News Items.

Colonist, Volume XXXII, Issue 5523, 18 June 1889, Page 4

News Items.

■y,_V pickpocket tried at Worcester WM found to lmv« kept a balance of •fiIOOO at hjs hankers, tho savings from his dishonesty. The following is a copy of a will left by*'a man who choose io be hi. own lawyer :-*" This is the last will and testament of mo John Thomas. I giye all my things to my relations, io b6': divided among them the best way they * can. N.B.—lf anybody kioks, up a row or makes any fuss atiout it, he isn't to have anything. ♦—Signed by me, John Thomas*.' 1 A young- lawyer was appointed to flcfend a negro who was too poor to hire counsel of his own. After the jury wero in the box, the young lavryer challenged several of them who, his client said, had a prejudice against* him.. "Are there auy more jurymen] who have a prejudice against you ? " Whispered the young lawyer. "No, boss, the jury am all right; but I want, you to challenge the judge. I hava b en convicted under him several times already, and may be he :s begin ing to have a prejudice agin Ittfc"

A good story, Bays the ' Pall Mall Gazette,' is going the rounds about Mr Gladstone. Invited to subscribe to a certain charity, he replied on the nsuii poet-card that innumerable applio -tiona of the kind were rect-ived by him, and that he had to confine bis

do ationa to local needs. The postoar; was duly put up t 0 auction, fetched two guineas, and the G.O.M. appeared tin the list of subscribers as & donor to that amount. Tbe closest ocean race ever recorded has just ben finished. The ships John MOleod and Paul Revere left Manilla with cargoes of Bugar for New York, a challenge and wager having passed between the two skippers. They kept together till passing Cape Horn, sighted each other off Hatteras, Iff ere four days together in a gale, and We nedk-and-neok at Fandy Hook, where the Ameri3an vessel, the Paul Eevere, got a slant of wind, and dropped anchor in New York harbor just ten minutes ahead of her rival. JJoth vessels had carried every stitch of canvas that the weather would permit throughout the voyage. Some very interesting experiments have been carried out in America with two immense magnets made from two large Redman guns. A crowbar which was applied to the magnet required the combined iorce of four Strong men to tear it away, A handful of tacks thrown in the opposite direction immediately flew back, and attached themselves to' the "magnet. Several 15-inch cannon balls, solid, and as much as a strong man could lift,, were held suspended in the air, one under the other. The most amusing experiment was mad 9 with a sledge hammer. When one tried to wield it in a direction opposite to the magnet he felt as if he were trying to hit a blow with a long f9atber in a gale of wind. Another curious test was made with a number of carpenter's spikes. A spike was put lengthwise on the end of the magnet; then

another spike was attached to the first, and so on until a line of them stood straight out from the magnet at least four feet in length. It is said that lo white child born at Aepinwall on tho Isthmus of Panama has ever reached the ago of twenty-one years. The famous ordnance manufacture era, Messrs Krupp, of Essen, have turned out the largest gun which has ever been made. It weighs 118 tons, is 46"ffc. long, has a 16in. bore, and throws a projectile ot one ton eight mi'es, Its powder charge* is 6001bs. The same firm has a still larger gun in contemplation.

A tb&veller between Beefton and Boatman's informs us ('lnangabua Ximee') that when crossing the suspension bridge over the. left hand hranoh of the Inangabua on Sunday last he saw a fine shoal of salmontrout disporting in tbe river The fish appeared to be about 18 inches in length, and up to 7tt> to 101b in weight. They seemed to be thoroughly healthy and were • playing * most temptingly, Ths Hon Fpencej *Panburr, heir of Lord Bateman, filed his schedule last month. Ho lost £20,000 in gambling, and shows assets £800, and liabilities $68,860.

The * Brunnerton Newa' is informed that the Brunnerton-Ngahere section ofthe Midland railway line is to bs opened about the 15 inst. Everything Was in readiness on the first of this month, hut for some reason beet known lo the powers that be, the locomotive's whistle did not diet art) the serenity of the valley. We ('Beefton Guardian') under. B.tand that an offer has been made on behalf of an English syndicate to purchase the Eeep-it-Dark mine for £60,000, equal to £8 per share, half cash and half io shares in a new company of 106,000 shares. Mr O. Y. I'eu, solicitor of Nelson, has full powers to pet on behalf of the London capitalist..

It was said at the Babbit Board Sleeting to-day, tbat although the foardhad imported 1000 stoats and weasels, and individuals had bred half A3 many more, not a creature of them Was now to be met witb. Mr Carte* suggested that runholders ahould ImiJd fltone cairns and cover them, as » rendezvous fer the vermin and so ff.e.erve their lives. During Marcb, Tasmania crushed 10,408 tons of quartz for 10,5670z of gold. It alao raised 205 tons of silver we, 1487 tons of tin ore, and 7318 (tons of coal.

As evidence that the Australian farmers are learning to appreciate our magnificent climate, Mr Thome, land ngent, Queep-street, reports having *old a farm at Hnnua this week for 4400 to a farmer from Victoria. During the pass two seasons this gentlettan had lost £850 on account of ihe excessive heat aud drought which prevailed there, and tbis decided him to tfy New Zealand. He is one of the jort so much wanted, who is determined to make an independent living from the land, and ha. got to the right olimataftt last t* do it.*~ 4 Taranaki jfows." - ■ - A clftcb fallow ie Captain Wiessm%n Ihe German explorer who is fling te Africa to look alter Stanley aud Emm. ''Be w******" wye Sir Cbariei Wilson, "all of Living-!

stone's indomitible courage, his con* stauey of purpose and his kindly feelings towards the natives; and he has twice crossed Africa in its widest extent without once firing a shot in

anger. * " Rooon on J-ii-ES."—Why suffer Piles, immediate relief and complete cure guaranteed. Ask for " Rough on Piles" Sure cure for itching, protruding, bleeding, orjany form of Piles.—Advt.

'Rough or Bats. '—Clears out rata, mice, roaches, flies, ant., bed-bugs, beetles, insects, skunks, jack-rabbits, sparrows, gophers. At cbemißtß and druggists. "X. , Cadbob. Beos. call attention to the Dutch cocoas and tbeir imitations sold as pure, with alkali and other agents added to Rive apparent strength by darkening the liquid. This may be deteoted by scent when tin is newy opened. No cocoa can be stronger than Cadbnry's, guaranteed absolutely pure. Deafness and noises in the head cured in all its various forma by an easy, sure, and reliable method. Bend for pamphlet, free, to Aural Clinic, 261, Colbfts-st., Melbourne.