Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 74, 29 March 1871, Page 2

AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL Societies.-^ — At the opening of the Oiago Elorticulturaf Society's autumn exhibition, Sir G-eorse Bowen is reported to have said: — "I thank the Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society of Oiago for the hearty welcome which they have •liven me. I have derived much pleasure from my visit to their autumn exhibition. It is very remarkable to observe the great progress made iv this province during the brief period of twenty years, in acclimatising the most valuable cereals, fruit, flowers, and vegetables in Europe. But Scotch energy and industry are capable in New Zealand as in the old country, of wheedling their gifts from Ceres and Flora. Tho advantages resulting from agricultural and horticultural societies are undoubtedly numerous and important. The healthful emulation which they cause tends largely to benefit, not individuals merely, but the entire community. These societies disseminate useful and practical information among farmers aud gardeners. They teach the best meaus of making farming and gardening remunerative. They materially aid in developing the resources of the soil by making known the < most recent and improved methods of its cultivation. The shows held in connection with these associations enable farmers and gardeners to compare the respective qualities of their produce, and to learn the comparative merits of new implements, new seeds, and new stock. I have been requested to perform this day the agreeable duty of opening this exhibition, and I heartily wish success to it, and to the society with which it is connected." Oratorios in Churches. — We mentioned some time since that an oratorio was to be held in St. John's Church Christchurch, in aid of the church funds. No sooner was it known that the Eev. E. Bailey — who will be remembered by many of our readers as having preached at the two English churches here some few months sinee — the present curate of St, John's, had granted his permission, than a great outcry arose against what was termed the desecration of the church, aud columns upon columns of newspaper correspondence have taken place on the subject. Mr. Bailey, seeing the strong feeling that existed against the proposed arrangement, has written to the Secretary of the Mendelssohn Society asking leave lo withdraw his permission, and in doing so he says: — "My own opinion remains unshaken as to the justness of our cause, and the purity of the motives -which underlie

it, but meanwhile I very cheerfully relinquish my private opinions, and my own lawful liberty for the s-ike of men of tender and despotic conscience. This subject involves the principle of Christian raid social tolerance to a fur greater extent, than I — and perhaps, too, the gentlemen who in company with yourself waited ou me last week — could then foresee. The present ocea u ion is one when to exercise our charity will be a greater thing than to claim our liberty. It is an occasion which opens up to us a path by which we may gain — gain in the elevation ami breadth of our nature, as well as in our influence for good upon others — infinitely nmre than we surrender. This is auother shape of the old old difficulty which sprung up amongst the Roman Christians in the time of St. Paul. The priuciple which he then laid down for the guidance of the Romans is world-wide in its application — "Let every one of us please bis neighbor for his good unto edification * * * * * * for even Christ pleased not Himself." A Sailor's Opinion of the War. — The lWuimuster of H.M.S. Phccbe, which formed one of the Flying Squadron, has written a letter to the editor of the Lyttelton Times, informing him of the safe arrival of the squadron at home, aud of the great success that has attended the sale of his "log" which was written in verse, and will no doubt be remembered by many of our readers. He concludes his letter by sayiug : — "All the squadron is paid off — four at Plymouth and two at Portsmouth. The Bristol is to be commissioned again for the Australian station. We are all very busy at home, both the Army and Navy. The Volunteers are becoming as proficient in their duty as the Regulars. The topic of the day is the war between France and Prussia, and nothing goes down unless you can talk of the Frogs and Sausages struggling for victory. The popular feeling is for the smaller food, but for our own part we have no desire for either. We still have powder, and men with British pluck to be lookers-on, or show them an example as required." During President Grant's administration, the public debt of the United States has been reduced by close upon £40,000,000 sterling. A letter from an English printer employed at one of the Paris newspaper offices, addressed to bis wife in England, states that he has, during twenty d->ys, only received four ounces of meat, and that he has been obliged lo support himself by the use of some olive oil which he had by biro. Mark Twain has this advice to young men of literary aspirations: — ''Write without pay until somebody offers pay. If nobody off -rs pay within three years, the candidate may look upon this circumstance with the most implicit; confidence i.s a sign that sawing wood is what he was intended for." A recent English visitor to the United States, who had strong Northern sympathies during the civil war, de dares that there is such bitter hostility between the North and South that if a conflict was to occur between the United States and England there would be a fresh rebellion in the States. Electric Disturbances. — A Sydney paper refers to certain proposed reductions in the civil service of that colouy in the following grave manner : — lt is rumored that in view of the proposed reduction in the salaries of subordinate civil servants, the clerks in the telegraph office have decided on discontinuing to wear socks and shirts, as unnecessary luxuries. « It is stated that a new sovereign is about to be coined, which will have for the obverse the Royal effigy, with the inscription, " Victoria D. G. Britanniar : Reg.; F. D. ;" and for the reverse the irna<:e of St. George armed sitting, on horseback attacking the Dragon with a sword, his spear having been broken in the encounter, aud the date of the year, with a grainiug on the edge of the coin. An Unpleasant Mistake. — A contemporary gets the following story from a telegraph operator in a country town — "A member of the Masonic Order telegraphed to a companion at a distance — 'Make room for ten Royal Arch Masons — coming today.' When the companions arrived they found that a pen had been built for their accommodation, the telegraph at its destination reading, 'make room for ten R A Ms — coming to-day.'" Australia is becoming exceedingly aristocratic in regard to its Governors. Half-pay naval or military men will not answer the purpose any longer. Honorables and Knights are at a discount, aud there is a stiong enquiry for Peers of the realm. New South Wales is governed by an Earl, Victoria by a Viscount, and now Queensland has got a Marquis. Surely New Zealand will be given a Baron or perhaps a Duke when a new Governor is wanted . — Post.

