Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 58, 10 March 1870, Page 2

Perse veeance Company. — We men - tioned the other day that a small quantity of stone had been brought over from the Perseverance Company's ground, some of which appeared to be exceedingly rich . We may now state that, in order to fairly test it, the whole of those portions in which gold was visible either to the naked eye, or with the aid of a magnifying glass were removed, and the remainder, weighing 31b. 120z., was yesterday crushed and yielded 30 grains of gold, being at the rate of 350z. to the ton. Such a return promises well for the shareholders, -who, .no doubt, are extremely anxious to learn the result of the first crushing, which will take place in about five or six weeks from the present time.

Conveksazione. — We regret to learn that, owing to the illness of some of those who were about to render their services on Friday evening next, and other

unavoidable obstacles, the proposed conversazione will not take place- at presents We trust that the Committee, who have had to contend against many difficultiesin their attempt to introduce a new description of entertainment for a charitable purpose, will not be disheartened by the want of success that has, from one cause and another, attended their present efforts, but that in the winter, when thelong evenings render some such social gathering peculiarly acceptable, they will once more invite the public to unite m inaugurating a species of entertainment that we hope will, one of these days,, become as popular in Nelson as has proved to be the case in the other towns of New Zealand.

G-lassblowers. — Woodroffe's company of Glassblowers have arrived from Wanganui in the Beautiful Star, aud intend giving a series of their interesting and instructive/ entertainments in the Assembly Rooms, commencing on Saturday evening next. Not having yet had an opportunity of witnessing their operations, we are unable to speak of them from personal experience, but we may state that they are most highly spoken of in the public press iv all parts of the colony.

Captain Kennedy. — > To all those settlers in New Zealand who have within the last ten or twelve years been at all in the habit of travelling from one province to another, the name of Captain Kennedy m,ust be "familiar as a household word," and, while they will be glad to hear that that esteemed officer has received high promotion by being appointed to the command of one of the A. S. K Co.'s

steamers which is about to run on the new mail route, they will often regret that our coasting line of steamers has been deprived of the services of one who has so lon ff been favorably known to us as a thorough seaman and a most courteous and gentlemanly officer. We understand that Captain Erancis, late of the Taronaki, "will sail with Captain Kennedy as his chief officer.

" Special Pleadee." — A correspondent asks what this term means. We give the following extract from a work entitled " Criticisms on the Bar " :— " Justice would be quite as faithfully and much more speedily and effectually administered, if the greater part of the expensive forms, processes, and pleadiugs, so recently enlarged, if not introduced, and so carefully preserved and multiplied, were entirely disregarded ; ifc is not too much to assert that one-fifth of the causes that come before our Courts are decided upon mere matters of form, without the slightest relation to their merits. So much have they been augmented of lata years, that a new branch of the profession has actually sprung out of them — the business of a Special Pleader. A young man who studies for the Bar is now compelled to go through all the complicated drudgery of the office of one of these underlings before he is qualified for any higher walk; and two or three years are scarcely sufficient for the acquirement of the intricacies of this department, which is called practising under the Bar. All the knowledge he has acquired in twenty years at school and college, is .thrown away; general principles and enlarged notions of law and justice are smothered in laborious aud absurd technicalities,- and the enervated mind becomes gradually so accustomed to these shackles, that the endurance of them amounts to a habit; they not only cease to seem burdensome, but cease to be so; for instance.3 are not unfrequent where the natural vigor of the intellect has been so reduced as to make ifc eveu depend on its bondage. The real ends of justice are obstructed by "sham pleas" and "subtle pleas," for the purpose of taking money out of the pockets of suitors, and putting it into those of attorneys, special pleaders, and counsel. Some men have never learnt anything else than these miserable technicalities, while others reject all their early acquirements, and gloiy in the absurd intricacies of pleas, counterpleas, demurrers, rejoinders, rebutters, sur-rebutters, and all that heap of trash, which makes counsel rich and clients poor."

It is stated that W. H. Harrison, Esq., M.C.C., M.H.R., has received the appointment of Inspector of Schools for Westland, at a salary of £300 per annum.

The following is the manifest of the Ballarat, the fourth ship of the season, from Port Underwood : — 9-5 bales wool, Guilford and Son ; 126 do, Monro Bros.; 36 do, Rayner ; 2 do, Busch ; 5 do, A. Jackson; 5 do, Newman; 7 do. Brindle ; 300 do, M'Rae Bros.; 53 do, Goulter ; 280 do, H, Redwood, sen.; 3 do, Buckman ; 2 do, Fair hall ; 5 do, Mrs. H. Godfrey ; 91 do, Sir D. Monro ; 24 do, Bowler ; 13 do, C. Redwood ; 7 do, Wyvill; 51 do, Lovegrove and Mcßae ; 72 do (Braes of Sutherland), Mcßae; 42 do, E. Green ; 363 do, Beaumont and Wharton ; 4 do, C. Murphy ; 202 do, Taylor ; 181 bales flax, Sinclair and Logan; 15 do, H. Dodson; 1 bale wool, 26 bales flax, F. J. Litchfield. Total value, £17,271.

