THREE POUNDS TEN IN EXCHANGE FOR A LIFE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 56, 5 March 1872, Page 4

THREE POUNDS TEN IN EXCHANGE FOR A LIFE.

We very recently visited premises where the manufacture of mill-stones is carried on. On either side is piled small blocks of flint ; in the middle lie the halffinished n_ill-stone9. side by side ; around us we hear a continuous chippir-g of stone, which betokens the pursuit of some branch of the stonemason's art. But it is no chipping of soft white stone, flying in snowflakes from under the chisel, but of a hard, muddy-colored flint, which blunts, defies, and chips the steel itself, flying in vi_ious angular scales in every direction. This, the hardest flint known, is imported from France in small blocks, which are fashioned by tlie chisel and fitted together, thus forming the mill-stone, which when " totu teres atque rotundus," is bound round with iron hoops and the inequalities removed previous to the final " dressinjr." We turn to observe these workers of flint, and feel a sudden pang to mark their prominent cheek bones and sunken cheeks, made hideous by the large spectacles worn to protect the eyes, which tell the fearful tale at once. The lungs of these young men, for they are about 25 years of age, are choked with the dust of flint and steel. " How long does one of these men live ? " we ask. "About 32 or 33 year.," is the reply ; "here is one only about 28 or 29 who won't live through this winter ; on the foggy mornings he can't come to work at all." The unfortunate subject of our conversation stops from his work to cough ; his whole frame quivers and bends with the fearful strain, and we turn away, fearful that the man may fall and rise no more. Two or three are coming in from their dinner. One is a tall young fellow | enough, but his head hangs forward on his chest, his thin arms scarce show in the sleeves of his coat ; bi3 coat hangs from his shoulders like a cloth across the back of a chair. "Ah ! you're lookiug at him ; he's a good steady one enough — has his half day or so 'out' now and then, but a good workman as ever stepped, and as well behaved; but his time's nearly come, he can't last." And so on from bench to bench. This is the process called " building " i.e. putting together the blocks and forming them into the "stone." Other parts of the trade demand no such sacrifice of life, and the workmen are healthy, and, what is still more encouraging still, advanced in years. Now, ifc will be asked, what induces men to commit this gradual suicide — -for none escape. Here is the secret. A fair workman at the "building" makes £3 10s. a week. For 'this a man is content to forego half a lifetime ! and to wear away in such manner as to cause the reflection that death itself will not change his appearance, so death-like is he. — Echo.

Motto for a fancy dealer : " Now all men buy these presents. A Western Paper has an article on " The care of Idiots." A contemporary says that paper is always dragging family affairs before the public. Australian Meats. — The Riverine Herald has been furnished by Mr. J. Wells, of the Campaspe, with the following; extract from a letter received by that gentleman by the last mail from a friend in England : — " We are all going in for Australian beef and mutton at a rare rate. My brother at Travers' sold £10,000 in three weeks. The supply is not sufficient for the demand now. It took 12 months before people could believe that it was not boiled buffalo or some other animal not fit to eat. The price of butcher's meat being so enormously high has made them take to it. Sheep are sold in Horsham market at Is. per ]b. — killed and sold by weight at that price. Beef about 6s. per stone (81b.) " A Correspondfnt of the Australasian says : — Having heard the almost incredible snake story that a man. after killing a snake, felt his leg hitch, and rubbed it, and in three days he died, although the snake did not bite him, it being stated that a snake in the agony of death has power to shoot its fanga and poison out. Well, the other day I was killing a snake with a whip, but the head of the snake was not within a yard of my hand at any time, yet I felt a sharp prick in my wrist, I found thereon something like a small tooth, with part of gums attached, which I immediately withdrew, and threw away, the part bleeding and causing shooting pains from the elbow to the fingers. The part still continues discolored around the wound." "Fibe ! Fire ! A wild hurrying to and fro of excited people, a lurid glare of light from the sudden darting forth of flames, and in a moment, without the slightest warning of impending danger, the peaceful quietness of the summer eve is changed to a scene of dismay and terror, as men see their property, the accumulation of years of honest industry, in danger of speedy annihilation. Such was the terrifying

experience of our townsmen, for a brief interval, on Monday evening last, although the dangerous outbreak of fire was providentially subdued with comparatively little loss, and the greater calamity averted." Such are the horrifying strains at the commencement of a leading article of the Dunstan Times, in consequence of some gentleman's bedroom having been burnt down at one o'clock last Monday, and a six-stalled stable "gutted" at nine o'clock in the evening of the same day. Whipping Criminals. — Referring to the remarks made by Justices Chapman and Johnston, the Daily Southern Cross says : — " Whipping is a species of punishment that touches the feelings of all, and when applied to the seemingly incorrigible offender would tend to place him more nearly on a level as regards punishment with the man to whom the humiliation of the cell is like iron entering into his soul. It is full time that the sentimental sympathy for incorrigible wrong-doers should give place to a more sensible and effective treatment ; and, seeing that present prison discipline is perfectly powerless in its influence on professional criminals, common sense a3 well as the experience of the judicial bench demands that a treatment should be substituted which cannot fail to prove thoroughly deterrent." We agree in the main with these remarks, but should think that " whipping is a species of punishment that touches the feelings " of those only to whom it may be applied. — Herald. Writing of St. Valentine's Day, a correspondent of a Thames contemporary says : — " I have been made aware (no matter how) that, amongst the youths and virgins here, there is an uncertainty in the way of speaking and rhyming, not to say a lack of ideas, that compels them to have recourse to printed books for their valentines. This has suggested to me that I will supply original valentines, in any style, and preserve the most inviolable secresy at a moderate rate of charges. For instance — For men to send to women — Highly effusive, warranted to bring down your bird at the fii3t shot, £2 25.; expressive of blighted affections, ss. j full of hope and joy. 2s. 6d. containing at least one new ider, £3; warm, 7s. 6d.; hot, 10s.; very lot, 155.; sarcastic, Is. 6d.; warranted to produce tears of anger, 3s. 6d.; safe for hysterics, 55. ; touching reconciliation, 6d. I think that is a reasonable tnviff. For women the prices will be half (he above, with the option of an interview .