NEWS ITEMS

Colonist, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8246, 13 May 1895, Page 3

NEWS ITEMS

(From oub Latest Exchanges.) A private le'ter received from the Transvaal by a former Johannesburg resident gives the following particulars of the capture of some gold thieves : — •D.tec'.ivee have found two Americans livirg near Hcilbronn road who have beu plundering gold sent by train from Barberton and Pilgrim's Best for tbe last two years. Tfapy were formerly guards on the Gape railway but leaving this employ, settled down, as farmers ostensibly, but really as gold robbers. They bad carried off a safe from Pary's 0.F.5., and their spoor waa traced for miles to tbe farm where they lived. Ultimately it waß found in a nra'ie field, about 400 yards from the house, with mralie Btalks growing over it. One of the patties in the chase happened to pall a mealie stalk and it came away at once. Suspicion was aroused, and, on the soil being scratched the safe was found and script of the face value of £200,000 but worth much more really, and jewellery of tbe valua of £10,000 was found. Ovtr a dozen bars of melted gold ware found under the cafe. Altogether it is one of the finest cap urea ever made in (South Africa. The monster exhibition to be held next year at Nijni-Novgorod will bft the greatest show of its kind ever held in Rusda, and its purely national character will give travellers from the West a better idea of Russian life than any number of books. As the railway fares to Nijni are fixed at very low rates,' there is no reason, if the shipping companies co-operate, why visitors to tbe Exhibition from Eng«land and France should not be numerous. The buildings will cover aa area twice that occupied by the last

Moscow Exhibition, and twelve of the sections have already been completed, viz, the central building, the concert room, the military and naval section, the scientfic and scholastic, bird tearing, forestry, fruit-culture, agricultural machinery, handicrafts, trade and navigation, Siberian, Central Apian, and Caucasian sections, and thg offices of the adminstration Apparently the Dutch police mean to do what they can to put a stop to the child virtuoso in music. A few weeks ago it was announced at Haarlem that a concert would be given by the boy Koszalski, a pianist who is only ten years of age. Just as the performance was about to begin a police inspector made his appearance and announced that he must prevent the artist from carrying out his programme, in virtue of the law prohibiting child labor. The management, however, succeeded in inducing the official to postpone whatever legal steps might be necessary until the close of the performance, on the ground that so far the law had clearly not been contravened. The Inspector thereupon allowed the concert to proceed, but once more stepped upon the platform immediately the last note had been played. It was then urged on behalf of the youthful player that the matter in question was really not work at all, but art. The officer did not see it in that light. " When the boy moves his fingers," was the reply, "he earns his bread; and that is work !" He then calmly proceeded to draw up a report of the case. In an article in • Blackwood's Magazine " the writer says : — "The School Board has now existed for 23 years, but juvenile delinquency has increased at a rate almost alarming. The children of the poor of to-day have less regard for law or authority. They are more prone to acts of wanton mischief. Rudeness, incivility, indecency and profanity are more than ever features in their speech and behavior. Veneration or respect for age and experience is a diminishing quality. Drinking and smoking have become habits at a much earlier age. The whole tone of the conduct of the children of the poor is disappointing and regretable." It will thus be seen that the same complaint is being made in the Home country -that is generally brought against colonial youth. When Carlyle was about six years of age he happened to be left alone in the house one winter's day. Present'y came a knock at the door, and on opening it the little boy found a shivering beggar, who implored him to give him something to eat. There was cot any food in the house, but the boy bade the man wait while he climbed on to the dresser and got his " penny pig " off the shelf. This he broke and gave the old man all the money in it. "And," said Carlyle, " I never knew till then what the joy of Heaven was like." When the Rector of Chelsea told tbis story (says the 1 Athecaenm '), Dean Stanley, vith his quick hißtor'c iastinC; exclaimed, " Had that happened in the MidcMe Ages the old man would have tamed out to be Borne One Else. tiß William Collins, who died at London the other d*y at an advanced age, was the bead of a firm of pub- , lishcra who made a large fortune out of ihe production of Bib?es and other religious publications, A. " Family Bible " with Henry and Scott's commentary laid the foundation of their fortunes, no fawer thaa 250,000 copies of one edition being sold. Ihe dream of Sir William's later life was a "Teacher's Bible," embodying all the latest discoveries of modern scholarship When he had lived to see il accomplished he said, " That is the last piece of work I shall touch." And bo it proved. Sir John Adye, G.C.B states :— One day I was called upon by an artillery officer at Simla, who reqneeted me to give him a certificate of his being alive, as tho audit officer refused to give him h'B pay without it. He Beemed to be well and lively, and I therefore complied at onoe, and as his visit was in August, dated it accordingly. On looking at it, he remarked: " Ah, you have dated it August. That is of no use. I have already sent them one of that kind, but what they reqaire is a certificate that I was alive in July. Tbis opened out a new aspect of the Cisc, but after consideration I certified to the best of my belief be was living the previons month. Whether he ever received the pay I am not sore.' 1 The Queen has received some price lees gifts which have been lately sent over for her acceptance by the Dowager Empress of China. They consisted of five large cases filled with magnificent eatin scrolls richly studded with jewels, eaoh bearing an inscription in the Ohineee language expressing the Empress's wish that the Queen may live to a ripe old age. A tebbible accident occurred on the evening of the 29th of April on Mr W. McQuiggan'a estate, nsar Bylstone New South Wales, to a young man named Richard Cooper, who was employed feeding a horse-power ebaffcutting maohine. By some means bis right arm was drawn in by the rollers and ohopped off inch by inch till near the elbow, when his ones brought assistance, and he was extracted from the machine. At latest accounts his condition was low. A fine female giraffe has arrived io London from South Africa, and will find its home n the Zoo, which has not possessed an animal of this kind for some years. The new arrival is more than 10ft high, and is the first example of the large darkly blotched giraffe ever Been alive in Europe. In a recent ' Sydney Morning Herald ' a wife advertises that she will not be responsible for any debts contracted by her husband. The new woman 1 The baleful practice of paying only intermittent visits to church was beautifully illustrated in a Melbourne suburb a few days ago (says " Woomera" in the ' Australasian '). The head of the house was not what might be called a regular churchgoer. In fact his last visit was on the occasion of his wedding, and he is now the joint owner of three promising children. He was out walking with a friend last Sunday, and as they were passing a church the friend suggested they should drop in and hear the sermon. They did so, but the husband's confusion can be imagined when his wife, on seeing him, rushed

