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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 161, 12 July 1867, Page 3

We are authorised to stale that the Mail for Europe, etc., via Suez, by the Otago, will probably close some time on Sunday, or at the latest on Monday moruiug, the precise time of its departure being dependent upou the arrival of that steamer, which is expected to-morrow. . % The necessity of erecting a place of worship at Upper Takaka has long been recognised by the inhabitants of that district, and we are glad to learn that a subscription list has been opened for the purpose of building a chapel which is intended for the use of all Protestant denominations. The sum of £70 has already been collected, but still further addition to this amount will be required, and we trust that the efforts which are being made with this end will not be allowed to languish for want of the necessary funds. The present session of the General Assembly was opened at Wellington on Tuesday last by his Excellency the Governor with the usual formalities. The opening speecn which is necessarily of too great length to be republished in our columns, contains many topics of interest. We propose to offer an epitome of it in our issue of to-morrow. One of our most incorrigible punsters, whose case has, we understand, been pronounced hopeless by the Faculty at Motueka, happening to be present at the debate which took place in the Council last night, with reference to the rate of payment to members residing at the West Coast or more than forty miles from Nelson, remarked that the Committee might appropriately take for their motto the words 'Donne-z-moi V This is certainly Pictonising us with a vengeance ! Referring to the difficulties which attend the selection of readable matter for a newspaper, the Washington Globe remarks : — Most people think the selection of matter for a newspaper the easiest part of the business. How great an error ! It is by all means the most difficult. To look over hundreds of exchange papers every day, from which to select. If. every person who reads a paper could have edited it, we should hear less complaints. Not unfrequeutly it is the case that an editor looks all over his exchange papers for something interesting, and can absolutely find nothing, Every paper is drier than a contribution box, and yet something is to be had. His paper must come out with something in it, and he does the best he can. To an edilor who has the least care about what he selects, the writing he has to do is the easiest part of his labor. Every subscriber takes the paper for his own benefit, and if there is nothing in it that suits him it must be stopped ; it is good for nothing. Just as many subscribers as an editor may have, as many tastes he has to consult. One wants something sound. One wants anecdotes, fun, and frolic ; and a next door neighbor wonders that a man of good sense will put such stuff in a paper. Something spicey comes out, and the editor is a blackguard. Next comes something argumentative, and the editor is a dull fool. And so between them all, you see, the poor fellow is roughly handled. They never think that what does not please them pleases the next man ; but they persist that if the paper does not please them, it is good for nothing.

A miserly old lady, during the. War, kept an inn. One day a famished soldier called, and asked for something to eat. Some beef-bones that had been pretty well picked were set before him. After finishing his dincer, a little son of the landlady, noticing that the soldier found it very difficult to make out much of a dinner, put some money in his hand as he stepped out of the door. " How much was it worth, mother, to pick those bones ?" asked the boy. — "A shilling," was the reply, the old' lady expecting to receive the money. — " I thought so, mother," replied the boy, "so I gave the soldier a shiliiug for doing it, and sent him away."