THE WEEK.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 88, 15 April 1871, Page 2

THE WEEK.

Racing is, of course, the topic of the week. Not that we have had an opporr tunity bf seeing anything approaching \ to what I call racing, but stiil a lot of people have been to the course, and have seen a number of horses with sleek coats and plaited manes, aud carrying manyhued jockeys on their backs, and every now and then they heard a bell njng and somebody call out "off," aud, if .the starting place was at the opposite side of the course, those who were seated in the Stand would, after a lengthy interval, if they had sufficient patience, and did not fall asleep in the meantime, see one horse coming up at a gentle canter with a jockey leaning back in his saddle and pulling hard at the reins, and behind it, at a distance of several yards, sometimes more sometimes less, two or three other creatures that had beeD, or, might possibly at some future time be, racehorses, but which certainly were not then deserving of the name, laboring along with their riders' whip hands going like pump handles, and then some people would look knowingly at other people, and say : By Jove, Sir, Twilight, or Jupiter, or Solforino, or some horse with an unintelligible Italian name, as the case might be, would have won that race if it had only been another fifty yards to the winning post. Didn't you see how fast he, she, or it was gaining on the winner ? But there were others on the ground who knew better than this, and who could not conceal from themselves the fact that the Nelson races of 1871 were an immense failure, nor could they refrain from calling to mind the days of yore when we had sound, swift, well-trained racers of the finest blood in the Southern hemisphere to compete for our prizes, and when it was not in the power of any horse from Auckland or any other province to snatch the stakes from our grasp, much less to canter round, and play with, their competitors, as did Yattarioa and Slauder on Tuesday and Wednesday last. During our late race meeting — that, I believe, is the technical term for the gathering on the course on the two days ia question — I witnessed two sights that were very similar in their character, alf hough they appertained to two entirely different divisions of the animal kingdom. One was at the Hospital grounds as I drove by, wmere, on that beautiful Tuesday morning, the patients were out taking an airing, some on crutches, others crawling slowly along without such artificial aids, but with such manifest difficulty as to show that the poor fellows had it not in their power to get over the ground without considerable effort. From thence I went to the course, and there I saw the same pitiable sight repeated in the persons, if I may so speak, of our Nelson horses. One was limping from a bruised foot, another was throwing out most formidable splints, a third still bore the marks of where the blister had been lately doing its work of disfiguration, and so on throughout the whole lot. Indeed one might well have been pardoned for mistaking the saddling yard of the Nelson Race Course for the exercise ground of a veterinary infirmary, and yet we went there to see sport ! About the only two sound horses that the Stafford and Redwood stables could produce were Day Dawn and Vulcan/ the former of which we certainly should not have called a racehorse ten years ago, while the latter, although he was not lame, reminded me somewhat of the brief account, given by those who profess to be mythological authorities, of him, after whom he was named. We are told that "Vulcan was the son of Jupiter, who, being angry/ with him, hurled him out of heaven, from whence he was falling from morning till sunset, when he pitched on the earth much dispirited and lamed." Our Vulcan did not, perhaps, look as though he bad come off quite so long and perilous a journey, but he certainly gave one the idea of being quite as capable of undertaking it as he ' was of running a fast race. J No more gay crowds in the Grand Stand, for years to come ; no more gaudy flags flying from well stocked booths ; no more brilliant - banners conveying tbe intelligence that horses could be stabled and men lunched at certain places ; the only motto we can hope to see on any colors that may be displayed on a course where once the best horses in New Zealand were wont to meet in hard fought contests is the one word Ichabod ! And so I leave this cheerless theme. I wonder why it is that some men can roll over precipices, tumble down stairs, fall ;:off ladders, blunder into sis-foot ditches, get bucked ; off playful horses, and pass through any number of similar ordeals with the utmost impunity, while another cannot perform the very simple act of slipping down on a soft and muddy ;road without smashing a , bone or twoi

