OMNIUM GATHERUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2738, 5 September 1906, Page 4

OMNIUM GATHERUM.

No goods can be landed in Turkey which bear a trademark at all resembling a crescent. The Pa!m«rston North Borough Council proposes to borrow another £25,000 for sewerage. The Government has decided to acquire the Te Ohu Estate of 9000 acres, near Norsewood. An effort is being made to get Sir Joseph Ward to give a political address in Hastings. Chili was the first South American Stale to build railways, of which it now has nearly 3000 miles. Invereargill will shortly be the scene of an activity in tramway eomewhat phenomenal. Tho bulk of English timber and raw material for the manufacture of paper oomes from Finland. During tho financial year ended 31sfc March Chinese arriving in Hew ZeaJand paid £15,500 in poll tax. The Kaikoura whalers have secured another whale, a small hump-back one, making three so far this season. The entire season's sugar crop of Trinidad has been purchased this year by Canadian and British refiners. A Waipawa resident has left suddenly to claim a fortune. Some of his creditors are lamenting his disappearing trick. When the Atlantic cable was first laid tho charge was £20 for a twenty-word message. Now it is sixpence a word. Three of the 20 pictures brought oufc from England to be exhibited at the New Zealand Exhibition are valued at £1000 each. The date by which the Wool and Flax Fires Commission was to have presented its report has been extended by one month — to 30th September. Two "skin scratchers," from Nylstroom, North Transvaal, have been added to the collection of new exhibits at tho Christchurch Museum. Four patients died during one week at the Sunbury Asylum (Victoria) for the Insane this month, and their combined ages totalled 334 years. By order of the Emperor Francis Joseph a great international exhibition will be held in Vienna in 1908, in celebration of hid Majesty's diamond jubilee. During tho financial year 1905-1906 the total amount paid to pensioners in Victoria was £189,126. Th<» total number of pensioners on June 30, 1906, was 10,930. Tho Chairman of Ohel>ca Guardians has remonstrated with the Rev. Pullicn Thompson for his extravagance in taking a whole pag» in tho minute book to sign his name. At Arrowfcown a horse was feeding at a pea stack, when part of tho ttack foil on it. When extricated (says the Press) the animal was in a great sweat, and it died 6hortly after. Five generations wore represented at a christening at Stolpe, in Laucnberg. Tho great-great-grandruother. who held the child over the font, will be 103 years old in Septcm'ifcr next. The armchair given by the City of Augsburg to fho Emperor Kudolph II cost £40,000, and took 30 years to make. It was afterwards sold to tho Earl of Radnor foe 600 guinea*. Five hundred Chinamen wbo were homeless and destitute* owing to the earthquake and firo in San Francisco sailod for China a few day 3 ago at the expense- of tho Chineso Government. , About 69 million gross of pbs arc made in. Amprif a, evcti' i£ju"i_ aiicl oji<3 Binajng- j

: ham firm alone turns out abbttt 20 million*

pips daily, or between 40 million and 50 million gross per annum. ' I No fewer than Z66 applications have been received by the Victorian Public Service Commissioners from skilled mechanics for the position of factories inspector, at a salary of £190 per annum. j At Mat aura on Wednesday (gays the Stan- ! dard) the nuptials of a couple aged 73 and ■69 respectively were celebrated. The former was a bachelor, but the lady had been through the ordeal twice before. During the past few weeks eight abandoned infants have been found on doorsteps in Sydney and suburbs, and were taken to the Benevolent Asylum. In each , c*se •Uie infant was well clothed. Giving some impressions of Australia to the Stratford Pest, Mr Joseph M'Cluggage remarked on i&e number of unemployed ;n; n Sydney: "You see women 70 years of age selling matches in the streets for a living." Sir Joseph Hooker, who has entered his ninetieth year, took part in Sir James Ross's Antarctio expedition 67 years ago. It is largely to Jiis efforts that Kew Gardone, London, owe their present condition. The Kaikoura Star state 3 that the steamer Wakatu took away from the whaling station oa Wednesday week 60 barrels of oil, -the product of the first two whales captured during the earlier part of the season. There are 261 industrial unions A workers in the colony, with a membership of 29,869. In the Wellington industrial district (which includes Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, and Wanganui), there .are 7162 unionists. Among all the autographs of celebrities known that of Shakespeare's is the rarest, and, therefore, the most valuable. The one in the British Museum was purchased in 1858 for 300 guineas. It would, as likely as not, fetch 30,000 guineas if put up at auction now. Mr C. T. Benzoni, who has teen acting as registrar of copyrights since Mr G. Leslie's retirement from the Government service, l has been permanently appointed to that office. The statement -that he had been appointed registrar of patents was made in error. In Wales there are about 508,000 people who cannot speak English, Welsh being their only language ; in Scotland there are 43,000 persons who can speak nothine but Gaelic; and in Ireland there are 32,000 who can express themselves only in Erse, the Irish tongue. The Matamata correspondent of the New Zealand Herald writes: — "An Okauia dottier recently picked up a piece of nice looking quartz in one of the local creeks, and it is understood that in oonsequenr* a prospecting iparty will soon set out in quest of the reef from which it came " The Hokitika Times states that heavy seas have prevailed along the coast during the past winter, but they have had the good effect of causing a lot of black sand, rich in gold, to be thrown upon the beaches between Bruce Bay and Okarito. In consequence, some nice little cheques have been made. 1 Bishop Armstrong, of Wansparatta (Victoria), in opening the Synod of his diocese, spoke at length on the gambling question, and condemned the church bazaar raffiea. " Better," he said. "to worship in a shed or under a tree than in a cathedral raised by means -wttich they knew in their hearts l Christ would condemn." In consequence of the theft, some week* ago, of a bag contair.ang railway employees' wages from the wooden desk-locker of the j van on the Biverton-Nightcaps*train, suitable iron safe 9 have, it is understood, been installed in all vans, and additional precautions are now taken when money is in transit. — Southland News. I At the conclusion of a Native case last week; Mr Turnbull. S.M., remarked: " I am seriously considering taking depositions in these Native cases, and if I think they arc tolling lies I shall lay the matter before the Solicitor-general for prosecution." Mr Turnbull has had occasion to uitter similar warnings before, says the Hawera Star. In is stated that there la a eerious shortage of timber at the milU in tho Hokianea | district, tlie floods not having been sufficiently strong to bring the logs down from tho forests. Unless a fresh occurs in the lneant-im-e, it is considered probable that i.ho Kauri Timber Company's plant at Kohukohu will have to temporarily clo&e | down in September. j In Java it is supposed that if a live sheep is thrown into the water it will indicate the position of a drowned person by sinking near it. A curious custom is prac-ti.-etl in Norway, where those in 6earoh of j a drowned body row to and fro with a [ cock in the boat, fully expecting that the j l>i.rd will crow when the boat reaches the spot where the corpse lies. In the top levels of the Waiotahi mm«, particularly in some of the disused drives (says the Thames Star), are some beautiful | sulphate of magnesium (Epsom salts) formations, which hang from the roofs of the drives, the white crystals glittering in thp light. On tho floor of some of tho old dines tlio sulphate lies inches d&ep, and ike spectacle is both interesting and attractive I TVJ2 tiaSl of cokenijLft fax fidijs.uit£

