OMNIUM GATHERUM

Otago Witness, Issue 2690, 4 October 1905, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM

> A youth was . arrested by Sergeant Bourke at Christchurch on Wednesday on a charge of stealing a cow at St. Martin's. The Wanganui Borough Council, which owns the local gasworks, is supplying consumers with gas cooking stoves free of charge. The Dannevirke Jockey Club has decided to hand over to the authorities of the local ' hospital all fractions of totalisator dividends under 6d. It is etirrently rept--ted at Orepuki that the Orepuki Shale- Company has deeded to speaid a sum of £50,000 in further exploiting the Orepuki shale deposits. £Fhe Christchurch City Council has put 10,732 yds of metal on the streets in the past five months, and it is utilising every yard of metal it can manage to secure. During 1904-5 a total of 682,610 cases of fruit weie imported at Auckland, Wielhngton, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Bluff. Of this number 42,251 oases were condemned. \ A severe thunderstorm was experienced in Te Tua on Thursday evening (says the Orepuki Advocate). The telegiaph wires j were struck by lightning and communication interrupted. It is usually imagined that the incandescent electric light gives out but very little heat. As a matter of fact, only" 6 per cents of the energy goes to make light, while 94- per cent., goes into heat. A New York paper says that there can be no doubt that, in formally declaring the telephone a device of Satan, the old German Baptists c.re in line with the best thought of many persons outside that communion. John Stock, aged 31 years, an A.B. on the steamer Wakatipu, fell from alcft a distance of 32ft at Launceston on September 12, and was killed instantly. He was a resident of Sydney, a single man, and lived with his mother at Pyrmont. The total number of persons killed on the railways of Victoria for the year ended June 30 last, as disclosed in the commissioners' report, was 25, and 430 were injured, the lowest numbers for the past 20 years and six years respectively. The New York police have a special baton. It is made of extremely heavy wood judiciously coated with indiarubber. and this has the merit that, while it will knock a man down with a single blow, it will istun without breaking his head. Proceedings have been instituted in the Magistrate's Court, Oamaru, against Robert Walker on a charge of arson in connection with the fire some weeks ago in the premises at the corner of Thames and Eden streets. When Mr Eope>r, of Ellistown, Leicestershire, was attacked by a cow the other day he acted on the general idea that if an umbrella were opeacd suddenly the animal would bo frightened. The cow ignored the iimbrella, however, bundled him into a hedge, and then tossed him over it. It is stated that one of the leading marine insurance companies in London recently effected an insurance to the extent of £1,500,000 by a single steamer, which is a record. The insurance was in bonds, and the insurance, no doubt, was one of tho consequences of the recent war. A gentleman who came through from Omai'ania — the land of sunshine and westerly zephyrs — the other day informs the North Otago Times that nothing but sunshine had been experienced in the Upper Waitaki, and he was astonished to find the plain partially under \taler as he came down tLe line*

The President of the Sydney Board of Health slated on the 12th insi. thai theie was everj- reason to believe that bubonic plague had been eradicated both in Sydney /and Newcastle. No trace of the disease had recently been discovered, and no plaguestricken rats had been caught in either place. At the last meeting of the Timaru Harbour Board the Chairman said that in the very near future it vvould be absolutely necessary for the board to provide more wLarfage accommodation, owing to the con-stantly-expanding trade of the port. The suggestion is that a part of the north mole should be wharfed. In the early days of Dr Gi'ace's career he took part in the match at Bristol between Gloucestershire and Surrey. When "W- Gr." had made 7 he was caught, muchto the disgust of the spectators, one of | whom shouted to the catcher, " I say, mister, us came here to see Grace hit, not to see thee field." One of tho most remarkable klentoir«aniacs on record is an old woman in Paris with a passion for accumulating meerschaums, which has impelled, her to pilfer pipes from Parisian shops with such sue- j cess that no fewer than 2600 were found ! in her lodgings. All of them were meerschaums, and 39 were well coloured. An infant, the daughter of Mr J. Gray, of Meeting West (Victoria) was drowned in a ke-rose'iie tin containing oin of water. The mother left the infant in charge of other children whilst she was away milking a cow. On her return she missed the child, and on going out in the 'yard she 'found tho little one head downwards in a keroseno tin used .for liquid refuse. At the conclusion of his address at Palmerston on Wednesday evening the Rev. L. M. Isitt remarked to a local resident i that the audience was the " coldest "' he had encountered in the whole course of his platform experience. Possibly Mr Isitt was not aware (says the local paper) that the ratepayers of Palmerston arc at present burdened "with increased rates owing to the reduction vote carried in 1902. Monsiernor O'Havan, the Dean of St. Mary's Cathedral. Sydney. has been raised I by the Pope to the rank of prothonotary | apostolical, the highest rank of the monr | signori. The dignity has never come" before to a priest in Australia, and as a rule churchmen with this position are only attached to foreign embassies, or are stationed in Rome. Another, lot of men from Otasro went uu> on Wednesday (says f-'ic Cbj-istohurch Press) to work on the Stan-caso Gully section of tho Midland railway line. There are now about 360 hands cmploved on the line, and, with their wive 1 ? and children, there is at present a temncarv population of considerably over 500 sonls living immediately adiacent to the Tally. On the 12th inst., in the Daylesford gold mine (Victoria), James Leopold, a young miner, was blown to nuro* as the result of an ©xnlosion. Tt is bolioved that be committed suicide by pyplodinsr a dynamite pluff in his- month. He had Intt-srlv hopn in ill-health, and .had been lieprd to say he feared he was becoming mentally deranged. He was unmarried, and 2£> years- of age. The statement of accounts that was submitted nt the annual meeting of thp Sixj penny Clothing Club this week .-howM tr nfc the collections in the North Dun-edin bvar.ch district viold"d £69 Os sd, in the VkWe district £29 3s, and in Caversham £15 l?s 6d. The disbursements in North Dunedin totalled £73 Us Id. in the Middle district £35 18s 10id. and in Cawrsham £16 13s 3kl. The Alexandra Herald was shown last week a Maori curio in the shape of a chisel evidently made from the bone of a moa bird. The ovrio was dredeed up by the Clyde Company's dredge, and as the ground was very deen and had never been previously worked, it must have lain in the river for a considerable number of vcavs. The chisel which was nioplv made, was quite sound, and snowed no signs of decay. The Brazilian Chamber of Commerce has devoted the handsome sum of £400,000 as a prize to be given to the scientist who shall discover a really enduring method for the cure of cancer. An international committee is to he formed, consisting of two members of the Medical Academy in Rio de Janeiro I and of four eminent pathologists chosen ! from London. Paris, and Rome. These six gentle-men will act as a jury in the ease ! of awarding the prize. Dr H. W. Bryant, lecturing under tKe auspices of the Australian Health Society at Melbourne, said it was disheartening to notice the number of weedy men in an Eight Hours Day procession. He had been an examiner of military recruits for the past 16 years, and during the last two years it had been the exception for .him to examine a well-developpd vouner man. Physical culture should be included as a branch of public ■education under aua-lified instructors. Mr F. Sterricks. a well-known farmer at Antwerp (Victoria) met. with an unfortunate accident on the 16th inst. whil© cleaning out a well 20ft deep. He was about to be hauled lo Ine ton. when the windlass stand broke and fell down the well - He was startled by the noise, and, looking- ud to ascertain its cause, received a dreadful blow on the side oi the faoej which completely '

