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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 34, 9 February 1871, Page 2

Mr. O'Conor, one of the candidates for the rehresentation of the B.uller district, appears to be rather a forcible speaker. At his meeting the other day at Westport, there was some difficulty about gettiug a chairman, and Mr. O'Conor remarked that "he wouid as soon have the devil as Mr. Pitt," and that " he was not afraid of Mr. Fisher or Mr. Pitt, or any other of his class." A Mr. Sheahan asked a civil question respecting protection, and Mr. O'Conor replied that "he held that man who put the question in such contempt that he would not reply to that question or any other he might pu.t" Another elector questioned him regarding his conduct in the new Provincial Council, and Mr. O'Conor elegantly replied " what can you expect from a pig but a grunt." Should Mr. O'Conor be elected, he will be an ornament to the Legislature, — Grey River Argus. Selling Aueiferous Lands. — The Freeman says: — "A suggestion has been thrown out by a digger in our hearing which is worth thinking over. These were the words of our friend : — Men who live by gold-mining have always been jealous of laud being sold that is believed to be, or known to be, auriferous. Laws have been nmde which say that if a farmer buy a piece of land and has cultivated it and has built a house on it wherein and whereon he has placed his wife, and his children, and all that is his ; still if the land then be discovered to be auriferous, the gold-digger shall, if it please him, after making certain compensation, be allowed to enter on the land and dig for gold, by which the farmer, although he may have received a money value, is deprived of his holding and his homestead. The diggers have one and all, from first to last, protested against the selling or the alienating of auriferous ground. Now, says the digger, I take an opposite view of the question. I think if land which promises to be auriferous were put tip in

small sections and offered for sale in a manner that the land speculator and the capitalist should not be allowed to come and swallow the whole of it, the digger, with a mate or two, might each buy oue of these sections, and whilst one was trying the riches of the ground below, another could be cultivating it on the surface. If there was no gold, or only a very little, the soil would still yield a return in proportion to the labor bestowed on it. It would have a great tendency to keep them to ODe spot and break them of the habit of roaming about from oue locality to another, and for ever feeling unsettled by waiting for Dew rushes. That is my opinion, said the digger; and here it is printed for what it is worth. A Serious Fiee broke out the other day ou the Canterbury Plains. One settler lost 50 acres of growing corn, and two horses. Some time ago, auriferous indications were discovered in the hills in the neighbourhood of Lyttelton, and a company was formed to prosecute the search for the precious metal. Samples were sent to Melbourne to be crushed, and although the actual existence of gold was demonstrated, it was in so minute a proportion that the company has given up any further operations, and consented to a " wind up." The- Qatholics of Dunedin are making great .preparations for the reception of the new BisiSop,Jtih Moran. A ChineskJ^issionaey, attached, it is said, to the Presbyterian body, has commenced his labors amongst his Celestial brethren in Otago. . • Mr. Shepherd, formerly of Grey mouth, atrek who has just been defeated by Mr. Haug\ton, in the recent election for the Lake District, in Otago, asserts that Mr. Haughtcn's return was secured by improper means, and states his intention of prosecuting an appeal. A Serious Error was made in the directions upon the voting papers at Caversham, Otago. --There were three candidates, and only one member to be elected, but the voting paper contained a direction to strike out the name of only one candidate instead of two. Mr. J. G. Scott, one of the unsuccessful candidates, has protested against the validity of the election, and the matter is in the hands of the Government. It is expected that a fresh poll will have to be taken. A correspondent of the Otago Daily Times asks — " I would like to know who is going 'to pay the piper ? ' We |learn that the City of Melbourne steamer left Auckland with the following distinguished passengers : — Mr. Yogel and his reporter, Mr E. Fox. Now it does seem monstrous the country should be put to the expense of attaching an aide-de-camp to Mr. Vogel's tail, so that he can be lauded from his way of thinking. Surely the Press is large enough in America and England, and also fair enough to give an impartial statement of this great New Zealand ambassador. I pause and ask, Will the people of New Zealand