The Ex-Emperor. — Tho following amusing account of the ex-Emperor's retirement at Wilhelmshoe is given by tho , Nero York Tribune :•— Last spring it was (bought lie could not survive the year. The cares of power, the necessity of appearing more than he was, seemed rapidly killing him. But from the day of bis capture and imprisonment his health has gradually improved. He eats with the old zest of boyish days at Areneuberg. He sleeps as he did iv the chateau of Ham, His life has become real again after long years of humbug. The frog splashes contentedly about in his puddle, satisfied with beiug the biggest there, and does not crack his hide with trying to be an ox. He has even resumed his old and harmless habit of pamphleteering, which is the delight of big heart. He has written a history of i the last campaign, wherein he cut an almost heroic figure — and promises more. The desperate death struggle of agonising Frauce, unwilling to recognise the abyss of misery to which he has dragged her, excites from him ouly a smirk of complacency. He remarks on the hopelessness of her efforts with the coolness of the philosopher and the historian, The errors and indiscretions of her Provisional Government met with no mercy in his judicial eyes. His life is happy and free from care. His judgments are sounder than in the old days of worry. The Empres3 is at Chiselhursf, and the royal cook is at Wilhelmshoe. . Somebody else governs France. The Imperial waistcoats refuse to button. A Clergyman in New York offers up prayers for the Legislature of that State, i which he says is " disposed to repeal even i tho Ten Commandments." Tea and coffee are threatened with a , Brazilian rival called Guaraua. It consists of the seeds of a tree known to botanists as Paulina scorbilis, which is very abundant in the Province of the Amazons. Mddle. Nilsson is to receive the sum of £25,000 for six months for singing iD America. Her first concert in the United States proved a great success. The receipts amounted lo 4,800dol.«., which, at the present price of gold, is equivalent to about £900. For remainder oj news see fourth page.

Meat Preserving „and. and Life Insurance. — An English journal has the following amusing speculations on combining the iuterest of meat-preserving and life insurance : — "The Lancet says that Dr. Stein, of Dresden, while lecturing lately on the preservation of food, opened a tin canister of meat preserved by what is known as Apert's method, and prepared by him in 1851. The meat, on examination, it is stated, was found to be as fresh and of as good a, flavour as when placed in the canister 19 years previously. It is well worth consideration whether Apert's method might not be made use of by the cautious as a substitute for the ordinary mode of life insurance. A man with only a life income, instead of paying £100 a-year to an insurance office which may perhaps find itself unable to meet its engagements, might expend that sum annually in preserving meat by Apert's method, aud on his death bequeath to each of his children and to his wife tins of mutton sufficient to secure them at least against starvation for many years to come ; indeed, a prosperous man who had the good luck to live to an old age might have the satisfaction before he died of feeling that he had stored away in tins flocks and herds enough, not only to provide for his own children, but also for his descendants to the third or fourth generation."