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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 166, 13 July 1872, Page 2

The Southern Gross of the 2718 ultimo' says that on tho previous (fay the Judge eat in baDco, but notwithstanding that be sat yet there was no banco. His Honor had returned from Wellington, not before lie was wauted, but before ho was expected. Therelore learned counsel had failed to give notice of their intention to move tbo Court upou demurrers or rules nisi; or for injunctions to restrain, or to remove injunctions; or to enter motions for. new trials, or to quash proceedings. His Honor took his seat at a few minutes after eleven o'clock, and remained looking into the open void for halt ah hour, when he rose, and, bowing to the reporters, retired to his private room. Not a learned counsel or wig and gown put in an appearance to ask, with " great^ respect to the Coun,'' to move for anything ;', or to move that something might not be moved for. The Deputy- Registrar was there in gown; so also was tho crier— he too, with gown, but of inferior textile, and ot more unpretentious cut. The Court was enveloped in a cloud of mist ; for clouds discharging a drizzling rain surrounded

the building, and there was a gloom prolouud which reached even to the justice 8(?af. When at the time of his Honor entering the Court the crier called " Silence," the sound went through the building and returned back again with a sepulchral echo, so depressing that the few present were about in the same frame of mind as could be imagined of men attending a -walking funeral in a snowstorm. At Kdox Cburcli, Dunpdiu, on a recent Sunday, £54 sterling was collected on the plate for the poor of the congregation. "JEgles," writing in ihe Australasian, says : — •• Ttie Hustler's Tribute Company, a i, Sandhurst, lias since November last, pitid 21.000 per cent. Iu other words, it ban, i.i seven inonihs, rciurued its paid up capital 211 tunes. Auckland hns had a touch of the coal famine which has recently prevailed iu so rruiny of the ports of New Zealand. The Herald reports that coal has been so scarce there, that there was " hardly a ton to be got io the market."' The petition forwarded to the Resident Minister for the Middle Island on the 27th ult., by a u umber of settlers in Otago from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, praying that emigration from i hose places might be placed on a similar footing to that irom Scandinavia, bus been rejected. The Mohokgo, which lately deprived New Zealand of a month's mail by breaking down when one day out from San Francisco, « as mended and sent off again to Honolulu, whence sbe returned in safety to Sau Francisco. The Chronicle, published in the latter place, in noticing her return, says that " thu passage occupied nearly thirteen days, and was a disagreeable and uncomfortable one. There is no room tn the sh'p. She leaks badly, the pumps havinir to be kept in operation all the time to keep her free. She is slow, steers badly, ami is iu every way a miserable apology for a ship." After using some language of a still more uncomplimentary character, the Chronicle goes on to say : — ** Tbo commanding officer is a man of great skill and judgment. His judgment we have particular respect for, since he got sick at Honolulu just before the ship was to start, and iu consequence did not come upon this trip."

A French Vegetarian has separated from his loved wife "solely because she evinced an unconquerable predilection for flesh and fowl." We Victorians (says a writer in the Melbourne Leader) are apt to cut up rough if any Britisher writes n book about us on the strength of a week's sojourn in the Melbourne Club, and a scamper to Ballarat and Bendigo. But the lourists wbo rush across the straits to Tosmauia, and do the voyage round New Zealand and back, are quite as hasty and incorrect as Sir Charles Dilke and Anthony Trollope. A writer in a Melbourne weekly newspaper, in a lively account of what he saw a- few weeks ago in New Zen I and, describes an interview with a preat Waikato chief, Wiremu Thompson, and regrets the love of that distinguished Maori for strong waters. The sketch is graphic 1 enough, only, unfortunately, Wiremu Thompson died five yeurs ago. It is just as well that he did, or else his character for sobriety would have been irretrievably ruined. The Waikato Times says : — "Most people in the Auckland Province are aware that a coalmine exists on the banks of the Waikato, but only those who have paid a visit to its workings can form anv idea of its richness. On Tuesday last we inspected the mine under the guidance of Mr. Bradley, of the Waikato Coal Company. In place of, as we anticipated, having to descend an indefinite number of feet into the bowels of the earth by means of a cage, we were agreeably surprised to find that the mode of progression provided lor man by 'Dame Nature ' was all that was necessary to enable us to inspect the hidden treasure. After walking for some distance along a rather low tunnel, we reached a large black chamber. When our eyes became accustomed to theinfeusp darkness, which the caudles we carried seemed only to render perceptible, we discovered similar chambers branching off in all directions. These chambers are about eighteen feet high, and about the same in width. We walked down two or three of them, and carefully inspected the walls. We could find no sign of anything but coal, unmixed with any foreign substance. We are informed, and we have reason to believe the statement, that there are many millions of tons of the black mineral, which has worked such wonders in the world, yet to be extracted from the mine. The existence of this immense deposit of coal should be sufficient to convince the sceptical, if any exist, of the advisability of pushing on the construction of our railway as rapidly as possible." If the opinion of a correspondent of the Southern Cross be reliable, there can be no longer any doubt of the carrying on of rnau-catching and slave-buying in the South Seas. He says: — No one cau get up and publicly deny — openly declare — that the ' slave-trade' has not been rampant in these seas for many years past. Aud who are those who are direcily or indirectly engaged in the nefarious traffic ? Why, the upper-crust — the leading men — those of hifluence wbo are ashore. The majority of them are implicated in the horrible practice of kidnapping and selling human flesh. Deeds as brutal, actions as atrocious, loathsome and vile punishment, have been in force in these seas against the aboriginal races of late years which, in their severity and horror, were never surpassed in the worst days of slavery. Where is the ghost of Wilberforce ? Ah ! if he were alive he would assuredly exert himself — would raise his voice on behalf of the genial and outraged aboriginal. • Man nor woman, boy nor girl ot tender years, comes amiss to the mancatcher in these seas. The running down of canoes, and lowering down boats to pick up their victims, who are helpless in the water, is a common practice. Trainiusj natives from one group to entrap the victims of the next which is visited, is another means adopted by vessels engaged in the slave traffic. The blood of the victims slain in this abominable blot upon the intelligence of white men wbo are sailing about in British ships cries aloud to Heaven for redress and repression,"