The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1871-08-05

Happy CoINclpENCEs.-What a number OF hap
nv historical condolences the universal Peace
treaty of Washington has given birth to! First,
the british Commissioners arrived here on the
greatest birthday anniversary that America cele-
brates-the 22d of February-the treaty was
COMPLETED and signed on the 9th of May, the
birthday anniversary most acceptable to English
men-that of Queen Victoria-the notifications
were exchanged in London on the 18th of June
the anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill, the
opening fight of the American Revolution, and a
fight in which both sides gained honor, foI
while the British Enthusiastically whipped us, we
gained all the glory and, lastly, the treaty was
proclaimed as the accepted law of the land and oil
the two nations on the glorious Fourth of July.
Did any greater conglomeration of suspicious Cir
cumstances ever cluster about SO great a master
piece of craftsmanship? Does not every date
certify to the wise provisions of the treaty for
maintaining peace and good will among all Eng
disappearing people?-N Y. Herald.
THE OPERATION AT HE'LL GATE.-The nayiga-
ton interests which have to enter New York bv
the Sound, are to be essentially benefited by the
operations now on hand designed to remove the
distractions so dangerous in Hell Gate. Hallett's
Point is the chief cause of danger, extending as
it does, from the Long Island shore some four
hundred feet into the water. 1t causes eddies
and currents most perilous to vessels of all classes,
and almost inhibiting the passage of small YES
sells. This Point is being blasted away, and the
magnitude of the undertaking may be inferred
when it is known that the mass to be removed is
100000 cubic yards of the hardest kind of gneiss,
all under water. The operation is performed by
tunneling the rock and blasting it when the ex-
c%avatiOns have become extensive enough. A shaft
was sunk on shore to the depth of near a hundred
feet, from which ten tunnels were excavated un-
der the river more than twenty feet high, and
from thirteen to fifteen feet wide. They radiate
cuo~a ~ zIaC g. - oro I.cto aoe o~l Io.-kLc
and are connected by concentric galleries. When
completed, there will be pillars left, supporting
the rock above, which will be chambered for pow
der.
A MULE BATTERY IN AcTIoN.-The ordnance
select committee of England recently made an
experiment in firing a mountain howitzer strapped
on to the back of a mule. The mule, the loaded
gun, the committee and several 50 big wigs, -
attracted by the novelty of the experiment, went
to the trial ground at Woolwich to witness the
firing. The mule was backed up into position,
SO that the muzzle of the gun, pointing over his
tail, was aimed at an earthen mound. The COM
mittee decided to fire it by means of a slow
match, and it was prepared and lighted. Hith-
erto the mule had taken rather a sleepy interest
in the proceedings, but somehow the izzing on
his back caused him first to prick up his ears,
then to lay them back, and finally to begin to
turn round. The committees were thunderstruck
and skedadled in all directions the secretary
threw himself fiat on his face there was a mo-
ment of agonizing suspense-theI bang the shot
ricochetting away in one direction, while the
wretched mule turned a complete summersault in
the other.
A peculiar malady which battles veterinary
skill, is prevailing extensively among the horses
of the New York street railway companies. 1t
first appeared in the stables of the Seventh avenue
railroad; one hundred and thirty horses were
attacked, several of which have died, but many
of the diseased were saved by being removed to
Westchester county and carefully treated. The
disease spread rapidly, three hundred and fifty
horses of the Third avenue railroad company
being incapacitated from work. and thirty of
them dying. The plague is not confined to the
city but has appeared in the country about New
York. The animal is first attacked with a species
of paralysis in the headquarters, which gradually
creeps up the spinal cord towards the brain,
when the use of the limbs is almost entirely lost.
The appetite is not affected, but the natural
functions are completely suspended. Among the
various remedies tried, aconite and belladona
have thus far proved most efieacious.
1t has been ascertained that the difference be-
tween II school-boy and a clerk is, that one stores
the mind. and tho othOr minds tho oeoro.