LOCAL & GENERAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2661, 15 March 1905, Page 32

LOCAL & GENERAL.

Among the red dots on the map denotingthe Empire upon which the sun never seta (says an exchange) is a group of islands to the south of Australia, bearing the name of the Royal Company Islands. These have hitherto appeared on the British Admiralty charts as a group of four or five s^-veks, tha exact position being lat. 50.20 S., long.H.o X ; in atlases they have the red line beneath them, which is usually taken to mean that the British flag has been hoisted there. Now the Admiralty has issued a " notice to mariners " headed " Royal Company Islands —non-existence of." The original report of their discovery cannot be traced, nor have they apparently been seen by passing vessels. However, on dark nights vessels sailing in their supposed neighbourhood have set a> course to clear them, and the lookout has watched for "breakers ahead." Certain matters have come to the notice of the Admiralty which has led it to expunge the islands from the charts, the most convincing testimony being that of the captain of the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company's steamer Matatua, which passed right over their alleged position in 1900. Thus it is that the copper chart plates on which the islands are engraved will be filed and burnished at the spot where the ghostly natives of the phantom Royal Company Islands once enjoyed the privileges of being under British protection.

In connection with the notes read by Mr Burnett at the Otago Central Railway League's meeting on Monday evening, in which the words " the same honourable (and truthful) gentleman," referring to the> Minister of Public Works, occur, the words " and truthful " were not read byMr Burnett at fche meeting, but he had omitted to excise them before handing the notes to the press representatives. Therefore, Mr Sidey's remarks as to the veracity of the Minister being called into question could not have applied to those words.

At some hour between 10 a.m. and halfpast 3 p.m. on the 7th the house of *Irs Gibb, of George street, was bioken into, and jewellery and other articles, to the value of £9, taken aawy. The matter was reported to the police, and at a later hour in the day Detective Cooney arrested a. youth named Walter Henry Marsden, most of the stolen property being found in his possession. The youth, it was ascertained, is an absoonder from the Burnham Industrial School, and, as a result of inquiries, it was discovered he had pawned some of the stolen property shortly before his arrest. He will be brought up at the Police Court this morning, and charged with the theft. The City Council has decided to this year increase to £200 its contribution in aid of the work of the Dunedin Technical School, and official intimation of the fact was laid before the managers at their meeting on the 7th inst. Members present expressed the opinion that it now rests with the other local todies to contribute their share of the amount required to complete the building, and the work can then be at once undertaken. * A post office was opened at Lander, Central Otago, on the 9th inst. Mails will be conveyed to and from Dunedin daily. The strang-e manoeuvring of a 10,000-ton steamer created some interest aboard the s.s. Manapouri when that vessel was about 130 miles out from Sydney. The offi ers state that about 9 o'clock on the morning of February 8 a strange boat appeared, travelling in the opposice direction to the Manapouri. She then put about, and kept with the island trader until 4 o'clock, steering an erratic course all the time. She w?s too far off for her identity to be ascertained, but it was observed that her funnsl was painted in red, white, and blue stripes. That she w-as a ff»st vessel is shown in the fact that although she steamed backward and forward she kept with the Manapouri all day. The position in which the- vessel was sighted was lat. 33.2 S., and long. 153.34E. The identity of the vessel and her destination remain a mystery. Our Cromwell correspondent writes that Miss Mills, who contracted typhoid fever at Mount Pisa Station, died in the Cromwell Hospital on Sunday. Another patient is in a critical condition. The Cromwell Argus states that the dread disease has broken out at Bendigo, where Mr John M'Lean and all his family but the eldest daughter are seriously ill. Luckily his wife has not taken the disease. The remaining patients at the hospital are progressing favourably. It was reported that fever had broken out in the Hawca, but no authentic information is yet to hand. A preliminary committee meeting of gentlemen representative of various interests was held in the Mayor's rooms at the Town Hall on Thursday, to consider the proposal to form a league for the promotion of the commercial and general interests of the Province of Otago. The principle of the idea was affirmed, and a strong subcommittee was formed to go thoroughly into the matter of the constitution and report at; another meeting to be called at an early date. Amongst the other works scheduled for Stewart Island, the cost to bo defrayed out of votes revered to the. Estimates for current expenditure (writes our correspondent), 19 tho formation of a track from Freshwater (Ohekia) River to the top of Rakpahua. The mountain, which is 2217 ft high, commands, with a trifling exeopuon towards Mount Anglem. an all-round \ i<?\v of the island. Anglem w 9£3 ft hiohor than the other; hence tho interruption. With that esLPption one can look fe.r out to ser., wiila

