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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 208, 3 September 1870, Page 2

Marlborough Reef.' —A ton of stone r which was lately brought from the Marll borough reef for the purpose of being . tested at the Perseverance battery has _ been crushed there, and yielded at the rate of loz. sgrs. to the ton. i The Speaker op the House op Representatives. —The news of the retirement of Sir David Monro from the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives will be received with regret in all parts of the Colony. For ten years he has discharged the duties of that important office with a dignity and impartiality which the House and the con--1 stituencies have constantly recognised, When parties have been very evenly balanced, aud the least symptom of pari tiality on the part of the Speaker might have turned the scale, the country has always felt that no matter how high party • feeling might run, Sir. David Monro was a man who could be thoroughly trusted to do his duty without fear or favor. We ? hope the Government will come down • with a proposal before the session closes ; for recognising in some substantial way [ the great service Sir David Monro has ; rendered to the Colony. It is not very > long since a pension was conferred upon a late Speaker of the Legislative Council i for services, the value and importance of which we fully recognise, but which, 1 after all, are in uo way equal to the benefits the Colony has received from the services of the present Speaker of the i House of Representatives. It is somewhat premature to speculate upon who is likely to succeed Sir D. Monro, as the i general elections may briDg into the House new members more fitted for the ; post than auy at present there. Of the > present members Mr. Dillon Bell would ■ perhaps be the most desirable Speaker, • were it not that his unfortunate short sight would often prove most inconvenient to members anxious to catch his eye, and ? would doubtless be a constant source of annoyance to himself. We do not go so far as to say we shall never look upon Sir David's " like again." We hope and , think we shall, but it will take some years' experience to equal him, and we . question if any will ever surpass him in ' his practical knowledge of the rules of debate, his great patience and tact under , trying circumstances, and his unfailing j courtesy at all times. The House will miss him, and the country will miss him ; r but he will take with him in his retirement that which cannot be otherwise than pleasing to his mind, the most ' heartfelt regard of everyone who has ever sat in the House during his Speakership, and the profound respect of every elector in the country. —Advertiser,

H.M.S. Gala/tea, Captain H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh, arrived iu harbor on Saturday afternoon. Her voyage from the Cape seems to have been a somewhat stormy one, and she, as well as the Clio, lost a man overboard. No one seems to have seen him go overboard, and it was only when the hammocks were taken down that he was missed. We hear that the Galatea, after a short stay here, will proceed to Fiji, — Post, For remainder of News see Fourth page.