OMNIUM GATHERUM. NEWS, GOSSIP. AND ADS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1903, 24 July 1890, Page 27

OMNIUM GATHERUM. NEWS, GOSSIP. AND ADS.

Mr W. B. Harlow has received the appointment of Returning Officer for DunediD, vice Mr A. R. Ure. A female trout 14§lbs weight v?aß fonnd stranded a few days ago below Mounfc Stuart railway station. The Mataura Dairy Factory Company have had an offer from Melbourne of 4£d per lb for 60 cases of cheese. X'A notice is gazetted fixing the charge for native brown coal, consigned from Kurow to Oamaru, at 5s 3d per ton. There is some prospect of a canning factory being established at Mataura before next season's operations commence. The young fish, supposed to be salmon, taken from the Waitaki to the Oamaru Acclimatisation Society's ponds have all died. Mr Milne, one of the Presbyterian missionaries at the New Hebrides, is at present in Dunedin translating part of the Bible for publication, During the past month the committee of the Sydney City Night Refuge a»d Soup Kitchen in Kent street supplied 17,066 meals and 2658 beds, Louisa Fearn, of the late Three Horse Shoes Hotel, Invercargill, has been fined £25 for selling liquor in her house, for which she held no license. The Southland Acclimatisation Society have distributed 146 opossums throughout the South Island. Six of these are on the property of Bishop Nevill, at Bishopsgrove. A rich treasure of more than a thousand silver coins of tho eleventh century ba3 been brought to light in digging the foundations for a new house in the Giergrasse, in Bonn. A hunchback whale, 56ft long, was stranded on the Tonga Beach, Nelson, last week. It has been towed over to the Boulder Bank, whore it will bo tried out. Its estimated value is £200. 11 Tho burglary epidemic has spread to Oamaru, where John Palmer broke into the Post Office on the night of the 16th but got nothing for his trouble. He was captured next morning ' by Detective O'Brien.

The female attendants at Seaoliff Asylum presented Mr John P. Clarkson, an attendant at the institution, with a handsome marble clock on the eve of bte marriage. The presentation was made on their behalf by Dr Fooks. The Temuka Leader says:— We have been told on what we regard as good authority that a Geraldine gentleman recently bought at one of the Government sales a piece of land for 108 an acre, and sold it again a few days afterwards at 30s an acre.

Tb.fi action in the teat case brought by Mv Borton agaiusfc Mr Howe, of Livingstone, for polluting the Maerewhenua to the detriment of his property, has been arrested for tho present through the intervention of the Government, in order that they may investigate the matter. — Oamaru Mail.

The directors of the Southland Frozen Meat Company have the prospect of beiDg able to arrange for the sale of a large number of sheep during the next two years at a price that will yield growers a net return of 2d per 1b (freezing weights), less 2| per cent, and the cost of bogs, say 4d per sheep.

A number of freehold town properties in Blenheim under mortgage to the Insurance

department were submitted to auction yesterday. The competition was spirited up to £20,000, at which figure they were purchased by the mortgagees. These ar« properties referred toby Mr John Kerr, M.H.R., in a recont question in the House.

Dunedin doctor to dyspeptio patient : " Yoa must take a little brandy and water an hour after meals. But it must be good." " Dyspeptio patient : " Can you recommend a good brand, doctor?" Dootor: "Yes; order Bontellar/a C.V.P., and see that you get it. It took first prize at the New Zealand Exhibition. •

The " ghost " soare has been revived in Inveroargill, and it is reported that several women and children have been seriously frightened by the so-called apparition. It appears that the "performer," whose body is enveloped in a white sheet, and whose features are disguised by a false face, emerges from dark corners in bye* streets when he wants to have bis fun.

It seems hardly credible, but it is stated as a faot, that the Lyttelton, Dunedin, and Peninsula Naval Volunteers have never received a single drill in submarine mining. And yet in the annual report submitted to Parliament the statement that none of the members of these corps were able to pass the examination is made to tell very heavily against their efficiency. There is said to be a plant in Arabia, with flowers of bright yellow and with seeds which are like black beans, and these dried and powdered, and taken in small doses, cause a person to dance about and behave like a lunatic, till he becomes exhausted and falls asleep. When he awakes he has not the smallest remembrance of his ridiculous behaviour. The plant is called a " laughing plant." Au ocean patrof is being suggested by the Americans in view of the recent accident to Transatlantic liners. They propose to divide the steamer routes into eight squares, each patrolled continually by a vessel which would form a perpetual float iiag statfon, ready to help in case of disaster. Old warships might be utilised, and would be admirable training ships for officers and men.

