MISCELLANEOUS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 299, 23 October 1873, Page 9

MISCELLANEOUS.

Part IV. of the Statistics of Victoria for the year 1872 has just been issued. Under the head of Accumulation "it contains a*variety of information respecting the banks, post-office savings banks, and general savings banks, mortgages, loans and releases of property, and building societies. Except in respect to the two last items the statistical information has been to a great extent fore-stalled. It appears tbat during last year 4,525 mortgages, amounting to £3,240,926, were effected on land, and 2 335 releases, amounting to £1,718,591 were made. The mortgages on live stock amounted to only £459,794, while the releases exceeded £856,000. Loans on wool, amounting to <£575 508, were given, the number of fleeces mortgaged being 2,201,925. Statistics respecting the progress of 51 building societies established in various parts of the colony have been furnished to the registrar-general. These 54 institutions contained, as nearly as could be ascertained at the end of last year, cr at the date of the last balance previous to the compilation of the returns, 16,500 members ; tbe number of satisfied or borrowing shares was 30, 584, and of unsatisfied or investing shares 75,849. The gross assets of the whole number at the date of the last balance-sheet was £1,853,375, and of the liabilities £1,379,835. The total income for the 12 months prior to tbe tlato of the last balance-sheet (exclusive of deposits) was £754,538, and the working expenses during the same period amounted to £22,735. The transactions of several of the metropolitan societies are very extensive. The in' ones of several of the societies are very extensive. The incomes of several of tbe societies for the 12 months prior to the date of the last balance-sheet are enormous. For instance, tbat of the Victorian Permanent Property Investment and Building Society is put down at £149,450; of the Third Victoria Building and Investment Society, £76,035; Fourth Union Benefit Building and Investment Society, £84,215.—" Argus." We take the following from the "Northern Advocate," a paper published at Chatei-s Towers : a great deal of the excitementabout the Northern Territory is kept up through the means of agents and rudders of steamboat companies and shippers in Sydney and Melbourne. Telegrams are occasionally sent from Port Darwin for the same purpose. Nearly all tbe auriferous ground at present discovered there is held in large leases, by parties who are interested in keepingthe miningpopulation of Victoria and elsewhere in a constant ferment, so that they may be able to float their claims and companies, which, if they pay no one else, are sure to pay the promoters. "We cannot say of course, whether tbe gold-field in tbat locality is good, or bad, but we know that it is comparatively untried, and as yet altogether unproved. We have it on the authority of a friend, who has just returned from Sydney, that great efforts are made there sometimes to create a rush. A steamboat is laid on for Port Darwin and duly advertised, runners go about the different hotels ana boarding houses, where diggers down for a spell usually live, false rumours about imaginary finds are circulated, until the steamboat agent is at last successful and gets his boat filled np# The steamer is then chronicled as having started for the North crowded with diggers. More leave distant diggings for Sydney ou spec, or to bear the news, and so the game goes on. Our friend tells us, of one agent at least, who had tbe game spoiled on his hands. „ The Lord Ashley was laid on for the North, the usual little game was played, but a number of diggers, of which our friend was one, clubbed together, and sent a telegram to the station-master at Port Darwin, with the reply paid for. The reply came immediately, "Nothing new here and nothing whatever to justify a rush." So tbe Lord Ashley couldn't fill up, and had to proceed to Melbourne to try the game there, with what success we cannot say. In the " Life of Samuel J. May," just issued, it is told that at a pic-nic at Spot Pond he met Daniel Webster for the first time. The pond was full of lilies, which the ladies of the party were very anxious to have ; but there was no boat, and the flowers wereqnite out of reach. They complained so persistently of their disappointment, that Mr. Webster at last said : "O, that I wera as young a3 I was a few years ago ! I would ransack the shores of the

