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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 39, 14 February 1872, Page 2

A Strange Story. — There is a curious story afloat which, if true, seriously compromises a well known Melhourne solicitor. It is almost too sensational for belief in these prosaic matter-of-fact days, but the surrounding incidents are so circumstantially related that they give it substance and coherence. An old lady, with large possessions, and few, if any, relatives in this country, fell amongst, or (perhaps I had better say) into, the hands of a clever attorney. An English female relative who. in the event of the old lady's decease would be beneficially interested, had her suspicions aroused in some manner, and came out to Melbourne for the express purpose of investigation. Upon her arrival here she made inquiries, but the old lady was nowhere to be found. She had utterly disappeared, and no one could tell of her whereabouts. Her former haunts knew her not. With professional assistance, a clue was obtained, and a faint track was followed up to Sydney, thence for a hundred miles or so across the Blue Mountains, and finally in a remote inland township the object of the search was found. But in what condition ? A desire for Btimulants had been encouraged, aDd the old lady was being permitted to poison herself with alohol, her suicidal allowance being a bottle of brandy per diem. With considerable difficulty, she was rescued from the surveillance of her interesting JNew South Wales friends. She was brought back to. Melbourne, and confronted with her late legal adviser. He had obtained such control of her property, and bad otherwise so planned matters, that, io the event of the old lady's death, he would have himself become possessed of all. Her unexpected reappearance, however, stunned him. He at once restored a large sura in cash, and gave security for further indebtedness. And so the matter stands. ' If people want to know more, let them enquire in Chancery-land, in Temple-court, or in any other haunt of the brotherhood of lawyers, for exact particulars. — "JEgles" in the Australasian. A Knowing Monkey. — When Mr. Darwin prepares a new edition of his Descent of Man, he might add to his collection of anecdotes illustrating the reasoniog powers of animals tbe following instance of what Coleridge called " the dawning of reason and a moral sense " in a monkey. The incident is told by the South Australian Register as having recently occurred at the Adelaide Botanic Garden. "It will be remembered," says our contemporary, " that some days ago one of the monkeys belonging to the zoolo- . gical department savagely attacked a son of the keeper, who was so severely injured that he has had to be kept in the hospital ever since. Immediately after the event sentence of death was passed upon the aggressor, and early one morning the foreman took his gun and proceeded to execute it. It appears that it is no uncommon thing for firearms to be used near the cages

in the destruction of rats, and the monkeys bare become co accustomed to this that they generally feed on without taking the least notice. On this occasion two out of three occupying the cige where the doomed animal was stood their ground as usual, but the third, the condemned criminal, retreated with all speed into the sleeping-room, and no persuasions could induce him to come out. The ordinary meal was brought, but although he saw his companions eat, it was not until several minutes after the foreman had gone away that he cautiously crept out, and seizing some provisions, hurried back into the den to devour them. Once whilst he was absent the door of his place of refuge was shutfrom outside, and then the poor creature gave itself up for loaf. It rushed frantically round the cage, trying all the corners, and failing to discover a means of escape, it threw itself down, trembling violently, and submitted to the fate which soon overtook it. Tbe story is perfectly authentic, and affords a remarkable illustration of the capacity of the monkey to connect effect with cause." Dunedi_t of the present day is thus described by a recent visitor: — Dunedin now presents a wonderful contrast to what.it did a few years back. In place of the noisy racketty town it then was, all now appears so quiet and well ordered that one almost wonders whether he is in the same place. After dark, instead of noisy cafes and rowdy places of amusement, eveything sinks to slumber with that quiet and order which well conducted citizens love. I cau hardly realise the fact that I am in the same place that T was in eightyears back. Massivo stone buildings designed with strict regard to architectural beauty tower above in all directions, while the streets are in excellent condition, gas everywhere, and that luxury of <s aqua pura " always available. A New Method of Advertising. — The Greymouth Star is responsible for the following : — A gentleman of the name of Pharazyn, residing iv Wellington, has managed to make himself absurdly notorious during the past few days. He, like many other elderly men, wears spectacles, and is able to afford gold rim ones. A pair of such he lost a little while ago, and he advertised for them in the losal Journals without success. He then adopted the novel expedient of walking about the city with a placard hung round his neck, "Lost a pair of spectacles." The first day he wore this decoration he had it hanging- down his hack, and he went to his butcher's, when a polite salesman said, "Excuse me sir, but some one has taken the liberty of putting something on your back." "Oh, no," replied Mr. Pharazyn, " I've hung it there." In fact, he seems quite proud of his idea. He says the Wellington papers are so dull tbat nobody reads them, and so it is no use advertising in them. Viewing the Body. — Many persons object to go on coroners' juries, not only from the natural dislike, but from the actual danger iv many cases arising from " viewing the body;" An idea has been adopted in Englaud which is well worthy of adoption everywhere. Tbe Pall Mall Gazette says — "Viewing the body" is certainly not the most agreeable, although it is one of the most necessary, fuoctions of the coroner's jury. When the case is

