OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2401, 8 March 1900, Page 44

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Mr E. J. Riddiford, of Longburn, has donated £50 and 500 frozen sheep to the war fund.

The amount advanced and lost by the de-benture-holders of the Midland railway is £850,000. ,>cA sharp shock of earthquake was felt at Cromwell at a quarter to 9 on Wednesday evening, 27th. A strong party of Government surveyors has commenced the permament survey of the Rimutaka railway deviation. No less than 10 trucks of rabbits passed through Milton to the freezing works on Monday evening. — Bruce Herald. Mr F. Pirani, M.H.R., has filed a return of his expenses at the late election. , The amoujit is stated at £65 10d.

The Federal mails per Ortona (January 24) from Melbourne were delivered in London on February 25, their due date. It is intended to form a mounted corps in the Roxburgh district. A movement is also on foot to form one at Lawrence.

G. Martin, draper, Thames, drew a second prize of £405 net in Tattersall'e recent consultation on the Launceston Cup.

Mr S. H. Graves is endeavouring to form a stock exchange in Ghristchurch* and tho movement promises to be successful.

Three ladies recently met in a house in Gisborne whose united ages were 226 years, their respective ages being 92, 88, and £6. ■^A severe shock ot earthquake occurred at Bald Hill on Wednesday night. The direction seemed to run north and south.

There is undoubted evidence (says the North Otago Times) that the Hessian f!y has made its appearance amongst the crops \n this district.

So far there has been a very fortunate respite at the Thames from typhoid tliis summer. There is only one case in the hospital. It comes from Waihi. i An interesting souvenir of the war, in the shape of a metal egg cup, was received at Napier on Friday from Lieuterant J. G. Hughe.s, of the first contingent.

At Melbourne Henry Loverinjj (19) and George Johnson (18), both electrical engineers, were sentenced to three years' hard labour for diverting railway points.

The Dun&tan Times understands that the Tuapeka Licensing Committee intends to allow their March meeting to stand over until June, when the annual meeting comes on.

Eighteen Chinamen, who are said to have amassed substantial sums on the West Co.°st goldfielcls, passed through Wellington the other day en route to their native land.

It is stated that tho win of the Jet d'Eau horse Waterfprd in tlio Hack Flying at Danncvirke cost the ring over £1800, and one firm a 'one is reported to have paid out £600.

A blushing maiden in Taranaki, who still bolong.s to the unattached fores, declares that if lhe coiitinaents continue to leave our shores Now Zealand will soon bo "an Adamless Eden."

The Nelson City Council have decided to Sjubmib a scheme for an extension of t'ufur water, supply, costing £18,305. before the rats-

payers, ar.d to ask the latter to sanction a loan of £20,000 for the purpose.

The Auckland Star states that Dr Cran, who is well known here, will take Dr Neil's place in the Auckland Hospital. The latter, it will be remembered, is very anxious to go to South Africa with the fourth contingent.

Mrs .Ayson, Incholutha, has received a message from her son, Mr W. P. Ayson, who formorly had a butchery business in Balclutha, but is now in Ladyss^ith, where he occupies a position in the Bank of Natal.

The head master of the Mount Eden School has adopted the practice of " Saluting the flag" in qonjunotion with his pupils at the weekly drill instruction, with the object of inculcating a feeling of patriotism in the minds of the children. • Mr R. Thorp, T>f Napier, has a brother at Kimberley, who is a lieutenant in the Kiniberley "Volunteers. On Sunday Mr Thorp received the following cablegram from his brother: — "Everything satisfactory; contingent wojjcins; splendidly." "Of all the wasteful ways of spending money that of spending large sums on valuable statuary in a cemetery is about the worst. I would favour cremation." — Rev. Dr Purchas at the Scenery ~ Conservation Society meeting at Auckland recently. Lord Brassey, who left West Australia in hie yacht Sunbeam, on January 26, arrived at Banjoewangie on the 3rd inst. The Sunbeam's next place of call is Sourabaya, and, from there Lady Braseey will go overland to Batavia, where she -will rejoin the Sunbeam.

Mr I. W, Raymond, who was defeated by Mr M'Nab for the Mataura seat at the general election, is to be tendered a social at Wyndham on the 21st inst. by his supporters. A strong committee has been appointed to make the necessary arrangements.