Here is a wide field for enquiry afforded to those who are fond of research, and devoted to the study of the " ologies," and I would recommend the following as an excellent text on which to frame a paper to be read at the next meeting of the Scientific Association : — Why did Sunley, who was hurled from Patch when at full gallop, escape with a bloody nose, while Taylor who slipped and fell while quietly walking along the road, snapped two bones of his leg? — I should like to hear an essay on this subject. Poor old Taylor! Surely he will for the future religiously avoid participating in the festivities of Nelson gala days. To have your arm blown off at a regatta, and a leg broken at ' a race meeting is too great a sacrifice of personal comfort to be made merely for the purpose of patronising such amusements by your presence. There is an affinity between broken bones and aching backs, so I will proceed to discourse of the Harmonic Society's Concert — not of its musical merits — for I doubt whether I am capable of doing justice to such a theme, as I am not quite sure that I could, unassisted, distinguish between the "British Grenadiers" and the " Hallelujah Chorus," but I want to say a word about the trials that have to be undergone by the major portion of the audience at these pleasant social gatherings. Those who take care to be early are enabled to enjoy the luxuries of seats with backs to them, but I happened not to arrive until the doors had been opened for a quarter of an hour, and consequently had to sit in a rigidly uncomfortable position for at least two hours. I think this discomfort might be remedied at the cost of a few shillings, and I have previously made a suggestion to this effect, which, hitherto, has been taken no notice of whatever; I should like, therefore, to have the power of compelling the Superintendent aud bis constitutional advisers to sit on those forms 7 until they saw the necessity of supplying them with supports for the back. I fancy I can see them—not the forms, but the Executive — enduring their sufferings for perhaps half an hour with a heroism that would render them worthy of a place in Foxe's Book of Martyrs, but there would soon be an uneasy shifting in their seats, expressive glances would occasionally be interchanged indicative of the discomfort they were experiencing, and within the hour, they would be fully convinced* ihat the complaints that have been raised, but to which they have hitherto turned a deaf' ear, were not altogether groundless and the order would at once be given for the necessary work. Suppose they were to act upon the experience of others without themselves undergoing a trial to which others are subjected. F. For remainder of news see fourth page.

A Wonderful Tree. — At Alexandria, in the magnificent gardens of Bhogos-Bey, is a; tree, the fruit of which has been obtained by an extremely ingeuious process. The seeds of three distinct plants, the tbe orange, citron, and lemon, are so combined as to be made produce a triple fruit. The largest of the seeds, probably that of the orange, is slit, down, and the two other seeds are forced withiu the shell, one on one side and the other on another. The ' gardner then binds the whole together by means of a blade of grit ss, carefully depositing it in a healthy piece of ground, ""n^rom this seed a fine tree emanates, on which, in due season, thiee distinct fruits grow, equal in every respect to those yielded oa separate trees. This wonderful process, it is said, has been practised for ages past in Smyrna, and that the naturalist, Bqghos Joussouf, introduced the secret into the Alexandrian gardens. At certain seasons of the year there is on extraordinary irruption of mining companies' balance-sheets in the Gazette, which nobody sees. I suppose there is some regulation compelling the limited companies to display their real condition for the information of possible creditors. Now some of these abstracts are wholesome, business-like documents, whilst others look as if they merely complied with the letter instead of the spirit of the Act. It is instructive to learn with how small a capital a limited company can be carried on — upon what a slendar foundation a possible fortune may hang balanced. I don't think the most skilful Japanese equilibrist could" poise a-company upon a smaller s basis than the following. The Great Extended H Co., Sandhurst, furnishes its abstract of accounts thus : — Unpaid calls, £13,916 ; outstanding accounts due by company £4 10s 3d.; bank overdraft, £2 16 ; cash in hand 6a 3d. The only big item is that of the money which hasn't been paid. The other figures are, in Vermont vernacular, " small potatoes and few in a hill." — "Talk Upon Change," in the Australasian. According to a Melbourne paper some imports of a novel character were recently brought into port. The paper states : — " We have for years past heard of discoveries of pearl shells in the neighboring seas, aed they have attracted the more interest because the demand for pearl-shell — i.e., the lustrous shelly material which in thin opalescent flakes is so largely used in the manufacture of fancy goods, more especially, perhaps, in Birmingham, Paris, Dresden, and Vienna, has grown beyond the supply, and the consequent high prices have vastly stimulated discovery all over the world. One result is that the other day a large cargo of pearl shell, which is a spiral shell yielding material similar but superior to that obtained from the mother-of-pearl, was sold in Sydney for £150 per ton. It was the collection of three years labor in the South Seas, and the entire cargo, whose quality was not quite first-rate, fetched £14,000, and brought a large profit to those concerned. The importation to which we allude consists also of a cargo of pearl shell of supurb quality, sales of which at home are quoted at £200 per ton. Unlike the Sydney cargo, it is the result of only four months' collection. About seven months since Captain Flynn, of the ship Prima Donna, entered into articles with Mr. A. Oppenheimer (the Paris firm), of Melbourne, to the effect that he should get a cargo of pearl shells < from certain places unknown to any but him in the South Pacific. The speculation was successful, and the cargo, ninety tons of " aurora " pearl shells, has come to Melbourne. A few of these shells have been treated with muriatic acid, and cleared of their limey envelope and cut through, the effect being to develop a quality which tells its own tale." A gentleman, writing by the last mail from San Francisco to the Daily Southern Cross, thus gives his opinion of that city as a field for emigration : — " You may do an act of real kindness to some of the laboring class of New, Zealand by publishing this letter, a good number of whom come out here by every mail boat, exhausting at least three months' saving by doing so, and then often returning by tbe next mail boatj using, up another £18. lam a New Zealander, or, at least; lived there several years, and I am certain that I gained nothing by leaviog it. I find that several who came by the last mail are going back this time, being utterly unable to find employment; Some are shepherds, others laborers, and many more would do so iftbey had the means. San Francisco has thousands of idle men. now, and in the winter time the number will be much increased.,. Tbere are-pqany reasons for this state of affairswhich Ineed pc-t^state, People living here for ,15 years, and more, say that they never knew such dull times, and the^^^ ' tChihe-e ■ Bwarni the: town ; they are always 1 fully emptoyedi The reason for t^is .is, because i *hey, | wwk for much less than &.Enropea?ueafl possibly do. They live upon a trifle, eating often uuch garbage as no European stomach could retain

