitherto only been thought of as conferring immortality on Sir William Harcourt, we are told by the British Association that it is undermining Stonehenge. What the storms and' rains of centuries.have spared, the rabbit is to devour. When Stonehenge is gone the rodent will demolish the pyramids. Mr Gladstone is " out of it " again. Everybody has heard how the late Prime Minister ascribes his splendid health to having learned one simple physiological lesson — namely, to make 25 bites at every bit of meat. Mr Lyttelton has recorded the fact in his little book on training, and Sir John Lubbock repeated it the other day in an address on technical education. And now there comes a "Physiologist F.R.5.," who writes to the Times to say that the pretty little tale is merely " another illustration of great ignotfance of natural things in the presence of high and even wonderful conceptivo faculties." So far from needing 25 bites, meat does not need any bites at all, for it is digested not by the mouth juices (as vegetable substances are) but by the stomach juices, and as. the secretions of the mouth are alkaline, whereas the digestive fluid for meat is acid, too much mastication actually interferes with digestion. So Mr Gladstone must go to school again after all, and learn the old nursery saw, " to bolt the meat but chew the potatoes." It appears Christctmrch is anxious to become a port, or at anyrate some of the residents in. the City of Plains are anxious that it should be connected with the sea by a, canal. .A correspondent of the Christchurch Press states that the Heathcote canal should be made to Cowlishaw's comer. The tunnel, he says, has done very well for its time, and is still wanted, but this would do better ; in fact, he thinks the canal would do as much good as the West Coast railway, if not More,

We have been asked to amend. our report respecting applications to surrender perpetual leases, WendtJngiae district. The effect of tbo

resolution of the Land Board passed at its meeting of the 20th inst. was that the surrenders would be accepted if all rents in arrear were paid up.

The sentence passed upon Hall, of penal servitude for the rest of his natural life, is in reality the ordinary life sentence, which under the Jprison regulations is regarded as a period of 20 [years, or with deductions for exemplary conduct, may mean 15 years.

The whole of the men at work at the Kaitangata Coal Company's mine at Kaitangata have suddenly and unexpectedly gone out on strike. So far as we can learn, the facts are as follow : — Some time ago a majority of the men working at the mine decided upon forming a trade union, and with the exception of two men all engaged appear to have joined this union or society. All efforts to induce these men to join failed, and the others then seemed to have decided upon coercive measures. They accordingly forwarded to the manager of the works at Kaitangata a resolution carried at a meeting of the ' society, by which it was decided not to give the two men referred to boxes after that date, the 19bh inst. Both the general manager and, the manager of the works reasoned with the men regarding the position they were taking up, and induced them to reconsider the matter. This the men did, but the members refused to recede from the decision previously arrived at, and, the secretary of the society in forwarding the resolution intimating their refusal to rescind the resolution, added that they "further insist" that the two men " be dismissed." The directors considered the whole matter, and decided that it would be unjust to the two men who had been working for them some considerable time to take away their means of livelihood under such circumstances, and also determined that rather than give way to such high-handed tactics they would fight the matter out. With the exception of the two men referred to all the miners to the number of nearly 130 at once ceased work. The directors now seek to replace the men with others, and in view of the manner in which .they have been treated have decided to employ only non-union men.

Mormonism (we are told by the Greytown Standard) is increasing in numbers in the North Island. ' A great number of Natives have become adherents in Napier, and they are particularly numerous in the Gisborne district. At Palmerston North the mission is being energetically, prosecuted among the Bangitana tribe. Elders B. L. Davis and M. R. Pratt (the latter being a son of the famous Orson Pratt) are labouring in the Wairarapa at the present time, and within the last six weeks, they state, 40 Natives have professed the faith. In Carfcerton there are about 40 Europeans who have joined the Saints.

