The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 1872.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 66, 16 March 1872, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 1872.

Bank Holiday. — Attention is called to the advertisement notifying that as St. Patrick's Day falls on a Sunday this year, the usual bank holiday will be observed on Tuesday next.

Pbobable Vacancy in the City Repbesentation. — We are informed by Mr. M. Lightbsnd, M.H.R., that it is at present bis intention to leave Nelson on a few months' visit to England by the April mail steamer, and that, as ibis absence will occur during the next session of the

Assembly, he purposes, prior to starting, to send in his resignation of the seat he now holds in the House of Representatives.

Wesleyan Church Services. — Two sermons will be preached in the Wesleyan Church, Richmond, in connection with the Sunday School Anniversary, to-morrow, in the morning by the Rev. J. Warren, and in the evening by the Rev. W. J. Watkiu, when collections will he made iv aid of the fund. On the following Tuesday there will be a public tea meeting, when addresses will be delivered by several friends. To.morrow evening the Rev. J. Warren will preach in the Church in Hardy-street.

Assembly Room. — Professor Haselmayer continues to draw crowded houses nightly, and contrives on each occasion to scud his audience home delighted and surprised at the marvellous skill he exhibits in performing his conjuring (ricks. He ■will be in TSelson but two more nights, and none should allow him to leave without their witnessing his exceedingly clever entertainment. This evening the Professor will, for the first time, give a performance on the Mason and Hamlin organ, which may be looked forward to as a great treat. The children's entertainment this afternoon was a great success, the Boom being crowded with a host of wonder-stricken youngsters. Quartz Beefs in Marlborough. — A correspondent informs us that attention is beiug called in Marlborough to a reef that was discovered three years ago on Cape Jackson when a 20 feet shaft was sunk and gold-bearing stone taken out, but nothing further was done until September last when the party who are now in possession sunk another shaft 90 feet deep, and drove about 150 feet in different directions, in the course of which two reefs were discovered, which do not show on the surface. That od which the shaft was sunk was tested and is said to have yielded at the rate of from two to three ounces to the ton, but the richest, which is 24* feet from the other on the surface, is expected by competent judges to turn out at the lowest 7 ounces per ton. The surrounding country is composed of soft, sandstone which offers great advantages in working. The richest of the reefs has been opened out in several places over an extent of nearly 1000 feet along its course, aud payable stone was exposed everywhere. It is to be hoped that the sanguiue anticipations that have been formed of its richness may be amply realised.

The Brewers of Auckland have held a meeting to consider the reduction of the price of Auckland beer, so as to enable it to compete with that imported from Nelson and Dunedin.

Government is not going to prosecute Mr. Ingpen, lately committed at luvercargill, charged with defalcations of public money. Discoveries have been made of negligence in another Government officer which go far to exculpate Mr, Ingpen. — West Coast Times.

The Present Crop op Cotton, we perceive on reference to the Fiji Times, is likely to supersede any previous one, and there is every prospect of the planters making something of a rise this year, the additional 6d per pound in the English market being very encouraging.

The Dunedin Half-holiday Association are meeting: with fair success. At a recent meeting of the members, it was stated that 920 persons had pledged themselves not to make any purchases after one o'clock on Saturdays, and that their signatures were irrespective of other lists which had not been forwarded to the committee.

Some One who evidently dislikes Chinese immigration puts the following notice in one of the Otago papers : — The Manager of the All Nations Claim begs to state that the custom of pitching Chinamen and Injins down the shaft will have to be stopped, as he has resumed work in the mine. The old well, back of Jo Bowman's, is just as good, and is even more centrally located.

A Mr. Hogan recovered, lately, at Dunedin, £3 for damages sustained in consequence of his daughter, aged nine years, having been bitten by a dog. The amount sued for was £20, but it was proved that the dog was frequently teased by the little girl and other children, and that it was kept chained up. The damages, to the amount of £3, were awarded because the chain was long enough to enable the dog to get into a right-of-way accessible to the children.

Mb. Grant, of Dunedin notoriety, appears to have met in Mr. John Bathgate, a member for Dunedin in the House of Representatives, a little more than his match at repartee. At a public meeting held in Dunedin, Mr. Grant put the following query to that gentleman : — "Now tell me, Mr. Bathgate, which of the members at Wellington was called the Otago Balaam ?" Mr. Batbgate replied, "I am not aware, but possibly it may be me, as I, like aim, am being questioned

by an ass." Mr. Grant suddenly left the meeting.

The Rev. J. Buller has been giving before an audience in the Wesleyan Chapel, Grahamst.own, an account of his visit to Melbourne to attend the late Wesleyan Conference. He is reported to have said that an experiment was now beinj.' tried in Victoria between protection ami free-trade. For the most part he found that intelligent men thought that protection was a great mistake, and that freetrarle was much better, but the working classes were of opinion that protection was a great advantage to them, and as there was nearly manhood suffrage, they carried the day. The effect was — although the working classes were not sufficiently intelligent to see it — that it lessened the price of labor, and increased the price of provisions, and also did much to paralyze the foreign commerce of Victoria. There were political mistakes in every country, and in this as much as in others.

