The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1872.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 195, 16 August 1872, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1872.

A KETCKN' has recently been laid on the table" of -'jhfi Legislature in Wellington, from which a good deal of information is to be extracted that is,, specially valuable at the pres^Dt time when it is proposed to deprive the Province: ., of; v ; iNelsqri.. of : a 4 portion of her territory: with a ; view oi' handing' it over io{ itie' faster j ng care of a Cou ffi ity-fq'rnf of r QQVe"rn m^Dt^f^ch"> r aßvfiaß' " obtained ; : Jnij^eisllittSr/Sfoiv.the-'' last ,'feWf ; _yeare..i i{ l|i;cQ,niaioeo ; «;- ! Btatttm©o .. of, the ; '

receipts and expenditure of the several provinces of New Zealand for the year 1871. Of the nice divisions of the colony referred to we propose just now to deal with but two, namely, Nelson and Westland,and will commence- with the'; revenues of the two districts which were £84,590 and:: £68,369 respectively, an advance of £7500 from the General Government, as will be eeeu, being included in the latter sum. The principal items of which these totals are made up are as follows, the shillings and pence being omitted : — Capitation Grant — Nelson £24,524, Westland. £10,888 ; Licenses — Nelson £1961, Westland £10,423, towards which sum the publicans of the County contributed £10,-167 against £1739 in Nelson ; Local taxes arid contributions — Nelsoti £2541, Westland £3437 ; Incidental and casual receipts—Nelson £2142, Westland £443; Land fund receipts — Nelson £11,465 (including £5957 from the Brunner Coalmine), Westland £4559 ; Gold Duty and Goldfields revenue — Nelson £33,038, Wesfland £25,860; Overdrafts from Banks —Nelson £8767, Westlacd £6271 ; Advances from General Government — Nelson, nil, Westland £7500. We now come to the expenditure, and here we find that, under the head ""Administrative" Nelson expended £2112, while the same departments- cost Westland, wilh considerably less than half the population of this province, £2037. Under the heading "L^gislaiive," which includes officers and members of the Council, printing and contingencies, and expenses of elections, £933 are set down aguiostNelson, and £888 against WVsfcland. The administration of jnsticp, including police, ' gnols, and courts of justify, cost Neisoii £8,883, Wfßtland £i 0,683. The next, item is one in which the expenditure of the Province whs more than ten times that of the County, but it will be allowed thar there is no cause to be ashamed of the fact when we state that, it refers. to. "Education " upon which Nelson expended £8034, and Westland £750. Under the head " Charitable," whioli includes hospitals, lunatic asylum?, and charitablo aid., Nelson, we find, pwli £7091, and Westland £7418. The expenditure «onnenred with harbors was. in Nelson, £2274, ami in Westland £1427. On the maiuten'»nfie of Waste Lands Board, Land and Survey Departments, and Public Works generally Nelson spent £33,020 against Westland's £20,910. The next and last item to which we shall refer is placed under the heading of " Loans," and here we find that Nelson's share was £5487, that of Westland £11,642. It appears then that Nelson with considerably more than double the population of Weetland expends in the administrative department just about the same as her'sister County; her legislative expenses are scarcely £50 more than those of Westland, the administration of justice costs nearly £2000 less in the province than in the County ; while on education and public works the former spends nearly one-half, the latter considerably less than onerthird of their respective revenues, and yet with these facts staring us in the face we were constantly reminded in the Provincial Couacil of the model way in wbich the County Government managed it's affairs, and heard it frequently suggested that we should imitate its example. More than this, Mr Fox, in the House of Eepresentatives, threatens to i deprive the province of a large slice of her territory with a view of bettering the | condition . of the separated portion by freeing it from the chaos of Provincial misrule to place it within the Paradise of the County system. • A few trurapet-tongued agitators »have at one time and another amused them* selves and the public by frequent comments upon the general mismanagement of affairs in Nelson.. It may be well, therefore, before concluding these remarks to compare the state of thiuga in tins province with that which prevails in Wellington. From thq, return before us we find that the revenue of the latter province; was as nearly aa possible similar to our own,, only exceeding it. by a couple of hundred pounds. In Wellington, however, we find that they cau only afford to spend £774 upon education as compared with £8034 that Nelson devotes to the same object, while on public works she , spends £20,924 'against the £33,020 which are laid out in this province for a similar purpose. '.-;'■

