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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 922, 20 January 1871, Page 2

Mr E. C. J. Stevens, the late member for the Selwyn district, Canterbury, met his constituents on the 9th instant, at Leeston. The district is an agricultural one, and the electors, we believe, look favorably upon the Government at any rate our telegraphic correspondent in Christchurch recently assured us that they did. Mr Stevens, however, as on a previous occasion, made no secret of his free-trade principles, and in a long and able address •demolished in detail the fallacies of the protectionists. In the course of his speech he proved, by unanswerable arguments, that the agriculturist would lose far more than he could gain by a protective policy; and he appears to have carried -the meeting with him. The portion of his remarks relating to Nelson cloth is so striking that we reproduce it for the benefit of our readers: —" There were other items of colonial industry equally affected, and his friend Mr Reeves quoted one, viz., Nelson cloth, which he advised should be protected. He (the speaker) hoped he was not misrepresenting him. It would be well to see what the committee on colonial industries said on the matter. They recommended a du'y in favor of it. He was in the habit of purchasing this cloth, which the manufacturers sold at 5s 6d a yard, and he showed it .to persons well acquainted with cloth. The tailor told him that he could not buy so good an imported article at less than 10s a yard, and the merchant said it could not be imported at less than from 7s 6d to 7s 9d. Now he would ask why that man should be protected who was now producing cloth at less than 2s 6d under imported prices ? Did the manufacturer want it himself? Not a bit of it, He (the speaker) would take the liberty of referring to what he said, and would ask i-the meeting to pay particular attention to the matter. He said—*•" We must confess the chief obstacle in the way has been the want of capital." He did not want protection—not one spark of it, from beginning to end, and at the latter part of his remarks he We find our great difficulty has been in the obtaining of experienced workman and the high rate of wages in the colony," and although that man could produce an article at a price so enormously lower than it could be imported from England, the protectionists told them it must be protected—which amounted to this, that the consumer must sustain a great injury," " There's many a true word spoken in jest," says the proverb. Twenty-one years ago Mr Thackeray contributed to Punch a series of imaginary newspaper extracts descriptive of "England in 1869," from journals of the period. One of these extracts announced the intended marriage of one of the Queen's daughters with the eldest son of a nobleman, connected with or related to Cabinet Ministers and great officers of State, including in particular the Archbishop of Canterbury. What he wrote in je3t for the "England of 1869" is almost literal truth in the "England of 1870," and bating a little humorous exaggeration, the language he employed is identical in spirit, if not in the letter, with the terms in which the various London journals have made known and commented on the Princess Louise's engagement. At the time the paragraph appeared her .Royal Highness was the youngest child of her parents, being in fact little more than 10 months old, and might very well have passed for the " Princess Boadicea" of the humorist. The Duke of Argyll was then a clever but somewhat forward young man, known, where at all out of Scotland, for his attachment to the Esr tablished Church of that kingdom, and for one or two, namphjets in. censure of the Free @huroh movement.

An Auckland contemporary says that pauperism in that city has more than doubled from the month of September, 1869, to the end of September, 1870. In January, 1870, 2.398 rations were issued, and in the month of September 5,263. The total number issued for the nine months 37,299, and the amount expended for relief during the same time J 81.596 19s Id. 'The Hampden (Otago) correspondent of the Waikouaiti Herald writes:—A case of sudden death took place here on the 23rd December, to the wife of Mr Kobert Cameron. The poor woman had been busy getting her children ready for the school examination, and while milking a cow was seized with an apoplectic fit. Dr. Hayne was in attendance in a few minutes, but the poor woman died in two or three hours after, leaving five small children to mourn her loss, one of them being an infant six months old. In an article on the position of the colonies in the event of war between England and Russia, the Sydney Morning Herald says ; —" We do not doubt that the English Government will send ships to scour these seas, and that the colonies will be protected, as far as mxy be consistent with the general interests of the Empire. We must not forget that, in the opening of war unpreparedness has been the common habit, of England. We mu3t not forget that war proceeds with rapid strides, and leaves few chances of recovery, when once there come misfortune and defeat. A foreign enemy could obtain the most accurate account of all that relates to our geography and resources for a few pence. The charts of our harbors may be purchased for a few shillings, and the accuracy of gunnery is such that the smallest surface is struck with absolute precision. It is a deplorable thing that, amidst interests so important to ourselves, our strength should be diverted by these terrible wars, It is deplorable that countries only recently occupied should find themselves in danger, without the slightest possibility of advantage, It is not, however, true that an absolute separation from England would render us more safe. During eighty years we have never seen the face of an enemy, and the shadow of a great Power has been a sufficient protection. It is the very wealth of the colonies that constitutes their peculiar danger now, and they must not grudge the means of preservation, however costly." Speaking of the Suez mail, the Melbourne correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald, says :—'• The statement made by the Treasurer the other day, that the new discoveries in marine engineering would probably enable us to get fast-sailing steamers at a much reduced cost, must be taken to be of very little account, for these ' new discoveries' appear to have been put in practice seven years ago, in the case of the P. and 0. Company's steamer Rangoon, which brings our mails this month from Ceylon, and she has not done the voyage in particularly fast time. I understand that these compound engines are rather troublesome in working at first, although they certainly efiect a saving in fuel. The Queen of the Thames, which is now on her way out here, has the more recent improvements in her machinery, which is on this compound principle, so that we may learn something new from her, although it is evident that there can be no such great novelty in these engines as to affect any contract we m-ty be prepared to enter into next year any more than it actually did affect the tenders sent in to our Government for the service last year* Whether in any other way this experimental trip of the Queen of the Sea may help our Government to some decision about the Cape service remains to be seen, but they have taken an unconscionable time to make up their minds upon the subject." One of the Queens of Song, an artiste who» in almost all European languages, has sung on the lyric stages of Eugland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, and elsewhere, Pauline Viardut Garcia, is now in London, having resumed her professional career. Her fortune has been sacrificed by the war in France, of which country her husband is a native, This is a sad reverse for the gifted sister of JVlalibran. She has given to the world singers of note who were her pupils, and it is as a teacher aud as a composer that Madam Yiardot wil| seek to secure a position in London^

