The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAT, JUNE 8, 1871.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 134, 8 June 1871, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAT, JUNE 8, 1871.

H. J. L. Augarde quotes paid-up Perseverance Shares, £5 paid, at £2 175.6 d. Business done this day. Telegraphic. — We have been.requested to state that a new telegraph office has been opened at Kekerangu, in the province of Marlborough. Nelson Scientific Association. — The monthly meeting was held last, evening in the Government Buildings, Dr. Irvine in the chair. Mr. Batchelor read a further paper on the food and management of the silkworm, a discussion on which, and other subjects, concluded the business of the*^yening. Mr. Batchelor intimated to the members present that he would, be glad to supply anyof them with silkworm's eggs who should wish to try the experiment of rearing them. Our "Peripatetic Philosophers." — Mr. Wastney in moving for travelling expenses to be allowed to all such members as should be possessed of a sufficiently enquiring turn of mind to desire to visit the West Coast, has achieved for our Provincial Council a colonial notoriety, and some of our contemporaries in other provinces appear to be charmed with the bold idea. The Wellington Post thus refers to it : — " People in New Zealand are quite familiarised with the idea, of paying members of Parliament, and giving Ministers carte blanche in the matter of travelling allowances. Mr. Wastney, a member of the Nelson I&rovincial Council, however, does jjtwrseem to be aware that it is jfl^iDle to have too much of a gj*ftll thing, and he recently asked the Council that the sum of £150 should be placed on the estimates for the purpose of defraying the expenses of such of the Councillors as should wish to visit the West Coast during the recess. A Mr. Gibbs suggested that the sum of £150 should be voted to each member for the trip ; and Mr. Donne thought £500 would be the handsome thing. „- Mr. O'Conor thought the £150 should only^be given if the Councillors themselves subscribed an equal sum. Mr. Collins characterised all the proposals as absurd, inasmuch as the effect would be to convert the members of the Council into a body of "Peripatetic Philosophers." This awful prediction apparently frightened the Council, for the motion was lost." Cured mullet are being extensively sold in Auckland at ld per lb. The Ship Wild Duck arrived at Auckland on the 24th May with a cargo of grain from Timaru. It is said that Messrs. Brown and Ingles, Baw-millers, Grove, Marlborough, purpose using a locomotive steam engine, instead of horses as formerly, for drawing logs along the tramway to the mill. The New Zealand Herald gives currency to a report that the Government •contemplate an addition to their ranks in the person of a Minister of Mines, who will have special charge of the mining industry of the Colony. The Kaiwarra toi) gate, near 1 Wellington, has been let for the year for £1,775, an increase of £125 over tbe rent of last year. This is attributed, by the local journals, to the largely increased traffic consequent upon the export of tallow from the Wairarapa, and also the quantity of/ flax passing through for shipment.. Can a man who is thoroughly drunk form a correct judgment as to the stage to which a man partially drunk had arrived ? This. nice question was recently raised in the Supreme. Court at Wellington.: One witness stated he wan drunk, and that : another was nod so drunk. Hia honor

remarked : " I see a possibility of a comparative drunkard being able to speak about the condition of a superlative one, but that the superlative could decide as to the condition of the comparative, I don't see." However, the jury settled the matter somehow. The Hawke's Bay Provincial Council has authorised the Government to offer the following bonuses for the encouragement of new industries in that province : A sura not exceeding £500 to auy firm which may cure and export from Hawke's Bay the first 100 tons of meat preserved by the tinning process, and £500 to any firm, which may first produce 100 to^s of marketable sugar, and 3000 galk>ns.^ of proof spirit manufactured from beet-root grown in the Province of Hawke's Bay. Frances Rogers, the Manchester baby farmer, has been committed for trial on four charges of murder; also for obtaining money by false pretences, and for misdemeanor, and neglecting to provide proper nourishment for children under her care.