A< writer in Tinsley's Magazine says: — "The word 'queer' has a remarkable origin attributed to it. One night, when the performance at Drury Lane was finished, the celebrated Quin many of whose jokes are still remembered, offered to bet a young nobleman £100 that next morning a word would be in universal use which had never been heard before. The nobleman accepted the wager and left the theatre. Then Quin summoned all the 'supers,' who happened to be very numerous, and gave each a large piece of chalk. He told them to go through all the leading thoroughfares of London, and write at intervals on the flags the word ' Queer.' Quin's orders were faithfully carried out, and on the following morning, of course, people were astonished. The word was in everybody's mouth. The great actor with little difficulty made good his claim to the nobleman's banknote, while bequeathing a new word to the language."

Another Paris lion-tamer has just narrowly escaped being devoured by one of his lions in the presence of a large and horror-stricken public. The accident happened on Sunday, August 29, the performance being at a travelling menagerie which- a few days previously arrived at Puy. The lion-tamer, Castanet, had entered a cage containing several wild beasts, and had begun to put them through their usual exercises, when one of the lions, with an angry growl, suddenly struck Castanet with his paw and knocked him down. A cry of alarm from the spectators seemed to excite the animal, which tore vigorously at the tamer's right arm. A. life-and-death struggle was then entered into between the tamer and the lion. Castanet, trying to rise to his feet, kept his eyes fixed on the lion, which now sought to seize him with its formidable teeth. Fortunately, before it could do so Castanet succeeded in rising from the ground, and, after administering^a few stinging cuts on the lion with his steel whip, he left the cage, It was, however, only just in time to save his life, for he almost immediately fell unconscious on the floor. , He was severely wounded on the arm and side, and lost a great deal of blood.

News comes from Nelson that, on the 18th inst, some children of very tender years were playing together in Brook street, when one little fellow became greatly enraged with his playmate, and in the heat of passion raised an axe 'and struck the other on the head. The Wellington correspondent of the Lyttelton Times states that the child struck was so badly injured that its life is in danger, and it is feared that, in the event of its life being spared, the poor child's mind will be permanently affected.

News has been received at Cooktown of an outrage by the New Guinea natives on the steamboat Koredo, four people being killed and two wounded, whilst the vessel was lying in one of the New Guinea harbours. The vessel was surrounded by native boats, and the natives, without warning, seized the captain and speared him and some others. The boatswain, who was armed, made a gallant resistance, killed one native and wounded two others. The rest then fled.

The employment of electricity in the practical work of daily life is being marvellously advanced by another Frenchman, whose name, already illustrated by more than one of the most curious and useful inventions of modern days, is evidently destined, in the conviction of those who are allowed to " look behind the scenes " in the laboratory of the inventor already alluded to, to rank with the most admirable of the discoverers of Nature's secrets. One of these marvellous adaptations will furnish an electric cable practically indestructible in land and in water, or in the air, capable of transmitting at so small a cost as to be "almost nothing" 1500 words per minute. The same gentleman is putting the finishing touch to a sewing-machine, and to the little gem of an electric machine for working the same. All noise and all movements of hands or feet are entirly suppressed, excepting the slight and easy action of the hand that guides the needle, and the latter accomplishes 1500 stitches per minute. This same inventor has in hand half-a-dozen other, electrical novelties equally astounding.

The London correspondent of the New York m ffiT" Z^i 11 meet Mr Gladstone at a dinner table after delivering ifome grdat epe&oh

in the House of Commons, and will look at him in vain for any sign of exhaustion, physical or mental, any of those attitudes of weary absorption which great thinkers or great public men are so apt to fall into in society, whether unconsciously or deliberately, at which their admirers gaze with bated breath. Mr Gladstone in society is just as much a centre of attraction and a spectacle of exuberant energy and brilliancy as in the House of Commons. He talks incessantly and, let me hasten to add, delightfully, never mentioning 'shop.' His eyes sparkle, his whole face lights up with animation, and he laughs the loud joyous laugh of a schoolboy. His conversation flits with the lightest of wings over a whole world of subjects. One evening recently, at a dinner, a cuiious friend of mine made note that in the course of the repast he touched upon the following themes : the latest excavations by Dr Petrie in Egypt, with a picturesque detail or two about Babylonian and Egyptian domestic life Alphonse Daudet's • Sappho ' giving a text for some vehement remarks about the degeneracy of French novelistic literature since the realists carae into vogue ; Norwegian fishing customs ; Sarah Bernhardt and Mary Anderson as women and as actresses, with a decided preference for Mary as the first and Sarah as the second; anecdotes of Lord Brougham, Taglioni, Charles Dickens, Louis Philippe, Tom Sayers, Garibaldi; whether the flowing grace of the Greek chiton was preferable after all to the inviting prettiness of the small waist; the meanaesa of muzzling dogs ; a mention of old china (of which Mr Gladstone is a connoisseur and collector) leading to an account of the Due d'Aumale's bric-a-brac, that leading to a sketch of the beautiful palace of Chatillon, that to a chat about Madame de Sevign6, and that to a regret that the English have not that faculty for making memoirs so attractive as the French, and that, again, to a correction, with personal testimony, of some of Greville's mistakes — a bubbling, effervescing stream, coming from the springs of a heart as fresh as in the springtime of young manhood. Somebody has compared Mr Gladstone's heart and intellect to a winter pear which blooms and ripens under the snows of age."

