NEWS ITEMS

Colonist, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8262, 31 May 1895, Page 3

NEWS ITEMS

(From our Latest Exchanges.) The remains of a man named Smith were fonnd the other day thir y miles from Alton Downs station, South Aostralia. The poor fellow's diary told t ; c tad tale that he had got bnshed, and had lived for seventeen days on sahbueb and nine eggs which he obtained. His companion waa caved through meeting wi h oomo blacks. A serious accident ocourred on the Manchester Ship Canal on April 10th. The steamer Harold, of Glasgow, from Manchester, approached Latch- | ford Lock at full speed, and, passing into the lock, smashed into the gates and burst them open, the vessel dropping 16ft into the water below. The gates weigh 300 tons. One was sent to the bottom, the other was left hanging across the lock. The Harold was badly damaged. The steamer Yirawa left Fiji for Calcutta on the 14th instant with 608 returned laborers. As an evidence that they have not wasted their means during their stay in Fiji, the coolies took away with them £6123 in drafts and cash, while the jewellery in their possession was valued at £806. It is believed, indeed, that the coolies did not fully disclose their wealth, and the total amount is computed at almost £10,000. A bare combination of faculties, each good in itself — courage, resource, imagination, above all, force— is required for the making of a really great liar (writes Professor Huxley in the 'Nineteenth Century'). No one attains that high position until he has reached the point of being able to believe his own fictions for so long as his interests require that prodigious effort. It is stated that Mr Julius Grove has been making fairly large purchases of colts and fillies for service in India at Winton, Queen&Land. Next year he intends to purcht^e from 800 to 400 head of horses principally from that district. Chief Justice Way, of South Australia, who is a Bible Christian, of which religion his father was a minister, will not attend a racecourse, even in his official capacity as ActingGovernor. Miss Emilie Soldene, the opera bouffe actress, who for some years past has been engaged as musical and dramatic critic of the Sydney ' Evening News,' is going "to London to publish a novel dealing with the new woman. As an indication of the rapid growth of the butter producing industry in the Kangitikei and Mawawatu counties, it is reported that the Palmerston sash and door factory anticipate turning out over 70,000 butter boxes during the present season, being double the number of last season's orders. One boyar at the Fermoy Opal Mines, Queensland, in March, bought €1000 worth of opal. Men sink down 15 fee' until they get into what is called " pipe opal " — a valuable kind which can be worked op into bars. The country is, however, patchy. In Egypt, Professor Pc rie and hia assistants have opened and thoroughly examined nearly 2000 '.ombs, and in them, strange to say, *° not a single Egyptian object waa fonnd ; not a scarab or cartouche, not one hieroglyph, not one piece of the usual funeral furniture, not one Egyptian bend, not one god, Lot one amulet, not one eicgle pi ca of Egyptian pottery each us wad found abundantly in the neighboring town. I t present the Salvation Army neee e«ery year £30,000 worth of paper. Cwftawflft'ew ?/.Mw| KtjeoMh Page.

