OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2497, 22 January 1902, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

The new Magistrate's Court at Gore is to be formally opened on February 5.

It is stated that the new ttai in Perseus has attained a \elocity of 4000 milea a -ecoiid.

The Otago and Southland Bia«s BandAssociation has decided to hold the next contest at Mo^aiel.

It is expected that the railway from Gisborne to Ormond will be opened at about the end of next month.

During la.-t year 168 in patients weie treated in the Na.-eby Hospital. Eleven deaths ooeuired. Chloroform was administered 56 times

Surgeon-captain Rogers, of the eighth contingent, w<i<. putprtained at a farewell gathering by Wyndham residents on Wed-no-day e\ening. Vfrcr 1> ing U']pon s cioiu in a MellKDinne hohpital for 65 days, a foui jeai old boy ha 1 - succumbed to injurie- to hi* head caused l)i fulling from a railroad carriage. A piopo-al has been made to hold a Mining and Industrial Exhibition in Coiomaiidcl in Octobei. to celebrate the jubilee of tnc ch-co\i'r> of gold in New /"aland

Tn the I'nited States there are o\er 5000 theatres, and these are found m about 3500 town-. Dining; the theatrical season there are perhap.- 6000 tri\ piling companies continually on tilt 1 iou'l. It is stated that the woikmfn engaged in dismantling the top of the Christehureli Cathedral spire are paid 2s per day higher wages than tho men who do similar work at a less lofty ele\dtion. In the French na\y not more than from 8 to 10 per cent of the m«n chew tobacco. Tlie emokers number 50 per cent., so not less than 40 per cent, mu-t be total abhtnmors from the " weed. With 102 nupil teachers under notice, and only 43 positions- on -chool ptaff- to fill, it appear- me\itable that the ser\ic-es of many vouug people will ha\e to be dispensed with b • the Wellington Education Board.— New Zealand Time<=.

There is nothing Scotch in bagpipes except tin- -heep-kin of the bag and the tar tan The wood-ebony, or cocus wood, come- li'iin Alma or Jamaica, the ivory fio-n Africa, the bom from Australia, and the* craiip for the reeds from Spain

The total number of sheep in the colony in 190] was 20.233 099, an increase of 877.901 on' 1900. I'anfTbury -how- un increa-.o of 366,793. and (Hugo an inrr.'a.-e of 231,261. HawkoV Buy i-> the only place that exhibits a d«-ciia»c. and tin- i- nearly 300,000. One of the acie= of land fronting Riddi ford Meet, n ci'iitly acquired by the Wei 1-nji.oi- Hc.-pnal Tui-tce-. i- to be ri"on«l a- ;i -it o for the Homo for Incurables, tho co-r of wi.tii h:i= been prov dccl by puli'.c en, it -Hup!- nifiitcd b> Go\rinnipnt -itb«i<h . Mi--. Viny C.i-tlc- maki- hor bow to the Australian pu >hf m a new role— that of a cricket eisUu'Mas-t. When tl-e new.- of the Au-trahan \irtorv in tho 'pcond te-t cricket match reached London -'io <-er.t a cable mot-age to the Australian team, oongratulat me them on their <.uccp^= The -ecrp^aiy of thp North Otago Benevol'Ut Society ac kuow ledge- the recciut of £5 ■*-. 6-1 fro-n the Oamaru Mail, co'lretcd on bp-kilf of liiP Dub!i'i ratnotic boy who .'.ft '-na: '■- covild in' be di-co\eied The ru . in' r (-.,1- the Mali) will be expended in fiunisimig tl.e Viiioua lloj if Thf ("■Kinu'lloi of tli" E\c'ucnei ia- vii tv .•H\ .re nted a pnpn-r-1 m fa^olu• •[ ■nvng ( i _'.i" and oth« i ui'i i ri : . r n.u tfian(liLvu j.nic'.ci-. ■' - •■'.']. ''A.ilv.' a nr'i h .is o iror." than l>>uk<r-. y 1 tin v loi.ii'bnte •.oiliMi'; to :' e X.'ii"". Ti. ii end oi local, Vilule hawkei- fay for lie 1 - -.

£6,000.000 in gold carefully prefer* ed in a \iiult, which is watched day and night. A periodical inspection of the treasure rtcently took place. The gold has been lying there sii!CP 1874-. The wall? of the Emit arc several yards thick and thiee heavy doors lead into it.

On a charge of stealing £25 in notes from the person of Joseph Kennedy at the Shamrock Hotel, Oplnr, Arthur (ieorge Hinge, alias Thompson, who pleaded guilty, was on the 10th in.-t., at the Oplnr Magistiate's Court, committed to Dunedin Gaol, to be brought befoie the Supreme Court for se.ilence.

A remarkable act of personal bravery on tlie part of a young girl of 17 is reported from Concidy, France. A young bull, on being led out of his stable, attacked his owner, and gored him repeatedly. Mile .ladiq. the daughter of a faun labourer, came forward, M'lz'-d the bull by the horns, ai.d forcibly diagged him to his stable.