from her pew with alarm written on I her motherly face. Grasping him by the arm, she cried, — " What is it, Tom? — oh, tell me'whafc it is — I can bear the worst. Has anything happened to the children — for pity's sake tell me what's the matter !" And it took quite ten minutes to assure the poor lady that her husband had come to church of his own accord, or rather of his friend's accord. News has been received that Mr Arthur Withy, formerly of Auckland, and now at journalistic work in England, has been asked to contest a Dorsetshire seat at the next election. His strong single tax views have given him great prominence. Mr Withy is eldest son of Mr E. Withy, of Auckland, ex-M.H.R., A stbange discovery was made in he Da Beers Mine, at Kimberley, South Africa, recently. Two diamonds were foand embedded in a pieoe of well-preserved wcod, found at a d«pth of 700 ft. On splitting the block whioh was fully 10in thick a cavity was disclosed to view in which repoeed a living specimen of a tree frof. Ihe looai ecieiitifio peop'e compute the age of the tree ut 180 years. Miss E. Godirey has entered a Melbourne solicitor's office as an articled clerk, and is said to be the first Melbourne lady to embrace law as a profession. Two families, coaßiatiag of twenty parsons, together with a greyhound eight poppi 8 and a pony, were foand to be living at Pevensey in two rooms which had neither doors cor windows. Japan, according to the Vioiorian Minister tor Agriouitura, will never tike her place among the great nations of the world until she beoomes a meat-eating people. There ought to be a grtat market, he thinks, for live beet in Japan, and (says the Age) he is making arrangements to send a shipment of live stook to one of the leading Japanese ports. Mb A. Sands ein, son of Mr Sandsteio, of Christohurcii, has gained at the Edinburgh University the medal in anatomy, having gained 100 per cent on ma 9 examinations. This is all tha more meritorious, as Mr Sandstem waß competing against men who were going in for their final professional examination, and who are all bat doctors. The two examining surgeons presented Mr Bandstein with a very fine set of instruments. Babos vox Mdeller has been visiting Pitft fairy (says an Adelaide paper) to inspect the marram grass plantations. He Tr&a received by the mayor and councillors, and the sandhills on tie east and southern coasts were vis ted. Borne 15 years ago Baron von Mueller first supplied the seed of marram grass to the local council to experiment with, ani ibis was the fir=t time he had witnessed the splendid growth. Over 150 acres of what w?ra originally drifting sandhills have been reclaimed, and large quanti iei of the grass supplied 6o New Zealand, Tasmania. Africa, and each of the Australian colonies. The s'ason foi transplanting is between April and July, and at pressnt applications from Queensland (where the marram hag already proved a success) and West; Australia, besides those from wi'hin Victoria, arenowbeiDg supplied 27 men beiug employed in the work of thinning out the grass m places where its thick growth will permit. Something like 200 tons is to ba sent away this season. The cattle on the borough reserves are mainly kept on marram grass during the winter, and •his feature makes it additionally valuable. The services rendered by the police who carried out the unpleasant and arduous dntiea of finding the bodies after the wreck of the Wairarapa, have been rewarded by the Department by a substantial bonus being made to each, Sergeant Gamble receiving £10, Constables Mac Donald, Stonyer, Bailey, Oliphant, and MacConnachie £5 each, and Constable Jones £2 10s, The Simplon tannel, which is to be constructed under the Alps, will be nearly 16 miles in length — longer than either the Mont Cenis or St Gothard tunnels. In one place there will ba er 7000 ft. of solid rock above th ov nnel.