The annual meeting of the D. I. C. was held on Friday afternoon. The balance sheet shows that the business has expanded largely during the year, and a dividend of 8§ per cent, and a bonus of 6J per cent, on purchases have been declared. The report shows that for every £1000 taken during the preceding year, £1350 was taken during the year just closed.

We learn that the negotiations which have been going on for some short time back between Messrs Sargood, Son, and Ewen and Messrs Ross and Glendining have resulted in an amalgamation of the businesses of those firms. The amalgamation includes the Roslyn Woollen Mills and the whole of the branches throughout the colony.

Mr W. W. Crawford, engineer, &c., the constructor of the now celebrated self-acting cheesemaking machinery which has come so rapidly into use in the North Island, arrived in Dunedin bythe Rotomahana. He proceeds to Henley for the purpose of erecting the machinery he has manufactured for the Henley Dairy Factory Company, and may be consulted by any who are interested in this nationally important industry at that factory.

Nothing has yet been done in the direction of filling up the vacancies in the Upper House caused by the deaths of the Hons. J. Bathgate, T. Henderson, and A. de B. Brandon. It is rumoured (says the Wellington correspondent of the Lyttelton Times) that Messrs Pyke and J. C. Brown will be called to the Council.

As yet (says the Clutha Leader) we have heard nothing of tenders being called for the construction of another section of the Catlins railway, for which a vote was passed at last session of Assembly. There was also a vote of £500 for the road through the bush from Ahuriri to Owaki. We have heard nothing of the expenditure of this vote either. At the Christchurch Resident Magistrate's Court Wm. Cuddon, a brewer, was charged with, on September 15, having supplied to John P. Tomes, a person under the prohibition clause, 36 gallons of beer. Mr Stringer, for the defence, admitted the fact, but produced evidence to show that the beer was ordered from and supplied by a servant. The defendant, moreover, was unaware of the prohibition order having been made. A conviction against another brewer for a similar offence with regard to Tomes had been secured on September 30, and immediately on reading the account of this in the papers Cuddon senb up to Tomes' house and had the barrel, with what was left of the beer, taken away. Mr Stringer suggested that notice of the prohibition should in all cases be sent to brewers as well as publioans. Mr Beetham dismissed the information, and directed that in future all brewers should be notified of prohibition orders by the clerk of the court.

An anonymous donor, who had stipulated that his identity was not to be made known, recently paid into the Bank of England the sum of £14,980 in New South Wales bonds towards the funds foi erecting a new parish church for Portsea. The interest on the above sum up to the Ist July was £280, so that the anonymous contribution amounted to £15,260.

The so-called Hitzferien (heat holidays) which are now established by law in Germany and Switzerland (remarks a Home paper) deserve imitation everywhere. When the thermometer reaches a certain point lessons must cease. Throughout Prussia the observance of this regulation is compulsory in all private as well as in public schools. Indeed, the private school in Prussia is fast becoming public, since no director or proprietor of a private school is allowed to employ as teacher, either male or female, any uncertificated person, while even the books used in private schools are bound to be legitimate schools editions. The Basel Government has just issued a new regulation for the Hitzferien in the Baselt schools. When the temperature rises to 20deg. (Reaumur) in the shade at 10 o'clock in the morning, holiday is to be proclaimed to the scholars until the afternoon. Two such holidays were recently proclaimed during one week, to the no small delight of the boys and girls, whose jubilant greeting of the announcement could be heard from the open windows of the gymnasium.

