NEWS IN BRIEF

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 1814, 22 July 1891, Page 6

NEWS IN BRIEF

A French journal recoids an instance of longevity in a tortoise, which is somewhat remarkable, though tortoises have been known to live even longer. It is stated that last August a planter captured in the St. John River, Florida, a tortoise which had the following inscription on the carapace : — " Captured in the year 1700 by Fernando Gomez in the St. Sebastian River ; taken later od by the Indiana to Montanz*s, and from there to the Great Wekima." The Great Wekima was the ancient name for the St. John River. Above the inscription the arms of Spain and date 1700* were plainly discernible. After showing the tortoise to his friends the captor released it, adding the date 1890 to the older inscription. A Glasgow doctor in his will registered recently leaves the whole of hia e3tatea to his two sisters, and then inserts this extraordinary clause :— " To my wife, as a recompense for desertiDg me and leaving me in peace, I expect the said sister Elizabeth to make her a gift of 10s sterling to buy a handkerchief to weep in after my decease." A letter addressed to the Auckland ' Star ' gives a deplorable account of village settlement at Takahue (uorth of Auckland). The writer says:— "l have land that is capable of producing anything, but land U of no value without the means of earning money. We cannot get money or work to help us. There is no sale for anything you grow — not a shilling's worth ; all the cash I have had for twelve months will not come up to L 3. Bread I have not seen for thirteen weeks ; we have lived on nothing butcorr, and have to walk three* miles to grind it. Meat we scarcely ever see. Tea is a luxury not thought of, but corn burnt over the fire, which we infuse, and call it coffee. We cannot get our children clothed. Tney go about like Maoris. To get a little money the children gather fungus, sometimes travelling miles to get a 501 b flour bag full, which dries down to about 121 bof fungue, which they take to the Btore ten miles off, and get 2d per lb for it. We have seven in family ; the' eldest girl is seventeen — she can milk and wash, but cannot get a situation here to purchase clothing. Those desirous of employing her can only offer her food. I have to send my second eldest to school with ju3t a dreßS to cover her, no underclothiDg, or boots, or stockings. My eldest daughter and myself are the only two in the family with boots ; my wife has been barefooted for months. I have split a lot of timber intending to build a house, but for want of tools and nails I don't know how to get it up, as fungus is the only meana of getting money, and it is slow work. . . . What are we to do ? The Government are demanding their rents, snd we've nothing to satisfy their demands. We have offered to pay our rents by labor on the roads if the Government would employ us. .... Our settlers are leaving one by one, unable to grapple with the demon Poverty. Durirjg the four years they have spent their energies and lost their health, particularly the women, through semi-starvation and misery. More would leave were they able to do so." A Mr French vouches for the bona fides of the writer, whom he declares to be a sober, industrious man, but, failing to get employment at his trade of bricklayer, went on to the land. A magnifioent instance of red tapeism is furnished in connection with the recent discovery of a human skeleton in the Puhipuhi Forest. An inquest was held, when the medical evidence proved that death had occurred at least twenty years and possibly fifty years before. The inquisition and other papers were duly forwarded to the Justice Department in Wellington, but returned because not accompanied by the U3ual certificate of the cause of death. The'Po3t' says it would require a clever man to furnish this. In view of the proposal to bring a "zone" system into force on the New Zealand railways, the following extract from the ' Railway Press,' of Ist May, will be interesting : — " We are not admirers of the zone system per se ; it is at best a clumsy method of reducing fares. The comparative dearness of some of its charges tends to repress, instead of encouraging travelling. This is a very bad feature. Whether the distance they are conveyed be long or short, people are willing to pay the unit of coinage whatever it may be— a penny in tbe United Kingdom, five cents in America and Canada, etc., etc., but no more. When the unit is exceeded they act on a diametrically opposite principle, and are careful of their pockets to a fault. They even object to fares previously acknowledged to be cheap if they find out that their neighbors can travel etill more cheaply. A facsimile of a Hungarian zone ticket is printed in the White Book recently issued. It is a fearful and wonderful work of art, with enough letter-press upon it to make a sermon. The necessity for such an instrument is