A London Letter contains the details of a plan to shoot Earl Russell. Pleasant for Earl Russell !

polled to take notice, namely, in the weather, which, from being unpleasantly hot, has become deliciously fresh and bracing, or, as some will have it, disagreeably cold. At all events, it is quite clear that we have bid farewell to the trying summer of 1871-72 which will be long remembered amongst our agricultural population as one of the most disastrous in the course of their experience. The sudden change in the temperature on Tuesday niejht was fully accounted for on the following morning by the appearance of the surrounding hills, the highest of them being well covered with snow, while even those of so low an altitude as that which is euphoniously termed " Gordon's Knob " had become grey in one night, and the wind which swept down from them the next day had *a very different effect upon those who were exposed to its influence to that which we have been accustomed to ascribe to it for the lasc few months. Despite the cold, however, the rain which then fell has had a most salutary effect upon the pastures which are wonderfully freshened up by the moisture they so much wanted. The Waimea district, notwithstanding the improvement in the general appearance of the paddocks owing to the springing of the autumn grass, for some reason or another, does not present its wonted cheerful aspect which I think may be attributed in a large degree to the paucity of cornstacks as compared with foimer years, when immediately after harvest the homesteads have had a comfortable, and, to the owners, a comforting appearance arising from the apparent abundance of work they were kikely to supply to the threshing machines. The ruinously dry spring and summer seasons through which we have just passed have wrought a melancholy change in this respect.

Anyone who had recently visited the country districts and noted, as he could scarcely avoid doing were he at all observant of what was going on around him, these and numerous other signs of the depression that so generally prevails, can fully understand the satisfaction experienced by the country settlers on perusing the letter of the Superintendent in reply to the circular recently addressed by the Minister of Public Works to the heads of the Provincial Executives with reference to the introduction of Chinese labor for our railway and other public works. In the face of the bad harvest that has been so general throughout the colony it seems almost a mockery to talk of introducing foreign labor when those of our existing population who are accustomed to earn their living by the sweat of their brows are in so sad a plight ; able and willing to do an honest day's work, yet not knowing where to find those who can afford to employ them. And it is not as though. Nelson were alone in this strait, but in the other provinces, although not perhaps to so great an extent, there is a similar difficulty experienced by the laboring classes in obtaining employment, and it is difficult to conceive what could have put it into the heads of the Goverment to make such a suggestion as that contained in Mr. Ormond's circular. The West Coast papers I see, which, as a rule, are not accustomed to bestow any large amount of approval upon Mr. Curtis' actions, highly applaud the stand he has made in this matter, and state that his arguments apply just as forcibly to the district through which the Brunner line is to be taken as to that of the Waimea. The question of the desirability or otherwise of permitting Chinese immigration is still an open one among our public men, but surely there can be none as to the propriety of going to the expense of importing men of a foreign race for the execution of public works so long as our own bona fide colonists are in want of a day's work. There is a growing feeling that the Government is goiug rather too far in the direction of introducing Scandinavians as settlers, in preference to inhabitants of the British Isles, but this sinks into utter insignificance when compared with the propositions contained in Mr. Ormond's letter, and we have reason to be grateful to the Superintendent for returning so decided and unmistakeable a reply.

Ad attempt is being made, which it is said is likely to prove successful, to revive, or rather to prolong the life of, our Nelson race - meetings. The subscription list, I am told, has assumed very respectable proportions, and it is proposed to have two day's racing some time next month. I have my own ideas on this subject, and if we are to bave races, would prefer to see them confined to one day, with moderately good stakes instead of being extended over two with insignificant prizes, and all the dawdling and waiting about between the events that for the last three or four years have caused our meetings to be voted so insufferably > slow, but the judgment of those who are supposed to know the public taste better than myself is likely to prevail, and the two days* racing, .that -we could afford .to

support in more prosperous times is to be adhered to in these days of depression. I admit beiDg exceedingly fond of good racing, and should very much like to see our Nelson meetings sustain their former character, therefore I cannot be accused of making these remarks in anything like a hostile spirit, but I do think that where our supply of cloth is so very limited, it would be far better to make out of it one full-sized coafc than two little jackets of ludicrously curtailed proportions.

In my particular walk in life it falls to my lot to peruse a considerable number of newspapers from all parts of the colony, and consequently I have it most forcibly, not to say monotonously, impressed upon roy mind that this current month of March is the last in which those who are desirous of becoming electors will, for this year at least, have the opportunity of placing their names on the electoral roll. " Register," — usually twice, if not three times, repeated — is a word that has become positively offensive to me. As I tear the covers off the various journals that come before me I instinctively know that the verb to register in the imperative mood and printed in " small caps," as they are technically termed, will be the first word to meet my wearied gaze, and, to increase my aggravation, there occasionally drops from between the pages a form of registration which some generous and highminded newspaper proprietor gratuitously distributes to his " numerous readers." The word haunts me. As I blow my candle out and get into bed I can, even in the darkness, see my bedroom walls placarded with the hated letters. My patchwork quilt crackles as I draw it over my eyes in theendeavortoshutout from my sight the keg- &c, as though each patch consisted of a registration paper ; I wake in the morning from an unrefreshing sleep and as I proceed with my toilet the word "registered" meets my eyes on the neckband of my shirt ; my very toothbrush is " registered ; " I leave my sleeping apartment and as I enter the breakfast- room the hateful participle stares me full in the face standing out in bold relief from the back of the grate. Bah ! I'm sick of this too active verb in all its moods and tenses. For Heaven's sake all ye would-be electors do the deed — I can't bring myself to write the dreadful word itself — at once, and have done with it for another nine months.