Untitled

Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3042, 14 November 1878, Page 2

Or the nine members returned to the new County Council, five are Scotchmen.

Re tho Mining Inspectorship, a telegram has been received from Sir George Grey to the effect that " arrangements have been made to appoint; Mr M'Laren, effecting a considerable saving."

The only business at, the E.M. Court this moruing was the fining of a grocer, J. Clark, 10s and costs, for having in his possession two unstamped weights.

The Star Dramatic and Pantomime Company will appear to-morrow night in "Le Chalet" and the burlesque of " Ixion," for the benefit of the ladies of the company. "Psion" is one of the best of modern burlesques, and affords scope for aceric and mechanical accessories of an unusual character. We hare no doubt the Star Comppiy Tt PI do it justice.

" Gttnpowdek " writes: Can you inform me if Lieut. Denby intends to repeat his excellent lecture on " The Explosion of Mines and Charges." We must refer our correspondent to the gentleman himself.

The Hon. G. M. Waterhouse, though hailing from South Australia, has not a very high opinion of the wines produced in that colony. In a speech delivered by him on October 17, in the Legislative Council, he is reported have said :—"I do not wish at all to disparage those wine*, but, at the same time, I am bound to say, I believe a healthy French or German wine is better adapted to the wants of the English people than the wines they are likely to get from Australia; and for this reason: that, whatever may be said to the contrary, the wines of Australia are generally fortified, and fortified with the worst spirit to employ for such purposenamely, spirits of wine. Under the laws prevailing ?n Souih Australia every wine-grower is entitled to take out of bond a certain quantity of spirits of wine in proportion to the quantity of wine he makes, and to fortify his wine with those spirits.' He obtains the spirits of wine free of duty, and the result is that it is so convenient to have the spirits of wine for the purpose of controlling the fermentation that the practice of fortifying is very general indeed, and there are very few wines that can be bought free of fortification of this character. Fortification from spirits of wine is the worst description of fortification you can possibly hare. The two articles never really unite; the spirits of wine are not chemically assimilated, and fly to the head, as is not the case with spirits of a lower strength."

Me Daniels, of Tokomairiro, is a lucky man (says the Dunedin Morning Herald). He purchased in 1874, from Mr Tre«trail, of Ballarat his slut Sly for £10. She has since had four litters of pups, numbering respectively 9, 10, 12, and 4, that survived. Out of this number he has soil 21 at £5 each, two of the last litter for £10 each, besides giving away 12. The latter litter were all bespoke at £10 each, but the slut only gave birth to four live pups, five of the litter being dead. The celebated Scaldings, one Fly's pups, was sold on his birth to Mr Thomas Pope, the well-known coach driver, for £5, who afterwards re-sold the dog to Mr Daniels for £9. Scaldings has won the stakes, value £55, at the first meeting of the Otago Coursing Club at Palmerston, and in a private match of £100 beat Esmeralda, winning the best two courses easibly. He also ran third dog for the North Otago Waterloo Cup, for which his owner received £25 14s 3d, besides.dSlO he saved with the winner. In all'fic has run eleven courses, and has only been beaten in one. His total winnings amount to £175 14a 3d. He is full brother to the celebrated slut Verbena, owned by Mr James M'Donald, of Waihola Gorge, to whose dog Ben Fly was put. Yerbenawas the winner of the Puppy Stakes at Southland, and ran up to Scaldings at Palmerston. Another of Fly's pupß, Skip, though not first in any stake, ran up for the Southland Waterloo Cup, and the second Southland Puppy Stakes. Bruce, another, was only entered for one itake, an all-aged, and in this he ran up to his half-brother Sector, by Sultan out of Fly, the property of Mr A. M'Laren, who purchased bim from Mr Daniels for £5.