Extraordinary devastation was wrought by the bursting of a waterspout at Swansea, in Wales. It travelled from the bay, and when passing over Kilvey hill, some 600 ft above the level of the sea, it suddenly burst. A scene of awful grandeur ensued. A torrent rushed down the hill with irresistible force, carrying everything before it. Huge boulders went crashing through the houses in Foxhole, a small village built at the base. Women and children were carried off their feet by the rus.b. of w&b&i Srtfl übVefal baa narrow esbspfe^.

Two children were almost buried by the debris and had to be dug out. A man named Stephens was washed along for 200 yards, when he managed to grasp a lamp post and save himself. A woman was carried by the avalanche into her house, where she was afterwards found up to the shoulders in debris and shockingly injured. Many of the houses were entirely denuded of furniture. One old man lost a stocking containing £25. After the storm Foxhole and Kilvey roads were covered with earth and stones to the depth ot 6ft. Hundreds of men were engaged next day clearing the rubbish away. Many people are houseless.

The Journal dcs Debats says it learns that several Indian princes, following the example of the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, have resolved to make common cause with Russia, and that grave complications in Central Asia may be expected soon.

At 4 o'clock on August 23 an immense procession entered the town of New Ross from Fefchard, County Wexford. First came a brass band, then three waggonettes, containing about 60 persons, the wives and children of 13 farmers who were evicted recently from their holdings on the Marquess of Ely's estates. The waggonettes were followed by 300 horsemen, four deep, and a number of priests on cars, and by a striug of cars in a single file, said to be several miles long. This remarkable gathering was accompanied by five or six bands. The object of the demonstration was to escort the evicted families to New Ross workhouse, where a " ward of honour " had been set apart for their use. Notices had been previously posted about the town calling upon the people to assemble in their thousands " to witness the last resource of landlord [oppression, and to comfort the poor evicted on their way to the workhouse." In compliance with this suggestion all the shops were shut and the town was decorated. A platform was erected, from which Nationalist orators harangued the people.

The North Dunedin Presbyterian Church was well filled on Friday evening, when the Rev. A. C. Gillies delivered a lecture on the subject "Russia, Turkey, and Britain." Mr A. J. Burns presided. The lecturer exhibited maps drawn by himself, covering the territory upon which the eyes of the civilised world are at present centred ; and in an easy, graphic, and interesting manner showed the geographical outlines of the different countries and the various points of interest, and gave a description and history so essential to the proper understanding of the lecture. A collection was made for the Sabbath school picnic.

The following applications for patents have been received: — W. Cameron and E. Kebblewhite, of Masterton, for a wire-strainer ; B. C. Fryer, of Hastings, for improvements in firegrates; H. Hughes, of Wellington, for improvements in apparatus for straining and splicing fencing wire ; Mary Rider, of Christchurch, for salve for curing cancers and other sores ; W. H. Kiddey, of Christchurch, for candle-holder with automatic extinguisher; C. F. Maw, Waitara, for invention for testing the soundness of eggs.

The Native Land Conrfc, which has been sitting at Eaiapoi during the past week, was on Friday (says the Lyttelton Times) occupied in individualising the titles to several sections of land held by Natives at Tamutu, near Southbridge, which hitherto had been vested in a few native owners. These latter now requested the court to apportion the land to those Natives who originally settled on it and have improved and fenced it in. The court has, in compliance with the request, issued 23 orders for separate titles for the persons interested. The Hon. H. K. Taiaroa, M.L.C., and Eli Tihau were the representatives of the Tamutu Natives in this matter. This is the first instance of the individualisation of Native lands under the Native Land Equitable Bill, clause 9, passed during the last session of Parliament.

