an outwitted Mpster.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 276, 15 May 1873, Page 7

an outwitted Mpster.

" Atticus " contributes the following to the Mt 1 )ourne leader : — " The biter i 3 bit with a vengeance. The latest victim of his own sharpness is a host of an hotel not a hundred miles from Melbourne. There arrived at his house a young man from New Zealand whose father was known as the squire in the English villiage in which the landlord' saw the light of day. The stranger from New Zealand produced a paper in' which the death of his father was announced, and in which it was stated that the son was entitled to £10,000. The heir confessed he had no money, and proposed that the landlord should lend him £200, promising to make a will in his favor in case he should die on the passage home. The bargain was concluded, the money paid, and the will drawn, but instead of repairing on shipboard the young man began a career of dissipation in Melbourne, the landlord being in no wise anxious to put a stop to his vicious courses. At last an attack of delirium trem&ns ensued, a doctor was called in, and then as the case grew serious another was sent for. Chloroform was administered, bin this and two medical men were too ■ much for any mortal frame to stand, and so the patient died. The landlord gave each of the doctors a stiff cheque, paid the funeral expenses without a murmur, and even erected a handsome headstone over the grave of his friend. He then wrote to England and enclosed the will in order to touch the fruit of his generosity. He had thrown his bread upon the waters truly in vain. News came back that the old squire was alive and in good health, and it was then ascertained that the youngster had himself caused the advertisement which was to establish his identity as an heir to be inserted in the paper. The landlord has now a supreme contempt for the veracity of the press, and looks upon heirs as purely mythical creations of adventurous or impecunious brain?."

The " Age " says, the power of the police to enter houses in order to quell disturbances was insisted upon on Tuesday by Mr. Templeton, R.M., at the east Collingwood court. Bridget Levey, a servant in the employ of Mrs Benham, of the Gasometer Hotel, quarrelled with her mistress on M•: day, and kept possession of the ' for some time. At three p. m. a young man was sent for a constable to :.,.- move the offender, but one who was met with declined to interfere, nor would he go to inquire into the matter. At five p.m. the woman assailed her mistress bavin jr seized her by the hair and the throat, and threatened her with a table knife, and it took two young; men to make the girl release her hold. One of them was then sent a second time for a constable, and although he stated that the police were required to put down a row, he was told that they could not interfere unless a warrant was first obtained. At length Mr. Benham returned home, and on learning what had transpired during his absence, he found a guardian of the peace who did not refuse to arrest the woman. Mr. Templeton said it was absurd to suppose that a police constable could not interfere under the circumstances detailed, and he directed that inquiry should be made as to who was the constable that declined to go, and his reason for doing so. The prisoner was sentenred to six month's imprisonment with hard labor. Can a civil engineer inform us how it is that the mouths of rivers are larger than, their heads ?