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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 34, 11 February 1868, Page 2

We beg to remind the friends of Sunday Schools that a Tea Meeting in connection with the Wesleyan Sunday School takes place tins evening, at half-past six. The public meeliug will be held at half-past 7, when addresses will be delivered, and the children will sing hymns suitable for the occasion. The Lady B&rkly steamer left the wharf for an excursion trip to the Croixelles yesterday morning at 20 nriuutes to 11, ami arrived at her destination at half-past 3 o'clock, where the passengers were entertained very hospitably at Blr Askew's station. The weather was delightful, and the trip altogether, if we except the unpleasant consequences arising from that enemy to the enjoyment of sea excursionists, the meal de mer, from which some of the passengers suffered, was an exceedingly agreeable one, everything being done on board the steamer to insure the comfort and convenience of the passengers. The Lady Barkly left the Croixelles at j half-past 6 p.m., arriving in Nelson again at midnight.. An event occurred yesterday afternoon, at Messrs. Moutray and Barclay's foundry in Bridge-street, which is deserving of especial notice, inasmuch as it proves that iron work of considerable importance may be executed in this city, quite as effectively and at less cost than if imported from Sydney or Melbourne, as has hitherto been the case. We allude to the casting of the first of four double columns, made expressly from, the designs of Mr Scotland, architect, of Hardy-street, for the front of the shop and dwel-ling-house now in process of erection for Mr Johns, in Trafalgar-street, and also for the adjoining one, about to be constructed for Mr. Phillips. The columns weigh no less than 13 cwt., and constitute the largest and heaviest casting yet made in this province. They came out of the mould beautifully clean and sharp, and the enterprise displayed by Messrs. Moutray and Barclas in attempting the execution of work of this magnitude and difficulty, for the casting of a double column is necessarily attended with peculiar difficulties, is highly commendable. A correspondent requests us, through the columns of this journal, to call the attention of the Board of Works to the propriety of placing a lamp-post at the corner of Collingwood and Manuka streets, several accidents having already occurred in consequence of the want of this convenience. We feel sure that if. is only necessary to invite the attention of the Board to this desideratum to ensure compliance with what seems a well-founded and reasonable request. The competitive firing of the Waimea Voluuteer Company took place on Saturday last, the four following members of the Company having scored above the required number, 50:— -Joseph Tunnicliffe, 400 yds., 24 ; 500 yds., 17 ; 600 yds., 17 : total, 58. W. Kent, 400 yds., 26 ; 500 yds., 22 ; 600 yds., 8 : total, 56. Thomas Baigent, 400 yds., 18 ; 500 yds,, 24 j 600 yds., 13 : total, 55. J. Arnold, 400 yds., 21 ; 500 yds., 16 ; 600 yds., 14 : total, 51. The Canterbury Press of the 3rd insfe. has the following in reference to the Hurunui Bridge; the question of the halfpayment by the Government for the erection of this structure, it will be remembered, came before the Provincial Council during its last session : — We congratulate the Amuri settlers on the immediate prospect of having a good and durable bridge across the Hurunui ; the materials, which have been generally accumulating on the

