OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2426, 12 September 1900, Page 2

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Work has been' resumed at the Orepuki Sbalo Company's works. On old resident of Invercargill, who had bean in receipt of the old-age pension, received the welcome information recently thai, through the cleotli of -a brotLci 1 he had benefited to the extent, of £4000. ' It Las been decided (says the Taranaki Herald) by the- Tukapa and Star Football , Clubs to erect a memorial to the late Messrs Eaderby, Hempton, and Wiggins, Taianaki members of the New Zealand contingents. The many friends here of \\x John Ross, of Sargood, Son, and Bwen, will be pleased to^ learn that he is now on his way to the colony, and that his- health is materially improved. The coal output from Weptport last week was £061- tons 3ewt, of which the Westport Coal Company shipped 7764- tons 13cwt, and the Westport Co-operative Company 299 tons lOcwt. The K'ew Zealand Herald reports that owing to some foreign substance?, presumably soap, mysteriously getting into the crater, the Wairoa geyser, at "Whakarewarewa, wa*; very active on Sunday, August 20. At the last sitting of the Warden's Court at Okarito 60 mining applications were dealt with, mostly for special claims and prospecting- licences. Evidently mining enterprise has ; not yet died out at Okarito. At the 'Magistrate's Court at Eoxton on Thursday Mr Stewart, the head master of tne I<oxton Pub_ic School, was (says the Otaki Mail) fined A 0«, with 21s costs, for inflicting severe punishment on a child six years and ton months old. At Lawrence on Wednesday a young girl named Alice Arnold was given a dynamite cap by her brother, and while" picking it with a pin it exploded, and blew the thumb and iorelinger of her left hand off. On beinotaken to the hospital she wps put under chloroform aud had the joints amputated by Dr Newell — Tuapeka 'Times. No definite steps have yet been taken (oiys the Tasanakj Herald) in connection with the propc&il to bore for petroleum at and in the \icinity of Ing-lewood. At present the project is in a state of inertia, created, evidently, by the want of the necessary capital. At Balclutha on Thursday the boy Kin-" narcl, about 16 years old, to whom reference va» made in our columns a fe T ,v dayu ago; was arraigned on two charges of theft. Accused pleaded guilty, and wfis sentenced to three months' imprisonment, with hard labour, on each charge, the sentences to be concurrent. Land is still selling at big m-icos in the Stratford district, Taranaki. One suburban -farm has sold as high as £50 an acre, and in another case cho owner has been offered £100 pn acre for land on the Pembroke road. Last Thursday morning, after a long period of quiescence, White Island exhibited a beaui tiful plume of Fteain for several hours, the j column (reports the Bay cf Plenty Tinier) reaching to a height cf several thousand feet, owing tc the air being exceptionally still. These exhibitions are regarded q-sneraPy as I foretelling <-tlie approach of easterly -weather. I A great tangi has been held at Waivretii" | ovei the death of Enoka Taitea Hokepi, one \ of the oldest Msori chiefs sr> the Wellington district. . Natives from Taranaki and Haivko's 113 ay1 13ay are amongst those present. The deceased was a fine type of the Maori race. He was thoroughly upright in all his "dealings, and all through his life he was on excellent terms with the Europeans. The Countess of Ttoufurly has just added to her filread3 r large and interesting collection •of Maori curiosities a model of a pataka, or carved house. The pataka was carved for the Countess by Mr J. W. Heberley, of Potoiic, and it is a fine specimen of Maori carving-. The model has been named Aciea, after one of the historic canoes which brought •felio Maoris to New Zealand, and is svirmounted by a figure of Maui, a mythical hero of tlie Native^. From a private letter received on Wednesday by a Napier merchant from his agents in Smyrna, the Hawke's Bay Herald gathers that the disease which has played such havoc with the currant crop has likewise affected the sultana crop. Whereas Jas.t Ecr c on there were 4-000 tons available for export, this season's output is only estimated at from 1800 to 2000 tons. Old stocks have all been eagerly bought up, and prices for sultanas have reached a, figure double that ruling at the same period last year. \Tjc J. G. Smith, of Balclutha; has unearthed an interesting bit of informstion (says the Free Press) concerning a relative of Field- _ marshal Lord Roberts. Lord Roberts, it ' seems, married, in 1859. a daughter of the late Captain Bews, of the 73rd Rfegimenl. Now, in the early sixties the farm at Warepa' Bush since purchased by Mr Geo. Smith was occupied by Messrs Bews and Oswin, who were joined by a Captain Bews, invalided from India. The captain did not live long after arrival -at Warepa, and was buried there. This gentleman was the eldest brother of Lady Roberts. A curious circumstance happened at the railway booking office at Ashburtoii on Friday: A passenger tendered two notes and some change for the tickets ordered The tickets were supplied and the moneytaken. When balancing his cash, the clerk found that he was £18 to the good. .As he could not account for the excess he at once reported the matter, but was not kept in doubt long, for a telegram inquiring if two £10 notes had been tendered instead of two £1 notes, arrived from Timaru just then. Needless to say, this was the solution of the matter. Mrs Johnston, late of Mosgiel, lately received from a nephew (Mr Wilson) in, South Africa a very pretty souvenir of the Transvaal war, in the shape of a leaf, taken from a tree on Table Mountain by the nephew, who was under fire in two engagements, but fell a victim to enteric fever, and was> invalided homo. The leaf is a beautiful specimen of South African sylva, being of silvery colour and of a fine silken texture. This family.appear to be real fighting blood, as two jf Mr Wilson's coiit-ir.s and- air uncle (father and f'on) are also soldiers. Mr Wilson mentions in the letter to his aunt that he received the Queen's box of chocolate all right." The Tuaneka Times reports the death of Mr James Moggarth at Waitahuna on Thursday laat, at the age of 76 years. At an early ago he took to a seafaring -life, md in 1852 found himself in Melbourne, and tharod in the fortunes of such memorable rushes as Fryer's Creek, Campbell's Creek, and Cnstlerr.aine. Ten years afterwards he landed in New Zealand, and, after a short time spent in the Tuapeku district, turned towards Waitahuna. and was engaged in mining both at Wailahxuia Gully and Havelock Flat, and remained in the district until his death. He had been secretary of the Waitahuna Farmers' Club since its formation, and it is only a few days 'since the members of that body acknowledged and eulogised his services and made him a life member of the club. Air Moggarth had been in declining health for about a year.

The ratepayers of Brisbane have decided J that the lighting of the city shall bs carried j out by private firms, and not by the munici- I paUtsr.

Mr John Dunne, for 30 years a resident, of Balclutha, and an ex-maj-or, is to be entertained at a, valedictory banquet prior to taking up his residence in Dvinediru