The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1572.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 23, 26 January 1872, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1572.

Caledonian Society. — The annual dinner of the members of this Society will take place at the Trafalgar Hotel this evening, at 8 o'clock.

Dr. Hector, returned from the West Coast by the steamer Murray yesterday afternoon. His report upon the Inangahua Reefs and Mount Rochfort Coalmine, which, we presume, will soon be published, will be looked forward to with much interest.

Great World Circus — The openiug performance at this circus was given last night, when the customary clever feats of horsemanship were successfully accomplished, and the drolleries and witticisms of the clown called forth, as usual, hearty peals of laughter. The performance will be repeated this evening.

The Government Life Assurance would appear to have been much more popular amongst the Greymoutli than the Australian Mutual Provident, judging from the fact that Captain Baldwin and the Postmaster have received there, we see, about £45,000 in proposals and policies, whilst those obtained by the Mutual Provident do not reach more than a third of that amount.

Waterspout. — A strange phenomenon was witnessed by several people yesterday evening, just before dark. A dense miet was at the time enveloping the summit of the Maungatapu, when suddenly there was seen a thin spiral column, connecting it with a heavy cioud above, the result of which was that the mist speedily broke, all the moisture haviug apparently been sucked up into the cloud above.

Perseverance Company. — Tbe halfyearly meeting of the shareholders in this Company was held at the Oddfellows' Hall last night, Mr. A. J. Richmond in tbe chair. The report aud statement of accounts having been read, a lengthy discussion took place, and on the motion of Mr. H.E.Curtis the meeting was adjourned until Friday next, in order to allow of the accounts being printed. The extraordinary meeting for the election of a director was also adjourned.

J^The Quartz Fever. — The Nelson people, having paased through all the stages of this disease, will be fully able to sympathise with the inhabitants of the Tuapeka district, Otago, who are said to have worked themselves up to a terrible state of quartz excitement. Nearly every individual carries a specimen in his pocket. Casing, dip, and dwts per ton, supplant the weather as standard topics of conversation ; and au alarming amount of practical and scientific knowledge of quartz-reefing has been developed by parties hitherto deemed densely ignorant ou these points. The premonitory symptoms of quarts fever are,; appearing.

The Suez Mail!— -The Ehrigitoto was duo ou the coast yesterday with the Suez mail, but we have not yet heard .of her arrival. In this morning's Colonist there appears tbe following telegram : — " Port

