THE Thames Advertiser. Favour to none; fear of none; justice to all. TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1893.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XXVI, Issue 7595, 1 August 1893, Page 2

THE Thames Advertiser. Favour to none; fear of none; justice to all. TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1893.

Interesting foreign news will bo found on the first page. , The Goveraoi's children at Wellington arc victims to the moaslcs. The racehorse Despised has been shippcl from Anckland toChristahurch, to fulfil his engagements at the New Zealand Grand National meeting. At the Police Court yesterday before Mr H. C. Gillespie, J.P., H. Mackay and J. Gibb were each fined 2s jind costs 2s for being the owners of horses found at large in the streets.

A little' anxiety was felt yesterday morning for the safety of W.Newman and others, who had gone to the Piako on Saturday, and had not returned owing to the storm on Sunday. Tho party however roturned all well about 9 o'clock. Dr A*. Scheidcl, late manager of the Sylvia mine, Thames, is stopping in Angels, Calaveras County,' California, inspecting the various methods of working tkte mines, and treating the ores.

Mr Douglas, of Miranda, but formerly a well known baker at Shortland, has had »0 sheep killed by Maori dogs. It appears the settlers in the Miranda district have now taken tho law into their own hands, and forming themselves into parties of four and five,, scoured the nativo settlements In the district, and shot every dog they came across, the natives being too much astonished to offer resistance, This is a sure way of getting rid of this .nuisance.

A child about U months old, the son of Thomas Cambage, head gamekeeper on the Hipswcll and Hudswoll estates, near Richmond, Yorkshire, has died from the effects of injuries received through being attacked by a gamecock. The child was playing near the garden when the cock attacked him, and picked and spnrcd his head and eyes to such an extent that ho subsequently died. When the mother heard the screams of her child she rushed out, and the bird made an attack upon her also, pecking her face and inflicting I slight injuries.

A correspondent to the "Otago Daily Times" writes as follows: "The best news I have for you this week hails from South Wcstland, and is that a large quartz reef, found years ago at Cook's reef—the ice river from lordly Aorangi—is likely to turn out well. My informant tells mo that the discoverer has just received the encouraging 1 intelligence that some stone sent away from it by him has yielded at tho rate of lfiozs of gold to the ton. I am also credibly informed that the reef is very large, and consequently further developments will be eagerly watched. From the Five-mile also wmes tidings of the discovery of another auriferous reef, and many men arc already looking southward oh!

At an .inquest on the remains of the late unfortunate Alexander Hunter, killed by a coal truck at Dcuniston, tho following extra-' ordinary verdict was returned by the jury: " That the jury are of opinion that deceased Alexander Hunter met his death accidentally by the running away of a truck, which would have been prevented if the devil had been put down." How true. What a lot of evil might be averted if the devil could only bo put down or slaughtered as the Salvation Army say. However for the delectation of our readers, it is but right to mention that'in the case of poor Hunter, tho devil meant tl)p sogg or break of the truck.

At the inquest on the body of a child, held at Duncdin last week, Dr Stenhouse deprecated very strongly the use of patent medicines. The ingredients in many of these, ho .stated, were of au extremely dangerous character. He expressed an opinion that legislation should be introduced to discourage the sale of the numerous quack modicines that arc distributed broadcast about the country. In a (conversation with a roportor of the " Otago Times," Dr Stenhouse Instanced a well-known teething powder widely used in this colony, and in the preparation of which three very poisonous drugs were utilized—viz., tartar, emetic, calomel, and morphia. The doctor stated that he had.met with a number of cases wherein children had died from the elf eels of this compound,

The tunnel of the Blue Spur mine Kumara, jWcst Coast, is now over a mile long. The sample of gold obtained is said to be excellent.

In addition to the usual sale of cattle at Fleming and Co.'s yards to-morrow, a large number of fruit trees from Mr Mayo's nursery at Parawai will be submitted for public competition.

A meeting of shareholders in the May Queen G.M. Co. is to be held at the Royal Hotel to-morrow night at 8 o'clock, the business being to protest against the proposed amalgamation of the Company with the Saxon G.M. Co.

The heavy rain on Saturday caused a tremendous slip near the Lone Hand mine, and a good few tons of debris have been deposited on the main road, .-ome of the boulders which came down are exceedingly large, one being fully 25 foet square. The County Engineer, wc understand, will start men clearing away the slip at an early hour this morning, so that traffic up the Karaka Creek will not be impeded more than can possibly be helped.

Mr T. Hammond, architect, who is exceedingly well known here, has a new advertisement in another column, in which he shows that plans and specifications will be prepared by him, and reliable estimates of cost and [quantities given. Mr Hammond also intimates that funerals are furnished and conducted by him at prices to invite patronage and give satisfaction. In writing up business advertisements we gcneially recommend the public to give the advertised person a prompt visit, but in this case we must take exception, as we are sure that Mr Hammond would not feel pleased if anyone died sooner tliau he ought to, just to give him a "show."