The highest price ever given for the picture of a living artist has just been recorded. "1814," by Meissonier, representing Napoleon on horseback, surrounded by his generals, on the eve of his abdication, has been purchased of M. Delahaute for 500,000f. and immediately resold ' to M. Chauchard, formerly manager of the Louvre drapery Bhop, for 650,000f. It was painted ia 1864, and is 30in long by 20in high. The matter of the exportation of frozen game and trout, during the close season, to Australia engaged the attention of the council of the Acclimatisation Society on Tuesday and a deputation was appointed to wait on the manager of the Union Steam Ship Company with the view, if possible, of requesting assistance in putting a stop to the traffic. It was also agreed to write to the Railway Commissioners on the same point. Au old Invercargill resident, now in Viotoria (according to the News), recently said—" Butter, cheese, bacon, eggs, and lots of other staple articles of food are frightfully dear here compared to what they can be got for in New Zealand. With butter at fiom 2s to 3s a pound, and egga at 2s 6d a dozen, a working man has to regard them as luxuries to be used on rare, occasions only instead of for daily diet as in the inland colony. I was a Protectionist once, but I'm a Freetrader now."

More rain falls in a year over the Khasia mountains, which lie north of Calcutta, in Assam, than ia any other district in the world. At the meteorological station and observatory, situated at Cheera Foongee, in that region, as h uoh as 610ia of rain— that is 50ft -have been collected in a tingle year ; and of this enormous quantity nearly 550 in fell in the six rain or winter months beginning May. As much as 26in of rain have been observed to fall on the Kbasia mountains in a single day.

Dr Qordon-Ainsworth, one of the most eminent physicians in the Australian colonies, and a contributor to medical periodicals, says that "some constitutions— -about SOpercent., l should think— need a little stimulant now and again. When persons who have been accustomed to take three or four ' nips' of whisky per diem foe the past 40 or 50 years find the experience to have been beneficial rather than pernicious to health, what are we doctors to say ? It is the abuse of alcohol, not the use, that is to be' guarded against. But a good deal depends on the brands of spirits. Many whiskies are highly adulterated, or are too new and fiery. I am informed, on the authority of & colleague of mine, himself a connoisseur in these things, that the purest brand of whisky to-day is • Locbiel.' Several of my patients, moreover, speak highly of this brand."-

Betweep la grippe and the official assignee (says the Oharlestowa Herald) many of the old identities of Wegtport are having a pretty rough time of it, and unless a special providence intervenes in the meantime all the old timers will be knooked out before the winter is over. The grippe attacks the victim first, and after thinning him down a bit, the assignee steps in and completes the wreok. The creditors, know nothing about this illness until they see his financial demise announced in the papers, and then follows the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth part of the programme, after which the washing up takes place. Generally, one or two of the favoured ones have the scraping of the top plates, and the rank and file, such as bakers, butchers, grocers, and of. course the printers, have to depend on the tailings, which never go more than 2s 9:1 to the quid.

Hostess : " How are you, my dear Mrs Jones ? So gad to see you. Why, you haven't been to see us for apr«. Bliss" (Hug each other fondly.) Mrs B. (after quite getting back her breath): "I see I'm ]iu-t iv time for your 5 o'clock institution No, thanks, dear; I'm - afraid I mustn't indulge. Dr says my nerves are quite shattered, and he attributes it to the bad tea ono gets in this wretched lifctlo Dunedin Excuse me, dear, won't you?" Hostess (determined on having an opinion) : " But, my dear, just taste it to please me. It's quite a new brand." Mrs B. (after tasting) : " Oh, how delicious. What an exquisite flavour. 'Tisn't China tea, though ? " Hoßtess : " Yes and no. It is a blend of the choicest crops of India, China, and Ceylon. You see you get the strength of one with the flavour of the others. It is called ' Mandarin.' Your giocer will have it, my dear."-

A correspondent who knew the composer Wallace iutimatoly gives the following to a Home paper as the author's account of the origin of the song "The harp in the air":— "Lougbef./io I formed the idea of having the drama of ' Don Cajar ' made into libretto, I was walking through Spifcalfielde when I heard strains from an Lilian harp high above my head, Somo weaver had affixed ono iv the window of his sky parlour It had also attracted the attention of two pedestrians, who stopped as I drew near. One had evidently asked the other what made the music, for the oue questioned said, in an off - hand matter-of-fact manner, ' Oh, it's ouly one of those harps in the air.' I made a minute of tho expression, and then and th re while listening to the breezy notes dashed off a bar or so of them boneath the window. This went among my memoranda in my desk and eventually took shape in the score of Maritana.'"