A New South Wales paper relates the following remarkable story : —A strange affair occurred to a party of gentlemen belonging to Stawell, who were returning after a pleasure trip in a couple of buggies. During a heavy storm of wind and rain, some of them, while passing through a thickly-timbered part of the country, heard a sound resembling a distant bell. On the attention of the others being called to it, the vehicles were stopped, and immediately upon this being done, a large limb of a tree fell exactly upon the spot where one of the buggies would have been had they proceeded, which no doubt would have killed or seriously injured some of the travellers. The sound alluded to was found on examination to be caused by a piece of iron striking against the tire of the wheel. A late Australian paper says j—-The project of constructing a breakwater from the batteries at Williamstown to the lightship, off Gellibrand's point, is likely to be proceeded with before another year elapses. The Minister of Public Works has consented to make an estimate of the probable cost. There can be no doubt, as Mr Mason explained in Parliament, that the expense would be comparatively trifliDg, as the material is on the spot, and convict labor is available. The advantages to the shipping interest have been repeatedly urged in the security which will be given agaiust the southwesterly gales. It will also dispense with the lightships, as the light could be carried on the end of the breakwater. It has been pointed out that the breakwater might be made available as a means of defence, and carry a battery of two or more guns, of the heaviest calibre, for the protection of the shipping in the Bay. The city of Lawrence, Massachusetts, has been thrown into a state of great excitement, and not without just cause. It seems from the account given in the New York Herald, that an eldeily lady lately died in a house on Broadway in that place. On trj 20th ult., the day after the funeral, a lady who happened to be visiting one of the tenants of the same house, accidentally saw the figure of the deceased lady at the attic window. In great consternation she communicated the circumstance to the other occupants of the build'ng, and in a short time the entire neighborhood were made acquainted with the interesting fact, and with their own eyes witnessed the phenomenon. Various means were tried to expunge the photograph of the ghost from the glass, but all in vain : and at last owing to the crowds that assembled, it was found necessary to remove the sash. Dr. W. D. Lamb, an eminent physician, subsequently obtained permission to remove the sash to his office in Essex street, where it has been examined by "intelligent and scientific men," some of whom are of opinion that the departed must have been photographed upon the window pane by the action of lightning when sitting in the room before her death. It is a most uncomfortable story, and it is to be hoped that the " intelligent and scientific men" will not leave the window sash alone until they have thoroughly sifted the mystery. A late English paper says: —On the 27th October Captain Henry Miller Powell, of the 57th Regtiment, went out shooting with his brother, Captain Fred. Powell (sons of Wra. Powell, Esq., of Westbury House.) On their return home thev were overtaken by a storm. Capt. Henry was struck down by the lightning and iDStantly killed. Capt. Frederick almost miiavulously escaped, his coat only being singed ; a dog, however, which was walking at the side of the latter gentleman was killed. It is remarkable that the underclothing of the deceased was burnt, yet his outer garments were scarcely damaged. His collar stud was completely melted and embedded in his neck, but the studs in his shirt front were untouched. Much sympathy is felt towards the family of the deceased, who are highly respected in the neighborhood.