OMNIUM GATHREUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2631, 17 September 1902, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHREUM.

Side-saddles were first introduced in 1838. A brass band is to be formed a.t Duntroon. • The Wellington Scenery Preservation and Tree-planting Society bas nearly 500 members. A penny is only 23 grains heavier than a sovereign, the former weighing- 146 and the latter 123 grains. Only 44 persons took out papers of naturalisation in the whole of the French colonies last year. The postal authorities have decided to establish a delivery by letter-carrier at Kaitangata and Palmerston. According to the local paper, some of the buildings in Tapanui where the piles are •lot boarded round are perfect rabbit warren?. An Imperial English postcard which came to hand by the last 'Frisco mail bore An excellently executed photogravure of Mr Seddon. From Groymouth last week the Blackball Coal Company shipped 1750 tons coal, and the Brunner Company 1478 tone coal and 16 tons coke. It is proposed to establish a Subsidiary High Court for New Zealand of the Ancient Order of Foresters, and a conference of delegates is to be held a-t Napier. Though it may seem incredible (writes the Timaru Post), the Canterbury Farmers' Co-operative- Association have unclaimed dividends to the amount of £163 13s lOd. A little girl, five years of age, named Rosie Jenkins, of Gaumain, New South V»ales, was burned to death as the result of her flannelette olothing having been ignited by a spark from a fire. Recently Mr William M'Donald died in the Mossgiel Hospital, New South Wales, from the effects of burns received through his pipe setting his clothes on fire while he was riding on a windy day. While two boys, named Edward Cook (five years) and Richard Dodds (four years), were playing on the bank of a creek at Quinndi, New South Wale 3, one of them (Dodds) slipped in and was drowned. Recently John Ryan, an inmate of the Rookwood" Asylum, New gguth Wales, died in his 104 th jear. He was described in the records as an Australian native, his birthp'ace being Sydney, in the year 1799. A memorial tablet to the late Trooper Robert Osborno has been placed in the Middlemarch Presbyterian Church. The tablet was presented to the Church Committee by the Maniototo Mounted Rifle.". The " unemployed " difficulty is still agitating the mind of the Victorian Minister of Public Works. In the course of the next fortnight 260 men are to be sent to do reclamation work at Moo and Koo-we-e-rup. At Suva recently a gentleman who had written pome pro-Boer letters to the local press was (says an exchange) roughly handled by a gang of larrikins, and was found lying insensible in an out-of-the-way •treet As a roEult of tho raids on the gambling saloons at Perth, Western Australia, recently, the public revenue has benefited to the extent of £183 The principals were fined each £25 and costs, aiders and abettors 358 each. A Brisbane paper says that it is believed that the Queensland Government propose to float another loan at a comparatively early date. Tho indications point to the loan being £2,000,000, but it may not be raised at one time. An ingenious definition of the duration of a " lease for years" occurred in one of the Appeal Court judgments at Wellington on Monday. The duration must be two yeara, because there can be no certainty that the phrase infers a longer period, and it cannot be le3s The Masterton Borough Council has decided to erect a memorial at a cost of £150 to Berve the triple purpose of commemorating the declaration of peace, the King's Coronation, and the death of Trooper Hyde, the only Rangitikei trooper killed in the war. At Thursday's meeting of the Southland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board the estimated expenditure for the six months ending September 30 was stated as £4555, and the revenue £3244. Clo3e on £4000 had been expended during the year on bufldi^""^ AfuL inUUTQ'EfirA&ntfe '

