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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 82, 5 April 1872, Page 2

Active Trade. —The Timaru Herald of March 23, says : —Tbe influx of grain and wool wagons into town has been unusually large the last few days. On Wednesday, there was quite a sight in Strathallan-Btreet, as from the Government landing shed to more than half-way up the street, about twenty wagons and drays were waiting their turn to discharge. A good many of the stores are full to overflowing, and there cannot be less than one thousand tons of wool, grain, and preserved meat for shipment, and this bulk is increasing daily. $ Extraordinary Longevity. — The obituary of The Times of December the 20th contained some remarkable illustrations of prolonged existence, especially in four ladies and two gentlemen, whose united ages amounted to 508 years, giving an average of exactly 84 years and eight months to each ; the oldest lady was 89, the youngest 80 years of age. The same record contained the deaths of ten ladies and gentlemen from 72 to 78 years of age, whose united ages amounted to 751 years, giving an average, of rather more than 75 years and one month to each." The oldest gentleman was 78, the youngest 72 ; of the opposite sex the oldest was 76, and the youngest^also 72 years of age. It therefore appears that the average ages of t—Hftrm-liiiiiifiii i B-iiiitH)ii-»iiiii_iW)itimiiM«ifr' °

these 16 ladies and gentlemen amounted to 78 years and more than nine months to each. Whilst on her passage from Savu Sauvu, Levuka, the schooner Alice had a narrow escape from a waterspout. The spout rose right in her track, and she had fco put about to avoid ifc. It travelled in the direction from Mokopai to Ganani, and passed withiu about 100 yards off the Alice, and came to grief on the Mokogai Reef. Tbe spout was about 30 feet in diameter. — Fiji Times. Another Remedy por the Grasshopper Plague. — A correspondent writing to the Australasian states, that in 1845 the district iu which he resided was infested with the above pest and that almost everything green was consumed; but in his own garden, which, has a castov oil shrub fence, he scarcely lost a plant. They attacked the fence and died by myriads. The castor oil plant will thrive almost anywhere and would pay the grower. The Argw of March 2 says :—Shipments of wool to America have been a good deal talked of throughout the season. These, however, have almost entirely gone to tbe New York market. At the close of the season, we note as a circumstance of no inconsiderable importance and significance the clearance to-day of the Maggie Leslie, with an entire cargo of 1971 bales, for Montreal. This is the first and only cargo that has left Victoria direct for a Canadian port. An Aged Native. — The Advertiser says : — Opinion differs much as toTaraia's age, and the Maoris, as usual, bave no idea. It may, however, be reached withiu a few years. Te Moananui stated that Taraia was somewhat younger than Horeta, or Hooknose, who saw Captain Cook afc Mercury Bay, in November, 1769. Hooknose was at that time about twelve years of age. Supposing Taraia to have been fifteen or twenty years younger than Te Horeta, he must have been within a few years of a century old when be died. The Otago Daily Times understands that the Provincial Government of Otago has entered into a contract for the erection of a quartz crushing battery on tbe reclaimed ground, Dunedin, to facilitate the testing of quartz. The sending of quartz elsewhere to be put through the testing process will thus be obviated, and the work will also be done at much less expense. The machine is to be worked by water power, and the Waterworks Company have agreed to supply water free of cost. AGathererof Grain Statistics in the province of Canterbury has communicated -some of his notes by the wayside to or.e of the Christchurch papers. The following is among his descriptions of the different classes of settlers upon whom he called : — " Igo to another house. You can see at a glance money has been laid out : there are all sorts of exploded iron imple-

ments lying about, good gates with no binges, tied up with flax ; I stumble over a perambulator without a wheel, and see the proprietor turning the corner. He is not as well dressed as when he went ou board ship, and a handsome gold watch Bnd chain, with several charms and a locket, are the only reminiscences of the gentlemanly young swell who came out with money and no experience. To any inquiries, he says he really does not know. " Old So-and-so says there will be 30 bushels, but you know I didn't quite understand the machine. It had to go to the blacksmith's, and while ifc was being repaired the winds blew a lot out." He further tells me he thinks the country a _._ bole, and after harvest he'll sell out and go somewhere else. I condole with him. We talk, and I find tbat, while his brothers are doing well at home, he, the ne'er-do-well of the family, is performing penance out here for the sake of the rest. I leave him cutting up tobacco, and looking dreamily at me as I ride away. Useful Birds.-— The Atlantic Monthly for March has an article advocating the protection of those airy flutfcerere that is really interesting. France has gone ahead of all countries in the investigation of the " useful " and " detrimental " birds. The author of the dissertation is endeavoring to prove that the crow is not as black as he is painted ,• that he has really some good in him, and ought not to be held up as a " scare-crow '* any longer. There are legal enactments in many of the cantons of Switzerland for the protection of certain birds, and yet they have made a mistake in the canton of Oberwalden and allow the unlimited destruction of the starling, known to be the efficient destroyer of tbe great pest to farmers in Europe, tho May Chaffer. In Zurich there is a law protecting all " useful birds." In Berne, crows, ravens, magpieß, and sparrows are outlawed. In fourteen cantons the fine for killing any bird onthe protected list is fifty francs. In the cantons of Gall and Vaud parents are held responsible for the robbing of birds' nests by their children. The Parliament of Great Britain bas recently made ifc a penal offence to rob the nests or destroy the gulls on her coast, from May to September. The recent enactments of Massachusetts permit the destruction of several of the most valuable birds to agriculture ; also the gulls and terns, beautiful and innocent birds, so prized by the fisherman for indications they give of the presence of certain kinds of fish, and dear to the sailor, whom they warn in misty weather of the treacherous reef. An agricultural journal of the " Bund," published in Berne, Switzerland, demonstrates the frightful losses befalling the farmer, which can only be arrested by ceasing to destroy '•' the great equipoise of nature," and foster, not destroy, those exterminators of insects. For remainder of news see fourth page.