A i unou" point wa« raUed in the King's Bench Dn i»ion recently. A resident of Bristol had been fined under the Local Impro\c2ncnt Act for lining ~tiong language. The language complained of Lad been uted in his own house, but with the door open. The question was whether public annoyance Had been caused. The court upheld the com lit ion.

Mi Jumes Gordon, of Williamstown, Victoria, is coiibiderably o\er 100 yeara of age. He was bom in 1801, in Sussex, England, and fanne out to Australia in the ship Guiding Star in 1852. Here he has since remained, undergoing the up* and downs of colonial life. He is now residing with relatives. Although feeble, the old gentleman in able to walk with a stick.

It ha-- been definitely ascertained that Henry Portival, formerly accountant of Trinity College, Melbourne, win) is wanted for embezzlement of large sums of money belonging to the college tnintee«, is in Samoa. As t-oon a-, the npcessary extradi tion papers are prepared Percival, who is being kept under pur\ eilliince, will be apprehended and brought back to Melbourne. A handsome pulil'c hall and recreation rooms, which at a co B t of £2000 have ju*t been erected in the mining \ilL\ge of Standbum, East Stnfingchire, out of the profits of the Cothenbuiß public hov e that was started m tho locality two year- ago, have just been opened. Tlie eivcti'ii and furnishing of the pubhch'jiise coot f-onio £600, and the fir=t ycai'» profits weie no less, than £1170

Say« flip Wauganui Herald: — "An erstwhile Wariganm widow pr. who is within a few years- of ilip allotted bpan, o short time a^o took to liim-olf a partuer of some 64 sumiuer-i. to cheri-h him in Ins old age. The weddine <" rcnionv was celebrated at Wellington. .i'ul .if.ci foin months of married life " hubby ' -udde-nly disappeared, and all efforts to trace him have 5 o far proved ineffectual

No fewer than 4565 old boyf- of English reformatory and industrial fchools have been at the front in the present war. Of these. 216 ha\e been killed or havp died of diseabe, 351 wounded or invalid<Hl. three rfcom-nirndp'-l fm the Victoria Cm<==. 10 for tlie di9t mjitii'-hfcl sol'mpc medal, two Ikivp gained c rinini'^-id"-. four ha\p been <-pTJallv m«nlioiipd in dPrpatf !ip^. and other 5 ha\e been sporia'Jv promo'nd for good »er\ifo.

To plf;ui guilty to an offer.LO of which m s i- nmoceut is not a vr ry common oorurpn(f\ hut such \Ta<= witnessed at thp Wanfi.mui Court tho other day. A man wa-- nrre-tod for theft of au o\oreoat, ar.d wlulp in the lockup, :'iicl not qu.te clear in Ins mmd, V7P« viMt'.-rl by a fn>nd, uhf> ad \i-oc' him to plead t'luity mid ?pk for prou > Xi»A» h* did, L^l LiC 1-ol.tc dis-

covered that ho was entirely innocent. Tha man was accordingly discharged.

Misfortunes do not come singly. On Sunday la;>t (says the Lake County Press) Mr Edward O'Fce, of Gibbston, had his residence totally destioycd by lire. On Monday, whilo follow 1112 his occupation :«s a carrier, ho lo=t a -valuable horse ai.d had three others injured. Going up the Bannockburn lull he met a horse bolting with a spring-rart. Time did not permit of Mr O'Fee turnint* his team, and the result was that one of, the shafts of the spring-cart entered the leader's chest ard came out on. the poor brute's back.

A romantic interest attaches to one of the contributions to the exhibition of South African stamps in the rooms of the Philatelic Society. This was an. envelope bearing two Cape of Good Hope and six Beohuanala-ud Protectorate stamps, all surcharged. "Mafekins; besieged." which was poftcd in April of li«t year by a sergeant in Mafekmg to his sweetheart in Belfast. After the little town had been relieved, and the warrior had returned home, the recipient of his letter sold the envelope to a stamp collector, and with the money thus realised bought the dress which sl-e wore when the reunited loveis were married.

The story of Colonel Benson"* death. sav<? tho .Spectator, is one of the most pathetic and iipi-oio incidents of the war. It is thus that Mr Bennett Burleigh tells it:—"Turning to Colonel Wools Sampson to take goodbye of his comrade and friend, with whom he had made many an adventurous trek o\er the wide expanse of veldt and kopjes, Benson .-aid: 'Ah. Sampson, old boy. we shall do no more night marching toother. It is all day now. Good-bye God blcsg you.' And there were tears in evorv eyo hut the dyinqr man's as Colonel WooL;S.ampson hastened out into the night to duty's call.'" People may talk as they like of the joalou«y and friction between coloniaU ami iPtjulnrs Lut such scenes a« these te-tify to the forcing during the war of links of Empire that nothing can sever.