the condemnation of the system. We do not therefore think any part of the marked increase in railway travelling is due to the elaborate arrangements of its parent, Mr Barros. The cheapening of conveyance has produced its usual result — increased receipts. This result follows, within certain limits, with mathematical certainty. The cheaper the charge, so long as it showß a fair profit on actual cost of carriage, the better it p*ys. The problem has been worked out over and over again in the postal service, and on the omnibus and tram lines, and always with the same result." On March 12 the Russian Czar's old nurse, Miss Catherine Strutton, an English woman, was buried from the Winter Palace. She was eighty-one years old, and had been forty-six years in the Imperial service. The Emperor and three of his brothers walked abreast behind the hearse, through slushy streets, to the English Church and to the cemetery. Johann Ehrengut, a master carpenter in Bavaria, died some weeks ago, leaving his property, valued at L 40.000, to the city of Munich. Half of it, he directed, must be used in educating young artists. The prospects of the Russian harvest are worse, and a famine is feared in certain provinces. The Government are considering the advisability of prohibiting the further export of grain. Mr Parnell, speaking at Borris, accused Mr Tim Healy of being a liar and a slanderer, who had deserted every party and bit every hand that cherished him. He also asserted Healy had joined the Fenians, and violated the oath he took to them. Nelson Brothers' freezing works at Woodville cost nearly L 30,000. Referring to a recent scandalous failure of justice at Napier, the 'Napier News' has the following :—": — " It is much to be regretted that through the existence of an absurd law regarding the knowledge which should be possessed by children, or anyone else for that matter, about the nature of an oath and a future state, a scoundrel has escaped his just deserts. This matter of a child's not understanding the nature of an oath reminds us of an actual occurrence in a court of law. A young child was asked if he knew the nature of an oath. , He promptly replied : •If you please, sir, if I don't tell the truth I shall be burned in hell fire for ever and ever.' The judge looked down and said: ' Swear him. He knows more than I do.' The fact of Lady Henry Somerset, who is one of the foremost temperance leaders in England to-day, owning public-houses, having been disclosed in a recent parliamentary return, led to a good deal of adverse comment, and her ladyship has written from Venice to Mr W, S, Came: —" As a matter"

of fact, I own far more than two licensed houses— probably, roughly speaking, eight or nine now. These houses were let on lease by my father, and, therefore, are not mine to deal with until the leases expire. Since I succeeded, seven years ago, I have shut up five licensed houses as the leases fell in, and I have refused to grant extended leases to any of the others, altnough in many instances I have been of courae urged to do so. I shall nsver grant a lease for any house to be carried on as a public-house, as I do not feel I could consistently do so." In the Victorian gaols are sixty-three poor fellows who are simply detained there through poverty, the benevolent institutions being uoable to provide accommodation for them. At Sydney the other day a thief was sent to gaol for four years for stealing a plumber's implement valued at 2s ! A salt lake has been formed since the earthquake at San Jose* Lower California. A splendid score was made at Gerrigong (N.S. W.) on the 17th by a local volunteer named David Shirpa, who made 69 out of a possible 70 points at 500 and 600 yards. At 500 yards he registered tho possible, and his third shot at 600 yards was only half an inch away from the major point. Sir B. O'Loghlen, the self - appointed leader of the Nationalist party in Victoria, appears to have a great dread of New Zealand products entering that colony. He is the uncompromising opponent of federation, which, if accomplished, will, in his opinion, rob the manufacturers of Victoria of the advantages of Protection— a policy which it has cost the colony so much to build up, and so materially advanced its prosperity, la the course of the debate on the Address - in- Reply ia the Victorian Assembly, he is reported to have said: — " The Postmaster- General of New Zealand ! was opposed to federation at the outset, but on seeing the Commonwealth Bill he com pletely changed his attitude on the question. And why ? Because he saw the great advantage which New Zealand would obtain from the abolition of Protection between the several States. Once intercolonial duties were abolished the farmers of Victoria might find themselves entirely unable to compete with the importation of oats from New Zealand, and it would be possible for the same colony, with its superior advantages, to completely annihilate our beer trade.