The name of Greyfcown, in Taieri lat mtry, has bean officially changed to °° lantcn. The name of Oxford, Auok- nj J i»i, is c arjgcd t> Tirau. at At the Giebor.-.o rxcß on Queen's O( rfhday, the aensntiooa' dividend of m 59 was paid out on M^ritana, iv ;be alf-mile Bcury Uace, and in the Q ° ack flying Good i. bet p*.id a divi- l md cf £32 1(1'. si A boy cf el-yen was charged in a 1 iroui's Courfc ai Home wi-h firing a iystack vulae £150, It was exaintd :bit tbe prisoner and another it )y waded to see the nnw fire engine 0 i work. Ho was fouud gaily. The G idge said, addressing the prisonr : — Cl o yon know that you ate liable to be *j mt iota penal servitude for the rest i, f your life— for 60 years — do you * now that ? Let him be taken down nd whipped as coon as possible — < welve strokes with the birch rod — \ od his father can have him to- \ lorrow morairi ?. < The other evening the Mayor of ' larnsgate publicly distributed to the rews of the Eamsgafcetugand lifeboat ' he proceeds of a fund opened by him ' n recognition of their gallantry in ' >utting out on the night of January JO, in a fierce easterly gale, to the issistance of the steamship Beacon [jight, which was disabled, and in langerous proximity to the Goodwins. Lt will be remembered that the service svas one of great peril, and that the lifeboat was considerably damaged, md was obliged to put into Dover, where the crew arrived in an exhausted condition. The international football match between England and Scotland attracted an attendance of 40,000, the former winning by 3 goals to nil; Scotland's lead is being steadily diminished, the score now being 11 wins for the Thistle, and seven for the Kose. The action of the Auckland Coroner Dr Philson, at the recent inquest on the remains of Mr Grubb is severely commented upon in Auckland. A post moi'tem examination having been made, the Coroner ordered the heart of the deceased to be brought into the jury-room, as it " would be interesting to see." Some of the papers denounce this proceeding as an outrage, and demand Dr Philson's retirement. A Brazilian, JSenhor Penii, has invented a new method of preserving meat by bringing electricity to bear upon it in connection with salt. Tbe precise action of the electricity is net clearly stated in the report of tfce application cf the process, but the result ara said to been en irely satisfactory, tbe meat having all the appearacoe of fresh meat after being kept for eighty days, covered by salt, ia a glass receptacle, Kecently a rector of Great Greeniord appeared for public examination, with liabilities at £2470, assets £8 6?. His salary had been going to money leudera, end certain doles were absorbed in Ilia esiate co that next Christmas some of the poor will go short. It has been stated on the authority of a celebrated French astronomer that tha stars on last Good Friday were in tbe same position that they occupied on the day of the Crucifixion, «nd thai it will be about another 1800 years before they assume the same places again, The statement has been challenged in the London ' Globe ' as incorrect. Hongkong is a little England — tin creation of British energy, enterprise, and industry. Forty years ago it was a barren rock, inhabited by a few squalid fisherfolk. To-day it has a popula'ion of 160,000 souls, and a revenue of £250,000 a year. Of late years it had added sugar refining to its ether industries, and, what with its banks, its manufactories, it; newspaper, its tramway, and its docks, it is one of the mobii thriving phces in tha world. Some of the proprietors of large Western farms and ranches are making their wire fences do duty as telephone lines, in many instances with satisfactory results. The • Electrical Review ' (New York) saya a Mr Thomson contracted wih tha Nebraska Telf phone Company to extend one of it? Rapid City lines about a mile so as to connect with his bsrbed wire fence. Where the line had to pass gate 3 and cross the roads, pole 3 12ft high were erected to carry the line across. The line crosses the road four times, add passes over five gates. Mr Thomßoo, by means of his barbedwire fence telephone, has communication with all the lines in the Biaok Hills, ' and there is no better line and few as good in the Hills.' " A vbby striking instance of what may ha done by a judiciouß improvement in the quality of etock is reported to us (• New Zealand Farmer '; from the T>aircerston North district. Iv ten years one Fettlerhad increased his out put of wool from 15 to 30 bales of the same weight, while tho number of sheep remained tbe came — about 1200. NOTHING LIKB SOAP. Pure Soap, <?ood soap, honest soap Peabs soap. A well-known Victorian brewer went into church the other day, and, entering the confesbional, began to accuse himself of his numerous tins. It was some iittle time before he discovered that he was making his confession to a painter who was decorating the box. Thb famous " Long John " Did tillery, situate at the base of Be a Nevis, was almost totally destroyed {by fire on Good Friday morning. All the machinery was destroyed. The damage, which is covered by insurance, is roughly estimated at £10,000.

the " Economic;" possesses qaaiificaliona nsiderably above tha every-day matter of ot order of things, and can ba depended ion to prcdaoe the moat satisfactory eff -o^s a minimum cost. Ladie? requiring winter jatumes should put themEe've3 into comania>tion with her. Wk bave a grand lice of L«ioied' Maokiri" ishea, with three capes, for 25s ; these are amstly woith 35?. Also a nice Btcck of idies 1 Jackets io blaok end Brown. — Abmprono & C \, Trafa'par street.