The County of Taranaki has 632 holdings ; 1395 acres of land broken up: —ln wheat if;B6, oats 412, in barley 30, in grasses 43,631 acres, potatoes 464', other cr< ips 226—total number of acres under crop 46,349.

The peculiarity of the fly.is that he always returns to the same spot; but it is the characteristic of the mosquito that he always;returns to another spot. Thus he differs from the leopard, wnich does not change its spot. This is-an important fact in natural history.

The Whale.— Two Northumbrians, viewing a whale at Tynemouth together, were heard to converse as follows : “ Wad n’t ye wonder hoo Jonah man ished to swalley an animal like that ? ” “ Aye,, be gox,, thor musn’t hev been no fresh herring five for twopence in those days.” .

CATTLE BREEDING.

The celebrated agriculturist, Mr. J. J. Mechi, speaking at a Farmers’ Club; meeting in London, at Christmas, on the “most Profitable System of Feed-

ing Cattle,” remarked that the question of .making fat beef in England > profit-

ably was one of immense significance at the present time, and.under the threat-

ening aspect of American competition • that the matter affected landowners quite as much as tenants ; and that the American farmers were finding out that 8 tons of maize (40 qrs.), whose freights, &Ci, to England would amount prob ably to would, when converted into a ton of pork or bacon, .only cost or less, for they might reasonably calculate that 8 lbs of maize would make of pork. The mode of feed ing, he went on to say, should be regu lated by the age and previous condition of the animal, and lean stock made starved and lean crops. On the ques tion why cattle are less profitable than sheep, Mr. Mechi referred for explana tion- to his own practice. On fifty acres of his land which he was able to sheep fold, he never carted, he said, a load of manure, and there was no waste of manure, because it all went to the land. He made most profit from young cattle carried on gradually to maturity. Under cover, winter and summer, he had often, sold them fat at three times their cost in twelve months or less, and they pro gressed under cover much faster than in the fields. Neglect of ventilation was a common-and unprofitable error, and he often saw, new ranges of build ings without openings in the roofs, which amounted to monetary suicide. Changes of _ food were dangerous if made hastily. Thirty years’ experience had convinced him of the advantage of giving warm food to cattle, there being little difference'in that respect between cattle and human beings. The profit ot cattle-feeding must always be indi rect ; depending on the value of the manure ; r and the misfortune of British agriculture was the small quantity of meat, and consequently of 'manure, made per acre. He was a believer in condimental food and linseed soup as assistants to early ripeness. The peo ple of England might easily be fed with home-grown produce by means of a much larger investment of capital in meat making.

A ROMANTIC STORY.

A captain of an English ship which arrived at San Francisco lately, related a romantic story to a reporter of one ot the San Francisco papers with re gard to the following entries which

appeared in the official log of his voy age; : —« August 16 ; latitude, -- ; longitude, ■ James Colton,St stow away, fell from the'foretopga]la,nt yard; to the deck, and was instantly killed.” William Bean, an ordinary seaman, while the. .sCrdce. was being read over Colton,, jumped, from, the-. topgallant rail and sank immedintelv. Ship hove to at the time. A boat was lowered, but no traces of the man could be dis cerned.” EJ.ruL-A

1 h.e circumstances, according to the captain’s statement, were as follows : Bean shipped in Liverpool, and was a tall, good-looking, young fellow, active and zealous in the performance of his duties. Two days after the sailing of the vessel, “ a?little bit of a fellow with short curly hair and a round face ” was found by the mate stowed away under the forehatch. He gave his name as Colton, 'and was* claimed by Bean as an; old ,“.chum,”„.who, wanting..a..passage to California, but having no money, had secreted himself on board the ship. .Colton was set to work to assist the ’steward, and was employed in odd jobs about the cabin. He also coloured some photographs .In the captain’s album, in a manner which showed con , sidcrable artistic skill. He and Bean were observed to be constantly in each other’s society, and from their intimacy it was supposed that Bean had induced Colton to run away from school and tr y his fortune in California. One day a squall came on suddenly, and Colton jumped into the forerigging to get aloft and stow the foreroyal. Bean followed ; but Colton got ahead of him, and, missing his fpqting, (fellwith' a “ thud ” on the deck, breaking his neck. Bean, on seeing what had happened, was seized with a fit. On recovery he con- that- .Colton was his wife, who herself as a boy in order to follow him. He produced the mar riage certificate and letters, which showed that lie was a young man of good family, that his.name of Bean was assumed, and that he had married his wife, whom he had known from child hood, against the wish of his and her friends. Not having sixpence in the world, they came on board ship, Bean having been to sea before. The next day, when the funeral - service had been read over his wife’s remains and her body slipped off into the sea, Bean leaped over the side of the vessel and disappeared. The captain, who drank a good deal of sherry and wept copi ously as he related the story to the re porter, particularly requested that in publishing the account of the sad in cident the | name of his ship might not be mentioned, observing'tliat “ he did not like that sort of sensation.”

JEALOUSY AND SUICIDE.

A tragedy of a shocking character occurred some time ago- in Wolver hampton, where a young man named Griffiths, a bellbws-maker by 'trade, attempted to murder a girl named Elizabeth Beeston, and,, failing- in the attempt, committed suicide by cutting his throat. It seems the two had been formally engaged to each other for a considerable time past with the full consent of their parents; who occupy a respectable position for their rank in life. _ On the night in question Griffiths had. at the house of the girl’s parents, and after a few minutes’ con versation, in the course of which noth ing - occurred to excite suspicion, he and the girl left, for an hour or two’s stroll. The girl denies that there had been any quarrel between them, and states that nothing of moment occurred till all at once lie put his hand on her

shoulder and said, in a peculiar tone of voice, “ Bessy stand still.” She said, wonderingly, “ What for ? ” He made no reply, but. immediately placed one hand across her mouth to prevent her screaming, and with the other drew a sharp leather-cutting knife, which he used in his trade, from his pocket, and deliberately commenced to cut her throat. She wrestled vigorously with him, and, being a powerful young woman, lie was unable to master her. Her cries attracted assistance, and, on a young man named Lewis hastening to the spot, the would-be murderer de camped. He was chased for a short distance, but succeeded in eluding his pursuer, and was not discovered till about an hour afterwards, when the attention of some passers-by was at tracted by what they thought was a drunken man lying in a gateway close to the road-side On examination it turned out to be a dead body, and sub sequently it was identified as the corpse of Griffiths, who had committed suicide by cutting his throat from ear to ear. The girl Beeston, though badly cut about the neck and arms, is expected to 'recover. The deceased, Griffiths, was only twenty-one years of age, and the girl whom he assaulted, nineteen. Jealousy is presumed to be the motive, but nothing accurate is known.

THE EVENING ECHO, THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1878,



G. W. DUCKWORTH, WHOLESALE AND' RETAIL GENERAL GROCER, HIGH STREET, CHRISTCHURCH, (Next. Messrs. Strange’s Buildings.) WISHES to call attention to the PARTICULARLY LOW PRICES at which he is NOW ■ SELLING ALL GOODS, which cannot be beaten by any House in the Province. WHOLESALE ORDERS DELIVERED, FREIGHT PAID, TO ANY STATION ON THE CANTERBURY RAILWAY. w c r. H H » % R < a o KJ r i > o K t=2 H K >5 > I*o 3 <n S o c 2



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A. O. AITKEN A N-D C 0 ’ S TJITEESEEYED CLEAEING SALE NOW BEING HELD. BARGAINS ! BARGAINS ! BARGAINS !