NES OF THE DAY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5572, 18 September 1889, Page 3

NES OF THE DAY.

News is scarce. The Sydney Fisheries Commission intend starting a steam trawler between Newcastle and Port Stephens. The mile swimming championship of England was won on July 20th by H. Bowdon, in 31uiin 4.ssec. There is one bar-room in New York the decoration and furniture of which cost L 40,000. There are scores of them that are fittted up at an expense of L 10, 0f. 3 each. Says the Manawatn Times : — lt is with great pleasure we find ourselves able to announce that the Longburn Slaughtering and Freezing Company has been actually floated, with a capital of L 20,000 in a little over three months. From a Parliamentary return just issued it appears that twenty-five members of Parliament have been proceeded against under the Crimes Act in Ireland down to May 7. Of these twenty-four are Irish members, and the twenty-fifth is the irrepressible Mr Conybeare. At least 80 millions of pounds sterling are lost in Great Britain every year, according to the calculations of the London j Stock Exchange Committee, through unprofitable speculations. The thrifty working classes are said to make, as a rule, the most of the ruinous investments. " The police," says Joe Howard in the New York Press, "estimate that 50,000 people walk the streets of New York, not knowing where they shall sleep at night, and 50,000 other people sleep as best they can, not knowing when or how they shall break their fast after the coming dawn.' A petition hits been presented to King Oscarof Sweden, signed by 208,827 people, asking for the absolute prohibition of the liquor traffic in that country. Tho settlementof this question is a royal prerogative, and he can suppress the liquor traffic whenever he chooses. The King has a precedent for so doing, as the traffic has been temporary suspendedat various times by former Kings of Sweden. Among the cargo by the R.M.S. Rimutaka, which arrived last week, are several cases of pictures sent by the AgentGeneral in London on loan to the Dunedin Exhibition. Among the pictures may be mentioned Sir Edwin Landseer's celebrated picture, " The Alpine Mastiffs," also a full length portrait of Prince Consort, by Wintorhalter. Altogether about 40 pictures have arrived. Tho Otago Hussars hold their ninth annual training next month, when the Oamaru troop will join in the encampment, and as it is anticipated that there will be fully 100 men under canvass, it will be one of the largest encampments ever held here by cavalry corps. An excellent programme of sports will be gone through, and some very handsome trophies are to bo offered for these. Speaking of New Zealand wood, the Timber Trades Journal says: — " The huge logs of kauri pine seem to resist all efforts to sell them, and do not by their own qualities tempt buyers. The fact is, the wood has been tried by most of the London trades, and found wanting in most of the characteristics that wood of this kind would requi,e. Its large size would make it invaluable for sign boards, facias, etc.,

but it will not stand wet and dry ; it warps, shrinks, .and twists in all manner of ways when exposed alternately to rain and sun. We fear it will never suit the London market, and will have eventually to be offered poaitiivlij ' without reserve,' and so clear it up." A very pretty story is told of how much in love Princess Louise and the Earl of Fife were before they formally became engaged. The Princess, is is said, had bought a birthday present for Lord Fife for tjie Last five years, but being too shy < to give them to him she had locked them away carefully in n drawer, and the drawer was only opened and the story told when she knew it was all right, and the wish of her heart about to be realised. The trosseau of the Princess was made in Paris, London, and Edinburgh. The Earl of ; Fife's present to her was a tiara of dia- - monds. Professor John Stuart Blackie is an advocate for Home Rule for Scotland. He is a man of deep culture and wide experience. He was for many years Professor of Humanity at Marischal College, Aberdeen. It is possible his researches into humanity have had the effect of converting ; him to Home Rule. His idea is that there is some danger of a small nation like Scotland losing its nationality when united with a large nation like England. He suggests that a Scottish Parliament should meet in Edinburgh and do business in a national way. Although there are many who take up the same line of thought in Scotland, it is not likely that such an ■. event will happen. — Wellington correspondent. g Major-General Edwards, in the course of an interview published by an Adelaide contemporary, is reported to have said that he was astonished to find in Australia so much fear of foreign aggression. "I can't understand, said lie, ' why 3,000,000 British people, with all the immense resources they have in this grand country, should be afraid of what one particular European Power might do.' With their many popular institutions, and, not the least, their daily press, he thought Australians were about the most intelligent people in the world. He supposed that some people would accuse him of being fin Imperialist when he said that he believed, ; f the chance offered, Australia would want to take a share in combating an enemy of Great Britain. For herself, with her naval squadron and a common system of united defence, Australia need have no cause to fear. In urging upon the Government the necessity of appointing a Minister to take special charge of the pastoral and agricultural industries, Mr Lance employed rather an amusing simile. Sup} losing, he said, he were a coachman, with a fourhorse team, and applied to his employer for two more horses ; if he got them the result would be that the coach would always keep good time, and there would be satisfaction all round. On the contrary, if the four steeds had still to drag the coach, they would suffer from overwork, the coach would be always late, general dissatisfaction would prevail, in fact, the work would not be done. "Now," said Mr Lanco amidst laughter, after pointing out that there were at present only four Ministers in the House, " I commend that illustration to the Premier." Lime is a valuable agent either on clays, loams, or sands. It mellows the soil, yields a little phospate, and has a quickening influence on torpid animal and vegetable matter in the soil. Should be used only in small quantities on poor sandy soils. Attracts moisture from the atmosphere. Lime is valuable in decomposing all vegetable refuse, as couch grass, peat, leaves, bark, rags, paper, etc. Lime should never be applied to farmyard manure, animal remains, or substances rich in ammonia. It would dissipate the ammonia, which constitutes their great value. Lime is valuable as a top-dressing for pastures and general crops, as it destroys insect life and low vegetable organisation. At the London Bankruptcy Court on the 14th July, a meeting was held for the public examination of Mr Arthur Powell, formerly a Lieutenant in the 11th Hussars, who succeeded to a large sum of money. An account filed by him showed that between March, 1885, and April last, he had parted with no less than £107,000. It had been expended in personal expenditure and gambling and betting transactions at the Field Club. On March sth he paid info the bank £10,000 in one sum that, came from the Fic'd Club— one night's winnings at cards. He had lost in one night at the Field Club as much as ; £13,000. That was at cards. The largest sum he had won in one night was £15,000.

