CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 187, 7 August 1872, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

,|T.o. i^B EBi^it'^oi xhb Kelson Evuniko-'Mail. i iiSiK-^The^xp'consi derate zeal of , -your correspbbd^nt *'Gnrolus" has betrayed him .jmto a series of misconceptions, of which it is not ttio much to say that they begin with the be/nnnini?, anil end only with the ending of his letter.: Let two instances suffice to show this* "Carolus" begins by regretting that tho Central Board of Education h«s judged it prudent- to propose n censure upon a teacher/ &c. Now the Board has done nothing of the kind. Au. individual member of the Board has given noiicethat he wilt move " that teachers who wilfully deface school books are censurable; this — and 'nothing moret — appears on tho minutes of the Board's proceedings. Again, no "publicity has been given to the fact that the Board did not approve of his action in the matter, simply because the Board has as yet expressed no. opinion whatever. I ■.cannot. refrain; from addintr, in the very words of your correspondent,, that "it would have been in better taste" on his part to havo Imitated the reserve of the mover of the above resolution, who iii "framing if, has carefully abstained from anything npproaching the persona!. Should his motion be adopted by the Board, and furiher, should specific action on it be resolved upon, all of which at present is quite uncertain, there is no reason for supposing that a just conclusion will not be arrived at by a body that has never, hitherto, condemned any of its teachers unheard, 'and that has moreover inexorably denied to every man, or body of men, the luxury of of persecution. I am, &c, One -who was Present.

To the Fditoe or the Nklson Evening M*ii». Fir —Through tiro medium of your columus I would wish to call the attention of tho public to an occurrence which I think merits some ventilation. The Wellington steamer was for some flays, and until about 2 o'clock p.m. on Friday last advertised to leave for Northern ports. ' Having some cargo to ship for. Auckland, about 10 o'clock on Friday morning I tender the fame at the wharf for the purpose of:being-forwarded by her. The wharfinger demands two shillings for labor placing tinder 'the shed, over and above the regular wb'anfage rates. Considering such a charge an imposition, I apply „to the .agents, when I atn told, that before sending goods to the wharf I ought first to have, enquired whether the steamer had arrived, thereby totally ignoring the notice of sailing placed outside their olSce an-i published in the' local papers, and also the-fact that occasionally their boats enter acd leave the same tide, and consequently if any amount of goods had to be.scut it would be iraposaiba. lodo sp. Now what I would v/ish to know is, whether, .such conduct..is just, and fair towards the, shipping public,, cr to the interest of ony company seckiDg for support at their hands? And I feel quite certain, had any cargo been tendered for despatch toany\of the eouth.ern ports, a different line of "action would have beeu taken, or the freight lost to ths N.Z.S.S. Company through their want of liberal business principles. I.am well aware that the complaint is but a. small one; but by this I hope to draw .the attention of^'the public to .one-of the difficulties thrown in the way of shippers at this port which in any larger place would not.be.tolerated fpr a moment. :: ; ':'-;:( ;; larn,&cJ, ; ' '"''" li . _|it f _. ._.,'.". Wai,..QpoKSEX.' ...-;■

The Otago Volunteers are undergoing a vigorous inspection by Captain Cargill; 24 only out of 70 have passed. A;Ratting Battue has recently taken place at some slaughterhouses near Christchurch, when over 200 of the vermin were killed in a very short space of time. L . The troubles of traders in Westport may be; estimated from the fact that a local tobacconist advertises himself as "on the Wallabi track," appealing to his customers to '.'look for the house on wheels." From the isolated ■ parties of miners located on the Karamea river satisfactory news is obtained, so far that they appear to be doing moderately well, and have not been subject to more than ordinary delays in work, except such as rise from the vicissitudes of the wintry season. The spirit of unrest, however baa prevailed there, and some six or eight members of the little community lured by good reports from former mates, have left the Karamea and embarked for the South African Diamond ! fields. ; There has been a singular case of attempting to jump the line of the long tunnel at Addison's Flat, which will likely be before the Court in Westport. The long tunnel party are engaged driving a tunnel 4000 feet long. Having completed over 3500 feet, a party from Westport has marked and applied for a lease including their line of tunnel a little ahead of where they have driven up to. Our legislators seem never to have contemplated any tunnel longer than 1000 feet; so that they have been unable to get any protection for a requisite amount of ground to make their tunnel secure, unless they had leased ground on the whole length of the tunnel, ■which would be a very expeubive affair. — G. R. Argus. Professor Haseljiater's piano, which was recently raffled atWellinglon, was won by Celonel Reader of Wellington, who a day or two previously had purchased the lucky ticket from a man who had won it in a half-crown lottery at Christchurch, but being -doubtful of the Professor's integrity — ; as he left Canterbury and took •his piano with him to Wellington— Bold it as above. A Contributor to the Cromwell Argus writes :— I mentioned some time ago the immense increase in the number of wild cats in Otago, and really the nuisance is assuming formidable dimensions. The inclenieht"weather on the hills has driven the tabbies of every degree to the lower lands ; round my habitat they are as numerous as rabbits in a well stocked warren, and are literally starving. They are not at all fastidious as to esculents ; nothing comes amiss from a candle to a " murphy." A friend of mine saw one of them chasing a lamb a short time ago ; so the 'squatters might — as there is a law against dog-poisoning--expend their venom on these incipient tigers, and so confer a benefit on the community. The Visiting Justices of Essex have entered into: a contract for a supply of Australian beef to the prisoners in the gaols for a terra of six months. : During her recent performance in Savannah, Georgia, Miss Lydia Thompson was presented with a bale of cotten by her admirers. E. H. Derby, of Boston, gives it as his opinion that China and Japan, will take from ,us 50,000. tons, or 111,000,000 pounds of butter and cheese per annum, whenever we shall be able to deliver it. The wise custom of permitting ladies to join public dinners for charitable purposes is becoming very general in England, and may probably account for the increased funds;' .', men find it hard to refuse a female pleader in" the cause of charity. A curious confirmation of the truth of Thackeray's assertion that a lady could uot write a letter without underscoring sqmej>f the „words,. .was shown in Queen Victoria's recent letter to the people, acknowledging her gratification afc the enthusiastic reception with which she was greeted. .. In it three words- are underscored.,;-;. ..,.,..,_.... The following fact we (Swiss Times) commend ...tct-, the notice of ornithologists. On "felling an old oak in the neighborhood of Rap.pjtz. the workmen were not a little surprised" to find ia the liollow of the fallen tree three hundred sleeping, swallows. Whepf; however, tho, workmen brought softie 1 "of u theni into ja warm room, they . 'died.' -. „ ■ ■ ' , t „./'';.■.■'_' , '.'':'.;.» ■ ' - of flowers there c*anno^ ;by "their very nature, be anything solitary or exclusive;' ". The wind that blows 'over, the cottage porch sweeps bvßr th%~grounrd of the nobleman ";' and as .:-'[: the i raw descends over the just -and the tibjusty so it communicates gtb. all gardeners, ipoorj att^intercHaDge of f: pl^^^ ;'^pf;sh^^