A Dannevirke paper deplores the fact that at present there are three sawmills at Tahoraiti almost at a standstill, and many others are idle three parts of the week, because the Railway department cannot supply a sufficient number of trucks to take the timber away. jjh £^-At an early hour on Sunday morning" -a train, with a gang of some 40 platelayers, arrived at Riversdale, and * proceeded to the Waikaia branch line, where the men at once set to work to lift the rails and sleepers, and were busily engaged in the work all day. — Mataura Ensign.

The books and papers' connected with the officer of registrar of electors and returning officer for Waihemo, secretary to the Palmerston Race Club, Cemetery Trust, and other public positions which Mr Gwynne filled were destroyed in the fire at Palmerston on Wednesday.

A vacant frontage in Martin place, Sydney, was sold by auction a few days ago, when the Bank of _ Australasia bought lot 1, having a frontage of 34ft 6in to Martin place, at £900 per foot. Two adjoining lots were sold, one at £832 10s, and the other at £74-9 5s per foot frontage.

The young fellow Thomas Hoar, who was injured in a football match at Carterlon on the 24-tb. of May last, is still lying in the Wellington Hospital, and has never been off his back since. Under the circumstances, he is wonderfully cheerful, and is hopeful of making a recovery at. last.

Abput 130 applications were received from persons desirous of being enrolled in the Mataura Mcmntecl Rifles. The officers went through the list and weeded ou'b. 30, which still leaves 13 more than the number that capitation can be granted to. The strength of the corps, however, will be about 90.

The caretaker at a North Island art gallery made a mistake the other day. After showing a lady round the gallery he asked her to kiss him. It is not stated whether she did or not. It is to be inferred that she did not, for his conscience smote him, and " gave himself up" for the offence, resigned, and left the town at once.

A commercial traveller named John Fraser, aged 29 years, met his death at Broken Hill, recently by failing off the balcony of the hotel, where he lived. He was sleeping on the balcony at the time, and when picked up was found to have the base of his skull fractured. Fraser was to have been married in a month's time.

The new motor-car adopted by the firemen of Paris, in preference to' horae vehicles^ is worked by electric accumulators, and can run at a speed of 10 miles an hour for 60 miles without recharging. This change in the service is expected to save £10,000 a year to the city. Five new cars will be stationed at the fire brigades of the Exhibition.

Mr H. W. Jenvey, a telegraph engineer in the Melbourne Postal department, who lias been conducting tests with Marconi's wireless telegraph, reports that he has succeeded in despatching a message from the customhouse at Williametown to a ship at Port Melbourne pier, a distance of two miles, the result being eminently satisfactory.

Mr Lincoln Thompson has a somewhat remarkable rose, grown in his garden at Masterton, for the peculiarities of which he is at a loss to account. There are five blossoms on the same stalk, four being fresh ('and perfect; and of the latter one set of two are of quite a different hue from the other. The specimen is certainly a horticultural curiosity.

Normandy fishermen are having a very remarkable experience just now. They are the victims of an extraordinary invasion of cuttlefish, nothing similar to which has been seen on the coast since 1869. To such an extent is the sea infested with the cuttlefish that the fishermen often bring , up us many as three or four hundred of them in a single haul of the net.

A f-iolen fowl Avas the msans of considerably increasing tho returns at the Eketahuna fair last week. The bird was handed to the auctioneer, Mr 18. C. Lewis, and was bought and sold 32 times, realising the handsome sum of £6 7s 3d. The purchase money on different occasions varied from !ls to 7«. A wearer boar was sold nine times, fetching J33 3s 6cl.

A sad shooting fatality occurred r.i Penshurst.. Victoria, recently, by which Mr WiU'ain Ross, formerly a member of the "Victorian I/egi-lativo Council, lost his life. While out shooting parrots in the garden with hii son, Mr Ross came within range of the latter as lie was discharging his gun, and received the full charge in his side, death supervening within an hpur.

Tho reported death of a well-known Coromandel resident gave rife to a laughable circumstance. A local carpenter, hearing tho Fad news, hurried to the houdc of the lale lamented, to* offer his sympathy— and obtain t'no order for the eofnn. He was considerably staggered when the door was opened to him by no less a personage than tho "deceased" himself.

It was mentioned tit the Patriotic Committee meeting al,a 1 , Wood'iillc that one of the subscribers ohcorfuily Landed over his bubsrnplion, and told the coller-lors tlial should Lhe occasion arjse he would willingly hand

over his farm and stock and everything he possessed for the honour of the Empire, and, although he was 60 years of age, he would not be afraid to start life again.

