OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2045, 4 May 1893, Page 34

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

NEWS, GOSSIP, AND ADS.

A bottle-nosed whale has been stranded near Fortrose. Over 600 sheep have been destroyed by hailstones on Mr Grobler'a farm at Ermelo, Transvaal. Ben Lomond run, in the Maerewhenua district, containing 12,492 acres, is set apart as land for settlement. Forty persons have been fined for illegally

selling liquor at Mildura, Vicfcoria ; the total fines amounted to £250. John H. Walse, aged 50, an engrossing clerk in the Lands department at Hobart, committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor. During the past week 86,230 ft of timber was exported for Grey mouth. The U. S . S. Company's boats have been taking away a great quantity lately. It has been decided by the Women's Christian Temperance Union to ask the Government to introduce legislation for the suppression of glove fights. A fight at the Normanby Hotel, near Brisbane, has resulted in the death of Patrick Ryan, and the arrest of Patrick Foley on a charge of murdering him.

In Scotland one in every 75 of the population is a fisherman, and in the Isle of Man one in every 19 ; whereas in Ireland the proportion is one in every 200.

The will of Henry Creswick, late of Melbourne, has been lodged for probate. The estate is valued at £25,400, of which £1200 is reality and £24,200 personalty. The Clutha river has not been so low as it is afc present for many years. There is not water sufficient to permit of the steamer running either up or down from Balclutha. Mr J. D. Ritchie, secretary of agriculture and chief inspector of stock, was married on the 26th to Miss M. J. M'Kerrow, eldest daughter of the Chiei Commissioner of Railways.

Mr and Mrs Renton, of Castle street, celebrated the 51st anniversary of their marriage on Thursday. The old couple, whose united ages are 148 years, are still hale and hearty. g^The Messrs Watson on Tuesday transferred the license of the Grand Hotel to Mr T. K. Sidey's appointee, and they are now in the Commercial next door, where they will carry on business.

At Wellington on Monday six stowaways who got on board the lonic at Hobart were fined £5 each, or one month's imprisonment. Two stowaways were also taken off the Hauroto on Monday morning. The Gazette notifies that the Wanganui and Inangahua seats in the House of Representatives are vacant ; the former by the death of Mr Ballance, the latter by the insolvency of Mr R. H. J. Reeves.

A smart shock of earthquake was experienced in Canterbury at 6.30 a m. on Monday followed by another less severe about five minutes after. Both shocks were preceded by a loud rumbling noise. No damage is reported. "The Victorian Postal department, with a view to facilitate public business, established a number of receiving offices in suburban shops from which messages may be sent to the nearest telegraph station by telephone. A start is to be made with the new land settlement in Otago, and the Labour Bureau will shortly despatch to Chasland's Mistake 25 men selected from Christchurch and Oamaru. The Hinemoa will convey them to their destination.

The Herald's Opotiki correspondent states that the body of Te Kooti has been surreptitiously removed from where it lay at Ohiwai. It is supposed that his friends among the Uriwera Natives have taken it in order to have it buried in their country. The widow of a railway worker sued the railway company at Grimsby, England, for three years' wages, at 26s a week, for the loss of her husband, who was killed during shunting operations. The Grimsby County Court awarded the widow the amount claimed.

Russian female convicts in Siberia are in the future, if a proposal made by the Ministry of Justice to the Imperial Council is ratified, to be exempted from flogging and wearing legirons. Restrictions in diet and solitary confinement are to be substituted.

The actions brought by Kikihana and other Natives against John Lundon in connection with the Kaitaia purchase, and involving a sum of £800 are being heard at Mongonui, by Dr Giles, R.M., Luudon has laid an information against Kikihana charging him with perjury. While the Anchor Line steamer Bolivia was having her cargo discharged at Glasgow recently, the body of a man named M'Drury was found buried in the grain. M'Drury was a longshoreman at Brooklyn, and is supposed to have fallen into the hold while the Bolivia was loading there. Pelsall, a pretty village in Staffordshire, is in danger of disappearing, through a subsidence of earth caused by mining operations. Owing to the heavy rains a cliff 70ft high fell at Whitby, wrecking two houses and endangering a chapel. There has been a fall of cliffs at Bournemouth.

In England the average weight of men is 1551b, and that of women 1231b. Taking men, the Scotch weigh more than the English, Irish, or Welsh, the figures being as follow : — Scotch, 165'31b; Welsh, 158'31b; English, 1551b ; Irish, 154- lib. For the United Kingdom the average weight is 158"2lb. ~A triple murder has been committed about 20 miles from Salisbury, Rhodesia, South Africa, by a Zulu, who shot Mrs Grady and child, and Mr M'Kenzie, and grievously wounded Mr Grady. The murderer has been arrested and condemned to death. The authorities at Salisbury had great difficulty in preventing him from being lynched. The proceedings at the meeting of householders at Lovell's Flat were again of an unusual character. There was first a great difficulty in securing a chairman, but this was overcome. Nominations were invited and Mr James Bennett was proposed, but not another householder would come forward, and Mr Bennett was the only member appointed. We have just been shown a very comfortable glove for the approaching season. This glove is made in two qualities from strong dogskin, is prettily lined with striped fleecy wool, with a handsome beaver cuff. As the price of 3s lid and 4s lid per pair puts it within the reach of all, we should advise our readers to send at once for a pair to T. Ross, Glove Importer, 130 Princes street. • Colemane and Sons' Trophies.— We have seen the two beautiful medals presented by Colemane and Sons, eucalypte manufacturers, of Brawlin, to the successful shearer who accomplished the greatest marvel in shearing which we have ever heard recorded. John P. Howe, of Blackall (Q ), actually shore, by machine, 237 sheep, in eight hours, and, in the same time, by hand, Howe shore 321. We may state that when first we saw this record, we altered the first figure of the 321, believing it was simply impossible for any man to put through that number of sheep in one working day ; but we are assured by Messrs Colemane, who have fully verified the feat, that it was accomplished. They accordingly forwarded on Monday last bo the address named the two medals, and Howe ought to be a very proud man to become the possessor of them. The first of them is the size of a crown, and the second of half a crown, and the inscription was very neatly done by Blkiugfcon and Co., of Sydney. On the larger one it reads as follows :—": — " Presented by Colemane and Sons, Ld., eucalypte manufacturers, Cootamundra, N.S.W., for the highest tally of sheep shorn in the colonies, in eight hours, for the season 1892, by haud-shearing. Won by John R. Howe, Blackall, Queensland. Sheep shorn, 321, at Alice Downs (Q.).— Cootamundra, Liberal, April 5. •