ithe Solanders and the Snares on hand, in dear weather. Paterson's Inlet and Pegasus are its bird's-eye views, and it would j astonish anyone to see the extraordinary ! combination in sea and land they make. The mountain itself is a " happy huntingground " for the botanist and his confrere of the stone science. The track will make it more accessible than it has been. Freshwater River drains into the North Arm (Paterson's Inlet), and is navigable some mile 3 inland, so that one will be enabled to Teach the foot of the mountain by boat. Captain Rost's leprolin, a new serum which it is hoped will prove a cure for leprosy, is being tried in several of the Indian asylums of the Mission to Lepers. Three cases at Pierulia, in Bengal, where , the mission supports 600 lepers, are declared by the Deputy Sanitary Commissioner of the district to be "" s to all intents and purposes completely cured." The hopeful ca-es will be isolated, and observed for six iflbnths before a final decision can be pronounced. In the Magistrate's Court on Thursday Mr TT. Y. Widdowson, S.M., gave judgment in a case heard by him at Dunedin and Outram. The case was that of James Sinclair, of Berwick, contractor, versus Henry W. Williams, of Berwick, flaxmiller, a, claim for £100 for alleged wrongful termination of contract for carting of coal and flax. His "Worship held that the contract^ made was a verbal one, and he considered it was determined by the parties in as formal a manner as it was entered into. The plaintiff was nonsuited, with costs (£5). The Auckland police have been advised of the arrival in Sydney on Friday last, by the s.s. Zcalandia, of Mr Thomas Morrin, formerly managing director of the Wellington Park Stud Company, Auckland. A •warrant was issued for Mr Morrin' s arrest on the charge of alleged embezzlement prior to his departure from Auckland, but as no instructions appear to have been issued by the directors of the Wellington Park Stud Company in the matter it is understood that the police did not take any steps to execute the warrant on the arrival of the Zealandia in Sydney. A recent Wellington marriage caused a great deal of surprise to 200 or so prospective guests, who found themselves deprived of all the excitement and joy that usually occur at "pretty" weddings. The event was fixed for a dale towards the end of the -present month, and as the • contracting parties* are well known and popular in the capital city the occasion was being looked forward to as one thai; would be a social function of some magnitude. The invitations had been issued and all the customary arrangements were being made, when the many friends of the parties were astounded by the news that thejnarriage had taken place at the registrar's office. The exvjlanation is alleged to be that whilst still a prospective bride the lady was a guest at a recent fashionable wedding in Wellington, and was so appalled at the thought that similar ceremonies would attend her own nuptials that she decided — and the bridegroom, of course, agreed — that in her case the knot should/be tied minus the pomp and circumstance of a " fashionable wedding." The family of Mr J. Harley had rather an unenviable and uncommon experience about 9 o'clock on Tuesday evening (fays the Alexandra Herald), when the collapse of a portion of Mr S. Lett's coal mine, immediately underneath the house, caused the wreck of the structure. The fall took place across the centre of the house and extended for some distance on either side, the depth being about 7ft or Bft. The result was that •the house was broken across the centre, and collapsed into the yawning gulf below ; and as Mrs Harley and her daughters were in bed at the time, with the house in darkness and furniture falling in all directions, their feelings may be better imagined than described. The imprisoned inmates first attempted to gain an exit by the front door ; but, luckily for them, the door was blocked with furniture, otherwise they would have stepped out into a chasm Bft in depth. Finally an exit was made through a window at the end of the building, underneath which they were fortunate enough to find solid earth. A brick partition wall running through the building fell across the bed •usually occupied by the elder son, -who, fortunately for himself, had not re-turned home. Under the circumstances, it is singularly fortunate that the occupants escaped •without injury. Mr Harley, however, will be a heavy loser, as, besides the damage to the house, a considerable portion of th< furniture was broken up. Lord Rayleigh, the co-discoverer of argon with Sir William Ramsay, has received a Nobel prize. He is the only scientist in the House of Lords whose peerage is inherited. His eldest son and heir, who discovered radium in the waters of Bath, promises to follow in his footsteps. Another son in the navy is -affectionately known as "Argonaut" — or " Argon " for short — by his fellow officers. liord Rayleigh is Mr Balfour's brother-in-law. Ten y^ars older than his collaborators, Sir William Ramsay, he was born as son and heir to the second Lord Rayleigh in 1842.- He is one of those who would have attained to greatness had he not been born to it. All forms of atmospheric research ■have come under his purview. He is, perhaps, the greatest living authority on sound. And the " Magic Kettle" in the big music halls perpetuates to-day his experiments with liquid air. But his suggestion of argon to Professor Ramsay has taken closest hold of the popular imagination. If not the only scientist in the Upper House, liord Rayleigh is the only Senior Wrangler, «.nd the only milkman ! " Lord Rayleigh's Dairy/ is a lggcud ihal he who runs may.

read in Great Russell street. It is supplied from • his herd of more than 1000 cows down at Terling, his place in Essex.

