NEWS ITEMS

Colonist, Volume XL, Issue 8865, 14 May 1897, Page 3

NEWS ITEMS

(Fbom Otß Latest Exohangbb.) Mb J. 0. Fibth, of Auckland, who was visiting Hawke's Bay at the time of the flood, and was kept a prisoner there through the disaster, writes : — " The losses suffered by many wealthy people have been heavy enough, but ii is not for this class that help is asked, They would not accept it werq j|

offered. Many of these people promptly ] and generously came to the rescue of their poorer brethren, whose otook were drowned, and their little farmß covered by mud, inches deep. Such tiacn as Captain Russell, Douglas M'Lean, J. H. Coleman, and many others bt their class, have nobly done their duty by providing free hay, and clean pasture without charge, for their distressed humbler brethren, as well as by liberal subscriptions and personal efforts to save life, and lee sen in some degree the sufferings from bo dire a catastrophe; A kARE act of lierdism is reported froih. British Columbia. At Kosshani two men were working at the lottom of a narrow shaft ef the Young America mine, loading ore into an ironbound bucket, while a third named Hemsworth was hauling the bucket to the surface by means of a windlass. The heavy bucket, filled with ore, had Almost reached the top of the shaft when the iron crank of the windlass snapped in two like a bit of pine, hurling Hemsworth to the ground. Springing to his feet, half dazed by the blow, Hemsworth saw the windlass whirring round at a frightful rate of speed as the loaded bucket shot down the shaft ; upon the men below. He had not a second to lose. There was just one chance to save them, and he took that chance. Jumping forward, lie threw his body upon the (Jogs of the whirring Windlass* thrusting his arms and shoulder between the swiftly revolving Wheels. The iron jaws became choked by the flesh of his arm and shoulder, and with an awful jerk the bucket stopped just above the heads of the two men far down the shaft. It is hoped that Hemsworth's life will be saved, but his arm will have to be amputated at the shoulder. Singing sands are found in many parts of the United States, but squeaking sands are rare ; There is only one place in America where the squeaking sand is found, and that is a small plain in South Colorado. The singing sand emits a musical sound only when dry, and loses this property on being dampened. The squeaking sand on the other hand, ia silent when dry and squeaks loudest when moistened. The sound it gives forth is by no means loud, but somewhat resembles the squeaking of an arm char. It sounds when rubbed between the fingera, or when placed in a small bag and violently struck, bub the cause of the sound is a mystery. A tale of suffering almost on a parallel with the old time Pearce horror comes from Tasmania. Two prospectors, Joseph Daviej and Wilson Beech, left Hobart on January 7th ftjr Port Davey with six months' provision?. Arrived at their destination, the fishing smack which brought them left, and they st red their provisions ir* a hut erected for the purpose. On 20th, returning from a prospecting trip inland, they found the hut and all provisions burnt ; only a few rotten potatoes remained- 1 here was nothing left but to make for Strahan. They lived on snakes, crabs, dead fish and. anything else they could find, and finally they had to eat their dog. Their track lay mostly along the beach. Heavy rains set in, and on March 4th, while crossing ths Main waring river Beech was drowned. Davies continued alone, and reached Macquarie Heads Pilot fetation terribly exhausted { and with his feet in a pitiable condition. It had taken him 54 days to travel 80 miles — as the crow flies. Extract from diary : " Had scalded dog's skin and foot for dinner to-day." The largest room in the world, under one roof and unbroken by pillars, is at Bt Petersburg. It is 120 ft long by 150 ft in breadth. In regard to the proposal to erect a museum and library at Rotorua, the local Town Board has resolved that the Government be asked to place £500 on the Estimates for the purpose to be supplemented by money raised locally. One day last week, in New South Wales, 60 trucks of starving cattle were conveyed by rail from Cowra to the Monaro district for grass. A lad named Booth was clawed by a platypus at Timagogue, near Kemp pey (says a Sydney paper) and hai a narrow escape from death by poisoning. A quantity of the choicest Viotorian grape 3 has been forwarded to London for presentation to the Queen. The Dunedin ' Star ' has it as an on dit that the partner in a brewery in Dunedin was paid £80,000 on retiring f rcm the business. This will give some idea of the profits of a successful brewery. The construction of a temporary bridge over the Eangitikei River is being pushed on by the Railway Department, but it will be several weeks yet before the trains can cross the river. The ferry established since the j original bridge was washed away is doing a lot of work. It has been decided to present Bishop Verdun with a carriage and pair on the occasion of his episcopal anniversary, and at a well attended meeting at Dunedin, over £60 was subscribed for the purpose. A workman who was knocked senseless by an electric shock at the foundry of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company was resuscitated, after the usual expedients had failed, by removing his clothes, burying him in the foundry sand, except his mouth and nose, and thoroughly soaking the sand with a jet of water. The same experience happened to the same man twice. Some time back, when a lady journalist asked Sir Arthur Sullivan to grant her an interview, he jokingly replied that he could only do so for a fee of £250. Nansen has taken Sullivan's method seriously. Recently a well known magazine sent to him askicg tbat it might be allowed to make him the subject of an illustrated interview, and it offered him a fee of £100. Nansen replied that he could not grant the interview under a fea of £250. Such a thing as this helps to explain the nickname the Norwegians have bestowed on him of " Finansen." In the interesting paper on " Sixty Years of Submarine Telegraphy," delivered at the Imperial Institute, Professor Ayrton ventured on a hazardous prophecy concerning the cables of the future, which he believed he could see —or, rather, could not see ; for in the remote future, he thought, cables will be dispensed with altogether, and mankind will have perfected one of Lhe systems now toeing tried for trass-

