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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 156, 4 September 1866, Page 2

The mail for Wellington and South, by the' Otago, closes at 1.30 p.m., to-morrow. Richmond Cattle Fair will be held to-mor-row. The committee recommend the farmers to show for sale, grain, dairy produce, roots, &c, for which the basement of the agricultural hall is at the service of the exhibitors. An adjourned meeting of the Albion Cricket Club is announced to take place at the Trafalgar Hotel, on Thursday evening next. The Earl of Shaftsbury presided at the anniversary meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The Bishop designate of Nelson was present. The Beyrout version of the Arabic Bible has been completed by Dr. Vandyke, and placed within the reach of 120 millions of the human race. The foundation stone of a new building was laid by the Prince of Wales on the 11th June. The issues for the year have been*as follows : from the depot at home, 1.471,044 copies ; from depots abroad, 825,086 copies. It wa3 stated that through the improvmentsonmachinery bibles were cheap ; through the spread of education men were able to read them ; through the spread of political freedom countries where the bible was forbidden were now open ; aud through the agency of colportage they could- be carried to every home. The Shah of Persia has extended to the Nestorians all the rights and privileges of religious liberty. During the four years' struggle of the American war two million copies of the scriptures were distributed among the American army aud navy. Eight millions of knapsack books were also circulated. The committee and friends of the Young Mens' Christian Association, will meet in the Wesleyan school-room, Hardy-street, tonight, at 8 o'clock. The Lyttelton Times has an amusing critique on the new Ministry, who have consented to bury the past in order to carry on the business of the country. Haying intimated that Mr. Stafford has suddenly turned round from centralisation to provincialism, thus exhibiting patriotism of the tenth order, it proceeds — If Mr. Stafford deserves praise for having so quickly swallowed and forgotten his previous policy, how much more . commendable is the conduct of those great men, the late associates of Mr. Weld. To them justly belongs the praise due to men who serenely forgive and forget gross political injuries. According to their views, Mr. Stafford ousted Mr. Weld by an unworthy trick, purloined his policy with contemptible meanness, and endeavored to carry on a government by unconstitutional proceedings. But this. accumulation of political crime has been unable to quench the charity of Messr?. Fitzherbert, Richmond, and Richardson. They are. ready to heap coals of fire on the criminal's head by accepting office under him. And, still further to prove the coin-

pleteness of their forgiveness, they throw away every vestige of self-reliance and join in Mr. Stafford's heartfelt expressions of thaukfulness that the British soldier is still to be kept in the colony. The sentimental Richmond still believes, we daresay, in his favorite quotation that "the mill of God grinds slowly, but it grinds exceeding small." Some will begin to think that it grinds old iuto young, centralists into provincials, professors of self-reliance into dependents, upon the British troops, honesty into dishonesty, and principles into dust. But another familiar figure appears in this strange political pantomime — one whose promises and protestations are still fresh in our ears. It is scarcely more than four months since Mr. John Hall claimed the suffrages of the Heathcote electors chiefly on the score of his deadly political animosity to Mr. Stafford. Fresh from the scene of the Premier's rape upon the constitution, Mr. Hall opened his electioneering campaign by threatening — to use his own worbs — to drag Mr. Stafford from the throne he had so unlawfully and violently usurped. And, now, behold him comfortably settled in office under Mr. Stafford. But the letter of the threat has been kept, and so we must not complain. Mr. Stafford has been dragged down and set up again. Mr. Hall is a clever man, and we cannot better explain the reason of our hopes in him, than by relating an anecdote current at the time of his election. Among other objections urged against him, Mr. Hall's opponents charged him with having obtained exorbitant compensations for alleged trifling damages from two successive governments. During the heat of the discussion a worthy farmer, one of Mr. Hall's supporters, who hails from the feu districts in the old country, rose and said •' Muster Hall has been