The man'who v could take 1000 drinks in 1000 hours might command the sympathy of the Christchurch public, 5 perhaps; but he wouldn't draw even here at Is. I went ,to see Mr Wiltchire during his 'walk, and having/once seen such a perform ance,;;l> can (truthfully say /that I don't think •I shall ever invest a shilling on such an ex citement againn ' Not unless 1 survive to be a reai good old octogenarian do tist;" An attempt is bemg.'madetbbrin^ Tas manian hops before the attention of the j English, Welsh, Scotch, and Irish brewers, as well as under' the notice of the leading newspapers'and agricultural societies in eyjbry part of Great Britain. ; - r. '■•■ : ' Twenty small diamonds have been ob .tainedfrom nine' loads of washdirtj at Bin ,gera, Australia^ ■ ,-", /\ :. ' The Hbbart Town whaling fleet, accord-/ ing to the Mercury, now numbers , "only " nineteen yeasels r , ■'■;} #'. ..■ ,■ With respect to some gigantic fossil re mains of New Zealand saurians which have been added to the collections in the Colonial Museum at Wellington, the Jmlependent says :— "Probably some of our:,readers re collect seeing a few months back upon the "Wnarf several ( huge gr t ey boulders, showing here and there fossil imprints. These were fdund at Amuri, and sent to Dr Hector, under whose directions they are giving up bone by boAe the) remains which they have

enshrouded for ages. The process^ of extri cating these tell-tales '. of a; past existence from their stony covering is an exceedingly; delicate task, and one that, would appear to require a special aptitude.fcWith mallet .and chisel, often not bigger than a bradawl, the workman -patiently' chips away, day after day, to once more bring into light the stray bones and articulations embedded. in,the. stone. Some of these specimens of extinct life are remarkably perfect. 