J In connection with the appearance of a troupe of Greek Gipsies in the North Island, it is of interest to note that another troupe recently arrived in Victoria, but afteT wandering about the State for about two months they have decided to return to their own country during this week. / j The Wairarapa Times says that at the Te Aroha railway station the other day ■ a child fell right between the rails before jaa approaching carriage, which luckily paseed above the small body without inflicting a scratch. The shock to the bystanders *• was intense, and they regard the escape as j miraculous. j The voting on the Bible-in-schools question in the Tokomairiro district has now been practically completed, and the latest figures available show (says the Bruce Herald) that 750 voted " Yes " and 53 "No." Twenty-five were in favour of the New South Wales system, and 160 did not record their votes. i The discovery of a huge petrified chip on the summit of a high hill near Porcupine River, Alaska, announced some time ago, ha 6 now been confirmed. The actual i length of the vessel is stated to be 1200 ft. Local Indians familiar with the Bible firmly believe that Noah's ark has been found at last. It seems natural to thrm that the , ark should rest near the Arctic circle. j John Willert, a miner, who had been prospecting at Redbank, in the Avoca district, Victoria, decided on the 3rd iast. to give up, and removed his tools home. The next morning, however, he determined to have one more try, and shortly afrer commencing work dug up a nugget of pure gold weighing l^lb and 4oz of loose gold. Since then he has unearthed another and larger 1 nugget. ) A curious case of the destructiveness of rats was evidenced in Napier some little time ago. A Christchurch firm of wholesale drapers sent a bale of cloth consigned to a firm in Napier, and when the bale was opened a large rat was discovered inside ' it, and on further examination it was found I that the animal had eaten its way completely through the material, thus rendering ' it useleEs. I The Kawakawa paper states that Mr H. Lane, of Opua, Bay of Islands, has been invited by the mission society at New Guinea to erect sawmills there, _ as the natives are showing mechanical ability, and the promoters feel assured the natives can run timber mills as well as anyone else. I Timber abounds in some uarts of New j Guinea, and some qualities up to that of New Zealand. | The Country Bands' Contest Committee | have secured the large wool store at the Mosgiel Factory for the contest. The building is a commodious and convenient one, and will, it n thought, prove eminently suitable for the purpose. It is probable (says the Taieri Advocate) that the committee will ask Captain Barclay, of the Dunedin Engineers, to act as military judge in the quickstep competition. The Tapanui Courier learns that Mr Wateon Shennan, of Conical Hills, haß ofiVied I to give a subscription of £20, to be used for the purpose of repairing the Waikoikoi 1 road, provided the ratepayers who signed I tho petition to the council requesting that a separate rate be raised for the purpose 1 of repairing the .said road will subscribe, for I the same purpose, a sum equal to the rate proposed — viz., one half-penny in the pound. The Chinese doctor who forms cue of the party now busy exhuming the bodies of a number of their dead brethren for transmission to China told a Palmerston Times reporter the other day that the party receives £9 for every body exhumed, and £5 for every skeleton, the retnains to be delivered in Dunedin, Greymouth, or Wellington. A steamer will be chartered a-nd the bodies conveyed to China, the total cost to the Chinese of the colony being estimated -at £15,000. A Vienna paper say 9 that the specifications of a new kind of boat have been lodged at the Patent Office there by a Croatian engineer named Cvetkevitch. The vessel, called an " aero-hydro-static boat," is to be a cross between a ship and a flying machine, and is to attain a speed, according to the Inventor, which would enable it to circumnavigate the world in 48 hours. Theprinciple seems to be that when Eet in 1? \o|f^tb«^9\M£i9es. itself, aix tJn^jp,r{ace _

of the sea and* slides on a film of water or air. In Victoria the State school teachers and their inspectors are (says the Melbourne Herald) showing a laudable spirit in connection with the introduction of the ne\W programme of instruction for the schools. Saturday meetings are being held throughout the State, and the district inspector* are meeting their teacher&.-in order to lay down the lines on which the work should proceed. It is now being fully recognised that! the function of the district inspector is oofi merely to examine and criticise the work of his teachers, but to organise their methodsand lead in educational advancement. An opossum trapper named Barton has (says nn Australian paper) had a terrible experience on the Upper Clarence, and survives to tell a tale of endurance that is al-> most unique. . While camped in a remota part of the bush he got both feet severely Srost-bitten, and for a remedy placed them in hot water, which turned them completely black as far as the ankle joints. The pain subsequently experienced was intense. After suffering for some days he made his way to the residence of a Mr M'PheTson on hw' hands and knees, crawling some miles. Ho w-ao -on the verge of starvation when lie arrived at the homestead. Constable Dowsetfc c&Hv^jsed Barton to the district- hospital, 30" smiles distant. His condition ''was terrible.* : Th» "flesh had fallen from his feet, leaving the sinews exposed -to view. - . "" *