— . pond until I found some boat or "boards by which to reach and gather those Jilies." N.ofooner had he spoken than off started all the young men excepting May, to find, if they could, boat or boards. May waited, while the ladies shot at him glances of surprise and 'contempt, till his companions were out of sight, and thengpolly waded in above his waist, gathered an armfuUof lilies, and came back dripping to distribute his prize and receive cheers, thanks, and tender expressions of anxiety lest he should suffer for his gallantry. Mr. Webster was loudest of all in his praise. Mr. May continues his narrative as follows : " Ah, sir," said I, <• the ladies owe these lilies less to my gallantry than to your eloquence. I could not stand unmoved by your appeal." "Never before." Mr. Webster exclaimed — " never before have I gained a lily by my eloquence:" " No, sir," I rejoined, " but it has often been crowned with laurels." We ("North Otago Times") are haunted by a " daft " contributor. He sends us the following extract from the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher's remarks on money lending. Mr Beecher says : — "No blister draws sharper than does the interest. Of all industries none is comparable to that of interest. It works all day and night ; in fair weather and foul. It has no sound in its footsteps, but travels fast. It gnaws at a man's .substance with invisible "teeth. It binds industry with it 3 film, as a fly is bound in a spider's web. Debts roll a man over and over, binding hand and foot, and letting him hang upon the fatal mesh until the long-legged interest devours him. There is but one thing on a farm like it, and that is the Canada thistle, which swarms new plants every time you break its roots, whose blossoms are prolific, and every flower the father of a million seeds. Every leaf is an awl, every branch a spear, and every plant like a platoon of bayonets, and a field of them like an armed host. The whole plant is a torment and a vegetable curse. And yet a farmer had better make bis bed of Canada thistles than to be at ease upon interest." Some people would throw " Jockey Club" on the violet. Much in the same way our mad correspondent writes in allusion to the above extract :—": — " Poor simple Henry Ward Beacher! If we had him for a few weeks in Oamaru we could, I think, open his eyes a bit. Why ! he complains loudly of the payment of interest, and the speed at which it travels. How would he feel if tbat speed were doubled and trebled by the addition of commissions ? And so to the progress of a Canada thistle, I would back some Oamaru worthies to swallow a farm, with stock and crop, including everything fixed and moveable in less time than a Canada thistle could take root in tbe ground." The practice of transferring mining shares to men of straw and dummies in order to avoid calls is a very common one here (observes the " Age)," and it is well to know that a recent- 4 decision of Lord Westbury distinctly declares it to be illegal. On the 13th May, 1870, Mr. Walter Williams, shareholder in tbe European Society, sent to the directors notice of his wish to transter 1,000 shares in the society to I George GHlbert, gentleman, in consideration of £5. The notice was | approved by tbe directors, and tbe transfer executed. It turned out that i Mr. G-ilbert was formerly a coach proprietor and driver, but had for ten years been blind, and unable to earn any money, and at tbe date of the transaction had not £5 in the world. Instead of paying £5 be received £2 103 for allowing the shares to be transferred into his name. The official liquidator now applied to have Mr. Williams's name placed in tbe list of contributors, and Lord Westbury, in granting the application, said that "it wasssurprising to him that an attempt should be made to gild and varnish , transactions of this kind, which bore their real character stamped upon their face, so as to impose upon the minds of plain honest men, and make them believe that tbe thing was something else than what it was in reality." According to Lord Weatbury's ruling the common law permits the transfer of shares, provided tl at tbe intending transferor should represent to the directors of the company full particulars as to the character and position of tbe transferee, with tbe view of enabling the former to veto the substitution of any improper person to be made a partner; and Lord Westbury added, "I do not care a rush whether the directors inquired or not; I do not care whether there is misrepresentation or not ; but if I find, that the*mau who desired to dispose of bis shares to A.B. knew very well in his mind at that time tbat A.B. was an insolvent man, or a dishonest man, or an improper man from any cause to be introduced into these partnerships, I shall hold that his act in withholding this knowledge was a fraud upon the directors. It has withheld tilings which be knew to be most material, although he made no misrepresentation, the concealment .was equivalent to an allegation that there was nothing material to be communicated." This is plain speaking enough. — " Bendigo Advertiser " A short time since (writes the "Age)" while a deptutation from tbe selectors of Hamilton was discussing the proposed LRnd Bill with the Minis* ter of Lands, Mr. Mac Baiu was indignant because Mr. Casey spoke of squatters' dummies; but M«\ Casey replied tbat he had information which he would not then disclose, but that

