The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1870.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 198, 23 August 1870, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1870.

English Mail. — The next English mail via San Francisco will close on Sunday, the 4th September. Winter Evening Entertainments. — We remind our readers that the fourth of this series of entertainments takes place to-night for which occasion so liberal and attractive programme has been prepared, that, we shall be much surprised if even the inclement state of the weather prevents another crowded audience being present. Perseverance Company. — Our advertising columns contain a notification which, no doubt, will be highly acceptable to the shareholders in this Company, to the effect that the second half of the call of £1 per share, ten shillings of which was payable on the 18th of June last, the re- ! mainder being (hie on the Ist September, j "will not be required. i . General Mete Kingi made a speech in the House, in the course of which he regretted that he did not uuderstand English, as he would in that case speak ou every subject. It must be a subject of heartfelt congratulation both to the House and the reporters that he does not understand Euglish. The Legislative Council. —An Otago member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Mclndoe, has given notice of the followiug motion: — "That in the iuterests of the colony, it is 1 desirable that the constitution of the Legislative Council should be assimilated j to that of the House of Representatives, j aud that this resolution should be reported j to the Legislative Council." | We (Post) have learned by a private letter from London that Dr. Featherston intends leaving England for New Zealand i via America, in August or September, j not later. He has been advised by counsel that the Patent Slip Act of last session of the Provincial Council, lies him up to ] make an arrangement only with Messrs. i Kenuard, and forbids them selliug the slip to a company, so nothing will be done ! about it. The Atlantic Pacific Steamship Company is in abeyance at present, but it ! could be floated directly if the Commissioni ers had the power to offer the subsidy voted by the Assembly. I The WAiRAEArA Quartz Reef. — The 1 Wellington Independent learns from a ! private letter from Greytown, received by a gentlemau in that city, that the return from Melbourne for quartz sent from the j Wairarapa gives the following result : — | From the surface stone, Idwt 12grs ; from j the bottom of the shaft, 60 feet down, 1 3dwts 12grs. It is intended to sink another 1 5 feet for the purpose of ascertainiug whether the richness of the stone increases with the depth. We (Canterbury Press) have been shown a very creditable specimen of a coat and hat made out of New Zealand flax, the property of a gentleman recently returned to the Colonies from England. In point of texture the material is not uulike No. 6 sailcloth, but considerably | more pliable. Both articles have been iu use for some considerable time, and, judging from their present condition, seem almost indestructible ia so far as ordinary wear and tear are concerned. The following advertisement appears in an Auckland paper : — A young mau of steady domesticated habits, in good circumstances, is desirous of forming the acquaintance of some young lady with a view to matrimony. His principal reason for advertising is that he is affected with a slight impediment in his speech, which embarrasses him in the presence of ladies. — Address, enclosing carte-demsite, "A.8.C.," office of this paper. N.B.— ■j The strictest confidence to be observed. A Hobart Town telegram says : — Mr. Goodall's survey party met with an old hermit under Ben Loraond. He had a grizzly beard hanging down to the middle iof his body, and his toe nails were long and curved. He was dressed in badger

skins. It wa3 some time before he appeared to understand what was said to him. It was however elicited that he had been there 12 years, and had not seen a white man for the past six years. He did not give auy account of who he was, or why he had selected such a solitary life. The Wellington Independent^ the organ of the G-ogernrnent, speaking of the representation proposals, says: — "We have in the mining population of the West Coast a notable instance of the impolicy of placing the miners on the same footing as the sattled population of the colony. ITokitika and Westport are mere suburbs of Victoria ; all their sympathies, their associations, and their interests are Australian ; from Australia all their supplies are drawn, and to Australia they will return vvitli whatever capital they can extract from New Zealand soil." Inward Aspirations. — The following is from a Wellington contemporary : — During the discussion in the House of Represintatives on Mr. Gillies' motion relative to the disability of Colonial Officers to hold seats in the House, Mr. Carleton, in the course of his remaiks on the motion, took occasion to say that the Provincial Councils and Secretaries were subordinate to the Superintendent?, to which tlio Superintended t of of Otago, Mr. Macandrew, replied sotto voce "I wish they were," causiug some little amusement. No doubt this was a sincere aud hearty aspiration on the part af the of the hou. member. While the debate on Immigration and Public Works Bill was progressing in the House of Representatives, and the great question it involved was being anxiously discussed, an lion, member had occasion to cross the House to speak to the Premier ; and how did he fiud the foremost man in New Zealand euga^ed while his colleague was endeavoring, with all the sophistry at his command, to justify his measures to the Rcpsentatives of the people ? Why, buried in the most comfortable corner of his bench, deeply, immersed in the study of Disraeli's new novel ! Nero fiddled while Rome was burning, and possibly vvitli the view of emulating so noble au example, Mr. Fox, while the debt of the Colony was beiug doubled, aud measures passed which will make or mar its future destiny, rend Lothair ! — Post. The Muuicipal elections just terminated at Dunedin have created no little excitement in that city there being no less than five aspirants to the office of mayor. "As soon as the fight for the Mayoralty was over," writes the correspondent of ih^ Press, "the would-be Councillors came into the field. Among them Avas Mr. J. Hyde Harris, formerly a- Legislative Councillor, and, if I remember aright, member of the Stafford Cabinet. Faucy coming down from an "Honorable" t> the care of gutters ! The descent to Avernus is easy, as we all know; but if we can only make ourselves comfortable in the lower regious, I don't see that it much matters. And Mr. Harris evidently does make himself comfortable. I regret to say, however, that his modest ambition was not gratified, and ex-Houorable, exSuperintendent, ex-Mayor, and ex-all-sorts of other things as he is, Mr. Harris was defeated by a man who can scarcely write his own name, and, as to spelling! I would recommend those of your readers who feel any curiosity on the subject, to read certain letters written by the successful candidate that were published in the Otago Daily Times two or three days ago. If Walker's spirit haunts the earth, they must have made his hair bristle — that is supposing the disembodied wear capillary coverings." Disraeli and Bright. — One of Disraeli's admirers, in speaking about him to John Bright, said, " you ought to give him credit for what he has accomplished, as he is a self-made man." "I know he is," retorted Mr. Bright, ' ; and he adores his maker."