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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 57, 9 March 1868, Page 2

An accident occurred yesterday afternoon, shortly before 5 o'clock, strongly illustrative of the impropriety of allowing children of tender years to be abroad without fitting surveillance. Several children were playing near the fish ponds in tbe Government grounds, wheu one of them, a boy about four years old, named Baker, -venturing too near the edge of the centre pood, fell into it and immediately sank But for the prompt assistance of a gentleman who was passing at tbe time (whose namo we have not been able to discover), and who immediately ran to the spot aud rescued tho child, he must inevitably have met with a watery grave, for none of his playmates were old enough to lend him the slightest aid. The affair was also witnessed by Mr. Weedon, to whose house the little fellow was taken, and by whom, his clothes having been dried, he was carried home, having, fortunately, sustained no ill effects from his immersion beyond a sound ducking. We understand that it is intended to place railings round the pond. The firing by the Waimea Company for the District prizes, which had been fixed for Saturday last, has been postponed by permission of the Commanding Officer, in consequence of the windy state of the weather, but will probably take place some day this week. We understand that circulars have been addressed by the Adjutant to the successful competitors for tfie Colonial prizes,, stating that the firing at Wellington will take place on or about the 9th proximo, and that representatives must arrive at Wellington not later than the 7th. We presume that since so important achange has been announced in the date of the Prince's arrival at Auckland, these arrangements wili be notified, that is to eay>

if the firing is to take place in his presence, as originally intended. Without desiring to arrogate to ourselves the functions of Bell's Life, we may inform an enquiring correspondent that the length of the Derby course is ort©'" mile and a half, and that we believe thjat the fastest time in which it has beeu dode was in Blair Athol's year, 1864, when tbe 'blue ribbon' was won in 2 minutes and 44 secon Is. Our correspondent will find some exhaustive remarks on the comparative merits of English and colouial thoroughbred horses in the second volume of the New Zealand Stud Book, edited by Mr Elliott, to which we must refer him. As a considerable number of persous have signified their intention to subscribe for the Simonsen Concerts^ but have not yet taken their tickets, we are requested by Mr. Stanton to state that no subscriptions can be received after Tuesday next, when the list will be closed. The firing by tbe Auckland Volunteers for the District Prizes has taken place. The first prize was won by Private C. S. Robinson, of No. 1 Compauy, Auckland Rifie Volunteers^ with a score of 41 poiuts ; and the first prize for the 2nd class by Private W. Carpenter, A. R. V. with a score of 37. The Argus gives a highly eulogistic notice of the new steamer John Peun, which is amongst our 'expected arrivals,' and which has been built for Mr W. Johnson for the fiat cattle trade ou the West Coast of New Zealand. The Argus states that of all the steam vessels of her class which have come out to these waters there is not one, perhaps, which possesses so many desirable characteristics for the purpose for which she is destined, for although, inteuded for the cattle trade, she has been fii ted up with a due regard to the conveyance of passengers, and her saloon accommodation combines not merely comfort and elegance but positive luxury. The Auckland papers state that letters have been received from the Chief Justice, slating that he will arrive iv this colony to resume his official duties iv June or July. Sir George Arney, at the date of wilting, had just returned to London from making a tour of Spain, and a sojourn iv most of the continental cities. The firing for tbe district prizes at Napier by the Militia and Napier Volunteers and Mounted Coustabulary Force, has taken pluce. Private Northe, of the Napier Volunteers, was winner of the first prize of the first class with a score of 34. In the Mounted Constabulary, Blake made the highest score, 34, whilst Private Andrew Blake (Militia) took the first prize of the second class with a score of 41. The firing for the purpose of deter. ming whether Hawke's Bay shall be represented at Wellington iv the approaching competition, came off about a fortnight ago, when the firing was very indifferent, 35 being the highest score. It was, however, fouud afterwards, that the distances had been measured incorrectly, and that a fresh competition would have to take place, which was fixed for the 2nd and with the result of which we aye not yet acquainted, though, judging from present appearances, no one is likely to score 50, the number of points requisite to qualify. The following is an extract from a speech made by Mr Selfe at the great Church meeting lately held in Canter, bury : — ' There was, however, one point on which he would speak, and that was, with regard to the appointment of Dr Jenner as Bishop of Dunedin. He spoke on this point because of his personal acquaintance with that gentleman, and not from any sympathy with what were psually called High Church principles. It was his firm and sure conviction that a

more honorable, high-minded, and energetic man could not be found anywhere to fill the office of Bishop in the province of Otago. There were, no doubt, many who did not sympathise with the principles which, Dr Jenner had so manfully aud •so honestly avowed; but he. conld not help thinking that the proper course--**— tho Christian-like eourse — for those people to adopt was to accept Dr Jenuer's declaration,, that he had no desire to impose peculiarities of doctrine or practice on any portion of the Church over which he had been appointed to rule. He trusted that Dr Jeuuer would be as cordially welcomed by the people of Otago as the excellent prelate who presided over the diocese of Christchurch had always been welcomed, and that he wouid live to win — as he had no doubt he would win — the love aud veneration of all with whom he came in contact.' The Westland Observer gives an accouut of a visit paid recently by the chief officers of the Geological Department to the great glacier on the west side of Mount Cook. The foot of the glacier, which is but 13 miles from the sea, is 1,9000 feet wide. Neither the glacier nor the immense field of snow which feeds it is visible from the river until within a quarter of a mile of it, when the stupendous mass of snow and ice at once breaks upon the view. Below the glacier a receut moraine extends for several hundred yards, consisting of debris of the rock, 20 feet deep, underlaid by ice and snow, through which considerable streams of water runj which are rendered visible in rouud boles, caused by the giving way of the ice and by cracks in the surface. On the southern side there has recently been a great fracture of the ice and breach of the rock, which has fallen in immense masses. The party ascended on the northern side, where the snow or ice formed rounded hills, undisturbed by any cracks or fissures. The glacial matter is porous, and presents tolerable footing ; it is of a gray color, full of small dirt, with occasional stones, which had evidently fallen from the surrounding hills. The great peculiarity of this glacier is not only its immense size, but tbe consequent fact of its descending to so low a level — 640 feet above the sea level — instead of euding, as is usually the case, at an altitude of some 3,000 or 4,000 feet, close to the limit of perpetual snow, among Alpine vegetation. Here the greeu bush extends some thousands of feet above the glacier, on the steep sides of the range in which the glacier has cut the deep narrow gorge. Not a single Alpine plant rewarded the research of the party, and the temperature was scarcely below that on the flat below. With some ceremony the party named it tbe Victoria Glacier. The height of the peak of Mount Cook is fonnd to be 12;362 feet. It appears from the Argus that the gold lost in the General Grant, on the Auckland Islands, is not to remain long uusearched for. A party of men are about to proceed to the islands, accompanied by one survivor of the wreck, their object being to find the cave in which the loss of the ill-fated vessel took place, and endeavor to recover the gold which she carried. The steamer Southland, belonging to Messrs Spence Brothers, of Melbourne (who origiuate the undertaking), has been ordered round to Bluff harbor, to await the arrival of the party, who were to leave Melbourne for New Zealand by an early steamer. Fine legs of mutton are selling at Ballarat for 9d. each I They are sent in by the Boiling-down Company, and average 7£ pounds. What is the difference between a tunnel and a speaking-trumpet ? One is hollowed out, and the other is hollowed