Chalmers, Jan. 25. — The barque Gleacoe, which sailed from Hobart Town on the

13th instant, brings news of the arrival of tho Suez mail at Melbourne. There is no extra of a paper on board. The Prince of Wah j s is alive. The Qupen is well. There is great excitement, in England with reference to a republic." There is clearly some mistake here, a3 the Aihambra brought Melbourne advices to the 16th, and the mail had not theu arrived at King George's Sonnd. Possibly the Gleucoe may have sailed from Hobart Town at a later date (ban that reported. The Recent Ofeicial Changes in Marlborough. — The Evening Post of Tuesday last says : — A deputation from Blenheim, consisting of Captain Baillie, M.L.C., Messrs. Dodson, Henderson, J. Ward, and Conolly who arrived by the Tarannki on Suuday, waited on the Government this morning, to urge the re-consiiieration of the appointment of Mr. Eyes as Resident Magistrate, on account of his unfitness for the office and upon other grounds. They were courieously received by the lion, (he Premier and the lion. Mr. Gisborne, who explained that no objection hud been made to tho appointment of Mr. Eyes as Commissior.cr of Crown lands, and the two (duces must be hell by one gentleman. The deputation explained that the respectable people of ' tin-* province were not so strongly opposed to Mr. Eyes being Commissioner of Crown Lands among them, because it was comparatively a private office, but they decidedly objected to his being placed in the position of Resident Magistrate of the district. Ministeis admitted that the obnoxious appointment had not been gazetted, and desired time to consider the matter beforo giving any definite reply. The Accident to Mr. Mackay. — The Westpart Times gives the following account of the accident reported a few days ago : — We regret to have to state that Mr. Mackay, who has accompanied Dr. Hector ou his present visit to this district, met with a serious accident ou Saturday morning last, when he was thrown from his horse, and in the fall ' fractured his thigh. It appears that the unfortunate gentleman had ridden from Mount Rochfort the previous day, for the purpose of obtaining provisions, and was on his way out again when (he accident occurred. All went well until shorily after crossing the Orawaiti, when the horse shied at an empty bus which lay ou the beach and threw Mr. Mackay heavily upon a log. After lying in an helpless state for about half an hour, Mr. Falla and hia son, who happened to be taking a ride on the beach, were opportunely enabled to render assistance. A messenger was despatched for Dr. Thorpe, and Mr. Atkiuson of the Tramway Inn, with others, prepared a litter and conveyed the injured gentleman to the Hospital. Dr. Thorpe arrived very promptly at the scene and superintended the patient's removal. Strawberry Jam is being manufactured largely in Hokitika. The Volunteers in Auckland are to be utilised as firemen in case of need. Two companies will be told ofi for this duty each month, aud as a return for these services the Insurance Companies will offer several prizes to be shot for. Victoria has 58,506 miners, of whom 43,359 are Europeans, and 15,147 Chinese. Of the former, 27,026 aro engaged in alluvial, and 16,333 in quartz-mining. Only 89 of the Chinese are quartz-miners. The total value of the mining plant in the Colony is £2,097,089. In a late debate in the Auckland Provincial Couucil, the Provincial Secretary said that " high class schoolmasters were of rare occurrence, and it was not to be woudered at when their salary was less than that of a warder at tbe gaol, or a policeman on the street." At Dunedin, on the 11th inst., Mr. Thomas Henry Goodsir, a surgeon, residing at Portobello, was fined £20, with the alternative of three months' imprisonment, for dropping two plugs of tobacco, so that they might be picked up by some prisoners who were working at Anderson's Ray. A Sheep, 18 months old, shorn at Moorak, S.A., yielded a " beautifully silky " fleece, weighing 231bs. It was not shorn as a lamb. The Steamer Hero, on her last voyage from Melbourne to Sydney, struck a large sun fish off Wollongong. It was necessary to stop tbe engines to enable the ship to get clear, of the fish. : ' There iare about 3000 Chinese and 2255 Polynesians scattered over Queensland; the latter principally on the plantatations along the. seaboard, and the former on the northern goldfields. A Number of Vessels, employing between 200 and: 300 men,., are engaged in pearl fishing in Torres Straits. One had ou board £7000 worth of beche de mer alone.

The Oamaru correspondent of the Ot9go Times states that the hot winds of the past fortnight have seriously damaged the erop3 in that district, which were previously looking extremely well. Oals are particularly short, and in the continued absence of rain can scarcely recover. The wheat is in places very patchy, and rain is much wanted for the later sown crops.

A man at Meanee, Napier, writes to tbe editor of the local Herald, asking, " Did you ever see ducks turned in to a garden just before dusk?" He then proceeds to say, " the manner in which (hey 'wire in' to 'the sluss is, as the saying is, 'a caution.' Where they manage to stow tho hundreds they put away in the course of half-an-hour is a question no one seems fully competent to answer."

Mr. Justice Chapman's remarks regarding the lash as a punishment for offences against women, were simultaneously echoed by Mr. Justice Johnston at, Wellington. The Independent says : — ''In sentencing the prisoner M'Carthy on Tuesday, His Honor stated his intention, should cases of the kind become frequent in this Province, of inflicting, in addition to the ordinary punishment of imprisonment, (hat of castigation with tho cat-o'-nine-laile. SOOI9 deterrent influence of the kind is becoming imperative on account of the increase of offences of the nature which drew forth his Honor's re masks."

