The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, MAY 2, 1868. NELSON AGRICULTURAL SHOW.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 103, 2 May 1868, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, MAY 2, 1868. NELSON AGRICULTURAL SHOW.

The Show of the Nelson Agricultural Association tooJk place yesterday, at the Richmond Fair Ground, and was by far the largest and most creditable exhibition of stock, &c, which has taken place for many years past.

The ground was thrown open to the public at 12 o'clock, and a very large number of persons attended the Show during the day, not only from town, but also from the surrounding districts. The exhibits were not only numerous, but generally of excellent character, if we except the entire draught horses, and draught fillies, neither of which were deemed by the Judges to be worthy of meritorious mention. The cattle, sheep, poultry, and acriculrural produce exhibited were very satisfactory, and the efforts made by the Stewards to raise the character of this Show deserve the highest commendation.

We were sorry, however, to observe that there were no specimens of agricultural implements on the ground, and this is an omission which, we trust, may be supplied ou a future occasion. In a country where labor is dear, and sometimes hard to obtain, it is of the more consequence that the farmer should hecome practically acquainted with all the substitutes for hand labor which* science may place at his command, and this is oue of the functions of such societies.

We much regret that the limited space at our command will not permit us to publish in our columns the long list of succesful competitors.

At 5 o'clock about 60 persons sat down to dinner iv the Agricultural Hall, Sir David Monro in the chair, the Speaker of the Provincial Council and Mr F. Kelling, M.P.C., occupying the vice-chairs. The dinner was supplied by Mr Benfield of the Star and Garter Hotel, and gave general satisfaction.

After the customary loyal toasts, which were received very enthusiastically, the chairman proposed the toast of the evening. ' The Agricultural Association,' comparing the past and present state of the province, and illustrating the benefits derivable from such associations by the improvement which had taken place in tbe breeding of stock, aud in the systematic cultivation of the soil uuder sounder principles than was formerly the case. The toast was drunk very enthusiastically, and was responded to by Mr Thompson, tiie indefatigable Secretary of the Association.

The Chairman, in proposing the health of the Superintendent and of the Provincial Council, observed that he believed that the time would soon arrive wheu such offices would cease to exist, and laid the excessive burtheu of taxation at the door of Provincialism. Mr Barnicoat combatted the arguments of the chairman, and instanced the Waterworks as the fruit of Provincial institutions.

Several otlier toasts were given, interspersed with some capital son^s, and the party separated shortly 1 before 10 o'clock.

The Mail via Suez will be dispatched together with that via Panama, on Tuesday next, by the cou tract steamer Wellington, in order to avoid the possibility of a recurrence of the auuoj'ance aud inconvenience to which we were subjected last month, in consequence of no provision hnving been made by the General Government for the conveyance of the Suez Mail. Unless, therefore, a steamer should leave this port for .Welliugtoo in time to catch the Melbourne steamer there, we shall have no opportunity of writiug at a later date, and the letters marked ' via Suez,' will lie in Wellington for about a fortnight, until the departure of the Mail steamer for Melbourne. The Wellington will leave this port at an early hour on the morning of the 6th instant, which thus necessitates the closing of the Mail on the previous evening, though the Kaikoura does not leave Wellington till the

Bth. This procedure practically deprives us of an additional day, and we would suggest that the Government should in future require the contractors to keep the vessel here at all events until after noon on the 6th of each mouth, which would obviate this inconvenience.

The announcement that the Premier would address his Nelson constituents this evening at the Provincial Hall has naturally aroused a similar aniouut of curiosity throughout the colony to that which would be created by a speech at an agricultural dinner tluriug the Parliamentary vacation from Mr Disraeli or Mr Gladstone in the mother-couutry, and doubtless a very numerous audience will be present to hear Mr Stafford's explunaiiou of his past political conduct, as well as the exposition of his future policy which it seems to be anticipated, though with what foundation we are unable to say, that he will make on ,this occasion. Certes the Nelsou electors have a prescriptive right, based ou a 12 year's connection with him as their representative — to which position he has been elected, even iv his absence aud through both good aud evil report — to claim from Mr Stafford an explicit and st.raifihtforw.-rd exposition of tiie various measures which have been originated by his Government, and they will be especially desirous of learning from hU lips- how he purposes to relieve the colouy from tbe intolerable financial burthen which is crippling its best euergies ai the present moment, aud which threatens the most disastrous results to its future prosperity. The Nelson electors are not without experience ot the specious means by which Mr Stafford has ere now ' made the worse appear the better cause,' aud we can hardly believe, after the intense indiguaiion which his treatment of the interests of this community has so frequeutiy excited iv the public mind, that his representations, however, smooth and plausible tlie language may be in which they are conveyed to his hearers, will be allowed to pass unchallenged and uu controverted. At the san - **.. time we are ccuiideufc that although tho prevailing idea seems to be that Mr Stafford has proved anything but a faithful representative of the interests of his Nelson constituents, and has in fact in many iustanoes studiously neglected th.-.m, he will nevertheless receive at the hauds of his audience to-night such a patient and considerate hearing as they iuvariably accord on such occasions.

We understand that the steamer Wallaby changed hands on Thursday last, having been sold by Messrs N. Edwards aud Co., to Mr Isaac Freeth for £1500.