The smell in that portion of tbe city where they hold their markets will testify-to this and they herd together like pisrs, sleeping in tiers one over another; consequently the European has no chance with them. This is not the case in tho town alono, but the country swarms with them also. Food is no cheaper than iv New Zealand, and house rent is very dear. Artizans who have been here for years, are now out of employment, and some, I am told, have not been aMe to get a hand's turn for 12 months. The lowest hours are 10 — this for laborers and mechanics in the city ; shopmen often Imve to attend in the shops from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and farm laborers work from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. I wonder what the eight-hour men of the Australian colonies would think of this ! The general wages are as follow : — Mechanic?, 10.3. to 12s. per diem ; shopmen, from £4 to £12 per month, and found ; laborers (in the city), 6s. to B>\ per diem ; farm laborers, from £5 to £6 ppr month, and found; shepherds, £5 per mon-tli and found. But though the wanes are hisrher than iv New Zealand or Australia, yet it must he borne in mind that they generally have to work a day and a half instead of a day. Clothing and boots are very dear ; the making of a suit alone, without counliug cloth and trimmings, is £5, by a decent tailor — sometimes more." Severe Punishment op Garotters. — At the last Warricjk Assizes four Birmingham thieves welec^-victed bf robbery with violence, ano^wntenced by Mr. Baron Bramwell to ajgfnteejn months' imprisonment, within addition, "twenty lashes from an instrument called a 'cat." In passing sentence the judge^observed, " I intend that you, anj^ersons like you, shall know that itassfou roh, you. will be imprisoned, ao^f^ iv addition toJ^hat, you ill-treat thoSßwho you rob, you will be whipped. It is right that if you inflict pain upon others you should be made to feel pain yourselves." On Wednesday! the prisoners, Worrall, Smith, Garrer, and Simpkins, were brought from their cells in turn to the place of punishment, and the flogging was administered in the presence of Mr. Meaden, the Governor, Dr. Hill, the surgeon, and six of the warders. Each prisoner was fastened to a wooden framework, his hands being strapped to the upper part of it, his feet to the lower part, aud a strong belt, also fastened to the framework, or triangle, being placed round his waist. The baok of the criminal was laid bare in order that the strokes of the " cat " might take due effect. A couple of stout warders then proceeded to administer the flogging. The "cat" consisted of a thick straight wooden handle, about a foot and a half long, to which was attached about a dozen thongs or lashes of strong whipcord two feet or more iv lensrtli, each thong being twisted of considerable thickness, find well knotted. Altogether it was a "most formidable weapon. The opera' or stood about two feet distant from the prisoner, to get a better purchase. Then with a long, steady, "swishing" stroke, the lash of the "cai" came down upon the i-are ha^k of the garotte'", taking a slanting direction from the shoulder to the waist, every stroke being deliberately and $rmly given. Obviously the punishmgj was no child's, play. As the lash fejs(prcb time, it. seemed to produce a stunning or deadening sensation, and Jhe^istant yell of pain told of the succeeding smart, and proved that these ruffians, who had inflicted pain and injury upon their victims, were quite capable of feeling it themselves, and quite cowardly enough to manifest the utmost terror and anguish during its infliction. So the punishment went on, until each prisoner had received his 20 lashes, and was removed from the : triangle to be taken to his cell, there to meditate on garotting.= and its consequences; As each. was cast off, his naked back presented to view a belt of livid flesh, about seven or eight inches across, in a slanting direction from shoulders to waist, so that no part of the back escaped the blows of the lash. Had not the prisoners been powerful, atheletic, strongly developed men, it is doubtful if they could have borne the infliction at all.