A private letter has been received at Lyttelton stating that C. Mansell, a seaman of H.M.S. Tauranga, who made a gallant attempt to save the Jife of Lieutenant Payne when that officer was washed overboard and drowned on the vessel's passage from Lyttelton to Wellington in October last, has been awarded a silver medal by the Royal Humane Society of England, in recognition of his gallantry.

Speaking in Christchurch on Thursday evening, Mr T. E. Taylor said he had been in Ashburton on Wednesday, and a man had assured him that, under license, there had been more liquor sold in one hotel en a Saturday night, from 7.30 tijl closing time, by two barmaids, than was now sold throughout the county in a week. The speaker had known Ashburton well under license; it had been "as notorious for its drunkenness as any town of equal size in the colony. There has been never a year since New Zealand had been proclaimed a British colony without some man being drowned in the Ashburton River in consequence of license. The Ashburton River, under license, had been a death-trap ; but no man had been drowned there under nolicense. There had been an increase of £28,000 in savings bank deposits, and there was a building bcom in the township. He did not claim that this was due to nolicense, but he declared that men who said that no-license was a blight either knew nothing about the matter or were contemptible liars.

Interviewed at Gisborne on his impressions of the Old Country, the Rev. Mr Chatterton, who .has just returned from a visit to England,Asaid that one of the causes of the unemployed question was the enormous increase of the alien population in London. There were thousands pouring in from Russia, and the conditions in the East End were very bad. "I was told," remarked Mr Chatterton, " that one street had been completely given up to Polish Jews, and ihafc they had the audacity to put up a placard, 'No Gentiles need apply. ' " From these aliens from various parts of Europe a large percentage of London's criminal population came, and the question was such a large one that the Government intended to deal with the matter.

The last stage in the long-pending case Oldham v. Ramsay and Espie came before his Honor Mr Justice Williams gn. Thursday (says the Southland Times), in the form of a motion on behalf of the plaintiff, Orlando William Oldham, to enter judgment against the defendants, John Johnston Ramsay and Archibald Espie, in accordance with the finding of the registrar, to whom the accounts between the parties were referred, for the sum of £656 and for costs. Mr Stout appeared in support of the motion, and Mr W. Macalister for ihe defendants. Mr Macalister acoepted the figures as found by the registrar, but submitted that judgment should be entered up against the defondants as trustees for the Rabbit Trappers' Union, and not personally. His Honor, decided that as defendants had been sued personally judgment musb be entered against them personally for the sum of £666, as found by the registrar, costs to plaintiff to bo fixed by the registrar.

An important innovation in the- railway service was announced by Sir Joseph Ward, Minister of Railways, at the conclusion of his address on the occasion of the opening of the new railway workshops in Invercargill on Wednesday. He said: — "We are going to adopt a system of numbering every seat in the passenger carriages on the railways, by which you will be able, if you desire, to travel from Invercargill to New Plymouth without any difficulty or trouble as to your so at in a train. You will be able to obtain tickets two or three days before you travel ; on the ticket will be the number of Ihe car you will travel in, and the seat you will occupy, and if anybody tries to jump your claim whilst you have retired to have a glass of — well, soda and milk — (laughter) — you will be in a position to request him to move otit. It is a small reform, but one, I venture to think, that will add considerably to the comfort of travellers and will be greatly appreciated." — (Applause.) A mysterious robbery took place at the D.I.C. between closing time on Tuesday evening and the opening hour on Thursday morning, -when it was discovered that goods, principally furs, valued in all at over £40, had been removed from the premises. How the things were removed is a mystery, for the furs were in their usual place when the premises were closed on Tuesday, and there is nothing to indicate how the premises were entered. At a valedictory to Mr W. Cutter on Friday afternoon, Mr E. Roberts, when replying to the toast of " Consulting' Engineers," said the dredging boom did not do the consulting engineers any good. If the " boom ' had not come upon them so suddenly more time would have been devoted to perfecting the machines turned out, and it would have been bettor for the engineers, for the mining industry, for the contributing public and everyone had things gone a little slower. The consulting engineers were blamed for many things for which they were not lesponsible. They were asked, not to design clredgos that would suit the localities to bo-dredg-ed, but to give a dredge, of any kind at the shortest notice ; and many good machines were placed under the charge of inexperienced dredgemasbers — men brought in from the back-blocks, and who knew nothing about the working- of machinery. Hundreds of dredgemasters were wanted at the shortest possible notice^ and the supply not being equal to the demand, anyone yss\ put in charge^ with the jesult that

