The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1872.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 30, 3 February 1872, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1872.

Doran's Co Air any. — The polling for four directors look place at the Company's office, this afternoon, when the four retiring directors were re-elected. The numbers were as follows : — Gillow 115, Hounsell 111, Dodson 109, Burnett 99, Sheen 84, Moutray 78. Testimonial to Mr. Bennett. — A testimonial consisting of an illuminated address, the text of which we shall publish on Monday, was presented to-day to Mr. Bennett, who for some time has been in the employ of Messrs. N. Edwards & Co. as purser and shipping clerk, by the officers of the steamers Charles Edward, Kennedy, and Lyttelton. Nelson Board op Works. — A special meeting, at which all the members but Mr. Dodson were present, was held last night for the purpose of taking into consideration Mr. Wilkie's letter on the sewage question. A desultory conversation was kept up for some time, in the course of which Mr. Fell pointed out several defects in the Act, and stated his opinion that it could not be worked in its present shape. The meeting was then further adjourned in order to obtain a written opinion from the Solicitor on certain points, Mr. Fell and the Chairman being appointed to draw up a list of questions to place before him. 4«..The Inangahua. — The following is an from a private letter, dated January 28 : — " There is great excitement here respecting the reefs, several new ones haviug been discovered iv the direction of tlie Lyell, thereby confirrain£ Dr. Hector's opinion that a line of reef would be discovered from Reefton to the Lyeli. A very great number of people are wending their way here from all pans, and hundreds are waiting for the first chance to make a rush to some, at present, unknown locality. Money is very scarce, and what is in circulation is that which has been brought to the place by travellers. Section holders are asking fabulous prices for business sites. Building materials are very dear, timber fetching 355. per hundred feet with every probability of its rising to £2 before long. Great dissatisfaction is expressed here at the warden recommending applications for leases. Several lease claims have been jumped and pegged off into ordinary claims, and a public meeting has been held in support of the "jumper's rights." A newspaper about the size of the Colonist I is to be started here under the name of the Inangahua Herald. The first issue will be on Wednesday next." New Zealand Land Laws. — In an article on the various conflicting land laws of the New Zealand provinces the Taranald Herald says :— lt is evident that when the colony is about to put forth its strength to construct public works, and [ attract additional population to its virgin j soil, that one of the first requirements is |to make one land law for the whole colony, and not perplex new comers, and render them fit inmates for a lunatic asylum by the vain attempt to comprehend such an absurd system. Fatal Accident. — A. laborer named John Shields, aged 32 years, and a resident of Jackahdandah, reports the Ovens Spectator, met with a fatal accident of a very uncommon nature, on Thursday last. While proceeding on horseback, accompanied by two women, to the Hillsborough Races, he rode against the branch of a tree -which struck him in the upper part of the thigh. At first he did not realise the fact that he was injured, and rode on, but feeling faint be put his hand down and perceived that a splinter had entered his thigh. On pulling it out the blood spouted from the wound, and he died almost immediately. The latest eccentricity of American wealth is indicated by the following advertisement from the New York Herald, apparently from some translantic Dives or " shoddy " prince : — " Ruins wanted — The owner of a large estate on the Hudson wishes a ruined castle and abbey of granite erected." What next ? Perhaps Jim Fisk, Gould, or "Admiral " Vanderbilt, or some other of the great " ring " masters of America will invite tenders for the erection of an Egypto-Americao Pyramid of Cheops, or the ruins of Pompeii. It appears that an unkindly critic amongst the of the Daily Southern Gross brought down upon that paper the wrath of the Scottish community in Auckland through having commented rather freely upon the indelicacy of the

kilt, aud the musical properties of the bagpipe. The Auckland correspondent of the Hawke's Bay Telegraph mentions in his account of the Caledonian sports at Auckland that the presence of a large number of Scottish Volunteers from the Thames, dressed in kilts, &c, led to a newspaper controversy of a somewhat bitter and personal character. Exception was not. only taken to the kilts (in the' Southern Cross reports of tbe proceedings) but also to the b'igpipe music, which it was averred waa distasteful to nine-tenths of the people. As might havo been expected the Scotch element was very wrath at this. A deputation of Scotoh gentlemen waited upon tho Honorable Julius Vogel (proprietor of thc Cross), and an ample apology was received for what had appeared. For several days after there was a very bitter feeling on the subject, but this has now smoothed down, and is indeed almost forgotten. Not the least extraordinary feature of the "International" movement is, that it is being furthered in Cbina by a cognate organisation calling itself in the flowery language of the East, k< The Fraternal Society of Heaven and Earth." That country which has been for centuries a synonym for isolatiou and immobility, has shown itself to be capable of nursing the most revolutionary ideas and projects. The most rabid of French commuuists could not have indited a more socialistic programme tlian that which has been put forth by the " Tinte-huy "of China. It commences thus: — "The Fraternal Society of Heaven and Earth firmly declares that it believes itself called upon by the Supreme Being to do away with tho deplorable contrast which exists between wealth and poverty. The mighty of this world are born ond die like their brethren the oppressed oud the poor. The Supreme Being has not decreed that millions of men should be condemned to be the slaves of a few. . . . Whence come the riches of the powerful ? Solely from the toil and the sweat of the multitude. The benignant light of the sun and the joys of the world — all these are common property which must be no longer confined to the enjoyment of a few, but must be taken away from them so that the disinherited may receive their share."