The Sydney Morning Herald says that his Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh has taken away with him a large and varied collection of colonial birds and auimals. In Tasmania he procured a very fine wombat, which was presented to him by Lady Dry, wife of the Chief Secretary of that colony, and this wombat was so tame and docile that he soou became a general favorite with all ou board the Galatea. From South Australia, Victoria, aud Tasmania, his Royal Highness obtained a fine collection of beautiful parrots aud other birds, aud this collection received some valuable additions in Sydney. His Royal Highness received as a present from a gentleman (whose name we have not been able to ascertain) in the Hunter Kiver district, a pair of very fine emus; and on the Saturday prior to the sailing of the ship the Prince was presented with a pair of large and very tame kangaroos — one reared and presented by the Colouial Secretary, Mr Parkes, and the other by Mr J. T. Ryan, M.L.A. His Royal Highuess also received from Mr Parkes the mongouste which killed the snakes at the Museum oa the 0.-casion of the Royal visit to that establishment. This little animal was as docile and playful as a kitten. The same gentleman also presented to his Royal Highness a pair of native cats, which, haviug been taken from their mother wheu very young, were reared aud rendered as tame and tractable as ordinary domestic cuts.

The Sunderland Times (Tory paper) tells a story, which may or may not be exaggerated. However, here is the pith of it. A lock was wanted on premises in Sunderland, of which the Board of Admiralty has the official charge. The proper local functionary accordingly made application to their lordships at Somersethouse for an order to buy the lock, which would cost 2s. In due course he received four or five folio sheets of inquiries, the blanks in which he had to fill up and forth-

with return.* This having been done, a gentleman was sent over from Tynemouth to survey the hole in the door on which the lock was. to be put. He came and returned first-class, and his railway fare and hotel charges came to a good round sum. The surveyor's report was transmitted to London, under the. orthodox envelope, and then an order came down to Sunderland authorising the lock to be bought and fixed ou the door. Verily England is a great country.

A " banquet hippophasrique' took place at the Laogham Hotel, Loudon, to wliich upwards of 150 geutlemen sat down, Mr Forsyth, Q.C., iv the chair. The bill of fare was — with the exception of fish — exclusively composed of dishe3 made from the horse, three auimals aged respectively 4, 20, and 22, having been killed for the occasion. There Avere hor.->e soups, horse sausages, horse pie, fillet of horse, horse tongues and cutlets. Even the fish were served with horse oil, while the jellies were made from the gelatinous portions of the same animal. But the croWDiug glory of the dinner was a 'baron of horse,' weighing 2801 b., which was borne in with great ceremony, and which was, moreover, declared exceedingly good to eat — the taste resembling that of the roebuck. The chairm.ui staled after dinner that 75,000 horses, free from disease and available for humau food, were slaughtered and literally 'sent to the dogs' every year in this country. ' The horse ; aud meat at 2^d. per lb.,' was the text ou which he dwelt. Sir Henry Thompson, an emineut London physician, also supported the movement, aud declared that i'or invalids equine tea was more nourishing than beef tea.

The Treasury have granted £100,000 for the purchase ot the Exhibition Palace, Dublin, tlie site for the Royal Irish Institute of Art, Dublin ; £100,000 for the improvement of Co«*k Harbor ; and £100,000 for the construction of a harbor in Belfast Lough.

Henry Clay in an argument for protection, observed that a free trader at the South clenched his argument against the iniquity aud oppression of protective duties by addressing a very humble, coarselydressed auditor as follows: — 'My fellowcitizeo! do you know that that shirt on your back cost you six cents per yard more thau it need or should, in order to swell the bloated dividends of the Yankee factory-owners?' * Well, I suppose it did, if you say so,' replied the sandhiller, wriggling uneasily under the battery of eyes so suddenly conceutrated on him, *I don't know how to read — I don't know hardly anything. It is owing to my ignorance, I suppose, that I cau't see how. they charge me six cents a yard on my shirt, when I bought it for five.' — New York Tribune.

The following rather novel advertisement appeared lately in a Chicago paper. It must have been written by a very eccentric character: — Wanted — A Purchaser for a Printing Ofiice. — A reformed editor, having quit debasing himself by dabbling iv small • politics and the like, wishes further to purge himself of all remnants of stains upon his character. Therefore, he wishes to sell his press, his types, his stone, his roller-mould, his lead-cutter, his quoins, his brass rule, and all and singular every other utensil, tool, implement, or dingus, appertaining, or iv auy wise belonging to, with, arouud, or about a complete little print shop. Press in perfect running order; many of the founts of type are nearly new; aud, altogether, the office is, practically, nearly as good as though right shining bright from the fouudry. It is at present hung up in a rural place where any white printer would hunger and thirst and go seedy, if he wouldn't die outright of starvation and nudity. But to remove to some Christian land, there is no better country printing ofiice lyiog around ioose. 'I mourn for my bleeding country,' said a certain army contractor to General Sheridan. 'So you ought you scoundrel,' replied Sheridan, 'for nobody has bled her more than you have.'

Backing horses is a datigerous game. It was only the other day that a young mau backed a horse — into a shop-front, and it cost him no end of money.

Which is worth most, £5 in gold, or a five-pound bank-note? — The bank-note j because you always double it when you put it into your pocket, and you will find it always iucreases (in creases) when you take it out.

In 1865, 1,200.000 postage stamps got loose from letters and newspapers in the post-offices, and 760,000 in 1866,