knocked the left eye o"t and carried away most o' the nos?, ami laid bare the left portion of the face. The superintendent of the Tourist Department hag recened a communication from Mr J. 11. M'Kcchnio, city editor oif the Colorado Springs Gazette, at Colorado Springs (U.JS.A.I. asking whether there will bo special fares between San Franei?co and A T ew Zealand timing the International Exhibition next year. Further evidence of the interest that is being taken in 'the Exhibition is the inquiry for particular o£ the ordinary fares and Transit arrangements between this colony and America. During the heavy thunderstorm which passed over the Feilding district about three weeks ago a wire fence, of about sever chains, on Mr Weston's farm, Aorongi, was s-truck by lightning. The cuneni ran along the wholo length of the wiie, splitting nearly every post and hanger. The majority of the staples were aKo drawn and thrown a considerable distance away. The force of the current also deposited splinters of the wood in every direction. A large stump in the vicinity of the fence was also rent to pieces. A slight explosion took place at the Kaitangata mine on Saturday (writes the correspondent of the Clutha Free Press). It is said that one of the stoppings blew out, and some gas became ignited. Three men who were f working near received slight burns, but were not otherwise injured. One of the men is said to be still off work owing to the injuries received A ballot for places in the mine took place on Thursday morning, when about, 40 men were taken on. Ifc i"S said that there are now no men' idle at Eaitahgata, and that two places are still vacant. The ping-pong craze has supplied tho cuve- for- the evil effects of the billiard saloon at Rotorua. The Rev. F. Bennett, told an audience recently that the billiard table had lost its fascination, and the Maoris wow enthusiastically played pingpong- for -cups of tea. The facilities for ping-pong are provided by the mission church and the ladies' guild provides the cups of tea. The billiard saloon is deserted during the evenings. No one goes there, and the place is closed up. The owner and billiard marker have found a fresh field >for their ability — they are the two champion pingr-pong players. The Rev. L. M. Isitt cave an address on no-license in x.l.c Waikouaiti Public Hall on Thursday evening. There was a fair attendance despite the bad weather. The Mayor (Mr T. Smith) presided. Mr Isitfc held the close' attention of his audience from beginning to end. He kept his hearers in good humour throughout, causing many a laugh by his remarks. No one accepted his invitation at the close to 1 those who did not agree with him to ascend tho platform, question him, a.nd have it out there and then." With a parting-"injunction to "strike out the top line," and a vote of thanks to the chairman terminated tlw meeting. Anyone reading the new electofal roll, just being printed, cannot fail '(says xho Oamaru Mail) to be struck with the amusing; way in which married women are described. One is a " wife,'' her next-door neighbour is only ''married," a third is a "mother." There are single ladies who are spinsters and there are single ladies who are " house'Jiold duties." One man is a " grocer Y assistant," but his blood brother, who lives under the same roof, is a " gentleman." with no occupation, and tIU father of tha two is a common labourer. However, there are very few " gentlemen " on the roll — • half a dozen, perhaps. It is a fine distinction. This is democracy. "* Few naval officers can look back on a longer or more diversified professional career than Admiral Sir Algernon de Horsey, who recently entered on his seventy-ninth year. Sixty-five years ago, in Syria, he* had his baptism of fire. A' " quarter of a century later lie took a useful -part in the suppression of the usly hisur- , recirion in Jamaica. Then he helped to drive the Fenians\ out of Canada, had a term as commodore in the West Indies, following this with the command m the Pacific: and later. , before going on the retired list, had command for s time of thp Channel squadron. The srallant Admiral is the author of several valuable works.