fumes have occurred at the Star of the East mine, Sebastopol (Victoria), and <loat!i has in one instance, -while irt the^ other no hope is entertained of tha recovery of the sufferer. The victims wero brothers, Conrad and Richard Kauffmann, aged jespectively 27 and 30 years, the sons ?, *^i&>W living at Skiptpn street, near Kedan. »- - -

.. At tiie Coromandel School of Mines meeting last week (says the Thames Star) ai communication was received from the Mines Department inquiring if the council WpUld --undertake to mate assays for lxm> fide prospectora free of cost to them if the department undertook to recoup tfeo school from loss^ It was unanimously agreed to accede to tho proposal, and tha Minister of Mines has been advised accordjngly^ i Dur l n S tn « evidence given at the Auckland Supreme Court at the recent sittings a _ witness stated that the custom amonusfc t .? umdl K.e cr * when the character of ono of the residents was questioned was to call a meeting of the residents to discuss and thoroughly investigate matters. X the charges were sustained it was inadvisable for tho man to remain in the district, the-, other residents combining to make the placo too " hot * for him. an exchange) han resolved, on toe motion. 1 * of Rev. Mr Jolly, seconded by Rev. Mr Huttoa.— < r (l)-Tn*fc:the present system of the life tenure of the minwtrr is not-work-ing for the best intereftiuof the cfiuroh; (2) that no satisfactory change of minis'! terial tenure can be effected while there is no power in the church, of transferring, fr ministers from one charge to another, and while a call from a congregation c indispensable to a settlement."

The Police Department is being urged to take action in connection with certain wagers made by Poverty Bay Natives with , Europeans as to the fulfilment of Itua's prophecy that King Edward would be in, Gieoorne on a certain date. As his Majesty did not appear when the Maori " prophet " predicted, some of the Natives promptly paid over their bets, but others hay« declined to do so. It is understood that some of the wafers were for substantial amounts.

A Hawea correspondent writes to th.o Cromwell Argus z — "Messrs John M'Carthy and John Kerin have just finished thresh* ing several stocks of wheat, with a result; of nearly 1100 bags each. As showing the great drawback the farmers in tha l" T "-per Clurha suffer on account of not having railway communication, they will ihave to hold this wheat or sell at about . £s 5d on the ground, and there is no question about it being the best wheat prown in New Zealand. Farmers in this district opuld grow hundreds of tons of such wheat if they could get a decent price for it."

TUo Wanganui Presbytery (according to ___ Forty-five thousand immigrants have """ landed^ at Quebec since the opening, of navigation in " the first week in May. Tho British immigrants at present form 90 per oant. of the total, arrivals, a large increase over previous years. A writer in +"o - Ottawa Free Press saya that the Scottish iix&nigrants are, without exception, .the finest class that ever came to Canada, and l are a veritable mass of living gold. Hie is not impressed with some of the city immigrants brought out under the auspices of tiie Salvation Army, many of whom, he declares, if it were not for the protection the Army gives them, would not be in Canada.