MISCELLANEOUS.

Wellington Independent, Volume V, Issue 425, 7 November 1849, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

A Rare Policeman.—The following has been communicated to the Graham's Town Journal:— Some short time since, several, cases of Kaffir robbery having been traced into the Tambookie country, SuperintendentDavis wenton the business and dealt very summarily with the offending parties. Ihsfeadof talking and receiving compensation of the Kaffirs, as the old custom was, and. getting a few stunted calves and toothless cows, he just went into the kraal and took for compensatiog that which' was worthhaving; The Chief of that part of'the Tambookie country, whose name is Kwesha, came, when the j following vary laconic dialogue ensued:'— I Tambookie Chief-;?-' Why don't you talk ?

" '-'-.■■"' i m' '' ■' "I'll |i ,___ m„. —don't you know that I am Kwesha,.the" Chief?" Davis, Superintendent of Police. " I don't talk—don't you know that' I am Davis, the Lion ?" The chief. quailed.

Rossini Mad—The Messager den Theatres makes a statement which, if true, will create a painful sensation throughout Europe : it is that Rossini has, like poor Donizetti, become insane. Private letters, says the Metsager, reached Paris yester-". day announcing the fact. The cause of the dreadful visitation is represented to be the profound terror felt by the great composer at the terrible revolutionary scenes of which Bologna, where he resides, has been the theatre. It is stated among other things that he was condemned to death some months ago by a revolutionary tribunal for having refused to contribute to the expenses caused by the popular rising againg Austria; but he contrived to avoid execution. Another condemnation having recently being pronounced against him, has mind gave way, and his friends got him removed secretly from the town. Disappointed of their prey, however, the mob is said to have shot him in effigy. j - Supplement to M'Cclloch's v Gb--.- ■ ©GRAPHICAL BicTIO-TAEY.—Mr. M'Clll.' loch's supplement to his Geographical Dictionary, just published, if it does not satisfy a a want long felt by many, yet mitigates it in a great degree. His little pamphlet contans notices of all the Australian settlements, of New Zealand, Van Diemen's Land, aud Natal. These notices are gleaned from the most recent as well as from the most fair of the works published by colonists. They are not, indeed, wholly free from errors and prejudices, but they are less likely to mislead the unbiassed inquirer than any cheap books on the subject. Theprejudice of the author upon particular points, such as the upset price of land, is, at any rate, not likely to be injurious to individual interests, however it may affect colonial ones. The resume it gives of the progress and increase of the Australasian colonies is at least curious. New South Wales is now just sixty yeaas old. For many years it was a penal colony. But, despite of tbe many disadvantages which this condition enforced, the reluctance of Englishmen to emigrate, and the great disparity of the sexes, it now contains 212,000 inhabitants its revenue is £264,000 a year, aud one of its districts, Port Phillip, about to be formed into a separate government. South Australia, which has not been settled above fifteen years, contains a population of 35,000 persons, whilst its capitalAdelaide (including the port,) has no fewer than 9,000 inhabitants, whilst its revenue exceeds £60,000 per .annum. And Cooksland, another offshoot from the parent colony, and capable of being formed into a separate government, already contains more stock than all New South Wales did 25 years ago. All these facts are encouraging enough. One does no need to be told of the fortunes made byspeculators in the Burra-Burra or other mines. And Mr. M'Culloch very properly discourages any very sanguine anticipations of gains to be realized from mineral wealth. The wealth of the country and the resources of the colonists must be looked for, not in its silver, nor its lead,-nor even in its copper, but in its flocks, and its herds, and its harvests—rin all those products which repay the patient assiduity of continuous toil rather than satiate the cravings of vague cupidity. The wool of South Australia and New South Wales, the pines of Cooksland and Moreton Bay, the horses of Western Australia, and eventually when population has increased, the vine and the olive in all parts of the Australian continent, will prove the real sources of the colonial prosperity. Let no colomst delude himself with fantastic dreams. To those who will labour with diligence and earnestness, Australia guarantees competence and comfort. But let no one go thither who anticipates sudden and excessive riches. It appears that the soil of New Zealand is calculated to support a larger population than that of Australia on the same area. The land is better than the average of Australian land, but requires determined energy and industry to develope its agricultural properties. The-poorest and lightest requires some clearing and burning before it is able to receive the plough; the richest is overgrown with forests or brushwood, and will not be subjugated by the husbandry of the colonists . till their multiplied numbers have made recourse to fresh but more difficult land necessary. Hereafter it will be the destiny of Eastern Australia to supply Europe with wool, and of New Zealand to supply Australia with bread. Never were the reciprocal offices, of kindred aud contiguous countries so clearly indicated by • the benficence of nature.— Times.

A Lucky Shoemakeh.—The proprietors of a boot and shoe establishment in this town have received from their agents* at Stafford a pair of ladies' boots, to which the following memorandum was affixed: —-'The young man that made this pair of boots, since I last saw you, has had. a great fortune left him—to the amount of £16,000—by old David Anderson, (77,) of Canton, near Lightfordjso he iiasgiven his kit of shoemakrng tools -away, and is now become, a gentleman.— Liverpool Courier. .... .."".- '.' „'/..-"'." "..