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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 16, 18 January 1872, Page 2

An Alarm (says a writer in the Overland Mail) has been sounded about our merchant fleet. Not less rapid than the rush from old men-of-war to steam monitors has been, under the Suez Canal requirements, the endeavor to provide steamers in the place of sailing vessels. It is estimated by competent authorities that the steam fleet now building will, on a moderate calculation, cost £11,000,000 sterling, and supply steam vessels aggregating nearly half a million tons. If, as it appears, steamers can perform three times the service of sailing vessels, it becomes a question whether the shipping trade will grow in proportion to the steamers, or whether in competing at low freights there may not be ruin in store for the majority of shipowners, The carrying trade by water, by rail, by road, seems doomed to be universally unprofitable, or at least to suffer to an extraordinary extent from severe competition and a costly supply seldom equal to the demand. Still there is no reason why we should not be the sea carriers of the world, and if Great Britain'-a exports and imports do not grow with the ship building, other nations will find employment for our ships and seamen. " Mr. W. Taylor, F.S.S., read to the British Association," writes the Spectator, " a paper containing some very suggestive facts. The total number of laborers in England and Wales of all classes living ou weekly wages aud working with their bands is, ' including their families, 8,144,000, less than half the population. Of these, 1,178,000 are skilled artizans, or say 200,000 grown men ; 4,000,000 are half-skilled artizans, or say 800,000 grown men ; and 2,957,000 agricultural and unskilled laborers, or say 600,000 grown men. The average earnings ol a skilled man range from £60 to £73 a year ; of a half-skilled man from £46 to £52, and of an unskilled man or agricultural laborer from £20 to £41. These averages would shew prosperity in the working class, the lower agricultural laborers excepted, and their total earnings are £276,000,000 a year ; but they throw away £58,000,000 a year on alcohol, so paying to the publicans a fifth of all their receipts ; that is, a 4s. income tax, and a total sum nearly double the whole of the taxes they pay the State. Teetotalism has not the moral merits its advocates proclaim, or Mussulmen would be better men, but it certainly would make us the richest people on earth."

Crime in the Colonies. — A fearful picture of the social condition of a district of New South Wales was drawn in a short address delivered by Mr. Justice Hargrave, at the end of the Bathurst criminal sittings. Before discharging the jury his Honor felt it his duty to make a few remarks on the grievous catalogue of heinous crimes brought under their notice during the past nine days. The convictions included three for murder, three for attempted murder, three for rape, one for manslaughter, one for house-breaking, and one for cattle stealing. Four sentences of death were passed. Besides these convictions, there were at least four proved murders remaining unpunished, and also a postponed case of rape, and one of murder. Well might tbe judge observe : — "Gentlemen, it is impossible to dismiss you from the assizes without asking myself how such an appalling catalogue of exclusively heinous offences for trial at a single half-yearly assize can have arisen among a comparatively small and dispersed population, certainly not exceeding 50,000 souls, or at most 60,000 in the whole. Thare have been no recent seditions or insurrectionary outbreaks, no recent agrarian disturbances, no general or even partial poverty — from which this Bathurst assize is to be distinguished from other assizes in the Colony. Gentlemen, I cannot answer this enquiry; but it remains for you to consider, and for every inhabitant of this assize district to consider whence has arisen the unfeeling disregard for human life, the fierce vindictiveness, the ferocious assaults upon women and female children, and the gross sensuality disclosed at the present assizes, not only in the offences themselves, but also in the surrounding circumstances of each particular case. For myself, as the judge of these sittings, my mind will always look back with horror upon the Bathurst Assizes of October. 1871."

For remainder of news see fourth page.

