Prosecute the Swindler.

Otago Witness, Issue 1824, 5 November 1886, Page 10

Prosecute the Swindler .

If when Fyou rail for American Hop Bitters (see green twig of flops on the white label and Dr Soulc's name blown in tht bottle), the vendor hands out anything but American Hop Bitters, refuse it and ehun t.hat vpndor as you would a viper ; and If he has taken your money for anything eitc, Indict him for the fraud and sue him for damages for the »wlndK and we will pay you liberally for the conviction

Mr Tuke, who visited the West of Ireland to distribute the 6eed potato fund, in bis report says: — ''In thi«, my eighth vi.iit during recent years to the West of Ireland, I have again been profoundly impressed with the condition of chronic misery, the ever-existing destitution of the small holders of laud. The fact that the small holdings of worn-out land cannot support the crowded population is no longer a debateable question. It is unanimously borne witness to. From priest, or landlord, or tenant there is but one response: — 'Without other means of earning money there is no possibility of living out of the land.' 'The living isn't in it, rent or no rent, yer honor !' And can it be otherwise? Consider Achill, with its thousand families, of whom three-fourths are living on holdings so small that the rental or valuation does not exceed 30a a year each— and few of the remainder exceed £4 a year ! Take another instance in Connemara, of 1000 families attempting to live on 1700 acres of arable bog land, mere patches of soil lying among great boulders." Mr Tuke though he believes in judicious emigration, thinks more might be done for the people by putting the fisheries on a better footing.

Commodore Vanderbilt used to travel in special trains at the rate of one mile per minute ; but this rate of locomotion is far exceeded by the canoes which ply on the rapid streams of the Sierra Nevada down which the timber is floated. A correspondent of a German paper gives an account of such a lightning passage in a flat canoe with two other travellers. The boat performed the distance of 16 miles in exactly Bmin 40sec, being impelled solely by the force of the water. He described his sensations as follows : — " I could distinguish nothing but a wild, confused image of rocks, trees and laadscape, like the shapeless blotches of colour on a painter's palette. It seemed to me as though we were being shot into the air out of a cannon."

A telegram from Rome, dated September 1, states: — "Intelligence has been received here that the natives in northern Cochin China and in eastern Sechuen, Chinese Empire, have risen against the Christians, owing to the imprudence of the , English and American Protestant missionaries. In Cochin China 50 Christians have been massacred, houses set on fire, and farms laid waste, while in Sechuen the massacre of Christians has been general; villages being burned and the surrounding lands being devastated. The residence of the Vicar Apostolio was burned to the ground, all his furniture and papers being destroyed by the flames. It is added that the foreign Consuls only escaped with their lives. The native movement against the Christians continues at latest advices."

In connection with the telegram regarding a proposed inquest as to the circumstances surrounding the death of Captain Cain, we learn that at the present time the members of the detective force of the colony are engaged in ferreting out evidence, and to that end have recently made inquiries concerning^ prescriptions prepared for Captain Cain in this city. They are also prosecuting inquiries at Timaru.

The Government appear to have agreed, to the request of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce that communication be opened up between Dunedin and the West Coast districts, as tenders are being invited for an alternative service between Hokitika and Dusky Sound, calling at various bays and sounds, and one extending to the Bluff and Dunedin.