complicated by tbe pre-existenee of contagious disease during life, the risks and tribulations of jurors are not diminished. This preliminary trepidation is sometimes dispelled by an artificially acquired courage, which is partly explained by the suggestive temptations of the public-house in which this court of judicial enquiry is usually held, sud which perhaps in turn explains some of those disorderly scenes among jurymen which Dr. Lankeßter has lately been compelled to repress. But compassion for tbe juryman's weakness seems to find a place in his breast as well as indig-ation at his failings. The happy idea has occurred to him that glass would not obstruct the view of the jurors, and accordingly he has suggested tbat in all cases where an inquest is to be held on a person who has died of a contagious disease a pane of glass should be placed over the mortuary, shell, or coffin, so that the body might be viewed without danger. At a recent inquest in Bloomsbury on a person who died of small-pox, the plan was cairied into effect, and the jury expressed tbeir gratitude to Dr. Lankester for the suggestion. The hint is worth having, and the plan might be more generally adopted with advantage to jurors aud to the population with whom they condescend to mix in a friendly way «t the tap of the bar-room, when unbending from their judicial labors. Spiritism seems lately to have intruded itself into the Chinese camp, at Ballarat, and produced a strange commotion of ideas in the minds of the Celestials. A Chinese, named Ah Wang, has been breaking a fan-tan bank by winning over £200 from the keeper, an expert player at the game; and the successful man asserts For remainder of news see fourth page.

that he was incited to visit the establishment by a spirit that stayed with him, both in his sleeping and waking hours, for the last week, telling him to go, and that he would win all the money. The successful man seems to implicitly believe in the phenomenon he describes, and has induced his victim to become a believer. The latter thinks that he must have been in some way found wanting in his attentions to Joss, in not having offered up to his hungry and thirsty maw sufficient suckingpig and gin-and-water, and we understand intends shortly to make a grand sacrifice for a fair wind on his continued " voyage." Ths other man, with his £200 is about revisiting tbe scenes of his youth. Tbe only drawback which Ah Wang experiences to the full enjoyment of his ill-gotten gain, is the belief that tbe black spirit who so kindly " put bim on to the good thing " is no less a personage than — the devil. The prospects of an early completion of the trans-continental line of electric telegraph by the Government of South Australia are, we regret to say, rather gloomy. Unexpected difficulties and disasters have had to be encountered, and fresh supplies of cattle and stores have been urgently asked for by the officers iv charge of tbe work. Owing either to the intense heat of that portion of the continent which lies within the tropics, or more probably to the presence of some of that poisonous herbage which abounds in the interior, an alarming mortality has taken place among the cattle belonging to the expedition; and to make matters worse, a small vessel, which had been despatched to establish a depot of stores upon the River Ropa, became a total wreck. Calamities like these could not be foreseen or guarded against; and far from criticising the conduct of the South Australian Government in such a painful emergency, we are disposed to offer it the expression of our sympathy, coupled with an ardent hope that an enterprise undertaken with so much courage and energy, and prosecuted in the face of so many disheartening obstacles, will at no distant period be crowned with that success which is the reward of patient effort and inflexible determination. The La.te • Solak Eclipse. — The eclipse observation expeditions at Ceylon and South India were more fortunate than the Australian party. — A Ceylon amateur observer gives the following accounnt of the phenomena. He remarked : — " The sun rose obscured by clouds, which cleared off at about half-past 6. The whole surface ot the sun presented the usual stippled, broken appearance, with here and there large and small spots. In the neighborhood of these spots the stippling was more apparent than over the parts free from spots, but they came out in bold relief on that part of the sun close to the moon's limb. Probably this increase of distinctness was caused by contrast of the black spots, &c, of the dark limb of the moon. This could not be seen through the 3in. telescope. Some little time before the greatest observation a halo was visible around the sun, which gave place to Bhort bright rays. This latter appearance was probably an occular deception, as no trace of it was visible through the 4^in, telescope under a low power. At the greatest obscuration, no trace of corona was observable through the same instrument with a solar eye-piece with a power of about 30. This was carefully looked for. The unobscured portion of the sun, about 15-16ths of its disc, was well defined, without appendages of any kind. Towards the time of centr ality, the diminution of daylight was very conspicuous. Going from the open air into the house it was very striking. Standing in the centre of the room, and looking through the open window, the sunshine outside was of a neutral tint. The crows commenced to assemble on the tree tops, cawing after their usual fashion, when preparing for their night's rest. The planet Venus, high in the sky, was distinctly visible to the naked eye, and Jupiter, low down iv tbe western horizon, was plainly discernible with the aid of an opera-glass. A Novel Experiment is being tried in South Australia, where a Ministry has just been formed without any Premier. The new army consists of generals exclusively, mere rank and file being voted low. Whether this absence of anything like a controlling power, and an arbiter in the last resort, will tend to promote amicable relations between tbe members of this " bappy family," is doubtful. In the event of any squabbles arising, it is likely that the iate of tbe Kilkenny cats may be theirs, for ia the absence of any one to whom they can refer their disputes, and by whose decision they would be bound, they are pretty sure to eat each other up. Iv speaking of this "latest thing " ;in Ministries, the Argus wittily remarks, — "Having discarded all joint responsibility, the next step should be to get rid of responsibility altogether. Tbe Ministry ehould now announce that as it

