HERE AND THERE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2848, 14 October 1908, Page 81

HERE AND THERE.

— Gold in Ireland. — Innishowen Head, County Donegal, within sight of MoviHe, the calling place lor the Canadiaia liners, is the latest discovered "Tom Tiddler's" ground, and if the expectatiosa of its exploiters are realised, it wiH prove in some respecte more valuable than, the goJdfields of Yukon. Two years ago a Mr Johnston, of Antrim road; Belfast^ obtained from Lord Shafteabary a lease-. of some 60 acres of ground in the neighbourhood of Innis<howen Head on nominal terms, with a view to prospecting for precious metals. Gold- was soon discovered, and small nuggets of it were exhibited, both in Ireland and England, 18 months ago. Meanwhile work has steadily progressed on the land, and between. 4000 and 5000 tons of ore- are now exposed. It is estimated that this contains a large percentage of gold, copper, silver, and lead. The lower levels are especially rich in the two . last-named metals, some of the ore providing 60 per cent, of pure lead, while the gold and copper are each present in paying quantities. Mr Johnston ■ brought his "find under the notice of a group of American financiers, who, as the result of his communications, sent over a mining expert to examine the property. This gentleman, after exhaustive tests, reported very favourably on the prospects of the -venture. A private syndicate of Americans hae now-, been formed), ,and the work -of develepmeaxt ia to t»- taken in hand in earnest at the earliest possible moment. , -^■From tire Factory to Riches.— ' Th^/ r laV"Mr George' S'tubley, the YorkBhire" woollen manufacturer, who has just left a substantial fortune, was one of many men who have started on the road to riches in the lowly role of factory boy. The late Sir Isaac Holden's first money was earned as weaver's draw-boy, work .which, after two years, he left for a cotton mill. Mr Andrew Carnegie was only IJJ when he began his working career as a bobbin-boy in the AUeghany City factory, in which his father was employed-, earning what seemed to him the regal cum of 5s a week. "I cannot bell howproud I was," he recalls, "when. I received my first week's own earnings." ZThe brilliant career of Sir William Arrol, builder of the Tay and Forth bridges, had a similar opening ; for as a child of nine he was working early and late as piecer in a cotton mill, as' a prelude to ibis apprenticeship to a Paisley blacksmith. — Serving a Sentence by Proxy. — A French commercial traveller who had been sentenced to two weeks' imprisonment for some mild offence had a bright idea (reports the Paris correspondent of the Daily Telegraph). "I shall do it by (proxy," and, therefore, when the summons reached him, inviting him to spend 'two weeks in prison at the Sante, he cent for a poor wretch who was only too glad to have his meals and bed aeiured >for a fortnight and to receive a handsome present besides. The commercial .traveller offered hk. substitute 10 francs, a new suit of clothes, and board and lodging for one month after bis liberation. The proposition was perfectly delightful. He handsd over all the papera necessary, including bis birth certificate, etc., and with these the substitute was admitted, and assigned to a cell at the Bante Prison. When he came out after two weeks he said that he bad had a rather agreeable time. Unfortunately the secret leaked oot. The police learned that the commercial traveller had been attending to his business during bis supposed imprisonment, and they inquired. The result is that be ba6 received a second summons to spend, a fortnight in prison, and this time care will be taken that he ygoes there in person, and bis proxy, on the other hand, finds himself prosecuted foT "usurpation d'etat civil" — that is to 6ay, usurping another person's civil status, which in France may prove a tremendous $ff«2M2Q,

—Altered the Bible for Spite. — In the famous library of Wolfenbuttel, in Hesse, is an old Bible which is greatly treasured, but until recently it was not known why it is so valued. The mystery , has now been solved (the Quiver says) by the discovery of papers relating to it : — [ "It appears that in that passage in • Genesis where God tells Eve that Adam > shall be her master and shall rule over 1 her the German translation is 'Und er ■ soil dein Herr eein.' ' Herr,' -which means master, dees not occur in this Bible, but. instead there appears the word 'Narr,' , which means fool. The newly-discovered documents say that the error was caused by a quarrel between $he printer and bis wife in the year 1580. The wife was vengeful, and in the silent watches of the night she entered the. room where her husband bad been setting type and maliciously changed 'Herr' into 'Narr.'" , The woman was afterwards imprisoned for blasphemy. Orders were given that all the copies of tile edition should be destroyed. This was done, with the exception of the one copy now in the Wolfenbuttel Library. — A Too-confiding Actress. — A gipsy fortune-teller, practising her j trade in Paris lately, bit on a new idea, I which was to blindfold her subject. Slm found a good opportunity (says the Daily Telegraph) when she' was called to thi rooms of an Austrian actress residing in ; Paris. She pei-suaded the actress to allow i herself to be blindfolded, then foretold her an enchanting future, walking about the room- meaiawhiley and appropriating, every tit of jewellery in ity-and even ransacking th« drawers and wardrobes. When- the seance was all over the actress' was delighted. She had never been told so wonderful a fortune befenre, and dismissed the gipsy with every mark of satisfaction. But hardly had the woman gone when the actress' missed her jewels. There was a hasty call for the police, the gipsy was asked "for at the address she had given, but ebe had been clever enough not to return to her lodgings, and it looked as if the too-confiding actress would never see her gewels again. Luckily, the police bad information of similar tricks performed in provincial towns, and by patient inquiry they at last discovered the haunt of the f,oo-clever fortune-teller. She lived in a but on waste ground outeide Paris, and here the police found her and quite a hoard of jewels, including those of her latest victim. —The Authoress of "The Flowers o' the Forest." — A tablet has- been erected in Edinburgh marking the resting-place of one whose name is associated with one of the most famous of Scottish eongs. This is Mrs Cockburn, who wrote "The flowers o' the foix-st." Some time ago a pious donor, who thought it was very desirable that something should be done to mark the spot where the lady was buried, presented a sum of money to the Pen and Pencil Club, who had interested themselves in such matters, to carry out hie object. The tablet, wbich is of white marble, is elected in a conspicuous place on the outside wall of Buccleuch Church burialground. It bears the simple inscription :^ "Mrs Cockburn, 1710-1794, who wrote' ' The flowers o' the forest,' lies buried near here."

A Hungarian has invented a -washingmachine, which, with electrified water, will cleanse 300 garments in less than fifteen minutes without the aid of soap. . J n spite of apparent impossibility, pitch a thinjr actually happened some few voar= ago on the western coast of Ireland. The rocks along this coast, which the lingo Atlantic rollers have for centune3 been slowly breaking down and piercing with great caverns, »ntain in their depth masses of iron pyrites and alum. At' one part of the coast the water penetrated to these, and a rapid oxidisation took place, whjch produced a -h«fs fierce enough to set the whole cliff on fire. For weoks the rockfs burnj like a regular volcano, and great clouds of smoke and vapour rose high in the air. When at last the fire died out, great masses of lav» X and ( clay burnt to brick were found in every 'direction. ,