able to get over tu governments here, let us send him up to | Wellington ; he'll do the same there, and take care of us." We hope he will. The Canterbury Eveuiug Mail, writing j under the head of " Pro-Maori Humbug," j savs . — Xhe system of feeding the Maoris on j " lilly-pee" out of a silver spoon certainly appears to have now reached as high a pitch as possible. It seems to have been necessary that, for appearance's sake, the Maori chief christened or called William Thompson should be brought from the Thames to Wellington in a man-of-war. The tailoring arragements are very comical. Whether the youthful pretender, "calling himself the Queen's son," be a Maori or really Prince Alfred in disguise, we are not informed by the Daily Southern Cross. But it is the case that " a stylish suit was sent up from the Esk for Thompson, who stood in great need of it !" Really, this almost remiuds us of " the first gentleman in Europe," G-eorge the Fourth of gracious memory, with whom the shape of a coat or the tie of a cravat was of more consequence than the destinies of a nation. The arrival of Thompson, the Maori kingmaker, at Wellington, in "a stylish suit," wilfbe a triumph equally for Exeter Hall and for Dowuing-street. Thompson is the very Beau Brummell of Hau Han Maoris. He must not only have his " stylish suit," but he must have companions whom he considers aristocratic. He must have with him " a Frenchman and a gentleman !" He capitulates on his own terms. There are probably some secret clauses in the treaty, by which Thompson and his gentlemanly Frenchman are to be allowed, at Government expense, a certain amouut of " tick" at Peter Laing's (the great Wellington confectioner), for oyster patties, fresh buns, and lollypops. Once upon a time the Government of New South Wales purchased a herd of Alpacas from Mr. Charles Ledger, giving some £13,000 for the lot. The herd for a long time was kept in the Government domain, Mr. Ledger being engaged as overseer thereof at a salary of £600 a-year. Several other expenses were incurred besides, and the speculation being found to be too costly, the Alpacas were sold a short time ago for what they would fetch. The experiment entails a loss upon the New South Wales Government of something like £20,000. Apropos of this, we take the following paragraph from an Auckland paper :— Several Alpacas which

were imported into Auckland from New South Wales about two years ago, and which have since that time been running on the Government domain, were sold by auction on August 4th. They brought from £10 10s. to £12. They appear to thrive in this climate. A correspondent ofthe New Zealand Herald says : — " Sir, I wrote you a letter, on the' 2nd August, stating that a Petroleum well had been discovered at Raglan. Since then Mr. Falwasser, travelling to and from Aotea, had discovered two more, not four miles from the town. I really think it would pay for a prospecting party here. The one discovered by Mr.Davy is on Maori land, about four miles from town, and close by the river. A party has gone out to-day in further search of coal, which is positively known to be here. The natives also say there is copper on Kurehoe Mountain, or Woody Head." The following, which we take from the Talbot Leader, is well worthy the attention of our Acclimatisation Society : — A very interesting stranger, in the form of a small bird, has lately visited Amherst, and performed wonders among the pests that periodically infect gardens with their presence and ravages. Its first descent was made into the garden of Mr. Cowley (Amherst Hotel), and after a day or two's work it succeeded in entirely clearing the garden of everything in the shape of blight and grub from fruit trees, vegetables, and rose trees, &c. Having performed scavenger's work here it proceeds to other gardens, similarly making a clean sweep of every description of' blight in them. It is still pursuing its kindly advocation, and seems bent upon driving all such pests out of the town. Our informant asks us to appeal to the generosity of local sportsmen not to injure this interesting stranger — an appeal which we have no doubt will prove successful under the circumstances. Its description is furnished to us as follows : — The bird is i smaller than the common or colonial wren, i has a fiue plumage, the breast is of a pale | salmon color, it has greenish bronzed wings and back, and a yeliov/ish color rouud ilie eyes. Similar birds have been observed as ' birds of passage, both in the North Island and here; the Maoris were describing them as a new species. These birds in New Zealand have especially attacked the blight on the apple trees. The Queensland