Queensland Statesmen. — Mr. Troilope has had material for a charming sketch, of colonial statesmen and legislatures placed at his disposal during his Queensland trip. When the Parliament opened there the other day, Mr. Milne moved that the Piemier, Mr. Palmer, be dismissed for being drunk and disorderly at Rockhampton. This provoked what is termed " a characteristically bluff reply" from the Colonial Secretary, who frankly admitted that his "conduct waa not exactly what he should like it to have been," and " taking the bull by the horns," he proceeded to make the following statement : — " He had taken more brandy and water than had agreed with him; but not one drop more than he had often taken before and hoped to take again, even when he had to speak in that house; but the excitement arising from the howling of 800 human beings — as he must call them — who met him with tbe most determined opposition, had been too much for him, although he was determined never to allow such treatment to drive him to desperation again. He did tell them he did not care a curse for them. He jumped down and dared the people to touch him; his Irish blood was up, and he was ready for a fight. He confessed that he was over-excited, but this was all the more the result of the howls of tbe people assembled than of anything he had taken, and it was evident that the people of Rockhampton did not think much the worse of him, as was shown the next day by the reception he met with at a largelyattended meeting in that town." Mr. Milne's motion came to a bad end. — G. R. Argus. The Premier turned Informer. — Mr. Fox's crusade against the Rangitikei publicans for selling liquor on the race-course is thus commented on by the Post : — Mr. William Fox has been riding his hobby-horse to death at the MartonRangitikei races. This deplorable unMinisterial cruelty to animals took the form of protesting against liquors being sold on the race- course, notwithstanding that the Justiees bad given their permission. Tery naturally great indignation is expressed against the Premier, who intends, it is stated, to lay informations against the publicans for the illegal sale of liquors. Mr. Fox could not, of course patronise anything so mundane, so unholylandish, as races, and was therefore not present on the occasion. How he intends therefore to , lay informations against persons whom he has never seen, for alleged illegal acts, of which he is not personally cognizant, is' a mystery too deep for any but the mind of our Colonial Father Mathew. If the Premier is bent upon this Quixotic crusade against drink, we may expect to hear shortly that " the Hon. the Premier, yesterday, at the Cabinet Council made his customary olfactory inspection of the breaths of the Cabinet, and, discovering a faint suspicion of pale brandy in that of the Colonial Treasurer, and a rum-like exhalation from that of the Defence Minister, he immediately gave to each the option haud bibat, aut abeat" A Clairvoyant at Fault. — If a spiritualist in Victoria has made a happy hit in foretelling the fate which had befallen the mail steamer some days before intelligence of the accident reached that colony, others of the same craft are singularly out in the information they pretend to obtain from the world of spirits. It is claimed, it is true, that Mr. Tait's horse, Pearl, was given as the winner of the Melbourne Cup, but it was not till after the race was determined that this was made known. After the Suez mail was due in Melbourne, but before the arrival of the intelligence of the wreck of the Rangoon, a young lady residing in that city was thrown into a state of clairvoyance, when she announced that intelligence of the mail would be received in Melbourne on the evening of the following Saturday between five and six o'clock, and that news of the Queen's death would be received. Upon being questioned as to the circumstances of the Queen's death, she gave the following account: — After visiting London, the clairvoyant found the Queen was not at Buckingham Palace. In trance the subject went to another locality, which from description appears to be Osborne, in the Isle of Wight — although possibly Balmoral may be the site intended to be described. The clairvoyant said, that from the 11th to the loth of October the following events transpired in the order narrated : — " The Queen is now speaking to her son; she says that he is not to allow her people to miss her. She will never do any more work, her breathing is so hard and so bad; all her family are with her. The Queen has just said that she saw Prince Albert, and told him she would be with him soon. The Queen is dead; it is now night, the 14th of October — very nearly the 15th. They are going to take her to England. Before the Queen died she asked to be buried, if she died, near her dear husband." The lady was singularly at fault io her prediction, for when the news arrived, it was found that so far from being dead, the health of her Majesty

had improved. After this will the young lady trust her medium any more ? Preserved versus Fresh Meat. — The following letter, addressed by Mr. Edward Wilson to the editor of The Times, giving the true "conditious of the competition between Australian preserved meat and fresh butchers' meat, is stated to have had an important effect on the meat market in England : — ' Sir, — The other day I sent to one of your contemporaries the results of a little experiment I bad made in a matter of considerable domestic interest; and from tbe comments made by >?e upon the calculation therein contained I feel sure that benefit might accrue in many households if you would allow me to bring the figures under the notice of your readers as well. In a comparison between the cost of butchers' meat purchased at the shops and preserved meat imported from Australia, your contemporary had quoted the difference at about two-thirds of the English price, my little experiment seemed to show that the difference was more nearly twice that amount. Wishing to know exactly what was the loss in cooking and what the proportion of bone in an ordinary joint, I had a leg of mutton weighed as it came from the butcher's, weighed again when roasted fit for the table, and I then had the meat pared off, and it and the bone weighed separately, with the following results: — Leg of mutton before roasting, 91b. 10oz.; do. after roasting, 61b. 120z.; weigbt of cooked meat, 41b. 130z.; bones, lib. 150z.; gravy, lOoz. By this calculation we find, what probably our thrifty housekeepers know, but many of us do not know, that if we pay the butcher 9l|d. per pound for a leg of mutton, the cooked slice of mutton on our plate costs us about 19d. per pound; and that we must compare English meat at that rate with Australian meat, cooked and without bone, at 6J. or 7d., to judge justly between them. It is delightful to reflect that your journal enters thousands of establishments in which it is a matter of indifference whether meat is eaten at 19d. per lb., but it enters thousands of others houses where such a consideration as this is of very serious importance, and it is in the hope of doing a little good there that I take the liberty of addressing you on the subject. — I am, sir, yours obediently, Edward Wilson. Reform Club, Nov. 1." Strange Wager. — The Gaulois publishes what one may hope is the commencement of ao amusing correspondence. The first letter is from M. Bernot, head of the College of Chateaudun, to M. le Baron Unterrichter, orderly officer of General Baron von de Tann. Ratisbonne. It runs thus : — 'Baron — The 28th of November last you were at Chateaudun, which was taken after a fight of nine hours, not very glorious for the Prussian arms, since 18,000 men, with 24 pieces of artillery, were pitted against 1200. You took up your quarters at my friend's, the apothecary, where we met. After dinner, in the joy caused by your success, you boasted about the power of Prussia, her immense forces, and admirable military organisation, which no other nation could resist. Greatly excited, you fixed the following itinerary : — ' In two days we shall be at Orleans, in eight days at Tours, and in three weeks in Paris.' As I contested the last assertion, you said, * well, I bet my head against yours that we shall enter Paris before the Ist of January.' The bet was taken. Not having entered Paris before the Ist of January, you have lost, and your head belongs to me. As a man

of honor and a gentleman, you owe it to me, and I count upon your word. But do not torment yourself, Baron ; I am" not a man of blood, and prefer seeing heads where the Creator placed them. For this reason I propose a settlement. You shall keep your head, which is, no doubt, precious to you, and would be a great nuisance to me ; but as compensation shall give me 10,000 francs, which shall be laid out in relieving the victims of war. — Receive, &c, &c, — (Signed) Bernot." The Baron's answer is anxiously "expected.