MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

Western Star, Issue 2, 22 November 1873, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

Oats are selling at Bs. 6d. per bushel in CrOm* wen. fe , ‘ Spencer Island, Bluff Harbour, bis been purchased by Dr. Grrigor. At Gatlin’s River the export trade in sawn timber averages 15,000 feet per day. The Lakes District Jockey Club have decided to erect a grand stand at a cost of £315, A contract has been accepted for the erection of a Grammar School at Queenstown at a cost of £9OO. The prospectus of a Steam Shipping Company, with a capital of £250,000, is published in the Dunedin papers. Between the Ist of April, 1857, and the 30th September last, 7,116,8550z5. of gold, valued at £27,529,336, have been exported from New Zealand. The Centennial Exhibition of theJUnited States of America is to opened on the 19th of April, 1876 ; and already we perceive by the “ Argus ” and other Australian exchanges, that our southern sister colonies are awakening to the necessity for being ready to assume their proper places in the exhibition. Enow the 18th November, 1872, to the 30th August, 1873, the Agent-General despatched 5,433 emigrants to the colony. Their nationality was as follows : —English, 3,449 : Scotch, 1,2.82 ; Irish, 1,039 ; Welsh, 103 ; Germans. 65 ; Danes, 300 ; Swedes, 15 j . Norwegians, 259 ; other ■countries, 95. A Buenos Ayres correspondent of an Amex'ican paper narrates 1 particulars of the discovery in a province of the Argentine Republic of wonderful gold minec, said to bo the richest in the world. One half of the site of the mine has been sold, according to the narrator, for 100,000,000d01. The complaints made by immigrants regarding their treatment on board ship are notoriously great. The American Government lias hit upon an ingenious method of finding out whether these complaints are well founded or not. With tills object, a number of the Treasury clerks have boon scut to Europe with instructions to come back in the steerage of the various lines, to make a personal examination of the food, accommodation, and treatment of the passengers, and report upon them, so as to give the authorities a basis, for action. The plan is a very good One, provided the “amateurs” are not found out, and 'are thus exceptionally well treated, so as to influence their reports. Perhaps our Government might take the hint.

Several German writers upon races predict -i that nations, far from improving, will both in physical and mental characteristics, if ; potatoes become a principal. article of diet. The | celebrated Carl Yoight says that “ the nourishhig j | potato does not restore the wasting tissue, but a makes our proletariats physically | the same j rho ! excessive use of and coffee and the cause of the indolc^W^mMs. 11 LeidonfrostJ maintains that the revolutions of the last throe centuries have been caused by the changed! nourishment; the lowest workman, in former times, ate more flesh than now, when the cheap • potato forms his principal subsistence, but gives, him no muscular or nervous strength. Brother Maciotxe, the (rood Templar lee--turer, found himself in a very awkward predicament in Lawrence lately. He had been lecturing! at the Blue Spur, and on his way back to Law-? renco lost his way, and did not arrive till thei “ wee sraa’ hours,” when all the hotels shut. A happy thought struck the lost Templar, lie went to the Police Camp to give himself in| charge as a lost man. Unfortunately he couldl not make himself heard, and lie gave up the attempt. “ Ultimately,” says the “ Tuapeka Times,” “ after much agitation of body and spirit, he mefc| a walking night constable, to whom lie made an open confession. Thj guardian of the night con-1 veyed Brother Mackune to the fraternal Lock-up, where doubtless he slept a dreamful sleep, in' which constables, and miners, and tailraces were amalgamated in glorious confusion,” There is a penitentiary in Dunedin for the reformation of fallen women —The food of the inmates is plentiful and wholesome, though plain. ■ For breakfast they have porridge; at 11 in the* forenoon, by way of lunch, they have bread and* butter and tea or coffee; dinner consists of meat® of different kinds on different days, with potatuSß and other vegetables, and pudding twice a week ; ■ for tea they have tea and broadband butter. On® Sundays, instead of porridge, they have sausages* for breakfast. A brief reference to the finances ■ of the Institution may bo made before closing® those remarks. The sum of £350 has been® raised by subscriptions received from the publi&B and a similar amount has been received as a suit™ sidy (at the rate of £1 for £L) from the Brovin-JH cial Government. Of the expenditure, the most® serious item has been the £SOO for the purchase™ of the house and ground. ■ An English paper says : —“ The Independent™ Order of Good Templars arc having a nice little® quarrel among themselves in England. _ Gcrtaip® of their numbers have been quenching thirst with a liquid called • Botanic Boer, winch,® when analysed, was found to contain 1* to cent, of alcohol. The news reaching the earns>o® a very big dignitary of the (UAcr, AittejM arc sot forth by the letters D.D.G.W C.T., ti* issued an order, declaring that anyone indulging in tlie ‘ Botanic , polled the Brotherhood. Txxio,-inn mJ'StenpnM liquid drinkers refusedJo.sb.th'd, so they, m theiM turn, called a i.w unmule the rival factions is now in the height of ibH glory. A now order is spoken of, and fche amount of dissatisfaction prevails in this bodv. It is certainly a cuvwua when temperance people quarrel mnong selves, the'subject should I".' IDor.’ •'VhM