Wk have seen nothing in tbe way of courtly description superior to the following in the Neio York Standard :—Anybody who ever saw Lord Eusseli might well believe he was destined to reach the ase of Methuselah. He is a little, weazen-faced, withered, shruuken up old chap, and in his baggy clothes reminds one of a hazle nut shrivelled in its shell. But he is as full of life as an egg is of CD meat, and perhaps one of the most remarkable proofs of this vitality is tbe vigor with which he habitually uses his nasal organ just before he rises to speak. After having taken several reefs- in an enormous bandanna handkerchief he envelopes his nose in its folds, applies both hands and gives such an unapproachable blast, accompanied by a spasmodic movement of the whole body, that it seems as if his little frame would fall apart in all directions from the sheer violence of the convulsion. When he sits down he retires beneath the shadow of a monstrous brimmed hat, cocks his knees up against the desk or table in front of him, buries his head in his breast and to all appearance becomes tbe very embodiment of proiound resignation.

The New York correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald writes : — " The people of Chicago accept the situation with characteristic heroism. One ' true story ' about the -ire shows the temper with which they again begin the world. A friend of mine, a newspaper correspondent, was wandering among the smoking ruins, when he met an old merchant, whose hospitality he had frequently received. The old man — over sixty — had screwed up his hard-featured western face to an expression of philanthropic fortitude, and was actively employed in squirting tobacco juice ou the blackened bricks. ' Here's where my store was,' said he. 'Ab,' said my friend, ' when are you going to build it up again ? ' ' Waal' — viciously expectorating in a new place — * that's what I'm waiting here for now. Jest as soon as I can spit on a brick without hearing it hiss, I'm goau to work again.' "

Billiards Extraordinary. — A curious match at billiards came off lately in London between two men named Izar and Stammers. The latter, who is a professional, played with the cue, and the former with his fingers. The match was one of 250 cannons, Stammers receiving 50 points. The game, which caused a great deal of amusement to the spectators, proved a very close affair, Izar winning by six points only. It is said that some of his manipulations were simply wonderful.

A baby who kisses his mother and fights his father may be said to be partial to his ma and martial to his pa.

The Ballarat Star has this rap at journalistic larcenist : — "The Buninyong Telegraph has hit upon a new line of journalism. In its issue of the 20th instant, it has two leaders. One is taken bodily from our columns, without the slightest acknowledgement. The other abuses us, and is taken from one of our local contemporaries. This is about the most brazen thing we have yet met with in our connection with newspapers. To rob us and abuse us at the same time is an exploit worthy of the most obscure, as well as impudent of scribes."

Tit for Tat. — Tho West Coast Times says that, the following resolution has been passed hy the agents of tho insurance companies who have charge of the branch offices in Dunedin, in retaliation for an attempt made to compel them to reduce the premium on insurances: — "That in the opiuion of this meeting the rates charged by painters, glaziers, millers, brewers, and publicans are much in excess of what is fair and just, and that a committee be appointed to interview Messrs. H. S. Fish, jun., George Duncan, James Wilson, and 11. J, Walker, to ask them to make a reduction of 25 per cent, on the prices of the articles respectively dealt in. That, failing their agreeiug to this, said committee get an agreemeut signed by all citizens who will do so, undertaking to do no more painting with Mr. H. S." Fisb, jun., to eat no more bread made of Duncan's flour, driuk no more ' Colonial ' brewed by Mr. James Wilson, take no more nobblers at the Occidental, nor deal in any way with similar ' mouopolist3,' but guaranteeing to support such new painters, millers, brewers, and publicans as the said committee may induce to come from tbe neighboring colonies to break down tbe monopoly vow existing here.iv the above branches of business." A Mortal Combat. — " A terrible, and it is feared a fatal couflicr, says a Ballarat paper, " took place last Sunday night between a farmer aud a trespassing bull, under the following circumstances. — Mr. Andrew Mather, who rents a farm near Mount Rowan, was asked by Mrs. Mather who had gone into the yard to milk the cows, to turn out a neighbor's bull, that had followed them in. Mr. Mather went to do so, when the brute suddenly turned on him and got him into such a position that it tossed him iv the air some distance; on coming down Mr. Mather fell heavily on his back, and was so stunned by the fall, that before he could get on his legs tbe infuriated beast was at him, and kneeling with its knees on his stomach commence! to gore at and bruise the unfortunate man terribly. Mrs. Mather ran to his assistance, but he begged of her not to come near him, but to run with all speed and get assistance from the neighbors. At this time Mr. Mather had got hold of the ring through the bull's nose, and was fighting hard for his life. Assistance soon came, and he was vescued, but it. is feared he has received fatal injuries. Several of his ribs are broken, his breast is much torn, and it i 3 feared his lungs are lacerated. He seemed easier yesterday, but there is little hope of his recovery. For remainder of news see fourth, page.