In the trade circular of the Old Swan Rope Works, Liverpool, we find the following with regard to New Zealand flax : — " New Zealand Eope : — We have much pleasure in calling attention to this new description of rope, which we believe will very soon come into general use. The sample we have tested bore 20 per cent, greater strain than Russian hemp rope. We strongly advise our friends to give this new rope a trial, as ifc is very probable it will be sold at a much lower price than Russian hemp next year, when large importations of the hemp are expected. Several of our customers have tried this rope and are much pleased with it. It has been used for heavy lifting, and for working where there is great friction, with moat satisfactory results "

The next session of the General Assembly will probably be a very stormy one. The Wellington correspondent of the Olago Daily Times, whose information can almost invariably be relied upon, says : — As yet there is no sign made as to when the Assembly will meet. People say it will not be till June, but I cannot ascertain any reason for the opinion. Ceitain it is that if the Ministers were to keep the promises so solemnly made last session, the House would have met before this. There can be no doubt — indeed, I have it from the best authority— that the Defence votes of last session, not the sham £150,000, but the very much larger sum absolutely voted, has been expended, with the exception of a hundred pounds or so, which is kept, in order, it is said, to give color to the assertion that the money is not all speut. The native allies, however, have not been paid for some motnhs, and the liabilities incurred by Mr. M'Lean in Auckland are unknown, but are supposed to be large. When he is amongst natives he scatters his favors broadcast, and no record is kept, nothing being known of them until the accounts turn up for payment. As a minister, he is following the same policy which he did when Native Secretary before the days of responsible government, when he lavished immense sums on the natives. From all I can gather, Mr. M'Lean's admistration of the native and defence departments is not likely to meet with the approval of the Legislature when it comes to. be investigated. The number of troops now on pay, native and European, is said to be within a hundred or two of the number engaged when the present Ministry took office. A stormy session may therefore be expected when the House does meet. There are some signs of the coming storm to be seen on the political horizon already. Apart from persons specially interested on one side or the other, the general opinion is, that it matters very little which side is "in," or winch is "out," and that one Ministry is just as good or as bad as another, as far, at least, as native and defence matters go. Intricate Calculations. — Apropos to the queston of payment of members, and of printing, a writer in the Atla?.tic Monthly states that he has tried in vain to ascertain the total cost of a session of the CoDgress of the United States, but that io is certain that it costs the country as much as 4,000,000 dollars., or, taking the session at twenty days a month for six months, more than 33,000 dollars a day. The chaplain's prayer, which usually lasts one minute, consumes 138 dollars worth every morning. The mere list of contingent expenses of the House fills a volume of 220 pages, with its mass of charges, such as two hundred portmonnaies, above one hundred pen-knives at about three dollars each, ink-stands, pocket scissors, hair brushes, tobbacco, cotton, stay laces, newspapers, stationery by the mountain.

Burmah. — The foundation stone of the first Christian church in Independent Burmah has been laid at Mandalay. The King is building the church at his own expense, and entrusting to the missionaries of the Propagation Society the education of the young princes. Mks.Bowen Thompson, the foundress of the British Syrian Schools, expired on the 14th November. Her last words were, " Rest, Rest, Arise, Amen !" On her dying bed she received the official notice that his Majesty the Sultan, at the recommendation of the Governor-General of Syria, had granted her a village at Baalbee as a permanent endowment towards the schools in Syria.

Copies of two Spanish newspapers have been received in London, one in its fifth week, El Libre Examino ; the second in its first, La Luz. Both are well printed, both Evangelical, anti-Romanist, aud decidedly religious in tone and method. The price of each is twopence halfpenny. One is under the auspices of Cabrera, the other of Piscarroudo and Carrasea. Their appearance marks an epoch in Spain, and shows how fully it has arrived. Newspapers are popular in Spain The journals are distributed and vociferously hawked in the streets as with us, and the proportion of readers is large. Occasionally there may be seen groups of hearers gathered round a reader. — London Paper.

"TheEose op Sharon." — The lady to whom M. de Lesseps has just been married was latterly known in Egypt as the " Eose of SharoD," in commemoration of the mode in which he asked for her hand. He brought her a flower from Suez. On this flower being twisted in the fingers by any one, it was understood to bulb out and disclose in the centre of the blossom the holder's future consort. M. de Lesseps is related to have given his ladylove this flower, asking her whom she saw in its frail leaves. The lady very soon said " You ! " and so the matter was settled. These flowers will doubtless be soon on sale in Covent Garden market. They would be exceedingly useful to the bashful "popper."

Hard on the Fathers. — Mistakes -will happen, but a little presence of mind and a good deal of audacity will sometimes get a person out of a very awkward position. A London paper tells the following anecdote in point : — Two youths were speaking to each other in a crouded ball-room. " Oh, look at that old man," said K. : "what a ridiculous head he has got." — <b I beg pardon :it happens to be my father," saysY. — Eeplies X. : "Indeed, that is your most respected father ? Well, could you see mine, it is quite another affair — he is twenty times more ridiculous ! " The two laughed, shook hands, and understood each other perfectly.

An international system of signalling at sea by means of eighteen different flags, exclusive of the national flag and signal pennon, has been adopted by England, France, North German Confederation, United States, Brazil, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Holland, Norway, Austria, Portugal, Eussia, Sweden, and Spain. The arrangement is such that 306 signals may be given by various combinations of two flags, 4896 signals with three, and 73,440 with four.

A Man who has worked for years in the Brooklin yard as a mechanist has learned, in his leisure hours, to speak, read, and write Hebrew, French, German, and Italian, aud obtained a thorough knowledge of geology and botany. Out of his savings he has purchased a library of 1,200, volumes. — Boston Advertiser.

According to the latest definition, a bachelor is a man who has lost the opportunity of making a woman miserable.

A Shrewd Answer. — Lady (afc Sunday school) : " And what do you understand by 'the pomps and vanities of this wicked world ?" Head of the class : " The flowers in your bonnet ! " -.