At the meeting of ths Auckland Diocesan Synod, Bishop Cowie said he had received very satisfactory letters from Bishop Selwyn. One of these was dated on board the Southern Cross, off Santa Crux, in which Bishop Selwyn said they had been to Nukupu, the island on which Bishop Patteson was killed. They were cordially received, and found that the Patteson cross was well cared for! and when he asked the reason from an old chief, he said it was tapu. He stated that they had a very trying season in the north. An epidemic in the nature of influenza had broken out, and he gave some medicine to the old chief, which, under God, cured him. He had heard of Mrs Cowie's Women's Home, and hoped to be able to find employment for some of them. The next letter was from Norfolk Island, to which Bishop Selwyn had returned unexpectedly, as he was suffering from ague, but when he left again on a short trip he was accompanied by Mrs Selwyn. His great fear was that France would annex Banks' Island as well as the New Hebrides.

If the claims of old descent were a justifiable source of pride, the human race would feel elated on being assured by the wise men of the British Association that authentic proof has been discovered in some Welsh caves that men, sufficiently developed from the ape to manufaoture flint implements, existed on this planet 240,000 years ago. To us (says the Pall Mall Gazette) it is a melancholy reflection that we should have taken so prodigious a time to attain so small a result. Even when the duration of the race is limited to the 6000 years of history, the outcome can hardly be considered as satisfactory, and there is something profoundly depressing in the sudden addition of a series of ancestors who spent 234,000 years in marking time, indeed, but in making no other mark in the world.

The new experiment which the Dutch are making in prison management will be watched with interest throughout Europe. Hitherto Holland, like England, has held the belief that two years in a separate cell is as much as a criminal can stand and survive. This month the Dutch have amended their code so that every prisoner sentenced to a term of imprisonment of five years and over will spend the first five years of his term in cellular confinement. As in Holland, eyen the chapels are constructed on the cellular principle, and the prisoners wear masks whenever they leave the narrow precincts of their living grave. The Dutch experiment seems very severe. Your Dutchman is of phlegmatic temperament, but it is doubtful whether even he can be buried alive with impunity in this fashion.

At the Port Chalmers Police Court on Saturday, B. E. de Lautour was charged, upon the information of James Weir, clerk to the P. C. High School Committee, with neglecting to send his children Bertrand and Edward Atherton (aged 12), Francis (aged 11), Kabie (aged 10), and Auta Rose (aged 8) to the public school, in accordance with the provisions of "The Education Act 1887" and its amendments. — Mr Weir stated that he had Repeatedly spoken to LV de Lautpnr on the tftftprffc dt flkndffi& his dtifWren 4smm and

had twice served him with the statutory notice, to which he made no reply, hence the present proceedings.— The Defendant stated that his reasons for not sending his children to school were primarily that they, had suffered from a contagious disease commonly called the "itch," which they had caught there. He was not surprised to find the " Caledonian fiddle," as this disease was called, existing in a Scotch settlement ; and secondly, his children were receiving an education at home far above the standard required by the Education Act. He was prepared, however, to submit the children for examination by the rector as to their progress. In regard to the itch from which they were suffering, they were not alone in it, as he was now attending six families suffering from that complaint. He would amend this statement by saying three families. He was not prepared to say whether the fault of the uncleanliness rested with the committee or the teachers, but it was certain the disease was in the school. — Mr Weir asked Dr de Lautour why he had not, both as a medical man and the father of a family attending the school, reported the matter to the committee. — Dr de Lautour stated he was aware it was a neglect on his part. — Mr Reid, J.P., said the bench was satisfied they were not in a position to order the defendant to < send his children to school on account of the contagious disease alleged by Dr de Lautour to exist; while on the other hand, as that gentleman stated the children were receiving efficient education elsewhere, they thought they had no alternative but to adjourn the case for 14 days. — Mr Weir stated he was instructed by the committee to object to any adjournment and to ask the bench, if they decided to grant it, to state a case. — This the bench refused to do, and the case was adjourned for a fortnight. The Kaitangata school was examined on the 19th and 20th inst. by Messrs Petrie and Taylor. There were in the standards 177 ; pupils in infant classes, 114; total on the roll, 291. The percentage of passes in the standards was 83, and the percentage of marks obtained 90. The report on other subjects is very favourable. The following are the returns of the Dunedin Hospital for the past week :— Number of patients remaining from the previous week ... ... .„ ... us Admitted during the week ... ... 12 Discharged during the week ... ... 13 Total remaining... ... ... ... 117 A new point under the Married Women's Property Act was brought before Mr Wardell, R.M. at Wellington. An application was made for a married woman's property order, and Mr Jellicoe submitted that the earnings of a married woman were protected under section 7 of " The Married Women's Property Act 1884," and consequently it was unnecessary to make such an application as that now before the court. The R.M. took time to consider the point. A disappearance which may be legitimately characterised as mysterious is reported from Sowburn (says the Mount Ida Chronicle). Mr John M'Eay, storekeeper, has been missing from his usual place of abode for about six weeks past, and neither his wife nor his friends appear to know of his whereabouts. It is said be was last seen sitting on the wharf in Dunedin, fishingline in hand, and it is supposed he slipped from his seat aid was drowned. This hypothesis, however, is hardly tenable, as unless a strong current carried him out of the bay, it seems unaccountable that bis body has not yet been recovered. At the request of his wife, Mr M'Kay will be declared a bankrupt and his estate wound up. The matter is in the hands of the police, and.it is to be hoped — especially for Mrs M'Kay's sake, who is said to be in a truly pitiable state— that the mystery will shortly be fully elucidated.