There is nothing very fasciuating »bon|t these dry colurans of fi2uri?B,.but rheuiuciy of ihem is exceediogly iußUuc{iye,&,o<i o!»l-.^ culated to counteract a great deal of ihe' mischief that; a certain person finds for idle! tongues hb well as^for idle ; linlnds to do."

Watraea East, who lost bis life in attempting to cross the Buller River at the mouth . of the Maruia on Saturday last. •f-STOKE Reading Room. — Some misuoderstgndjmghaving occurred among the^ "But)Bcri^feW l to thi'B?ropm, a meeting will£be'l hejdjjn jth§ schoolroom to-morrow evenip'p^ at hnlf-Rfelt sevenf-'for the purpose' of ; taking into consideration the proceedings of the last meeting with reference to the building site. . Map" of, Nelson Province. — The large map of the Province of Nelson which vras recently prepared nnd illustra* ted by Mr. Gully for transmission to the. Agent-General in London, is now on view at the Colonial Museum, in Wellington. The Post, in referring, to, it says : — No- : thing short of an. actual model of the country could convey more clearly than this exquisite specimen of Mr. Gully's draughtsmanship the capabilities of the country. for settlement. Supreme Court.— The next sittings of the Supreme Court will commence on Monday morning, at JO o'clock. There are but four criminal cases, namely,' Regina v. Paap, perjury ; Regina v. Mercott, attempted suicide; Regina t>. Schwass,larceny from a wharf; Regina v. Sheehy, fraudulent insolvency. There will probably Be only one' civil case, of no greai importance, the issues for which are not yet settled. Harmonic Society's Concert. 1 — A coocert, which may /'airly be said to have been most completely successful, was given by the Harmonic Society lasj. night, at the Provincmi Hull. The first part e.ousifUe'i of Weber's' Mass in G, which, as vrehiid anticipated, was most highly ny<preeiuted , by the large audience who filled the H[mll. The choruses were all of them j jjriveri with an amount of vivacity and precision vvhieb showed, beyond all doubt, ■hat the singers entered fully into the •spirit of the words, r»nd fun her, that they had been thoroughly vvell drilled, and had not been sparing of the time aud attention that it wus necessary to devote to ih? piactices. ' The soios were divide! arnougst most of the leading voices of the Society^ and the. result proved how judiciously the conductor bad acted in apportioning ihem as he did. Nor must we omit to mention the orcbestrs, which though small, rendered very effective assistance, particularly in the accompaniments to the choruses. The second part comprised a number of ballads, duetts, choruses, &c, which were all 1 carefully rendered - and well received. On the whole, the concert, we repeat, was most successful, and, so long as the Society can afford such 'pleasant evenings to its subscribers, it need never be afraid of losing the popularity it now enjoys. Before bringing this notice to a close, we would suggest that on future occasions a little more care should be used in reading and correcting the programmes, for the defiaut manner in which all the rules of syntax were set at naught in. those distributed last night wj}s such as would horrify even a junior schoolboy.

The compiler of a future edition of the polite, writer must (says the Bnllarat Star) take a Chinese model for a letter intimating to a creditor that one cannot pay his debts arid yet wants more credit. A really elegantly worded epistle, written by Lee Soon, charged with perjury, to 00. Kee, a merchant in Melbourne, was read in' the City Court oh Tuesday. After referring to his inability to pay, he saye, "On thinking over the matter I feel like one of those ministers of ancient times, who lost their country and did not dare to give an account of their administrations; or like n general of a defeated army, who dil not dare to say a word about his bravery. If Ido not take my money with me to pay off my old debts, with what face can I see you ?" He then went oa to say, "But if you gentlemen will kindly remember the friendship of former days, and succour me, and trust me again with goods to supply the demands I will pay you my takings." The business letter was concluded as follows: — "All my hopes are based upon the decision to which you gentlemen may come. I send yon this scrawl for the inspection of all the gentleman of the large firm of On Kee. : Lee Soon Bows."

