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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 287, 6 December 1870, Page 2

The Canterbury Provincial Council have refused to entertain the proposal of Otago for a union of the two Provinces. The system of public education in Canterbury is almost entirely assimilated | to that of Nelson. Reported Rush in Marlborough. — The Press of Weduesday last says: — *■•' There is a report of a rush lo the Kaituna -Valley. Two men are kuown to have sold 22 ounces of gold in Blenheim. They are supposed to be working in one of the gorges, but the precise locality is not known. There are several parties out in search of them. At Rock Ferry, oue party is doing well. As they descend the gully the sinking becomes deeper. There are several shafts going down, and hopes ar3 entertained of them. At Rutland Reef, they are going to commence operations next week to fetch ia a waterrace which is necessary for the working of machinery shortly expected. Dr. TattoD, of Nelson, showed some stone which he had tested from different portions aud depths of the reef, and the result was very satisfactory." Insect Migration. — The Wanganui Herald says that an army of beetles passed through Wanganui on the evening of th9 7th. They appeared in legions at Patea at 7 o'clock ou the following evening, having performed the journey to Patea, a distance of forty miles, during a single night. A similar irruption of these insects took place on this coast in 1863. The beetle is described as new to science, but specimens have been sent to the Colonial Museum. A Surveyor Killed by the Natives. — News reached Auckland from Ngaruawahia on the 28th ult., that Mr. Todd, a snryeyor, had been shot dead, and a half caste who was with him, wounded, in the arm aud thigh, by a party of armed natives. The Constabulary were under arms and great excitement prevailed. The circumstances under which the act was committed were as follows : — "A block of land of some thousands of acres, at this side of the confiscated line, had been granted by the Government to Hone te One and his tribe, in compensation for lands which had been taken from them during the war. Mr. Todd was engaged to cut up this block so as to permit of Crown Grant's being issued to the native owners. Hone te One expressed a wish that this land should not be surve3 r ed, and had warned Mr. Todd that to do so would be dangerous. Several warnings had beeu given moreover, in other quarters, that to interfere with regard to the block would be impolitic." His exact position at the time of his murder has not been ascertained, but it was possibly within the aukatiWuo which he had found almost obliterated. The affair appears lo have been a kind of ambuscade, and the attacking party is said to have beeu small, and to have included two womeD. Ad inquest was held on the body, aud a verdict returned of " wilful murder against certain natives, names unknown." A correspondent of the Auckland Herald writing from Ngaruawahia says : — Todd's death was caused through the survey, not by any personal feeling against him by natives. He was warned by a native woman, whose sons were working with him, to come away and leave the work, as she had heard that the natives were coming down to murder him. Todd pooh-poohed the idea, the woman waiting to see if he would leave or let her boys go unarmed at the tent all night. The next morning at breakfast, according to the woman's warning, the natives appeared, and shot Todd and wounded her son. Her exact words to Todd were, " There are two guns, one for the prospectors, another for the surveyors." There is great excitement up here, none knowing who may , be the next.

The Rev. Mr Stock is promoted to the Archdeaconry of Wellington. A Gentleman recently swam across Waikato Heads, which are nearly a mile broad. The Auckland Herald says : — We are informed by one of the coach builders in town that he has made a test of the New Zealand wood used in the construction of coaches, against Tasrnanian and Australian timber, used for the same purpose, and he finds that our native wood is incomparably stronger in every respect. When tested in the usual way it showed 100 as against 70. Our informant says that in future the firm to which he belougs will import no more Australian wood, but will rely wholly upon the native timber. We should like to see this example generally followed, A Wanganui paper tells the following story : — A gentleman who arrived by the Wanganui cu Sunday, having in his possession a very fine double barrel guu, was told by Mr. Lett that be whould require a permit before lauding it. The information took the new comer by surprise, who asked indignantly if that was the way they did things in this country. Upon being gravely informed that it was the way things were done in this country, he said — " Well, this is my old friend that I have taken with me wherever I have gone ; it has been all through Victoria, and here goes " — Suiting the action to the word, he threw the gun over the side of the vessel, aud coolly commenced looking after the baggage. Rival G-iants. — A small crowd, says thelPost, collected last night to witness the departure of the illustrious Chang the giant, who went South by the Taranaki. After a little waiting the great man sallied forth, utterly regardless of the observation of the crowd, as there were no more shillings to be collected in Welligtnon. He went to the wharf on foot, escorted by the crowd, iu which the juvenile element predominated, attended by two of his countrymen, one on either side, and followed, not preceded, by the Garrison Band playing " See the conquering Hero Comes." The triumphal procession moved along at a rapid pace, as Chang took long strides, and soon reached its destination. Chang seemed to enjoy the fresh breeze and the pleasure of a walk in the open air, very much, and one can scarcely wonder at it when it is remembered how closely he is obliged to mew himself up, to prevent, the. public obtaining surreptitious looks at him. He is decidedly the greatest' man in New Zealaud — greater even than the great Voge), and it is not likely that we shall look upon his like again. Apropos of Mr. Vogel ; if he does go home and succeed in maturing his great scheme, it would be a paying spec to exhibit him round the world as the genius who contrived to swindle the astute money-lenders of England out of ten millions on the most flimsy pretext imaginable. He would pay better than Chang — especially in Melbourne. John Peerybingle on Insolvents. — We're beginning to find out that the insolvents have tbe easiest times going, and we want to make 'em miserable. But you can't do it. They're too elastic, "My dear friends," said one of the breed at a meeting of his creditors, " Fortune has indeed been kyiud to me. I came to this city without a brass farthing, and now I owe forty thousand pounds. I went into businesss on nothing, and with the help of some kyiud friends I bustuated. I then went into business again, and also bustuated ; and now, with the further help of my kyiud friends, I mean to bustuate again, so I'll stand drinks round to show there's no coolness." It would take a whole battery of Insolvency Bills to blow that chap up, and he's not the only one of the sort. For remainder of News see Fourth page.

A Frenchman's View of London. — M. Charles Hugo, sou of Victor, who has been paying London, a visit describrs his impressions in the Rappel. He found there "4,000,000 men, and nota single lounger. A feverish and phlegmatic circulation in a fog. Everyone rushing in pursuit of business, for time is money ; the second is worth a shilling, the miuute a guinea. Everything circulates pell-mell — the penny boat on the river, the waggon on the street. One has a railway overhead another underfoot ; a railway to tbe right, ■a railway to the left. The Thames runs between two trains, one of which passes over, the other under the river. The penny boats bave a locomotive under the chimney and another under their wheels." We are then told that 'Sf. Paul's looks as if it were built of sugar, Westminster of pasteboard, aud the Tower of London of dominoes. The police are dressed in green. Now and then there is a red soldier with his hair parted behind autl a stick in his hand. High over the trees of Hyde Park rises the equestrian statue of Wellington, with his cocked hat under his arm. Sugar all this over with 300,000 women of had character, and you have London — a prodigious nightmare, where everything is of iron, mud, coal, and rain, where tunuels are suspended and bridges a»e subterranean, whose houses are tombs. and shopkeepers phantoms." Matrimony in the Black Country. — Well, Mary, where's ta workin ? — Ts workin none now — I's merrit — Who's ta merrit to? — A duano — he's a moulder chap, un they can him Mike.