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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 9, 11 January 1868, Page 2

Tlie only substitute for capital punishment ever seriously entertained by persons competent to speak on this subject is lite-long imprisonment, with hard labor. The idta of solitary confinement has long since been given up by the advanced guard of the abolitionists, as at once a purposeless and cruel system. Imprisonment with labor is the substitute which meets wiih largest favor, and it certainly appears to be most capable of being 1 earned ouc in its integrity, and to bu attended with more advantages, both to the criminal and the community, than any other proposal with which the long discussion had been lighted up. We will endeavor to place before our readers a slwrt summary of the supposed ad-vautugL-a of niipri.Monim!i!t. In the first place, we escjpe inflicting upon the public conscience the shock that accompanies an execution. The revulsion of feeling attendant upon the consigning of a criminal to eternity, in the presence of a crowd in the open street, is at least worthy of respect, and is not to be got rid ot by chalking up the words 'sentimental' or ' maunderi-.tg.' It is solemnly on record t. v at innocent persons have been hanged — of course with the very best intentions; and it is not oh record, and never will be, that any proved murderer was the better for being executed. Oneimmenseadvantngoof the substitute and one that has never hud fair consideration, is, that it may be mile a punishment to any degree of severity or mildness that, public opinion and prevailing ideas on the requirements of justice and public safety may demand. A criminal locked up for life, knowing escape to be impossible, must be wretched, even if very light labors are allotted him, with an abundance of creature comforts. — City Press. The London correspondent of the 'Lyttelton Times ' writes as follows on the exportation of wheat from .New Zealand to England : — ' You will, of course, have heard that the Canterbury wheat shipped in March, April, and May, arrived in excellent condition as a whole. It was placed by the millers as equal to good samples of east coast (England) wheat, and the price obtained — I spuak of the bulk, which was good — was 6 is a quarter, or 8s 3d a bushel. The price is now quote.i at 68s. The flour was turned out of the .Himalaya not quite sound, but it sold well at that instant, for mixing with the produce, of the new harvest. I regret that an expectation which I had, of enclosing a pro forma account sales, has not been fulfilled, even though I should be going over thrice-trodden ground. The conclusion at any rate is, that the present London prices give 5s per busl.el to the exporter in Canterbury. That these prices will continue may be affirmed with confidence, for the supplies from this side of the world a' e all calculated, and the millers here are buying everything they can lay their hands on at tup rales. This siatc vt' the market will of course c ntinue through iho winter and tiil after next July's harvest, iiut il you send wheat, send it good. What will not carry over here will be excellent for borne consumption, and must benefit .

by the general rise in price. As for kiln-drying, I am informed, but not on original authority, that ie depreoiutes the wheat, and is at once recognised. If done so slightly as to deceive the buyers, the b.iker will surely find it oat, for *he flour has lost its * liveliness' and won't rise in the baking. It is a question of safety against high price.' Lr.rd Caithness is the inventor of a new description of compass. By means of a peculiar nio.le of mounting on a ball and socket joint, and a pendulum weight attached to the centre of the box, it remains, whatever may be the motion of the vyssct. Holloway's P/tfv.-* Enfeebled Existence. — This medicine embraces every attribu c required in a geiitral and domestic remedy. Jt overturns the foundations of disease laid either by the overstraining of the brain, trouble, anxiety, defective food, or impure air. In obstructions or congestions of the liver, lungs, bowels or any other organ, these Pills are especially serviceable and Iminentiy successful. They should be kept in readiness in every family, as they are a medicine without a fault for young persons and those of feeble constitutions. '1 hey never cause pain, or irritate the most sensitive nerves, or most tender bowels, il olio way's Pills are the best known purifiers of the blood and the best promoters or absorption and secretion, which remove all poisonous and obnoxious panicles train both solids and fluids. 35