south bauk of the river in readiness for use as soon as the summer freshes were over, are now being rapidly got into position, about one-fourth of the work is already completed, ■ and with favorable weather the whole will be finished by the middle of next month. The piles of the bridge are of wrought-iron, driven into the stratum of coarse gravel and boulders which form the river bed, to a depth varying from twelve to eighteen feet, the ties and braces of the piers are also of wrought-irou, the platform only being of wood. The width is sixteen feet, and the length sixty feet, stretching across the whole width of the stream in the heaviest flood. One span of this bridge has already been loaded with upwards of thirty tons and stood the test most satisfactorily. We understand that this bridge was designed by Mr E. G. Wright, and an offer made by him to build ft, so far back as March, 1865 ; aud after submitting the design for Mr Doyne's opinion, the Government accepted Mr Wright's offer on condition that the Nelson Government would pay half the cost. After a leugthy correspondence this was agreed to, and the order for the ironwork having been sent to Euglaud in April last, the whole was manufactured and delivered in Lyttelton within seven mouths from that date. We learn with regret that the Committee of the Nelson Artizans' Mutual Improvement Association have been reluctantly compelled to relinquish their intention of holding an Exhibition of local industry &c, in March next, the very meagre support promised to the undertaking not justifying them in carrying out their original intention. We regret to observe from a paragraph in the Charleston Herald of the 28th ult., that Mr George Donne, M.P.C., met with rather unpleasant accident on Sunday week. It seems that whilst proceeding to Brighton, in company with Mr Neale, the latter gentleman's horse became rather restive and unmanageable, and in trying to pass Mr Donne, unseated him into the gutter at the side of the road, by which he was considerably stunned, but is now recovering under the care of Dr Bennett, at Hayes' Four-mile Junction Hotel. The same night four ruffians entered the house and illtreated Mrs Hayes, Mr Donne escaping by cutting through the side though in a very weak state. Dr Bennett, who was also there, gave the information and one of the scoundrels has been arrested. The Westport* Times says : — Rumors are prevalent that one of the parties at Mohikinui having sunk through the false bottom, have struck upon a lead of gold richer than anything that as yet been discovered on the West Coast. The Nathan Troupe opened atKilgour'sUnion Theatre at Greymouth on the 3rd inst. to a house crowded in every part, and their second appearance was equally well attended. The Grey River Argus of the 4th remarks that the greater portion of the West Coast Times of Saturday is occupied with the report of the evidence taken in the Insolvent Court at Hokitika, in the case of Phillip Sternberg, of Greymouth. The evidence discloses some extraordinary transactions between the insolvent and a person named Marks of Hokitika, the intention and object of which were to defraud the creditors. It seems that Marks, who was in reality a creditor for only £34, got from Sternberg a bill of sale over his stock for £750, under which he sold and bought the stock, &c, to keep the estate out of Court. Subsequently he went to Melbourne to endeavor to arrange with, Sternberg's creditors there, and from there he wrote to Sternberg advising him to do certain things in the conduct of. the business 'so that it do not look like a swindle.' Marks ultimately obtained from

Sternberg's creditors a power of attorney to act for them, aud it would appear that Sternberg haß been left in the lurch, and has turned round upon his quondam friend. The result is that some very edifying disclosures are being mutually made, which may probably lead one or boih the parties into trouble. We learn from the Southlaud papers that the Government have consented to set apart 60,000 acres from the waste lands of the Southland proviuce for the completion of the railway betweeu Invercargili and Oreti. The Wellington Correspondent of the Otago Daily Times says: — The regulations for civil servants, published in the Gazette of the 31st December, have led to the resignation by Mr Robert Hart of the appointment which he has for some time held as assistant law officer. One of the regulations rtns thus— 'No professional officer to whom the Civil Service Act, j 856, applies, shall engage in the private practice of his profession without the authority of law, or the express permission, in writing, of the responsible Minister.' Mr Hart was apprised that this regulation applied to him, amongst others, but that the necessary permission would be given, on his making application for it to Mr Stafford, who is the 'responsible Minister' in this case, the Attorney-Gene-ral being a non-political head. This piece of^humble pie, or arbitrary authority, appears to have been a little too large for Mr Havt to digest, and he chose the alternative of resignation ; which, considering the appointment was worth £600 a-year, and that his connection with the Government in various capacities, would in a few ' more years have entitled him to a tolerably handsome pension, is a very notable proceeding. Speaking of the wheat harvest of South Australia, the Register says: — The wheat harvest for 1867-8, in an exporting agricultural colony like South Australia, may almost be considered as a total failure. In some districts thousands of acres will never be reaped at all, whilst in others many hundreds of farmers will not gather more than enough for seed and flour for their own use during the year. The extent of the injury caused by the red rust is only fully ascertained after the machine has been at work, for fields which promised splendidly as far as appearauce were concerned, have turned out not worth reaping. The Church of England Synod of South Australia, at a late meeting, approved of the Colonial Bishops Bill about to be introduced into the British Parliament. It is stated (says the T^smanian Times) that heads of the various departments of fche Civil Service of Tasmania have been furnished with an order by the Governor in Council which announces-that no officer in the service of the Government is to be allowed in future to devote his time and abilities out of office hours to the improvement of his own private means, but that all money earned by any public servaut out of office hours is to be paid into the Treasury, under pain of dismissal from the Civil Service of the colony. The opposition in Sydney have started a comic anti-ministerial journal, under the title of * The Laughing Jackass.' A Melbourne paper, referring to the above, says: — ' As representing particular interests, there is another member of the Australian ornithological family capable of aiding newspaper nomenclature — the Lyre Bird, for instance, with a strong staff of imaginative town correspondents. The Rook and Pigeon, again, might find a class of which it would be the most fitting expo nent.' A rather humorous incident, which has for some days been the subject of considerable mirth at Clunes, occurred in that township on the evening of the 17th ulfc. in connection with a portion of a mesmeric and phrenological entertainment given by aMr Hume. It seems to be the practice of Mr Hume to blindfold himself before seeing the subject to be operated upon, and thus situated to feel the ' bumps' aud describe the character of his subject. On Friday evening he had examined one person, and described him accurately, according to the statement of the subject ; but on

