A THIEVING ELEPHANT.--The contents of a clothes-chest, belonging to one of the people recently employed in the carnival in the Waverley Market, Edinburgh, disappeared in a rather amusing fashion. The chest had been lying near the performing elephants, and in the morning it was observed that one of these animals was particularly lively, and apparently in the very highest spirits. Later on, the owner of the chest discovered that the whole of the contents had been abstracted. Subsequent examination satisfied the searchers that one of the animals was responsible for the disappearance of the wardrobe, and as none of the articles could be discovered hidden away in its vicinity, the only conclusion that could be come to was, that the mischievous animal had swallowed the whole lot--boots, brushes, trousers, shirts, and several other articles of wearing apparel. THE BAKU NAPHTHA SPRINGS.--Although within the last two years intelligence has frequently reached Europe of extraordinary outbursts of mineral oil on the Apsheron peninsula, near Baku, nothing has yet equalled the astonishing outbreak which the Northern Telegraph Agency telegraphed a few days ago. Their telegram was to the effect that, near the petroleum works of a certain M. Arafeloff, a fountain of oil was throwing out over 2,400 tons daily, that this had been continuing without intermission for four weeks, and that more than the half of this enormous output was going to waste. It is to this loss of the oil that attention is now being directed. Not only at Arafeloff's fountain, but at almost every large fountain in the Balakhan-Sabuntchin district, the waste of this most valuable product has been enormous. Millions of poods of oil have been lost owing to the inefficient way in which it is reservoired and stored. It is now understood that the Government will take immediate steps to prevent this ruinous waste, and to compel the owners of oil-springs to adopt more scientific methods of boring, collecting, and storing. AN IRISH CABIN PAVED WITH GOLD.--The _Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette_ of December 31st contains the following:--"A few weeks ago, the writer was in a bank office in a country town in the south of Ireland, when a very common-looking, roughly-dressed man passed out after a conference with the manager. The latter said, 'Did you see that man? Well, some time ago, there was a run on the Bank of Ireland here, and he withdrew (receiving it in gold) £700 which he had there on deposit. That sum he informs me he still has at home, "under the kitchen flure." He has also more than £400 on deposit here with us.' Is it not hard to know 'what is truth' in Ireland? Here you have the floor of an Irish cabin literally paved with gold at a time when the payment of rent is impossible. It may be said that this is an exceptional case, but we believe such cases are not at all so rare as some suppose."