The fund started by the Wellington Evening Post in aid of the family of Ward, who recently died from the effects of long-continued starvation, has reached the handsome total of £160.

At a meeting of the Waimea Plains Railway Company held on Monday, a resolution submitted approving of the sale of the company's railway line to the Government was carried. Mr Mackerras, who was in the chair, stated that the loss to shareholders by accepting the terms offered would amount to between 35s and 36s per share besides interest.

A meeting of creditors in the estate of P Hanrahan, hotelkeeper, of St. Bathans, was to have been held at the official assignee's office on Monday. Only one creditor attended, and so the meeting lapsed.

With reference to the statement regarding the removal of 6heep and rabbit inspectors which we recently published, we learn that it is Mr Thomas J. Miles, lately of Palmerston, who relieves Mr Hickson in the Tuapeka district, and not Mr W. Miller, of Queenstown, who does not leave that district.

A daring attempt appears to have been made to remove an important witness named William Stanley in the case of outrage on Miss Hicks near Sydney. Stanley disappeared from his residence in a most mysteiious manner, and the police were at a loss to account for his departure without any explanation. Stanley has since reappeared, and he declares that an attempt was made to remove him out of the way. He states that two men, who seemed to know him, but whom he did not recognise, met him and invited him to drink with them at a publichouse in Kent street. He accepted the invitation, and after drinking became unconscious. He remembered nothing more until he found himself at Newcastle, in the hands of a boardinghouse-keeper, who wanted to ship him away. ' He watched his opportunity, however, and got away, and having no money, worked his passage back to Sydney in a small schooner. He further alleges, that his life has been threatened two or three times since he gave evidence against the men charged with being concerned in the outrage.

A shocking accident happened at the Everton rifle butts, near Melbourne, when George James Porter, aged 26, was shot dead by his brother Alfred, aged 21, during the practice of the rifle club. Deceased was marking at the target, and was not observed in front until he was seen to fall after a shot fired by his brother. The bullet passed through his head and struck the target. Mounted Constable Brown has, as a matter of form, arrested Alfred Porter.

A somewhat sensational accident occurred on the Queen's "Wharf (says the Wellington Post). As the s.s. Maori was casting off from the wharf at half-past 5 o'clock, a man who was getting off the vessel slipped between the wharf and the steamer's side. The Maori was slowly moving meanwhile, and the spectators shuddered at the prospect of a man being crushed to death before their eyes. Captain Conway, who was standing on the wharf at the time, saw the danger, and with commendable promptness and at no small risk jumped on to the stringer and pushed the man underneath the wharf out of the reach of the vessßl. Had he not done this, the man would have had his head crushed against the stringer. Captain Conway, assisted by Mr on we whSxf nbiub ttfo woVsfe for his Sathi