the baudages being removed, the operator made some remarks in reference to the person on whom he had operated, which led to his skill beiug again subjected to the test. The bandages were again fastened, and one of the audience stepped upou the platform, whereupon Mr Hume commenced to feel the ' bumps,' but had not proceeded far in his examination when he said, ' I kuov; this head far better than it is known to the Clunes public, and would advise the gentleman to retire from the platform before I proceed further. I have examined many better heads in Darlinghurst Gaol.' It seems the subject beiug inquisitive to kuow what Mr Hume thought of him, did not retire and the examination therefore contiuued. Mr Hume proceeded to state that the orgaus proved the subject to be prone to the greatest rascality, aud void of every good or redeeming quality, aud by motious of his face and head signified that the case was worse than he could possibly give utterance to. The bandages were then removed, and Mr Chatwin, one of the proprietors of the Ciunea Gazette, was revealed to Mr Hume's gaze. In reply to Mr Hume, MrChatwin declined to express any opinion upon the lecturer's diagnosis; but in the last number of the Clunes Gazette Mr Chatwin vindicates his character in a lengthy letter, and his partner follows suit. The time required for a rifle bullet to pass through a man's head may be roughly estimated at one- thousandth of a second. Here, therefore, we should have no room for sensation, and death would be painless. But there are other actions which far transcend in rapidity the rifle bullet. A flash of lightning comes, appearing and dissappearing in less than one hundreth thousandth of a second; and the velocity of electricity is such as would carry it over a distance equal to that which separates the earth and the moon in a single second. The most extraordinary experiments as to the power of destroying life possessed by the new ' fusil Chassepot ' have been made at Strasbnrg, by Dr. Sarazin. The Star says that he got five dead bodies, and placed them at certain distauces, one from the other, and then fired. The result was that the orifice made by the bail as it entered the corpse was exactly the size of the projectile, whilst the orifice made by the ball as it passed out of the body was seven times and in one instance even thirteen times, larger than that of the bullet. The arteries, veins and muscles were smashed, and literally reduced to a sort of pulp. The bones were crushed to an immense extent all over the body, and the ball after having thus accomplished it3 deadly mission on the human frame, pierced a two-inch board and finally lodged in the wall behind. News from Mexico states that the treasury is empty. A conducta of 350,000 hard dollars had arrived at the capital from Morelia. Another of 1,000,000 of hard dollars had started from the capital for Vera Cruz on the way to Europe. All sorts of kidnapping was being practised on prominent and wealthy persons of all ages and sexes to extort ransoms. This was principally the case in the rural parts and suburbs of the cities. Torture and even assassination were threatened to make people swear secrecy as to who were the parties to whom these ransoms were paid. Vigilance committees, however, were or- ' ganizing to put a stop to the proceeding around the capital. Mr Sylvande Wilde has invented an instrument for extracting bullets in wounds, which has been aptly called a sensitive artificial finger, for its action depends on the actual presence of the bullet sought for. It consists, according to the New York Tribune, of two insulated steel wires, which are connected with an electro- magnet and a bell, so arranged that the electric circuit will pass through the two wires whenever they are connected by contact with the same piece of metal, which will form a part of the conductor. The points of the probe are sheathed in aslidiug tube when introduced iuto the wound, and are not uncovered until the supposed bullet is felt. The forceps have curved points, and are not pallets or spoous. When the ends of the probe are uncovered on touching thebullet, the latter completes an electric circuit, which sets in motion a magnet, and by its attraction compels the forceps to grasp the bullet; it is then ready to be drawn out. — Public Opinion. We extract the following letter from a late issue of the Auckland Weekly Herald, for the benefit of the inititiated: — Sir —

f Every day we see young ladies flirting their handkerchiefs to young men on the street. I have been satisfied that these 'flirtings ' meant something, and, in exchange, find the following solution to the mystery, whigh I hope you will publish, that those living in ignorance may be thoroughly ' booked up' and able to read the sigus thus given: — Drawing across the lips — desirous of getting acquainted ; drawing across the eyes — I am sorry; dropping — we will be friends ; twisting in both hands — indiffereuce ; drawing across the cheek — I love you ; drawing through the bauds — I hate you; left — no ; twisting in the left hand — I wish to get rid of you; twisting in the left hand — I love another; folding it — I wish to speak with you; over the shoulder — follow me ; opposite comers in both hands — wait for me ; plac-. iug on the right ear — I have a message for you; letting it remain on the eyes — you are cruel. — I am, &c, Myrtle.