Sir Wh.ebedLa.wson, at an agricultural dinner in Cumberland last week, says the Spectator, referring to the Cattle Bill, said he should be glad if the farmers got anything that did them real good, for they had had a series of depressing years. However, they were not always so badly off as they liked to represent themselves. " One Scotch farmer had determined, ri spite of the bad times, to pay bis rent, if it were his last shilling, and saying to the factor who received it, *It is my last shilling!' he threw down a roll of notes. The factor counted them, and said, • There is £50 too much.' ' Odds man !' said the farmer, ' I put my hand in the wrong pouch.'." That is a good story of Sir Wilfred's. To many people, the fiction that they have come to their last shilling has a peculiar pathos in it. Even if it be only the last shilling in one particular pocket, there is a tragedy of privation in the bare hypothesis that they might have no other resource, which makes them feel like a Hamlet or a Macbeth as they for a moment ignore in imagination the other pockets containing other last shillings.

A Home correspondent writing to a contemporary says:—Some years ago James Qreenwood astonished the world by the statement of his experience as an "Amateur Casual," creating thereby a great stir among the Poor Law authorities, who even went so far as .to threaten him with an action for obtaining the workhouse allowance by false pretences. Another " Amateur Casual has arisen, in the shape of a magistrate in one of the rural districts named Albert Simpson, who, in consequence of the number of vagrants brought before him in his capacity of magistrate for refusing to complete their task of stone-breaking in the Garstang Workhouse, determined to acquire some practical experience of the task they had to perform. He accordingly presented himself at the workhouse as a vagrant, was put into a cell and given a " task " of stones to break, and had no instructions given to him. He communicated his experience to the Local Board of Guardians by letter, in which he stated that the " task " took him over five hours to complete, of which time nearly one-half was taken over six stones. He completed his task thoroughly exhausted, with his hands raw and bleeding, which he contends could all have been saved him by a word or two of instruction, and he has, therefore, suggested that a copy of instructions should be hung in every cell, so that every tramp may have a chance of completing his work in time to look for employment elsewhere. The matter is to be considered. Perhaps it would be well if more magistrates were to follow this gentleman's example.

A TELKGEAM to a contemporary gives the following estimate of tho damage dono by the floods in various Otago districts : -Bruce, £8750; Clutha, £26,150; Tuapeko, £19,000; Vincent, £19,990; Lake, £26,940. Total, £100,830. Some of the above damage was liable to have occurred any year, so there is no necessity to make a special provision for making it good. Leaving out these contingencies the amount of extraordinary damage, which could not reasonably have been forseen or calculated, is: Bruce, £8C3O; Clutha, £25,000; Tuapeka, £18,500; Vincent, £18,000; Lake, £23,500. Total, £93,000. The unprecedented height of the flood shows that the bridge crossing wires must be built higher and stronger than has been considered necessary. The estimate of damage done cannot therefore be taken as the cost of restoration. Allowing for this and leaving out the Cheviot bridge, the estimated cost of making good the damage is as follows: — Bruce County, £11,000; Taupeka, £15,000; Lake, £24,000; Clutha, £29,0C0; Vincent, £24,CC0. Total, £103,C00.

A correspondent to a Melbourne paner writes thus concerning the electric iig.it which has' been exhibited in several parts of Dunedin lately :—The Electrician calls attention to the fact that public authorities are making enquiries as to the results of trials made of electric lights, with a view of lighting public places by that mode in place of gas. As the electric light can now be made at a sroa 11 cost, it has occurred to me that, besides lighting our streets and public buildings by this light, ships could also carry it, and thereby prevent msny shipwrecks during the night when approaching the Australian corsts, for this light can be thrown for a considerable distance around, and enable those on board to see the land. For channel lighthouses and lightships it would be vejj valuable, for the light would enable sailors in vessels to see the buoys on either side of the channel almost as well as in daylight. A small donkey engine is required, but many ships now cany one. \, hen we regard the number of shipwrecks that take place in different parts of the world, everything that can be done to prevent these losses should be undertaken ; and I would suggest whether it may not be possible to fit ships with microphone and telephone apparatus, so that in the night or during foggy weather, those on watch at sea may hear the distant snrf breaking on the shore or on rocks and reefs, and being thus warned, escape the danger."