The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1371.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 42, 18 February 1871, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1371.

Accident at the Port. — Au accident, occurred yesterday afternoon to nne of the spfimpn of Ihp L-iiiy Barkly, who slipped off the piuMlebox in t.o tho watpr, and being unable to swim would certainly linve been drowned had not two men who were in a boat close by put off to his assistance, and succeeded in rescuing him from his perilous position. Intelligence has been received in town to the effect that, an extensive fire has. been rasing between Burnhamatid the Sflwyn, daring the last few days. It is said i hat. h'fly acres of crop have been destroyed on the farm of Mr. Sargent, and two horses burned. There fire is said to be still burning. The railway authorities took precautionary measures to prevent injury to the line by the fire. — Lyttelton Times. A Contemporary (ells us that the Buller coal has been favorably reported upon by Mr. E. J. Chambers, of Melbourne, who says nothing like it has been found in Australia.^^Equnlly favorable reports have at various times been given of the Grey coal/; that at the Bay of Islands, at thjrMalrern Hills in Canterbury, and ivrany other parts of the Colony, is allowed^to he of excellent qaality, and no spatial difficulty lies in the way of working it or bringing it to the market, yet we go on importing from New South Wales' as if there vps not a hundredweight in New Zealand. It, is surely time that something was done towards developing these sources of wealth. The coal fleet trading to our different ports, and bearing; away monthly so much money that we can ill afford, says extremely little for our enterprise. Yogel and all his niill'ons, did he even bring them in gold when he returns, will never make us n^fsperous except we learn to help ourpielves. Timing Earthquakes, — The telegraphist at P.itea sends us the following : — I observe in your issue of the 28ih ult. a paragraph wil.h the above heading. In reference to the same it may be interesting to you to know that a very similar instance to tho one there recorded took place here not long since, iv the mouth of July last to the best of my recollection. At about two oVlock in the afternoon I was sitting beside the telegraph instrument when a smart shock of earthquake was experienced. The line being disengaged at, the moment I informed the Wanganui station of the parthqunke, and enquired if he felt it. He was just in the act of answering "No," when the shock came upou him. The shock in this case did not travel nearly so fast a 6 in the one previously alluded to. The pace, I should say, was not more than a hundred miles a minute. The ngitntiou which has for a considerable time past, been going on at Auckland in favor of a Permissive Bill, has at length resulted iv the paesiug of ilie Bill without a division. Two-thirds of the a '3 ult population, including women, iv any place in the Province, will thus have it in their power to prevent the sale of intoxicating liquors therein. A Warning on the Taupa Road. — The Tauranga co-respondent of the Southern Cross writes : — Mr. Powell — a trader iv the habit of packing goods up country, and recently arrived in Te Papa — reports that he has just received the followiog telegram from Mr. Maunsell, scout to the Native .Contingent: — "You can't cross at the Nihu-0.-te-kiori." Mr. Powell has also received a letter from a chief warning him not to travel by that route, and staling that Mr. M'LBan J s &afe.-CQn- t ducts were putiputi — valueless. Mibu-o.- ' te-kiori J3 a crossing place of the Paupo road, on the Waikato. In the G-eneral Syao.d. of the Church of England, now sitting a« Dunedin, Dr. Maunsell was to have moved on the 10th inst., that, «• The Primate having laid ' before this Synod a letter to him from Bishop Jenner, from which it appears that he declines to accede to the request of the Synod of 1868, that he should withdraw his claim to the Diocese ■ of Dunedia — Ist. That in accordance with the 23rd section of the Constitution Act this Synod caunot recognise as Bishop in

any part of this ecclesiastical province any person whose nomiuation has not been sanctioned by it, or by the majority of the Standing Committ'es of the several dioceses. 2nd. Thar, as this Synod has not sanctioned, and does not sanction, the appointment of Dr. Jenner, Dr. Jenner is not, and never was, Bishop of Dunedin. News from the Cape of Good Hope, via Mauritius', to Sth October, in reference to the diamond fields of the Vaal, says : — "Diamonds to the value of £15,500 have been sent to England by the Norseman, and the shipments by the previous mail steamer Roman amount to £15,000, making in till the total value of exported duriug the month £30,500, a fact which which will surely arrest atten<ion at homp, and which sufficiently attests i he wealth of the dinmondiferous region. There is every reason to believe that many diamonds are sent home by private hand which are not entered in the list of exports:" Mr. Richmond and the Electors of Wellington. — Mr. Richmond, after his defeat at Wellington, addressed, n letter to the Evening Post from whicl^we make the following extract: — It, is -'still of immense importance to all classes, but especially to the less wealthy, to curb the reckless extravagance of our current financial proceedings, and to do this requires not merely watchfulness over the salaries of Government clerks, but a radical reform of our financial system. The General Assembly must cease to act as a financial cats-paw to the Provincial Governments. The advancing political knowledge and (he common peril of the country, by attracting more interest to the [ Colonial Government, favor the simplifi- ; cutioa of the constitution. The colonising schemes of Mr. Yogel and his colleagues require modification and close watching. The land laws must he adapted to facilitate settlement, otherwise the proposed immi;>ration will entail enormous misery on the new comers as well as the present population. The large public works which are iv contemplation must be guarded against log-rolling and political influences, and against the jobbery and predatory instincts of large contractors. They should bo entered upon in the first instance tentatively under the immediate and close inspection of Government, and by the small contract system. You should prefer popular education to showy steam contracts; and let me urge upon you, in insisting upon tho establishment of primary schools throughout the Colony, not to grudge aid to the machinery of higher education so long as it is made practically accessible to all classes by a system of public exhibitions for apt scholars. The popular voice and a really popular policy cannot prevail unless the leaders of the future are supplied with means of the highest training which the state can afford, and without colleges your primiiry schools will not attain their greatest utility. In conclusion, let me caution you not to support your representatives in joining a strife of North against South. Remember the prophetic warnings of the great Washington in a like manner on a far larger scale, and endeavor to expunge the ideas North and South from among your political motives, and to use them as little as possible in the vocabulary of your political agitations. It is from union among the friends of popular progress in every part of the Colony that hope for the future lies, and such union is of infinitely greater moment to you than the fruits of any financial scramble can possibly be.