An Englishman has been arrested for robbery, whose case, if the police are to be believed, is worthy of the pen of a Hawthorne or a Poo. His name is Lewis t Albert. He travelled for some time as a mesmerist and mind-reader, but gave him- - self up to drink, and entered upon the career of a robber. His custom was to enter a shop, make a purchase of some trifle, and put down a copper in payment. Then the hypnotising and mesmerising process must have been brought into rej quisition, for the shopkeeper in every case took up the copper and promptly handed out the change for a sovereign, which the young man promptly pocketed. In only one case while the police were on his trail was there a failure to befog his victim in this way. Tiie Chippeway Indians on the Millo Lacs Reservation, Minnesota, are on the warpath. Some contractors who had to make fin irrigation canal set to work on the reservation, despite a warning from the Indians that they would not be permitted to do so, and 300 laborers, mostly Swedes, began the digging operations. The Indians feared that the laborers would drain the hikes and stop their fishing. Accordingly 400 Indians, under White Snake and Great Bear, in full war paint and armed with tomahawks and rifles,attackedthem. The laborersdropped the spades and fled. The Indians shot and killed seven of them, all Swedes, and wounded several others. Two of the victims were scalped find their bodies were fiendishly mutilated. Three companies of troops have started for Mille Lacs to restore order. A child, 0 years old, daughter of W. Koschitzc, farmer, at Banjerang, Victoria, on Saturday, August 24, whilst on a message to a neighbor's house half-a- i mile distance, strayed away, find became . v lost. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon the alarm was raised, and about sixty men on horseback and on foot scoured the ; country until 2 the following morning without success. Operations were resumed fit daylight, and at about 11 a.m. on Monday the search party came upon the child wandering quietly along a road in a direction from her parents' residence, ] accompanied by a little dog. She was plucking wild flowers, and apparently unconscious of her perilous condition, and showing very little signs of distress from exposure. She had wandered about 12 miles, skirting dense mallee scrub. A strange miscarriage of justice occurred at Hawera the other day that does not seem to have been communicated to the , press, whether with the object of ' shielding the carelessness of someone or not, I am not aware. The accused was committed for trial at tho sittings of the District Court to be held at Hawera in the early part of this week, on a charge of larceny as co-partner of LO6. When the Court opened and the indictment was presented, it was found that the Crown Prosecutor had not signed it, t and as he was in Wellington the Judge \ refused to deal with the case. Accused's counsel threatened to bring an action for false imprisonment if the police took 2 accused into custody again, and eventually • a fresh information was laid. Accused " was brought before two justices on the same charge, and on the contention of counsel that if they committed him for trial at New Plymouth he would still be liable to be tried at the District Court at Hawera, the charge was dismissed. Accused is now at liberty, and subsequent developments will be awaited with inte- „ rest. * <1