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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 144, 20 June 1871, Page 4

In a bankruptcy case which were recently heard before Mr. Justice Greeson at Chriatchurcb, Mr. Wynn Williams appeared to oppose on behalf of the Provincial Government of Otago, to whom the bankrupt stood indebted for his passage from home. In the course of Mr. Williams's remarks he stated that the Immigration Department had, for some years past, experienced great difficulty in getting money from people who had obtained assisted passages. Some exhibited a willingness to pay, but there were many instances where people, who had tbe means, shirked the obligation. His Honor remarked that he had had a very painful knowledge of the fact, because in one case where he went security he had to pay the money, tbe parW for whom he bad become sewrity being qfite able to pay the amount. Br the barque Queen of the South, which has arrived at Lyttelton from Western Australia, with a cargo of jarrah timber' for., 'the Government, several conditional- pardon men were passengers, five of whom were Fenians, aud their advent created some little excitement. From what we learn from the Press, the men applied previous to leaving Western Australia, to the Colonial Secretary of that colony, for information as to whether they would be allowed to land in New Zealand, and they were given to understand that there was no obstacle to their so doing. This, however, is not the case, as an Act is in force in New Zealand, rendering them liable to penal servitude for several years. Immediately on the arrival of the barque at the Heads, Mr. Inspector Pender proceeded on board, and remained there to maintain surveillance over them for a day, when they were brought before the Resident Magistrate at Lyttelton. Tbey were then charged with, being conditional-pardon convicts, illegalij in this Colony, and, after being re man del for a day, until the Government had been consulted, it was intimated that tlftk would be sent back to Western Australia. The people of the North Island are a wonderful people. They are unlike anything that ever went before, or is likely to come after them. They are now proposing to fortify the harbor of Auckland from the attack of an enemy, by the aidbf huge earthworks, heavy ordinance, torpem does, electricity, and other modern anf costly inventions of defence. The French; or the Russians, or the Filibustered may come, but the Aucklanders will defy them ! Of course they will ; for are not these Aucklanders the men who telegraph to us* every night throughout the week that af hundred or two of Maoris have for months prevented the Government from carrying Her Majesty's mails through, or erect telegraph |?ol£S, from Tauranga to Auckland ; and who, when tbey want something done in tlie* cause of commerce and civilisation, which the Maori cannot see will be to his own particular advantage, try to get done by coaxing him, patting him on the back, offering-.hira sweet things and the like. And these are the gentlemen who propose .to fortify Auckland against a Continental foe ! We don't wish to be considered presumptous, but instead of «orj>edoes| aud big guns, earthworks, embankmentsj|embrasures, mitrailleuse and that sort of thing, we respectfully beg to suggest to the Aucklanders that when an enemy steams in sight of their harbor they will employ Mr. M'Lean, their Defence Minister, to try the flour and blanket policy. It has not answered with the Maoris, but then it does not follow that such terms will not be accepted by mora civilised belligerents, who will be able to understand and appreciate their true value.— -Grrey mouth Star.

Happiness is a road-side flower growing in the highway of usefulness. j The American Tract Society have issued 442,000,000 tracts in oue hundred and forty-one languages and dialects during the last forty-five years. The total number of miles of railway open in New South Wales is 405|-, the cost of construction of which was about £6,350,000. Excluding the line from Sydney 14 miles in length, and which cost about £35,000 a mile, the ' average cost of construction per mile was £13,447. The average cost per mile of maintenance is £127, as compared with £264 Us 3d in Eugland. The New York Herald says : — The Garibaldi family have always been a nuisance, and an ulcer upon the body politic of Europe. They have never been busy anywhere that mischief did not come out of their interferences. The elder Garibaldi spent a few years of his life in honest industry when he was manufacturing candles on Seaton Island, and making a decent livelihood thereby. Since then he has been a noisy adventurer in Europe. His whole course has been utterly contemptible. He has made trouble in Italy, but has achieved nothing for Italian independence. He assumed a command in the French army during the recent war, but the French troops would not serve under him. He was regarded as an interloper, and an enemy to that kind of liberty which France desired. Garibaldi was therefore compelled to retire from the French service in disgust. We are surprised to find his son, Menotti Garibaldi, at the head of the insurgents of Montmartre. What business have these Italian outlaws to meddle in the affairs of France ? They are a nuisance which should be wiped out at once ; the sooner the better. Counting-House Alcoholism. — The Saturday Review follows up its article on Drawing-room Alcoholism with a similar charge against the mercantile community of the city. The American bar system which in New York and elsewhere has been carried to a height at which, through being so flagrantly scandalous and intolerable, it has almost begun to cure itself, has unfortunately taken root in London and others of our chief cities. The habit of taking irregular " nips," " pegs," " pick-me-ups," or " eye-openers," as the Yankees call them, is established among us, and seems to be rapidly gaining ground. The amount of mischief which is produced among all ranks of mercantile men by the growirjg custom pf drinking frequent glasses of wine, ancf especially" sherry, not at meals and along with or just after food, but tossed off at odd moments, as a mere " nip," either out of a private bottle or at one of the public bars, is producing incalculable mischief. Ask any doctor who has much to do with city men and he will tell you of the terrible increase of paralysis amongst this class. A yearly list o%^ the number of young men who either pe^jsh in this melancholy way or are reduced to permanent imbecility would startle those who have never had their attention called to it. Even when the facts are known, the case is misunderstood. " Overwork " is the usual j explanation ; the strain of business, " anxieties of speculation." No doubt all j these things have to do with the mischief. \ The conditions under which mercantile work is now-a-days carried on are such as/1 tell severely on the nerves, but not the less is it true that they are only indirect, not direct, causing of the wasting disease and high rate of mortality which are now becoming such marked features of City life. It is the free use of stimulants during working hours, enfeebling the mind and paralysing the frame which makes the work so fatally exhausting. Nor does 'the evil stop here. It is impossible that business can rest on a sound basis when it is carried on under the excitement of frequent drams. The tales of ruined character are more terrible even than those of ruined health. The reckleness with which business is carried on leads naturally to the desperate and unscrupulous measures which are resorted to in the attempt to avert or retrieve disaster. A cool head and careful prudence are essential to the maintenance I of that secure credit which is the only basis of sound trade. The remedies for the present melancholy state of things must be sought in resolute abstinence from all stimulants during the hours of work and in the endeavor to reduce as far as possible worty and fatigue which usually attend the daily life of a man of business. The present movement for curtailing the hours of work is in every way a mistake. Instead of being shortened they should be lengthened, and city men, as they certainly will not go back to the old plan of living over their counting-houses, should at least try to establish themselves within walking distance of their place of business. What they imperatively require is more repose of mind and body aud less excite* meat.