many machines were stuck up scon after they started, and the consulting engineers got the blame for it all. They had now better trained and more experienced men, but they were faced with this fact : that tho best of their dredgemasters were being enticed from the colony, and they were being left with the worst.

The annual meeting of shareholders in the Federal Portland Cement Company was held at the Agricultural Hall Buildings on Friday, wher Mr W. L. Sfimpson presided, and there were six others present. The Chairman said the balance sheet differed very littlo from last year. The only increase was £84- 6s 4d — increase in directors' fees, charges, various expenses, etc. Though the directors' duties during the year were not very onerous, still there had been a little to do, and the efforts of the company had been principally directed to getting a settlement with the Government of the claims the company made. The company succeeded in obtaining a settlement, but the amount was received too late to be included in the balance sheet. The balance now really in hand was £1511 5s 2d, which would, in the ordinary course, go into the hands of the liquidator; so that was the amount, less expenses, which would be disposed of by the liquidator. Messi-s Hay and Simpson were re-elected direotors, and Messrs Crawford and Bartleman auditors. An extraordinary meeting was then held, when it was resolved to go into voluntary liquidation. Mr J. F. M. Fraser, who was present, remarked that he regretted that the libel laws of the colony would not permit of his doing justice to his feelings in regard to the formation of the company. Since its inception the company had suffered from heredity.

During the proceedings at the smoke concert on Fridey in connection with the fire brigade demonstration, a pleasant little function took place, when Captain Battle, of Wanganui, on behalf of the visiting firemen, requested his Worship the Mayor to take charge of a large framed photograph of the delegates to the conference for Mr and Mrs C. D. Rainton, of Fillcul street. Captain Battle explained that the visitors had been in the habit of practising in Filleul street, and often as early as 5 a.m. during the days preceding the demonstration Mr and Mrs Rainton had gone to the trouble of rising at that early hour each morning to provide morning tea for the men, and the visitors could not leave without presenting some tangible token of their esteem. Gold brooches were also handed to tho Mayor for Mrs Rainton"s nic-ec and maidservant. The Mayor, on behalf of Mr and Mrs Rainton, returned thanks.

Mr E. Robert=, speaking at a meeting of mining ropresentatives at ihe Ciiy Hotel on Friday afternoon, made reference to the rumoured intention of the Minister of Lands to place restrictions upon the dredging of land for gold-mining purposes. Ho said that from personal knowledge he knew the reported injury to agricultural land by dredging ivas much exaggerated, and some of tho land had been improved by dredging. Land at Tuapeka Flat, Waitahuna Flat, Waikaka, and Waikaia, used for dredging, was in some cases swamp land, and the turning of it over had improved it ; and other dredged land only wanted water run on to it, and the water allowed to stand awhile aftid the silt to settle, and it would be better after the dredging than before.

A Gazette notice published 1 on Fiiday states that the ballot for ihe Greenfield Estate is to bo held afc Lawrence on April 15. Applications will be received at the Land Offices at Dunedin, Lawrence, and Balclutha- ooi April 11 ivrj to. 4 jo.ni. The.