The Levant Times gives n long account of the coronation of Prince Cassa, the new King of Ethiopia, which took place at Axum on the 14th of January. The solemnities lasted a fortnight, and the first step in them was Prince Cassa's departure from Adoa on the 4lh of January en route for Axum, which was reached on the 12th. On the 13th a grand revicv took place, at which 3000 Abyssinian priests' were present as spectators. On the 14th, Cassa made bis solemn entry into the cathedral of Axum, where the coronation ceremony was gone through. At the termination of this, he repaired to a palace which he bad specially built for the occasion, and mounted the throne, leading up to which were twelve steps, wearing the crown upon bis head. At this moment the company were so overjoyed as to be unable to restrain themselves, and began discharging firearms in the throne room, much to the delight apparently of the new monarch, but to the detriment of the ceiling, if not of the nerves of any delicately organised Ethiopians. The close of the rejoicing will however, in the eyes of the Englishmen, atone for the somewhat barbaric nature of the previous proceedings. The eating and drinking lasted three days, during the whole of this time the King remained in the room. The people entered by relays of four hundred at & time, and the carnival did not end until 4,000 head of cattle and 500 hives of honey used for the preparation of bydromel had been consumed.

Homceopathy. — Dr Eouth, in his work entitled " The Fallacies of Homoepathy," gives the following result of the old and the new mode of treatment:-—!. Inflammation of the lunge, — Dr Routh states that, in the Allopathic Hospital of Vienna, 23 patients out of every hundred die; whilst, in the Homoeopathic Hospital, in the same city, only 5 patients die out every 100. 2. In pleurisy, 13 patients out of every 100 die in allopathic hospitals, whilst only 4 in every 100 die in the homoeopathic, hospital. 4. In dysentery, allopathic hospitals lose 22 out of every 100, whilst homoeopathic hospitals lose" only 3 in the same number of patients. Again, the; following statistics of the treatment of epidemic cholera, in 1854, extracted from the printed documerits of the House of Commons, will establish the superiority of the homoeopathic treatment. In cholera cases generally, the number of deaths under allopathic treatment .was 45 in every 100; under homoeopathic treatment, only 17 in every 100. In the more severe form of the disease, attended with collapse, or sinking of the life-powers, 69. in every 100 died under allopathic treatment ; but only 30 in the same number under the b.olcoeopathic. r To the foregoing indubitable facts, might be added the testimony of many eminent medical men, the experience of every practitioner of homoeopathy, and the willing acknowledgments of many families, -who have participated in its advantages and success.

P^EiicT'iNr the Persian Gulf.— The mail steamer mentioned in the Indian telegram as having been attacked and robbed by pirates was the Cashmere, which, was lyin^r at anchor at the time at Busreb. The 1 Times of India gi,vestUe followijQgi account of the nfifair :— " The gang numbered' about 80 men. / The attack was' niade between 1 and 2 a.m. on ■the., fording .of 'the 13th. ! The whole affair was' over in a short time, and appears to have been very well 'organised. The men in the first boat which came alongside stated they ; Were 5 passengers, and Iwere, after boarding) direqted: .|q_ go forward. Shortly aJFteVward'sf^he/'canae^h^ and threatened the suuunny with • instant death if he raised any alarin^ ■ A|t^ihis"' moment the remainder of the gang boarded, and took ctiarge^of '-th ; d?sfiipy -' :i r They imßoe?---diatelyßtati6ned>one party to keep guard over the forecastle, so as to prevent any

