CURRENT TOPICS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4855, 22 January 1894, Page 3

CURRENT TOPICS.

Major Lamont baa disposed of the Ardlamont Estate, the scene of the mysterious shooting by which Lieutenant; Hawbrovgh came by his death. The property had been in the market for some time at the upset price of .£BO,OOO. The Dunedin Star reports that a large shark waa captured by Messrs Wiseman, ,■ Porter and Watson in the Lower Harbour on Wednesday. It was 16ft in length, and was harpooned close to the Quarantine Island, towing the boat round the lightship and back to the island before it was killed. It was a moat exciting chase, and lasted from 11 a.m. till 5 p.m. The warm weather no doubt has been the cause of bringing these monsters into shallow water, and the Lower Harbour is known to be infested with them.

The Chinese Government appears to be awakening to the fact that the rapidly extending use of Indian teaa in Europe may be due in part to causes for which, the Chinese growers are responsible. The Likin authorities have issued a proclamation against the manufacture of what is significantly known as "lie tea." The document points out that this scandalous practice has gone a long way to bring about the complained-of decline in the tea trade, and it declares that the authorities are determined to put a stop to it. People are warned not to make any tea excepting of the genuine tea leaf, which, it is hoped, will be sufficient ; but if any person should disregard the warning, the punishment will be transportation for life, which will fall alike on the maker, the eeller, and the buyer, as* well as upon any others who may have anything to do with it. A Wellington contemporary says :— The news published in the papers that William Mac Arthur and Co. had decided to give up business in New Zealand came as a thunderclap to the employes of the firm. No inkling of the intention to retire from the trade had been allowed to reach any of the staff, and the surprise felt by all when the news came to hand may well be imagined. MacAxthur and Co. are the largest employers in the city of Auckland. They run a boot factory, a clothing factory, and a shirt factory, em* ploying altogether about three hundred hands, in addition to which there are about fifty persons employed in the warehovfte. A scheme for the floating of a company on co-operative lines to carry on the business is under the consideration of the persons engaged in the firm's factories and branches. The project haa been favourably received, and it is believed that success will attend the effort to keep ' the business intact. At the inquest on the body of the man ! James Unwin, who died recently at Glebe, | New South Wales, under suspicious cir- ! cumßtances, after drinking whisky from a j flask which he found in his buggy, "W. Hamlet, Government analyst, stated that, as the result of an examination of deceased's exhumed remains, he had found traces of arsenic in the stomach. It had been previously stated at the inquest that arsenic had been discovered in the flask from which Unwin drank the whisky. James Unwin, father of the deceased, stated that there had been occasional quarrels between deceased and his wife, who did not live happily together. He believed this arose from jealousy on the part of the wife. Mrs Unwin, sen., gave similar evidence, and added that the jealousy was in connection with another woman. Alice Unwin, wife of the deceased, denied that she and her husband had serious quarrels. Angry words had sometimes passed between them, and for the past eighteen months, owing to a whim of deceased, they had not occupied the same room. The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against some person or pereons unknown. Once an amusing story was told me by a South Sea trader, writes Mr Eoberfc Louis Stevenson. He had been in the habit of carrying all sorts of tinned meats, which the natives bought with avidity. Each tin was branded with a coloured picture— a cow for beef, a sheep for mutton, and a fish for sardines. It happened that the firm who furnished the mutton thought it a good plan to change their labels, that their goods might be more easily distinguished from others. The mark chosen was a red dragon. The natives came with their copra to trade as usual. Th6 new tins were shown them, but they recoiled with horror and gave the trader to understand that they had had some religious instruction, and were not to be deluded into eating tinned devil. The trader was forced to eat his stock of mutton himself, for not a native could be persuaded to touch the accursed thing. The following anecdote is told by the Freeman's Journal in reference to the relations between Mr Balfour, when Chief Secretary for Ireland, and the "Castle" officials. ■ Whether true or not, the story is a good one. "It is said that Mr Balfour, cynically and coolly as he flung their ' fictions on the floor of the House of Commonß for the 'information' of public opinion, would not, towards the close of his term of office, act on one of the ordinary reports of the gang until he verified it. A good story has gone the rounds • illustrating his scepticism of the 'channels of information' to which the Irish . Government has to truet. He was , in a hurry to despatch some business one evening before catching the boat for i Holy head, and waß particular as to the ' time. He looked at his watch and comi pared it with the clock in one of the i castle offices. "Ib that the correct time ? " ■ he asked. " Yes, sir," replied the official, as the story goea. " Ah," he retorted, "it is a consolation to find something in ■ Dublin Castle that tells the truth." L The Queensland Government, being s interested in the matter of village settlei ment, applied to the Victorian authorities for some information as to the progress > which is being made there in that mode of placing the people on the land. In a i memorandum which has been forwarded in 1 reply, it is intimated that from Sept. Ito - Dec. 31 there were 116 applications from homestead associations, representing 1152 1 individuals, whilst the applicants foi b village settlement allotments numbered 9 1500. Monetary aid had been given to 42£ - people in that period, the total amouni advanced being .£1550. The Governmeni i expresses the opinion that substantial in* t- provement3 have been effected by th< ,r Eobtlers in many instances, and the work ing of the system is so far encouraging.