vented by Mr Frederick Wolff, of New York. It consists of a description of lancet aod a suction piston, the lancet~acting independently of the pieton in making its puncturp, and then both the lance and piston being withdrawn, the body of the instrument is filled with blood. ' The instrument operates precisely on the general principles employed by the leech. A Venerable Institution. — This being the thousandth year from the traditional date of the foundation of University College, Oxford, by King Alfred, it h«s been resolved to use the opportunity for a gathering of former nnd present members of the College within its wulls. There is to be a dinner in the College-hall on the evening of Commemoration Day, June 12, at which the master will preside, and among many others, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Deau of Westminster have signified their intention to be present. Db. Livingstone. — At the fortnightly meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, on Monday night, the president,. Sir Henry Rawlinson, said there was really no news to communicate in regard to Dr. Livingstone. As to the telegrams that had been received, though the Council had nothing to do with them, they were inclined to think them worthy of credence, inasmuch as the place where Stanley and Livingstone were said to hare met was in the district where they had been led to underatand the latter was. It was a mistake, however, £»ir Henry thought* to speak of Stanley having found Livingstone-; it was rather Liviugstone who had found Stanley — though in saying so he did not wish to detract from the credit due 10 Mr. Stanley for penetrating so far .inland. The Eev Mr Buller threw some doubt on the credibility of the telegrams, on the ground that, if there had been any authentic news it would have been sent by Dr. Kirk in the Abydos. • Gold in Old Crowns and Half Crowns. -The Deputy-master of the Mint, in his report of the year 1871, supplies the following curious information: — As is well known, silver when extracted from its ores usually contains a small quantity of gold, and the process of refining as practicsd when the coins in question were struck was too expensive to admit of the extraction at a profit of the, small quantity contained in them. Afc the present time, however, improvements in refining render it possible to extract with profit any quantity of gold exceeding two grains in the pound troy of silver. Samples examined in the Minfc prove that the half-crowns now in process of withdrawal from circulation contain au average of 4.07 grains in the pound, and when, therefore, any considerable quantity of these coins has accumulated in the Mint, ifc will probably be advisable to recommend that the gold should be extracted from them before they are re-coined. The Vaccination Question. —Mr Stokes, of 29, Kingsdown-road, Upper Holloway, appeared to show cause' why an order should not be made on him under Section 31 of the Vaccination Act for his child, which is under fourteen years.of age, to be vacciuated. — The defendant has been several times before the Court, ofc the instauce of Mr John Broome, the officer appointed by the guardians of St Mary's, Islington, to prosecute persons- charged with offences against the Vaccination Act, 1867 and 1871, and, although orders have been made on him to have his child vaccinated, he resolutely declined to comply with the provisions of the Act; andbence the present proceedings. — The defendantsaid, when asked by the .Court why he did not have his child vaccinated, he never would, and the- Court well knew the reason. He had two healthy children, and they had been killed — nay, he might say murdered — through carrying out the provisions of the Act ; and he was resolutely determined that he would never lend himself to causing another child's death by having it vaccinated. He.ehould like to know how Mr Broome knew that his child was not vaccinated/; — Mr Broome said he had been close to the child, and had seen its arms, in; which. there was no marks of its haviDg been vaccinated;- I—The"1 — The" defendant denied the troth' of Mr Broom c's ( allegation, and producing the child, which appeared, clean, fat, and healthy; asked if. it looked as if it wanted nourishment. — The Court kaid it had nothing to ; do : with that, and holding that the child had ..not been vaccinated, and had not "already^had the smallpox, ordered that the defendant should procure itfe being vaccinated on or before Saturday; the 18th' instariS, and to pay 4b. for costs. — Mr Broome . asked ; for extra! eds'ts^ihs? the ; defeiQ'iiant^fhat! ! given the authorities a great deal of 'unnecessary trouble an^ expense, m ; was to seV^t^ declined toifcee^ , told the/defenda^^^^ . with .the prpyi ? swnß otsb^sji\£wjl~ timid. ■. his -':■ child;- v£ccina£e&^ .|ieay'ing,-(Baid?.: '''^^^P^'^ll^termin^ |tffe^l|mjfr^ ijciiilirelh&iSt^