[the public would be soon in possession [ of the same knowledge he had then. We believe the<time has come when the public will be made aware of tke facts. It has been represented to the Lands department that in at least four iustances squatters in the Wimmera district have by means of dummies secured a considerable quantity of land. A public investigation, we understand, is ordered to take place at Stawell, and if the charges be substantiated we base no doubt that Mr. Casey will not only forfeit the selections but also the licence of the pastoral tenant who employed the dummies. There has always been a healthy competition existing among the mining companies of Bendigo to produce the largest cake of gold, each endeavouring to out-rival the* other; but there seems to be every probability of all tbe great and wealthy companies of the district being shortly beaten by a small and hitherto comparatively obscure tribute company. The stone now being broken in the mine of tho Garden Q-ully Tribute Company No. 3 is exceedingly, rich, and many experienced mining men have declared it to be without parallel in Sandhurst, so heavily is it charged with the precious metal. For the last 'fortnight this company has been crushing with one battery, and. and as tbe result the magnificent quantity of 3,605*0zs of amalgam has been obtained, of which 900 ozs was worked off from tbe ripples only, for three days crushing* The directors have determined to put on a second battery, and intend to keep both crushing for another fortnight, when they will be washed off and the amalgam and silver retorted. If the average continues as good within the next two weeks, with two batteries, as it has turned out during the past fortnight with one, over 9000 ounces of amalgam will have been obtained, and as the average amount of gold in amalgam is 50 per I cent., the yield will be fully 4000 ozs. [of gold. The directors, it is stated, in- | tend to produce the largest cake ever retorted in the district, and if their calculations prove correct they will un> doubtedly prove successful. And yet two months ago the shares of this tribute company could have been had on payment of a sixpenny call ; the claim is now one of the most valuable mining properties on the line, and notwithstanding the shortness of the time to run — six months — the shares are worth 21s. in the .market. — '• Bendigo Advertiser." A discovery has been made in Fifeshire which tends to destroy all confidence in fish, who appear to be quite as unscrupulous as retail tradesmen with regard to their own weight and measures. It seems from the account given by the "Dundee Advertiser" that one day last week a Pitienween fishing boat put into Dysart, laden, with skate, ling, and cod. One of the cod, of enormous size, was purchased by a ship carpenter who lives in a neighboring village. On the fish being cut open, the stomach was found to be so exceedingly heavy that the carpenter was induced by curiosity to open it, and to his astonishment found that it contained an iron mallet upwards of six pounds in weight. This article now lies in the building yard where the carpenter is employed, and is an object of great curiosity to large numbers of persons who come to inspect it. The mallet is worth about seven shillings and sixpence, and the carpenter is satisfied that in purchasing the cod he made a good bargain ; but if instead of a useful and marketable article, the fish had stuffed itself with heavy rubbish to increase its weighty its purchaser would of course have suffered a serious losa In the meantime, it must be admitted that since the da_ys of the prophet Jonah no more singular instance of the voracity of fish has been recorded than the case of this cod captured by the Pittenween fishermen. Indeed, nine big fish out of tea would infinitely prefer swallowing a prophet to swallowing an fron mallet As a proof of the thirst of the Irish for knowledge, and the difficulties which are overcome by perseverance, Anderson in his sketches of tbe Irish says, " Children have been known to acquire the firet elements of reading, writing, and arithmetic, without a book, without a pen, without .a slate! And indeed the place of meeting was none other than a grave-yard. The long flat stones, with their inscriptions, were used instead of books, while a bit of chalk, and the gravestones together, served for all the rest. "^ This also was a means of Young Pat acquiring a knowledge of the dead languages. In Texas, the other day. a doctor rode fifty miles to attend, a patient^ .Vfter he hac^curcd the pationt he presented a bill for fifty dollars, and proceeded to complete his preparations for the journey back to the post, thinking no more about the matter. As he was about to mount, the patient's bus. band put in an appearance, with his trusty rifle is hk hand. "Doctor," said he, " I reckon we had better settle ~" this here matter now." Taking him aside : " You want agora' off without a settlement, was you ? I don't want to owe no man nothn'. Here is a ten, which I reckon is about the squar' thing. Now, if yon ain't satisfied, jest get yer weapon out aua come round behind tu%hill thar, gu'» the old woman won't be rUod" up, an<l well sett.l** &t& t T don't wnnfc no m^n .to go 'way from my bouse dissatisfied, 'specially you, poc. !" The doctor accepted the sen* ncr;