of thY' v cj"eW ' coming on deck. Another parly remained to watch that part of the ship occupied by the officers and engineer, while a third gang remained at the saloon doors. The remainder ranged themselves on either Bide; of - (he after hatchway, forced it open, broke the lock of the treasure-room, and commenced to pass out the specie. The head of an unfortunate fireman, who was killed as he came on deck, was almost completely severed from his body. Mr Bradford, the clerk, waß stabbed in the back three or four times,, while attempting, with the chief officer, to Bave the specie; the latter has sustained severe injuries about the head and arm, while the former remains at Busreh in a critical state. The chief engineer's right arm was disabled by a -sword-cut while he was proceeding to his cabin for a revolver. It, is said that the Chinese enrpenter barricaded, his. cabiu doors, arui watched the proceedings through ilie Venetians ; he libs been able to identify one of the robbers, who is also recognised by the clerk. The captain, who w»«h lseeping en deck, »fter endeavoring to rally his men on the poop, entered the saloon through the eky-lighj, -barricaded the door?, and commenced to distribute firearms, but before any effective mr-asmes could be iaken, treasure valued at.42.000-s. had been abstracted, and the robbers left the vessel, leaving in their hurry hdp. ba^ on deck containing 1700 rupees. This eang for 6ome time past, has been in the habit of levying blank mail on the wealthier residents in Busreh."

The members of the late Government still pretend to speak of Mr Duffy's Californian mail contract as a defensible arrangement, and affect a strong desire to have that amusing scheme debated, on its merits. Mr Lnngtoo laid some papers on the subject before Parliament the other night, and on that occasion Mr Grant and Mr Dufly were very urgent to be allowed an opportunity of discussing; the contract now happily defunct. Mr Grant went so far as to say that " the late Government had pood and valid reasons for entering into the contract, and those reasons had been supported by recent communications from the New Zealand Government." Reference to the papers presented by Mr Langton shows what these communications are. Amongst them is a long letter from Mr Yogel, who warmly defends the agreement which was arrived at between him and Mr Dufiy. From his own side of the bargain Mr Yogel could do this very effectually, bnt when he attempts to show that the contract was eminently advantageous to Victorian interests his reasoning is not convincing. After all, Mr Vogel's ingenious arguments the fact remains that we Victorians think otherwise ;• and as we may be supposed to know best what we want and how much we are willing to pay for obtaining it, that branch of the argument may be set aside. But Mr Yogel has another argument. Having now to deal with Ministers who are inrapable of rising to the policy of "Chatham" and are fettered by the ignoble considerations of the "Cocker" whom Mr Duffy so despised, Mr Yogel finds that he can afford to offer lower terms than £32,500. On reconsidering the matter, he will take £25,000, or £7,500 less than the amount which Mr Duffy so generously contracted to pay. , One would like to know if this reduction- of the demand from Victoria was included by Mr Grant in the reasons for supporting the Duffy contract, that were to be found among these papers. Mr Duffy was willing to give £32,500, and Mr VogePs letter now offers, .to take £25,000, and Mr Grant says ihut the communication tends to show that the original contract ought to be adhered to ! When the discussion has come' to this stage, the question seems to have jmi^erl out of the 'sphere of argument altogether. It is right to allude to Mr Grauf*B " correction" of liis repnriiid speech. Ii seems he meant to cay t\-.v cowtuci w*<* suppon-i "by i>c f nt cctrnmuuiiariouft from ihf = Imperial Government. But nobo<iy , bin Mr Grant at present knows anything of these communications. It will be time enough to discus* them when, we kno\v what they are.- — Anstralasian.

HtGH Wateb at Nelson. Morn. Afternoon Friday Aug. 16 ... 7.6 7.41 Saturday „ 17 ... 8.8 8.35 , Sunday „ 18 ... 857 919 Monday „ 19 ... 9.83 ■■•■ -958* Tuesday „ 20 ..." 10.16 10 34 Wednesday „ 21 ... 10.50 11.9 Thursday „ 22 ... 11.26 11.44