Land Board will sit at Dunedin on April 12 to examine applicants, and will proceed .to Balclutha and Lawrence on following days, and examine applicants in these two towns on April 13 and 14- respectfully. Last month's return of infectious diseases reported at the local health office shows : Five cases of scarlet fever (three in town and two in the country), six cases of typhoid (two in the town and four in the country), one case of diphtheria (in the country), four cases of tuberculosis (two in the town and two in the country), and one case of bloodpoisoning (in the country). The six cases of enteric referred to imply the affecting of six households, the actual number of patients being 10, and the Mount Pisa outbreak being responsible for eight of these. Dr Ogston, di-trict health officer, with Health Inspector Gladstone, visited Rocky Point, near Bendigo, last week, where three cases of typhoid, all in the same family, demanded attention. No distinct connection I between these and the Mount Pisa cases could be discovered. Cromwell was al?o visited, and the reservoir there was found in a dirty condition. It was recommended that this should be cleaned out, and that a I filter might be needed to effect a desirable j improvement. Dr Ogston had a conference j with the chairman and clerk of the "Vincent j County Council, and recommended, among ' other things, that settlers should be appealed to to pay a greater attention than heretofore to the cleanliness of their water supply and to their surroundings gener-^ ally. Another typhoid patient from Mount : Pisa had been admitted to tho Cromwell j Hospital, and the manager of the station iis also said to be down with typhoid. Dr Ogston expresses the opinion that throughout the whole district a wet spring, followed by hot weather, has given rise to conditions that make typhoid more than usually probable. A case of typhoid at Gore is traceable to a flaxmill at Fairfax, near Milton, where the health inspector had recently to order that a remedy should be effected in the matter of the pollution of a creek, this being the third case traced as coming from the same mill. The number of persons admitted to the I Dunedin Hospital last week was 25, and ' the number discharged 32, the total remain- ! ing in the institution being 102. Two deaths occurred during the week — viz., James 1 MacNamara and Alexander Ross. At a sitting of the Old-age Pensions Court, held on Friday before Mr H. Y. Widdowson, the following pensions were granted : Thirty-five at £18, six at £16, two at £14-, one at £13, one at £12, two at £10, one at £9, one at £5, one at £2. One applicant was refused on account of income, one on account of property, and two were j adjourned for inquiry as to character. General Booth left London by the R.M.S. Victoria on the 2nd inst., and is due to arrive in Adelaide on Monday, April 10, i which, curiously enough, will be the General's seventy-sixth birthday, he having been born in Nottingham on April 10, 1829. As at present arranged, General Booth will come straight on to New Zealand, holding I the first meeting of his present tour in 1 Invercargill on Tuesday, April 18. It is expected that the General will spend three ,' days in Dunedin — viz., Wednesday, Thurs- ' clay, and Friday, April 19, 20, and 21, — and amongst his public fixtures will, in ell probability, be three meetings on Good Friday in the Garrison Hall. This will be General Booth's fourth visit to New Zealand, and especial interest attaches lo the fact that he comes here almost immediately after I having taken part in the Welsh revival. 1 General Booth will be accompanied from ' England by Commissioner Nicol (the editor- : in-chief of the Salvation Army's papers and magazines), Colonel Lavvley, and Major Cox. The report on technical education presented to Parliament last session, which has j just come to hand, shows that during 1903 I the sum of £1225 15s was paid by the j department as pound for pound subsidies on voluntary contributions. The largest subsidy paid was to the Christchurch Technical I Classes Association (£23? 10s) ; the Palmer- | «ton North Technical School received £200; the Elam School of Art (Auckland), £150; the Wellington Technical School, £136 17s 6d; the Dunedin Technical School, £122 19s 6d ; the Masterton Technical Classes ■ Association and the Rcefton Technical School each received £100 ; the other schools and classes that got subsidies received ! amounts under £50. The over-shadowing of Parliament, and the fights of Parliament, by th& Ministry, was the subject of some incisive comments j by Mr John Duthie, M.H.R., in the course of his remarks at the fire brigade's dinner I at Wellington on Wednesday evening. Thus i Mr Duthio: "Parliament was becoming merely the tool of autocratic Government, and before long this would have to occupy the attention of the people of New Zealand very closely. The old parxy distinctions were dead — the Conservative party at Home had become the Unionist party, — and there j was no standing ground now for a second ' party except on the Socialistic ba.=is. The line of demarcation -would in future be between the Socialistic party and the supporters of those individualistic piineiples on which he held the progress of the country depended. Ho admitted that tho Government had always its car to the ground to know what was wanted, and had given j what was desired by a large part of the I people of New Zealand. He agreed that the Government had done what the great bulk of the population desired. (Hon. T. K. Macdonald : 'Hear, hear.') Whether that was for the best remained' to bo seen. There had been an extension of the men's

