Page 4 Advertisements Column 5

Colonist, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8326, 14 August 1895, Page 4

NEWSJTEMS. ' (From our Latest Exchanges.) At Oabul the Ameer of Afghanistan has erected an electric light station. The Anieer has also built a saw and planing mill, a mint, a cartridge factory, an arsenal, gunpowder mills, a boot factory, and, last but not least, a soap factory. An absent-minded young preacher in New England, wishing to address the young ladies of the congregation after morning service, is reported to have remarked from the pulpit that he would be very glad if the female brethren of the congregation would remain after they had gone home. Quite a modern Bayard was the late Lord Strathnairn, whose statue now adorns Knightsbridge. In Syria, says the • Pall Mall Gazette ' he charged alone into the midst of the advance guard of an Egyptian cavalry regiment, and then, with the assistance of twenty-five mounted Arabs, drove back the advance guard and checked the march of the whole regiment. In Beyrout he found cholera again, and again triumphed. In the Crimea he calne almost unharmed out of even more terrible dangers. From the heights of Inkerman ths Russians I were amazed to see a tall, gaunt figure come leisurely from the French position and ride with insolent disregard of danger down the line of their pickets. He rode steadily and leisurely through a withering fire, target of every Russian gun. It seemed to them that it was impossible to hit him. At last he reached the end of his promenade. As he turned to go back he was hit and fell headlong from his horse, which remained standing by him. In a minute or two the fallen figure was seen to painfully rise, to shake himself, pat hiß ohargar's neok, and then, with the earns leisurely, careleßs air, to lead the horse, whioh was also wounded, back. The coolness of it all made each an impression on the Rassiaos that tbe order was given, " Cease Firing at the Figure !" A ooerespdndet writ e8 : — Some encouraging items relating to gold find ing appear in the last Australian files, such as in Gippsland (Victoria), where the Bending out of prospectors resulted in the inorease of 6,0000z for the half year — all got in very rongh conDtry. Ano her party of ten men, lucky prospeotors in Ballarat, have made from tbe sale of gold within the past few months £1,000. A Sydney paper states that in their Centennial Park, a brocze statue of an idyllic footballer has just been erected. More interest is taken in this figure than in all the statuary in the park — great statesmen, warriors, godesees in undress uniform, and ail. Princess Louise (Marchioness of Lome; ia an adept at soulpture. Recently she orb been devoting her attention to animals, with great sac- ! cess. The total loss incurred at the Panama Canal is estimated at one hundred and niaety million dollars. Mr B. 0. Modg-OD, a muohesteemcd member of the Telegraph Department, died at Hastings on Friday. He was 16 yeara in the service, and a wide cirole of friends will deeply regret bis death. Whelk a resident of Manakau, H. Smith, was chopping wood the axe slipped, and s'riking his 1-ft foot almost cat it ia half, the wonud extending from the toes to heel, reports the ' Standard.' He was taken to the Palmeraton Hospital. The Rangitiki-i ' Advocate ' reports that after a marriage ceremony had been performed in a Feildiog chorch, and while the attention of tbe bridegroom was taken by the minister, the best man leaned forward and gave the b ide a smacking kiss that made the church echo again. It appears from recent statistics that Russia holds the third place among gold producing countries. In 1880 the output was about forty-three tons, gradually sinking to thirty-three tons, and rising in 1890 to upwards of thirty-nine tons. Between 1884 and 1892 East Siberia alone has yielded more than 1,000 tons of gold. The Russian Government are endeavouring to train up a staff of mining engineers who will be expected to visit North America, South Africa, Australasia, and other gold-bearing fields. The Mayor of France who has the smallest constituency is in the commune of Mortea it is said. He is Mayor of twelve inhabitants, and the taxes last year amounted to less than £2.