stand this reckless extravagance from the officers of the' Colonial Treasury ? I say it is time we rise to a man, and declare such a state of — I would call it — thorough demoralisation iiu our Colonial Government, should be put a stop to. Allow this state of affairs to go on a few years longer, and we are bound to have a national insolvency." A man named Colson, a farmer at the Hutt, in the Wellington Province, recently put the Colony to the cost of about £30 by forcing Mr. Fitzherberfc to go to a poll at the late election there. The correspondent of $A Westport Times gives the following explanation of the matter : — " The man Colson got nominated, and polled simply to spite the Government and put them to some expense. A little while ago he was accustomed to let his cows wander at large upon the roads. He was cautioned several times, and at length charged in the Magistrate's Court with the offence. He was fined Is. and costs, and refused to pay. A bailiff was put in his house, and he threatened to knock " h — •" ou^Gf him. A second was put in , andhi^swore he'd treat him likewise, anj^ull not pay. A third was put in, antfat length he succumbed and paid. The expenses had run the amount up to about £2, and when he paid he said he'd make them bleed somehow. So he contested the election, and put the country to fully £30 expense." At Auckland, the other day, while a Mr. Bad ley was branding some cattle in Mr. Buckland's saleyards at Newmarket, one of the bullocks rushed at him, and before he could manage to get behind the screen, which is kept in the yard in case of the animals becoming restive, inflicted a very sore wound iv the right thigh, tearing it open to the bone, with his horn, and severely injuring the other leg also. Speaking of the Maori election, the Wanganui Chronicle says that there is

to be a political contest between Kemp and Mete Kingi for the houor of Maoridom in Parliament. It is a faroial affair from beginning to end, and there need be no objection to a farce, if it did not cost more money than it is all worth. Departure ok the Galatea. — The Auckland correspondent of the Lyttelton Times writes : — At 10.10 a.m., the Galatea rounded flag staff hill, and entered I the eastern passage. The Luna ran up to the Galatea's port quarter, the Royal Alfred taking up a similar position on the starboard side. At this time the Galatea's booms, bridges, hammocks, nettings, tops, and fore, main, and mizeu chains, were densely packed with officers, middies, aud blue-jackets, who cheered incessantly for some lime. Afterwards the Choral Society sang " Auld Lang Syne," and " Home Sweet Home." In return the Galatea's band played several familiar airs with much expression. Then his Royal Highness leaned over the ship's stern and waved his cap and bowed a great many times. At half-past 10 the excursioutSHP^ were gratified by a display which few p« them will ev,er c forget. Suddenly from all the yard arms of the Galatea, from every sprit and boom end, and high over all onthe main, fore, and mizen trucks, sailors stood and waved SEfiraU variously colored flags, cheering us the* while. A white haired aged tar waved the 'royal standard from the main truck. As he stood ou one leg and waved the regal emblem round his head, two younger men on the fore and and mizen\Jxuck3 did homage to the standard by bowing and lowering two Union Jacks in his direction. It seemed a perilous thing to see three men standing upright at such a dizzy elevation, with only small circles of wood a few inches in circumference to support them, and it was worth while to note how coolly they did it. Besides waving a Union Jack in his right hand, the fore- truck man held a white bird in his left. Afterwards all three sat cross-legged upon the trucks, occasionally cheering. Meantime, Tom, the elephant, came to the Galatea's port gangway and bade us farewell in a series of grand salaams. He was answered with loud and reiterated cheers. Conspicuous amongst the sailors in the Galatea's port fore chains were the Duke's Chinese servant boys. They were dressed in loose white robes, and waved their adieus with their blue silk caps. Whilst this display was in progress, the Clio dropped alongside the Galatea, manned yards, and cheered, and just before we reached the reef the Clio's crew repeated the performance in honor of the Governor and friends of Commodore Stirling, oa board the Luna. Sewing- machines worked by water from the Van Yean, are being exhibited in the shop windows in Melbourne. The Paily Neios fund on behalf of the starving French peasantry amounts to £10,000. The Society of Frieods have raised £10,000, and the International Society for the Sick and Wounded £30,000. According- to a Melbourne paper, a strange disease is reported to have made its appearance amongst horses on some of the stations of the Murrumbidgee, below