All the doctors in Back's County, U.S., are puzzling over the case of little five-year-old Justis Storck, whoso eyes seems a law to themselves. One day the boy is cross-eyed, while the next his eyes arcperfectly straight, and this curious alteration has been going on for years. The nonplussed doctors call it a case of intermittent strabismus—probably the only one on record—and, despairing of curing it, it will soon give the surgeons ot the Medico Chirurgical Hospital in Philadelphia on opportunity to study the matter, as the father of the afflicted boy had, decided to send him to that institution for treatment. One day the little fellow's right eye squints, on the next day both optics are perfectly straight, and the day following the left eye becomes affected, and so on the year round. There Is another peculiar feature of the case. When the right eye looks squint the child can bring it into the correct lino of vision by placing his hand over the good optic, but as soon as the hand is removed the affected orb again seeks the inner corner of the eye.

The life of a dog-catcher, especially in Auckland, is not a pleasant position. In the first place, arresting all sorts and conditions of vagrant curs is an avocation not altogether free from danger. Occasionally some snappish brute is encountered, which obeys the old injunction to leave its mark behind it. So long as it is only the man that is hurt it apparently does not matter. He is paid to take that risk and need not complain. 13ut let the man once hurt the dog while taking it to the kennel, and then listen to the howl that is raised by the curs who would not lend a hand to assist a man who was honestly doing his duty. The dog that waltzes ronnd at the end of a rope until it almost chokes itself in its efforts to get free, receives any amount of sympathy, but not one hand is stretched forth to help the old man of 72 years of age as ho hangs on manfully to the rope like a genuine old tar. "Zamicl," in writing upon such a case dealt with in the Auckland Court last week, says that he lias every sympathy with the object of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, still he has also a little feeling towards his fellow man. Any registrar of dogs that helps to (dear the streets of half-starved, mangcy ours, deserves assistance rather than tampering. Some ef the suggestions made as to how the dogs might be more tenderly treated, are, to say the least, interesting, One was that the dogs might be chloroformed, but the solicitor who appeared at the Court for the defence of Mr Garrard last week, politely suggested that it might be as dangemis to the man as to the dog if that idea was put into force. There would bo something ludicrous in seeing their only William wandoring along the street with a bottle of chloroform in his hand and saying to each unregistered cur, 'Doggie, doggie, come and smell.' Or perhaps it would be necessary to fix the bottle at the end of a long pole, lest the man's hand should be bitten. 'Zamiel'

suggests that after all there is nothing like the old style of doing things, and if the great William were provided with Rangitoto salt ho might perhaps put a little on each cur's tail, and thuß suoceod, perhaps, in our. tailing their wandorings,

As an Instnneo of tho extraordinary laxity in the prison discipline in Australia, the Melbourne Ago says: "Some time ago at one Australian gaol, the prisoners were allowed a supply of beer when presented by their friends and admirors. The authorities were somewhat strict—would not allow whisky, and drew tho lino at beer. The friends of the prisoners, however, managed to circumvent the innocent warders, and by cutting holes iu the bottoms of the beer bottles extracted the beer, afterwards filling the bottles with the much-desired whisky and stopping up the holes with sealing wax. This device succeeded for a considerable length of time, and it surely presupposes a luxnessof discipline, both on the part of those who mado and those whose duty it was to enforce tho rules, that such a flagrant breach of the prohibition laws of a gaol could be possible, The evidence in the case of the assault upon the overseer Jackson, at; Pcntridge, showed a similar laxity; and wo hear of conspiracies being hatched and prisoners who would not join the more desperate criminals being terrorised in a way that would do credit to a band of Whitcboys or Molly Maguircs. One of the prisoners cxmnined'said'he'wasinfcarof his life, because he had aided tho warders when Jackson was attacked; and; when told that the danger to his life was of no consequence, not boing evidence, remarked that it was of great consequence to him, naively adding that he had come there to do 18 mouths, and not to have his brains knocked out. It is said, too, that the authorities are afraid to arm the warders with revolvers, lest the prisoners should take the weapons from their keepers; an argument which if oxtended to its logical conclusion might be urged against allowing soldiers to carry their riiles into action, in the fear that the enemy might seize them. Hill Sykosis a hard customer to deal .with, even when his daily rations arc cut down to bread and water, with an occasional Hogging thrown in as an appetiser; but with meat three times a day, a constant supply qf tobacco and a choice of j|lw\sant loadmg—if lip js qf a litprary turn—he becomes even more dangerous a menace to society when his term expires than if he had never been sent to gaol at all."