There are about 3000 Chinese and 2250 Polynesians scattered over Queensland; the latter principally on the plantations along the seaboard, and .the former on the northern gold-field. Cure for Diphtheria. — A simple and successful treatment of diphtheria may be found in the use of lemon juce. Gargle the throat freely with it, so as to reach all the affected parts. - A French physic ian claims that he saved his own life with this pleasant remendy. Spiritualists and Jews. — The Jews of this city (Titusville, U.S.) are about to buld a synagogue, towards which Spiritualists contribute, in consideration of having the use of the building on Sundays for five years, an arrangement understood to have been made and the money paid over. — Banner of Light. The Cost of an Epeoemic .• — Dr. Lankester in his report to the vestry of St. James, Westminster, says : — The smallpox is now slowly departing from the metropolis, after slaying 5000 persons, and maiming, disfiguring, and pauperising about 100,000 more. It must have cost the metropolis at least £100,000, a tenth part of which sum, judiciously expended, would have cut short this epidemic at its very commencement. At a Melanesian Mission Meeting at Sydney, the Rev. Canon Vidal quoted the words of Bishop Selwyn at the consecration of Bishop Patteson : — " I received this, my son," said Bishop Selwyn, "at the hands of a father, to whose old age he was the only comfort. The father sent him out, without one murmur, to the ends of the earth. He never even asked to see him again. He was perfectly willing that he should go forth to carry the Gospel of Christ to the islands of the sea, and never wished him, having put his hand to the plough, to tnrn back." Making of Wills.— A popular delusion exists relative to the making of wills, viz., that unless written with peu and ink they are invalid. A contested will case — Harris and Warner — was concluded at the Supreme Court Sydney, recently, when his Honor Judge Hargrave (among other remarks in reference to the drawing out of wills) said that it did not signify what a will was written with, provided that in other respects it was genuine and properly attested. The will, which was disputed by Mr. Joseph Warner on other grounds, was held to be perfectly valid, although but a scrap of paper written upon with a lead pencil. This simple document will, doubtless, prove a valuable friend to the mother and four children whom it concerns, as it puts them in possession of. a handsome fortune. I can safely say (writes an " Old Identity ") that my first year in Otago was truly the happiest and jolliest, in an innocent way, that either before of since I have ever spent. It was one of hard work — a whare only to live in, a house to build, scant rations at times, flour and provisions to carry for three miles up hill through flax and fern, strapped across our shoulders. We were regarded with something like envy when we got to the possession of bullocks aud a sledge, and yet there was quite a charm about the life — a seuse of novelty which was delightful, and when that had gone, that confidence in the future which nerves to perseverance. I by no means envy the comforts which new comers of the present day enjoy — slipshod, and of less stern stuff from that very cause. They never know the vigorous life of pioneers, who rise far above the trivialities and inconveniences of which they complain. Diphtheria. — A more distressing item of news never found its way into newspaper columns than the foilowing, which is from the Creswick (Victoria) Advertiser. Our contemporary writes : — "' We deeply regret to learn that diphtheria is committing terrible ravages in the family of Mr. Worland, farmer, between Dean and Happy Valley. During the past fortnight four sons and one daughter have fallen victims to this disease, the last of which will be buried to-day. A sixth is in all probability added to the sad list by this time, as he was hot expected to surviveon Tuesday; aud a seventh is iv a very dangerous state. The ages of^ the deceased range from two to seventeen years. The disease is attended by great effusion of blood, principally from the nose, and is termed by some bleeding diphtheria. The family previously was remarkably strong and healthy. Mr. and Mrs. Worland, who are deservedly respected, have the. deepest sympathy of all who know them, and, indeeed, of all who hear of the calamity which has befallen them." - A Champion for our Legislative Council.— r?The Legislative Council has found a champion in Colonel Brett. At a banquet given by the Ellesmere Agricultural Association the gallant colonel is reported- tb ,; 'have said : — -He felt pleased, and honored aTTiaving a seat in the Legislative Council. He considered it one of tbe greatest legislative houses in these seas..\lt included very eminent, talented