Wagga. It commences with a stiffness in • the joints, the horse is unable to bend his knees, and in a short time wastes away and dies. Out of six horses attacked on one station, only one is said now to survive. . It has long been known that spirits are vended in Melbourne of the most poisonous kind by some of the low houses. The authorities have recently made a raid on these establishments, and seized a quantity of liquid destruction. The Age of Jan. 16th, in connection with this matter, says :' — " The spirits seized yesterday by the revenue officer,. jssfT"> Evans, were tested on Saturday "by an expert, at tbe Town Hail. The following was the result as given by him :— Geneva in case : Character of the spirit unknown, although labelled Geneva. It was 30.04 under proof, and a most villanous compound. Whisky in cask j pronounced a rank poison. It was 18.03 overproof, the average strength of imported whisky being from 7 to 13 over proof. Some of this compounif is corked in bottles, labelled, 'Fine Old Irish Malt Whisky.' Hollands in case — the bottles having the Y.H. brand : A colonial article, and a disgraceful imitation. The strength was 22.01 under proof, the genuine article being probf alone, or slightly over. Brandy in cask, aud other spirits tested were very fair samples." Incendiarism: in Melbourne.— Incendiarism is becoming a trade in Melbourne, fostered and encouraged by the comparative ease with which fire insurances are effected. The competition of the companies is so keen that policies are apparently issued to any one applying for them, regardless of character, and relying upon police organisation to protect them should a nr<3 occur at any time under suspicious circumstances. The two men,

Sanders nnd Schotf;, who attempted to fire their premises lately, appear ?o have gone about their work in the most busiuosa-like manner. Ostensibly opening a jiroeery establishment next door lo the old detective office in Little Collins-street, they put into the shop a dummy stock. The tea-chests were packed with straw, and the trade parcels that, neatly done up, lined the shelves, were filled with sawdust. Thus equipped, they applied for and obtained a policy of insurance covering this valuable stock for £500. But Sanders and Schott do not appear to have kept their own counsel. Elated with the prospect of making money so easily, they seem to have been generous in their confidences, and to these, without their being aware of it, the detectives were admitted. Detectives Walker and Lomax knew, iv fact, that they were going to burn the place down, and the day it was to be done, if not the very hour. True to the time came the grand coup. At ten minutes to three on Tuesday morning up shot the rsjgnal flame from the premises of Sanders imd Schott, and down pounced the detectives upon Mr. Sanders, as he ran from the scene of his, as he supposed, successful exploit, Mr Schott had been previously taken, on wa-y rant, at the German pic-nic. Tiie fire brigade, previously warned of what was to happen, were immediately on the ground, and soon put out the fire, the dummy packages standing uninjured on the shelves as evidence against theenterprisiag firm. Everything had been prepared for a great conflagration by the place being strewed with shavings saturated with kerosene, and, but for the vigilance of the detectives, the consequences to the surrounding neighborhood might have been very serious. The National will save £500, and if; is to be hoped they will be more careful in future in ascertaining the character and antecedents of the persons to whom they grant fire policies. — Leader. We are all of us more or less excited by the news from France, but even amidst the horrors of war, the ladies will doubtless feel a special interest iv an item of news which arrived "by balloon" from Paris. It is about the fashions — yes, the fashions, for ladies in a beleagured city, harrassed though they may be by thoughts of possible bombardment or starvation, or both, have not ceased to study the fashions, or lead them, we may perhaps say. I read that the "Parisian ladies have restored to liberty their own locks, so long hidden by the despotic artificial chignon. Brown plaits, carefully smoothed down, light ringlets, at once graceful and natural, have alone adorned for some days the delicate and pretty heads of our young ladies, who are delighted to have their most beautiful adornment restored to them. It is refreshing to hear this. The chignon has been perhaps, one of tho most hideous monstrosities of fashion, and still is so, but it is to be hoped our fair sisters, now "that the example has been set in Paris, will soon show their good sense by abolishing that monstrous appendage which makes one doubt sometimes which is the head and which is the chignon. — English Paper. For remainder of News see Fourth page. /