The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7. 1871.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 133, 7 June 1871, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7. 1871.

The Census. — We learn that a mistake occurred in the total of the town population as given by the late census returns, the real number being 110 in excess of that stated. Washington Valley Eoad. — A capital piece of work has recently been completed at the entrance to Washington Valley where the road has been formed, one half of the intended width, from St. Vincent Street round by the All SaiDts' Parsonage. A culvert has been built, the walls being of Dun Mountain Btone set in mortar, and the arch turned in two rims of brick work set in Portland cement. The size of the culvert is; length, 70 feet; width, at the bottom, 4 feet, and at the springing of the arch, 4 feet 6 inches ; height, 4 feet 6 inches, the bottom being paved with large boulder stones. The plans and specifications were prepared by Mr. Younger, the surveyor to the Board of Works, and the contract has been most satisfactorily carried out by Messrs. Blecher and Grant, for the sum of £238, the cost of the culvert being £88, and the road £150. The road which has been raised some seven or eight feet will be gravelled as soon as it has properly settled down. At the banquet given to Dr. Featherstoue, at Wellington, the Hon. Mr. Fitzherbert, in proposing the health of the United States, out of compliment to the captain and officers of the Nevada, who were present, made some happy remarks. He said "He had learned one lesson in life, and that was not to despise the day of small beginnings, which he resretted was a common and a fatal mistake made by very many. He saw no reason why they should not drink the health of the Presideut of the United States. We were not so big as the United States certainly, but they were no bigger than us once. He had often found that on looking at a little boy, whose lower extremities were growing faster than his tailor's investments, and thought of the future when that boy would grow to be a great strong lusty man — as a man should be, both physically and morally — and he bad been, in consequence, inclined to approach his young friend with a greater degree of respect, and could listen to his boyish extravagance with more forbearance than he might otherwise have done. Therefore, looking at his toast in that spirit, he hoped his boldness would be accepted by those who lived under those glorious ' Stars and Stripes.' New Zealand would one day have a President of its own. How soon, or how long distant that day might be, was not within his prophetic ken; but the day would come; and there was not a single person who did not see it." The toast was drunk with enthusiasm. One of the dredges on the Shotover River has obtained lOOoz of gold since the Easter holidays. Two hundred Chinese are reported to have settled down to work at the Serpentine, Otago. The spot they have selected is a gully, which, when winter has fairly set in, will have several feet of snow in it. A. correspondent of an Auckland paper states that £80 per annum is the average salary of schoolmasters in that province, the consequence being that "hedge-schoolmaster ism" is rife, and "night and nine-pence" (whatever that may mean) rampant. A gentleman who left Auckland some months ago for England, wished, previous to his leaving, to dispose of his Caledonian shares, but could not get a purchaser. He hos since returned, and finds several thousands of pounds waiting him for dividends. Such is luck ! A MAN named Hardman has been fined 20s. and. costs, for shooting a goat within the boundary of the town of Shortland

He alleged, in mitigation of the offence, that the goat had been a source of great annoyance to him for two years, and that on the previous Sunday it had got into his house and eaten up all the bread, iD consequence of which he and his family had to starve until the following day. It has been the custom lately to gunge the civilisation of a period or place by the amount of attention and respect shown to the fairer and weaker sex. By this measurement New Zealand should occupy a foremost place iv the estimation of those who would hold up the banner of women's rights. Formerly lady visitors to the Parliament House of New Zealand ha 4to put up with a veritable box, and although wanting the* latticed bars of the Ladies' Gallery in the English House of Commons, was nearly as objectionable, as so very few could obtain sitting room. This session however, will show a difference. Where formerly there was bare room for coffee and crochet, ladies might now with a little co-operative ingenuity produce a sort of New Zealand Bayeux tapestry. The gallery is to be extended as far as the reporters' gallery. As the ballot has banished many of the orators of the House this session, it is to be hoped that the ladies will not seek to fill the vacancy in the eloquence of the room below, as the reporters might be bothered under the circumstances. Napoleon 111. is said to have become white-haired at Wilhelmshohe. He will remain so till his dyeing day. The number of immigrants who lauded in America in 1869 are said to be 300,000, or upwards of 1000 per diem. A Providence paper speaks of the ladies appearing on the streets " like animated fragments of shattered rainbows."