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South Canterbury Times, Issue 5027, 7 June 1889, Page 4

The London correspondent of a contemporary states that Mr J. C. Macdonald has elected to spare Mr John Walter the necessity of dispensing with his services, and retired voluntarily. He has been 40 years on the staff of The Times, and only followed his employer’s lead in the matter of “ Parnellism and Crime,” but someone must be scapegoat for the Pigott fiasco, and on the whole Mr Macdonald is the most convenient person. He will be succeeded by Mr Arthur Walter. 'The shareholders in The Times are crumbing sadly over their diminished incomes, which promise to become even smaller before all is over. How serious things are may be gathered from the fact that one lady who has always hitherto had at least £2OOO a year from The Times, this year received £6OO only. Plumbago, in almost inexhaustible quantities, is reported to have been discovered 18 miles from Lower Blackwood (W. A.)

A terrible scene occurred at the Adelaide Zoological Gardens recently. Two pairs of Bengal tigers are kept in adjoining cages, and at feeding time the males began menacing one another through a grating dividing the cages, and which, it appears, was not properly fastened. I'n his endeavours to reach his enemy the younger tiger got his paws under the grating, and the old male at once seized them and tore at them with such force that the grating was broken down, the combatants rolled into the den of the old tigers. Here the battle was continued, and at last the old tigers Joined in. The uproar meanwhile between the combatants and the other animals in the gardens was terrible. The young male was seized by the hindquarters by the old tigress, whilst the old male fought him in front. The odds were too much for the youngster, and after struggling for 10 minutes his Jugular vein was torn open, the animal dying about five minutes after. His mate, the younger tigress, did not participate in the fight, but crouched in the corner in evident fear. All are full grown, the animals being valued at about £2OO each.

A French missionary, who has been travelling through Eoudar, has made enquiries into the condition of the Indians, and reports that, although they are nominally free, they are in reality in a state of slavery. Although, according to the laws, the Indian is a free man, he is, as a matter of fact, bought and sold, bequeathed by will, seized by a creditor in payment of debt, and is in no way distinguishable from the, beasts of burden. This state of things is brought about by the law that permits the Indian to sell him-

self into slavery when he is unable to satisfy his creditor in any other way. Once a slave, he is rarely able to extricate himself from his servile condition. His wife and children are also slaves. The family is allowed a miserable hut in which to lodge, and a small patch of ground barely sufficient to supply the food necessary to sustain life. A man who has thus sold himself into slavery is attached to the estate of his owner, and passes with it into the hands of the heir or purchaser, when it is transferred by death or sale. The greater part of the Indians of the interior are reduced to this condition, and live a life of the utmost degradation and misery.