franchise, and after that the Government had handed over the franchise to the ladies of the country, and, owing to the large proportion thus created of comparatively inexperienced voters, the principles underlying government had perhaps not received the attention they should have had." A serious case of poisoning through eat* ing tinned fish occurred at Kaikoura on Friday, 3rd inst. (says the Marlborough Daily Times). Afc tea-time Mrs A. Adair and some friends — Mrs A. Wilson, Mrs Akersten, and Mi=s Broughan — partook of seme tinned fre<h herrings, which had been, newly opened. Shortly afterwards they vere all seized with violent pains and vomiting. Mrs Adair, who, at first, was the least affected, manager! to send icr medical assistance. Dr Gunn war- quickly on the spot, and found all the sufferers were in a -*cry serious condition. He administered antidotes, and after several hours' unremitting attention was abe to pronounce his patients out of extreme danger. George Meredith's speculative writings on tho marriage contract may bear practical fruit in America. In the Legislature of Kansas a bill has been introduced makingmarriage a limited contract, with a tenure of 10 years. It has a proviso that when tho contract expires it may be renewed' at the option of both parties. The alternative is a division of the joint property and the children, and separation with freedom to enter into new conjugal relations with someone* el*e. When first introduced the measure was regarded as a joke, but now it is being debated sericxisly. An amendment has been moved limiting the contract to five years. Turton for the beneficiaries Under her will the testatrix left £1 a week to her husband out of an estate value J at £1800, and lelt other legacies totalling about £1300. The administration of the legacy to her husband was left to Edwards, who resides in Cromwell, 35 miles froji Maher, who lives at Arrowtown. Mr Macalister asked, and other counsel did not oppose, that the amount payable to the plaintiff weekly be £2. He also asked that the administration of this sum be placed in the hands of a Queenstown resident, who would exercise more active supervision over Maher than the executor could possibly do. Messrs Hall and Turton opposed the nomination made by Mr Macalister, argtxing that no alteration was necessary, and that if ifc were necessary a person in Arrowtown should be appointed. His Honor decided to issue an order directing that the executors should apply a weekly sum sufficient for the purpose to maintain Maher, but not to exceed £2 per week, and also that Maher should not assign or encumber any part of this amount. Costs to ail parties were allowed out of the estate. The Hen. J. M'Gowan, Minister of Mines and Justice, arrived from the north by express train on Monday ovening. He received deputations on Wednesday, transacted- business generally, and left for the south on Wednesday morning. Ha first goes to Naseby, and thence to Ophir (via St. Baihans), Alexandra, Clyde, and Cromwell, and works back to Bald Hill Flat, Roxburgh, Miller's Flat, Island Block, Rae's Junction, Beaumont, and Lawrenre, which he expects to reach on Monday night- Froi© Lawrence he proceeds to Gore, Waikaia, and Waikaka, returning to Dunedin about Saturday week. 1 Messrs A. Thomson and C. Hodge, J.P.s, ' sab at the Port Chalmers Police Court on Monday. In the case of Angelo Leoni, charged with vagrancy, Ser- ,' geant Geeriii paid that complaints , had been made by residents cf j Mihiwaka and Sawyer's bay that the accused had demanded and obtained food j fiom them, and slept in different places. ' He was found on Saturday night sleeping in an unoccupied house in Sawyers' Bay. When taken to the PoLce Station and) searched, amongst other things, a post office order for £15, payable at Oamaru, was found. The accused said it was his intention to proceed to Oamaru. Their Worships, after severely reprimanding the man, convicted and ordered him to come up for sentc-nce when called upon. ! A Waitahuna correspondent writes: — I " On his way to church on Sunday morning Mr George Scott saw an ancient Highland 1 drover striving, with indifferent prospects of success, to <?ross a flock jof sheep from the right to the ' left bank of the Waitahuna River. This fording of the streari is rendered necessary at present through lha bridge being- under repair. Mr Scott lent a willing hand, andi after a good deal of resonant coaxing the> feat was accomplished. The drover, a mam on whom the snows of 80 winters had fallen, remarked to his assistant after theflock had been landed : 'It is just 47 yo*rt since, from a point a few chains dova stream, I crossed the first flock of 6ht»pt 1 that ever did cross the Waitahuna River.' This man hps acquaintances of more or less familiarity in many lands, and has had hia ' name mentioned in all the four quarters 'of the globe. Ifc was Mr George Munvo, I probably the earliest white resident cE ! Tuapeka County, tho welccmer of Gabriel Read© to the Blue. Spur wilds and the mart ' after whom the widely-known Munro's Gully was named. It will gratify many of his widely-spread acquaintances to thu learn that he is still alive and is enjoyin, ' good health."' /3*f ***c+^£ /f»ST ! "We have to acknowledge receipt of a carJ. issued by the New Zealand Express Company, and giving particulars of the mail and expiess tiain services between Lyttelton and Invercargill, also the time-tables for the Sag' Ftanci&cq and Vancouver mail services. " '