Times thus speaks of a style of wire-fenciug lately introduced by Mr. Fitz, at Piltou, the cost of which is little more than one-third of the ordinary threerailed fence. Mr. Fitz has caused to be constructed several pile drivers, about eighteen feet high, with rams weighing 3cwt. By means of one of these he is able to drive one hundred posts a day, with the same number of men as would be required to put in thirty posts in the ordinary way. The posts are delivered, pointed and bored, at such a rate us enabled him to erect the fence at a cost, including wire and labor, of less than £42 per mile, and by a simple contrivance, consisting principally of a roller, he is able to dispense with those costly iron staudards which are ordinarily used to stretch the wire, and which may be seen on our railway line. Mr. Wilcox having heard of Mr. Fitz's invention, is about to employ it on the railway. Of course, it will only answer on tolerably level country, and where the ground is not too hard. The posts are driven six inches deeper than the posts for ordinary fences. The search for Leichhardt will be continued in the spirit of the original agreement entered iuto by the late Duncan M'lntyre. Mr. Slomau, appointed by the late leader of the expedition to the post of first officer under him, will be intrusted with the command, subject to special instructions of Donald M'lntyre, Esq., the explorer's brother, who occupies country on the Gilliot River, and who can throw many facilities in the way of the expedition. The Melbourne Argus draws a gloomy picture of affairs iu Victoria :— By an unfortunate coincidence in time, the actions of the Ministry and the accidents of the seasons have combined to make the cost of living much higher than it. was, so that the wages have been not. only absolutely, lessened in amount, but their pui'chasing power has been still

further reduced! There never; ;wai; : a time since the discovery of gold in this .colony when employment was. found to be <&o scarce, and when the evidences of poverty were so painfully apparent in the hordes of begging children which are to be met with in the streets." ' -" ' <- The. Bulletin de Geographie has the following reference to the Steam Service between Wellington and Panama.— Li ,the development of th.e relations between the different pai-ts of the globe, Tahiti, by its geographical position, will occupy a leading place. This island must serve as a necessary point of communication on the central route which unites the different continents of the world. This great international ..- sea-way traverses the Atlantic and the Isthmus of Panama, passes through the solitudes of the Pacific Ocean, and, touching Australia, contiuues its course to the south of Hindostan, penetrating the Eed Sea, and crossing the Isthmus, soon to become the canal of" 1 Suez, reaches the old continent of Europe. This idea, which a few years ago appeared like the dream of a distant future, is about to be realised in our own time. It is now decided that the colonists of New Zealand will shortly inaugurate a steam mail service between Wellington and Panama. Thus, the colony under French protection at the antipodes will be within forty days' intercourse with Paris, and more than one-half of the distance "will be performed under the French tricolour from St Nazaire to Aspinwall The Pall Mall Gazette in a recent number says that the Tablet thinks it necessary to meet point-blank, by extracts . from the Weekly Register, Mr. Whalley's statement that the New Zealand war was due to the efforts of the Roman Catholic priests. On the contrary, the change from mismanagement and indecision (so fatal in. dealing with savages) to a better policy dates from the premiership of the Romanist Mr. Weld. To him just a year ago' Father Pampila wrote in very strong terms, showing him that " moral suasion " will not do for Maoris, that correction and repression are the only t way of dealing with them, and that the Hauhaus will never yield till their strongholds are broken up, and Te Ua taken or killed. In fact, the Father, fearing apparently that Mr. Weld might walk in the conciliation path of his predecessors, put his duty before him, (more Romano) in good round terms. Of course the Tablet does not claim the change from Cameron to Chute as a result of Father Pampila's advice ; but still now that Te Ua has given himself up, and his friends in all directions are suing for mercy, it is able to point out that things have been going on. well ever since the Romanist missionary's advice has been acted on, just as they went from, bad to Avorse so long as the counsels of the Aborigines Protection Society were in the ascendant.