—y . ' '*■■ .... ; .JZLim mitting beams of electric radiations* after the manner of the risible searchlight. Then he said, when a person wishes to telegraph to a friend, he knows not where, he will call to him in an electro magnetic voice, and will be heard by him who has the electromagnetic ear, but will be silent to every one else. He might have gone even further, with Professor Orookes, and pre-supposed universal telegraphy or the physical transmission of " brain waves." 4 laege numbers of shiep are dying in the drought-stricken districts of New South Wales, and many butter factories are at a standstill. Mr John Evant, while at work at the Greymouth Gas Works, waa seized with a fit of faintnessj and fell upon a heap of burning coke which he had just raked out after charging the retort. He was severely burned about the head and body. At Mahia, Hawkes Bay, a 30W waa found on the baach in a dying condition. She revived, and two days later gave birth to 16 fine piggies. It is estimated that mother pig had been afloat five days before landing at the Mabia. Ms J. A. Hendebson, of the Eailway Engineer's Office, has been selected for the appointment of Government poultry expert. He is already well known (says 'N,Z Times') as tha author of an exceedingly popular pamphlet on poultry, publiahed by the Agricultural Department, and by his efforts through the public press of the colony has called attention to the importance of the poultry industry and its possibilities of expansion*! The « Southern Standard says that something like £400 per day is paid in Southland for the mere catching oi rabbits, some trappers making as much as £4 and £5 per week. On the London market rabbits are fetching lOd each, and one day's operations in the Southland district represents a value of about £2000. Up Wanganui way the other day a horse died from the effects, it is Bupposed, of eating the tails of 12 other horses. The recent heavy mortality amongst cattle in the Tikorangi and Waihi districts is attributable, according,to Mr Orb ell, Government Inspector of Stock to symptomatic anthrax or blackwater. The symptoms of the disease are loss of appetite, dulnes, coldness of the extremities, then lameness or stiffness when moved, and generally arching of th 9 back. "An Old Dutchman" sends the London ' Times ' yet another English version of "een kwaiie vrouw," the expression of which President Kruger made use in referring to Her Majesty. According to him it should be translated " a mischievous, naughty, or troublesome woman." The word " kwaiie " does not, he says, necessarily signify "bad," though it is derived from " kwand," meaning " evil." '• It may mean much, it may mean little, according to the action which provokes the expression ; but in no case can it be called harmless or complimentary." A notable Maori personage has just passed away in the person of Eepeka Paringa, who died at Taimata, near Mangatu (says the Gisborne Herald ' This lady was of very advanced age, and was supposed to have been the oldest native in New Zealand. She remembered Pera Tutoko, who at his death in 1849 was supposed to be over 100 years of age, and she had stated that she was a big girl, when he waa an infant. A shepherd employed in the district has been showing in Waimate some opals which he found within 20 miles oi the township, but he will not at present say where. NOTHING LIEB BO&Jf. Pore Soap, good soap, honest eoap, Pjbab9 Soap.