— (Laughter.) In^a speech made by the Postmaster-General of New Zealand lately it was stated, according to a newspaper report, that the Mosgiel woollens could even now find a payable market in Victoria, after submitting to* a 30 per cent. duty. What, then, would be the competition with Victorian woollens from_ the same quarter if the intercolonial duties were removed ? They might expect to have largely increased importations from New Zealand. " Mayor Smith, of Ballarat, interjected the remark that Mosgiel woollens could compete with English goods, but not Victorian j whereupon the hon. baronet remarked that Ballarat woollens were very good indeed, but he doubted if they could compete with the free importation of New Zealand woollens. One of the wards of the Adelaide Hospital has been named "The Shearers' Ward " in recognition of the support which has been received from that body of men. It has been computed that there are 100,000 railway locomotives in the world at the present time, A waterspout broke over Jekaterinslow (Russia) cautiog considerable loss to life and property. Sixty-nine persons are known to have been drowned and 150 houses destroyed. A free railway travelling league has been formed in London. Its members contend that all railways should be supported out of the ratee, so that people would be able to travel anywhere free of cost. The Portuguese expedition to Beira is in a lamentable plight, and will probably be recalled. A fracas has taken place between the Bulgarians and Servian frontier guards. On the Bulgarian side the loss was three killed and several wounded, while only two Servians were wounded. Sir John Fowler reports that it is imperative to rebuild eighty of the cast-iron bridges on the London-Brighton south line, consequent upon the increased speed and weight of locomotives. He also reports that the bridges on most of the other lines are equally dangerous, and will probably cost millions to rebuild, Samoan news states that the Chief Justice returned from a trip round the island of Savaii. He states they are unanimous in their intention of paying taxes and supporting the Government of Malietoa. GiDger-drinking is practised so largely in the United States as to produce perfect intoxication. Ginger tincture is the usual form of consumption, but women and children also eat ginger, till the habit becomes a regular mania, and acts injuriously upon the health. A Melbourne politician has hit on the ingenious idea of giving one vote to every citizen under forty years and two votes to everyone over that age. He argues that young men have not gained political experience, and there is need to put some effectual check on many of the revolutionary proposals now made. By the vote of the people of Ballarat East, taken on June 26, the number of hotels in that borough is to be reduced from sixtyeight, the present number, to twenty-eight. One thousand six hundred and forty votes were polled from a roll of 3,588, and the majority for the reduction was 844. Sir Frederick Weld, now Governor of the Straits Settlements, was so seriously ill at the end of April that he was obliged to leave Singapore for England by the French mail steamer. Advices from Colombo, however, dated May 4, reported a slight improvement, and as nothing has been cabled to the contrary it is to be presumed that he reached the Home Country convalescent. The death is announced of Mr Thomas Hare. Mr Hare, who had reached the advanced age of eighty five, was the father of proportional representation, and author flf the famous scheme which excited tbe enthusiastic admiration of John Stuart Mill. His treatise, « The Election of Representatives, Parliamentary and Municipal,' of which the last edition appeared in 1873, is a thorough and exhaustive discussion of the principles on which representative government rests, and an attempt to show how the House of Commons might be made to reflect with the accuracy and clearness of a mirror the prevailing opinion of the country, due regard being paid to the interests of minorities. Mr Hare, who preserved his health and faculties unimpaired to the end, was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1833, and was formerly an inspector of charities. The young Earl Beauchamp, who has just burned nineteen, is one of the most promising of the younger members of the House of Lords. He has amassed an amount of literature and information on social questions and labor disputes which even Mr Cunninghame Graham might envy. His Press extracts aie voluminous, and his library in Canterbury Quad is well stocked. In order that he may learn what working men really think, he has joined the Working Men's Club at Oxford, and passes many a pleasant evening with the men. He haß realised that this is the only way to get to know the true thoughts and aspirations of those to whom he would be of service, and whose views are so distorted by interest and biased interpreters and middlemen,