This is how a Chinese describes New Zealanders in a Chinese paper: — "They live months without eating a mouthful of rice; they eat bullocks and sheep in enormous quantities, with knives and prongs. They never enjoy themselves by sitting quietly on their ancestors' graves, biit jump around and kick balls as if paid for it, and they have no dignity, for they may be found" walking with women."

At Palmerston. on Wednesday, before Mr A. H. Bishop, S.M., Duncan M'Ewan was charged with failing to destroy the rabbits on his property, containing 2500 acres. The defendant was fined £6 and costs on January 10 for the same offence, and on this occasion a fine of £10 and costs (£2), the magistrate informing him that if he appeared before the court again he would run the risk of being fined the maximum penalty. A sad incident .in connection with the lamentable death of the late Miss O'Callaghan at the Ashurst fire is reported. The deceased young lady intended leaving for Auokland, and had secured a ticket and put her luggage on the train, when she was handed a subpoenato appear as witness in a case which was to have been heard at an early date. Her luggage was carried to Wanganui, but Miss O'Qallaghan was detained, and met her death in the untimely way already related. A rumour having been circulated by certain journals to the effect that the Advances to Settlera Office was about to cease operations for a time owing to the rise in the value of money in the London market, precluding the making of advances at rates specified by law, the Feilding Star- telegraphed to headquarters and received the following reply: — "No truth whatever in the statement, and we are advancing, and will continue to advance, on good securities. — R. J. Seddon." Some excellent scoring was done in electorate cricket at Adelaide on the 17th inst. In the match East Adelaide v. North Adelaide, the former scored 344 runs for five wiokets, of which Clem Hill claimed 210 and A. Hill 76. The batting of the former was reminiscent of his very best days, and he treated all the bowlers with indifference, being eventually run out. Darling, playing for East Torrens against Port Adelaide, also gave a fine display, making 147 not out. No fewer than 10 bowlers weie tried against him, but without any effect.

A story is going the rounds of the press to the effect that the Premier of one of the Australian colonies in which high protective duties prevail, in the course of a farewell address to his contingent of troops for the war, observed that his " Government had done its duty to the Empire, and he hoped would' always continue to do so. What was that duty?" "Fifty per cent., mostly," dried a discontented Freetrader in the crowd. The Premier was visibly disconcerted, and even tho men who were going to fight the Boers had to relax military discipline and smile.

While the Hon. Mr Hall-Jones was at Naseby on Wednesday his attention was drawn to the need that existed for a bridge over the Taieri, to connect the residents on the Patearoa side of the river with the station at Ranfurly. The cost was estimated at from £800 to £900. In times of flood it was necessary to go down the river about 10 miles to get across the bridge at Waipiata. In reply the Minister stated that this was a matter for Mr M'Kenzie's department. Nothing could be done till Parliament met, but the matter would be considered then.

A stone-throwing mystery has been exercising the attention of the police and the residents of Watson's Bay, New South Wales. For five consecutive nights stones were dropped on a residence at short intervals, and all efforts to detect the offenders proved futile. One evening stones commenced to fall at 7 o'clock, when it was quite light, and though fully 20 people, including detectives, were watching all round the house from 7 up till 11, the bombardment continued, several of the watchers being hit, while the guilty parties remained undetected. -r'Dr Charles Smith, who was for more than 53 years a physician in leading practice in New York, has entered on his 124 th year. He was born on the 26th of September, 1776, and claims to have found in New Jersey a. fountain of youth whose waters on analysis have been proved to have the seven, virtues of the Persian Pur a. That water was drunk periodically in Persia, and many of the' Persians who used it were centenarians. Dr Smith is a vegetarian and total abstainer. He has used the water since 1869. He looks like a man in the sixties, walks with a vigorous step, has a clear, resonant voice, and is in full possession of all his faculties. Mr Patrick Herbert, one of the oldest military residents of Tauranga, had the honour of getting a remembrancer from Lads'- Ranfurly. When there, Lady Ranfurly was greatly interested in the old military veterans. Mr Herbert was in Lucknow at the time of fiie siege, from June 30 to^ November 16, 1557, under Sir Henry Lawrence, a cousin of Lord Ranfurly. Mr Herbert holds a medal and two orders for Lucknow, the first being for the siege, and the second for the relief. He also holds the New Zealand war msdal. Lady Ranfurly. in talking over old times with Mr Herbert, asked him if he had seen Lord itoberts's' work, "Forty Tears in India." Her Ladyship sent Mr Herbert the book, with the following inscription: — "To Patrick Herbert, with the kind regards of Lady Ranfurly, February 14, 1900."