has no Premier, so it has no policy and j no principles; and then there seems no reason why it might not have an existence of quite indefinite duration." " Wanganui had better look out," says tbe Otago Daily Times, "or it will be deprived of its hardly-earned reputation as tho chosen home of bankrupts. Oamaru, which has always been a good second, has put on a spurt of late, and is pushing its northern rival hard. Almost every other day lately the papers haveannouuced the accession of another to the ranks of the insolvents, and the lawyers in that quarter must be doing a roaring trade. There is one crumb of comfort, however, in this stale of matters. Among the unfortunates is a doctor, a fact which speaks well for the healthiness of the districts, physically. Perhaps, under, the purifying influence of the Bankruptcy Court this pushing township may eventually become equally healthy commercially." Emigration. — Some interesting letters, says a contemporary, appear in recent numbers of the Field on the subject of emigration to the colonies. A writer who signs himself " W. A. P." has brought a host of angry colonists down upon him because he asserts that tho condition of gentlemen with small capitals in the colonies is simply that of laboring men in England, without the comforts that the latter enjoy. " A New Zealand Squatter " thinks that a man with £1000 might profitably employ his capital in agricultural farming, and points to the goldfields of Otago, where anyone can obtain land under the agricultural lease system on easy terms, and to Canterbury, where a man might select 200 acres of land in settled parts of the country for £400, leaving him £600 to work it with. "An Otago Squatter" writes : — "I myself am a squatter in New Zealand of several years' experience, and as yet have found nothing in the life derogatory to that of. a gentlemen. If a little manual labor and the deprivation of such luxuries as wine, beer, and having your boots regularly polished every morning is so, I must say I do not consider it in that light. New Zealand is like England or any other country ; if you want luxuries you must pay for them. I know myself that the colonies by people at home are considered the best place for the black sheep of a family, after trying everything else, to be sent to as a last resort. This is certainly a great mistake, as, if a man has contracted loose habits at home, he will find in the colonies quite as much temptation to go to the bad, if not more bo, than he would in England. I may mention that the more capital a man' can bring with him to the colonies the more money he will make, as tbe rate of interest out there on borrowed money is j very high ; but still I am sure £1000 (the sum mentioned by *W. A. P.') if properly invested in the colonies will bring a man much better return than it would bring in England. A man with a small capital would do best by joining some one else with a larger amount, and who has some colonial experience, either in sheep farming or agricultural pursuits. . New Zealand is at present a very thinly populated country, and only wants a little more money to make it one of. the most thriving colonies in the world. In conclusion, I beg to state that if any ladies, from home honor us| with r their presence in iNew Zealcnd, they will not find us such rough customers as : ). '.. W. A. P.' imagines As a sqfiatter ih JNew Zealand, I am doing very well, and have no reason to regret the step I took' in emigration; and I return there very shortly."