Western Champion (Blackall/Barcaldine, Qld. : 1879 - 1891), Friday 19 August 1881, page 2


Clippings from the Papers.

In the north of Queensland alligator stories in the dull reason do duty in the newspapers for our snake stories. This is the latest from Bananaland. A resident on the Bowen River, was always losing his dogs, no sooner

did he get a fresh pack together than one by one they disappeared, and all efforts to avenge the slaughter failed. At last he procured a dog skin, stuffed it, and fixed it up near a tree at the edge of the water, and concealed himself with a Snider rifle ready. He had

not long to wait, very soon a black snout

emerged from the water and a huge alligator

made for the dummy dog. Crack went the rifle, and the saurian tumbled into the river with a great splash. Another attempt was made with the same succcss; and then another until at last the hunter began to think that he had cleared the river of alligators. At last on looking more closely, and holding his fire he noticed something strange in the alligator's movements. Then he saw that it was the same alligator he had first shot, brought up

to the scratch by two other alligators in order to draw his fire and exhaust his ammunition, The man who tells this story never told a lie in his life.-Sydney Mail,

A surveyed road in a certain portion ©fa neigbbsring "division" ran through a gwd-wzod lagoon, and when tlie board's cngmeerw-os instruetcd to make the thorough, fare trafficable, it v&s deemed less oostJy to purchase a bit of private land alongside and tilST i roumt 1116 Iag°on instead of through it The owner of the requisitioned land saw bis chance, and asked the moderate sum of *100 for half-an-aeie. The Chairman or tliat board, a man who enjoys his joke. n* t {dm^hnM it0^ and eTarelJ" informed

Vs acocl)lccl and be would

(h» I i ! A 1'iat ®'le remainder of the block, some «iu acres, wotld be valued t! S"?'at "*e ssn,e n«'e,a proceeding to Which, of Course, he (seller) could not object, as the board would be merely be tak inglus own valuation. Mr. Grab retired within himself for a few minutes, and Sgnred out that his 640 acres, if valued at £200 oer

d Wng him in for a mtenTlSs tban £640 per year, the annual value being, fhn £ val,uaUoni S12'8,°0- On the same day, the Secretary of that board received a letter to say that Mr. Grab had much pteare in cZZjJg 'aad ®rat'B' Maryborough

S.V.Z. in the Toowoomba Chronicle says ;

tm£ ?t?Ikins in Qieen-street, the rther day, fie told me a yarn. When be was up the country, lost year, be visited a station where a veiy great man indeed had arrived Sit. P.urPosa of inspecting the property,

T1°W to"P""»J>asing it The Utter! iralike many self-made men, was unable to adapt himself to the position in life he had reached, but retained much of thecoarseneas

language of his former

bullocWnving days. Seeing a young fellow knocking about the plaoe, dressed like a station hand, and evidently not lone from the moUicr-countiy, he told him graffly to grease his (the great mans) boats, as the weather was wet and he was going out on the run. promising the price of a nobbier for the service. The young man quietly retelvod the boots, and liberally greased them, both inside and out. Furious was the wrath of the great man when the boots were returned : but die ingenuous yonth, who happened to be VS- j ?Be °*tho °M aristocratic families of England, modestly czclaimed that be was paying the owner of the station £100 a-year t?,lcarn,th1e business of a graiier, adding that although during his twelvemonths

experience lie had learnt to carry rations and boil the' billy" for the men at work, he had not yet reached the stage in the profession when he would be taught to grease boots.

j S'cpt man rather cooled (town at this, and walked away, muttering something ofa

sanguinary nature about new chums."

A strange incident is reported from Sarao a little town on the other side of Vesuvius, in the province of Salerno. The priests of the IS* fr.?^Fra5ci20 had »a «otomatic image of Christ made for the recent festival and curiosity to see a figure with movine head, eyes, and arms, attracted to the cUurcE an unusual crowd, who pressed round the altar, laughing and talking loudly, and dis hirbuig the religious ccrmouies. One of the priests a robust tnau, mounted the pulpit, and implored silence with oil the power of his lungs. But it was of no avail The noise soon became louder than ever. All at once the reverend gentleman flew into a great rase

*Ten- from thc pulpit, seized the figure

a"d brandishing it like a bludgeon, nit out right and left among the crowd, till the figure was smashed to atoms, and (ho altar ornaments upset. Then, finding his weapon no longer useful, he took to hts fists, dealing out furious blows, one of which broke the jawbone of a fellow priest who tried to intervene. The congregation fled in terror, and of course soon blocked up the door, faUinir one over the other. Legs. arms, and heads were broken; and at the end of this cxcitinc scone it was found that no fewer than sixty persons had received injuries.

Old Wofllbale,who lives out thereon the Never Never country, and who has the reputa tion of being worth a good round 6Um, which he made by modes which his neighbours sny will not bear too close a scrutiny, is an excellent faoise-dealer. He never yet settled with a shepherd without selling hira a certain horse for double the value-and there are people who spy that the horse has been so well trained that it has been as good as £100 a year to Woolbale. That horse has never been known to be three weeks from the station after being sold. A dam-inakcr bought it three years before, paid 410 for it, and about six months ago he took a job of fencing at TRooibale's. The first thing he saw in the httie paddock near the house was the .' pine" he had purchased j but as he had a goodeon tract on, and knowing the boss (who didn't recognise him as a former employ^) was a rather touchy old fellow he said nothine about the matter. Another reason, too, for his silence was that he might be mistaken. However, he. went on with his fencing, and three weckB ago, all the work was passed, and ne camein to the head station for a settle ment. a® bad to draw £W> or thereabouts. And previous to paying the oheque Woolbale jaid lie had a good horse to sell cheap-he'd take £10 for it. "Let's see him," said the oushmun. And they woct out and inter viewed the famons Gothic steed, "Worth £20 any man's money, and wouldn't sell him now only gross is getting short." And the fencer walked up the side of the horse, looked at the brands, and then replied, " It's no use this time, Mr. Woolbalo. I bought him once before-three years ago, and I can't afford to puicbase him again this trip."

A Roumanian engineer, /rajah Theodoresco by name, lias invented a new description of torpedo or submarine boat, whoso peculiarity is that it is capable of manoeuvring under water for twelve hours at a stretch. It is abloto net at from depths of 100ft in rivers to 700ft fo 800ft in the sea. It is able through the agency of screws, to rise or sink noiselessly and cither suddenly or gradually By succassivc stngos, and can move or manoeuvre in anj; direction. The alumina Hon of the vessel is internal, and enables the

UIT 8e# fcr n distance of 180ft under water. The vessel is managed and -08 any ordina*'y irouclad boat.

On IHiesday nearly 30,000 acres of land were applied for at the land court, Dalbv for Cooranga lands, which were thrown open

to selection. r

Tiiero is a paper mill established at George's Kivcr, near Sydney. 110 bands are employed bv it, 100 tons of coal are consumed weekly, and £2500 per annum paid to the Hallway Department for carriage.

A nephew of General Sir Frederiok Roberts. of Afghan renown, is teaching a ooimttr school about 40 miles fro® Sydney.