men, aud men who were devoted to tiie interests of the country — men who bad got consciences, and men' who were determined to raise this country from the lethargy and embarrassment it had been laboring under for the last eight cr^ nine years, at least since he had been in the country. During the last session — of course he spoke under correction — upwards of eighty bills were brought iuto the House for approval and sanction, and not one of those Bills went through without the deepest interest, care, and attention being paid to it, and its merits and demerits fully discussed for the guidance of young members like himself and others. He was sure that any geutleman who took the trouble to peruse Hansard ought to be proud of that House. He would not make invidious comparisons, but he contended that thir care, attention, and industry, and their desire to do everything for the advantage and prosperity of the country were not to be surpassed by any legislative body.

Immigration.— By ihe last mail Dr. Featherston informed tbe Government that after maDy complications regarding the despatch of suitable immigrants for New Zealand from the old couutry, he proceeded to Aberdeen, aud there placed himself iv communication with a committee, formed by tho residents for promoting emigration, but be found that all the single women they proposed to send out were inmates of or recently discharged from reformatories, and that the committee expected the colony to accept boys from tbe industrial schools, but who had as yet learnt no trade. As these classes of emigrants were not such as New Zealand desire?, it is needless to say that "no business was done." The AgentGeneral had, with his wonted sagacity, anticipated that the Government would find outthe necessityof conductingimmigration ou one system, and had already commenced to ignore the Provincial schemes, and elaborate a system similar to that adopted by him in regard to emigration from Scandinavia. In North Europe Dr. Featherston has been very successful, and he only regrets that he had not proceeded thither earlier in the year, as the season had closed when he wrote. He has made arrangements for the shipment at regular intervals of 6000 carefully assorted emigrants from Scandinavia and North Germany. A highly respectable firm at Hamburg had entered into a contract for tbe shipment of emigrants at prices much below the rate charged from England. The emigrants will consist of as many single women as cau be secured, not more than 200 single men, and tbe remainder young married couples with from one to three children each, all to be selected from the rural districts. At Christiana arransemeuts were made for 3000 Danes, and a similar arrangement was about being completed at Gothenburg. The passage money to be paid by the Government is £10 for each male adult, and £14 for each single woman. The object of this plan, instead of a uniform rate of £12 all round, is to induce the agent to procure' aa many single women as possible. The ship England was to sail on the 4th December, for Wellington, with 100 Scandinavians^ and another ship, with 150, was to sail in January, for Canterbury. It is expected that when, , the Agent-General is made aware of the steps taken by the Assembly last session to place immigration entirely in the bands of the General Government, be will'be able to, initiate a thorough and systematic canvass of the United Kingdom, and very much enlarge his immigration operations. — G. R. Argus.