Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 211, 4 September 1872, Page 2

\ . ; 'Nbi;b6n C^ET^^W.e are 'glad 'to notice a ( great imprpv|me^^ $umh[ers; ( |apd. genQral sbean^ icorps,,^! whi,bb|; jcsince > CCaptairi y punifrey, ■'■ . ;the present i adjutant^'cahie 1 /to" th'#Tdi&rict< jsomf :ejg%T.&pnjbhifialg^i. i li^B iucreased;:fr,bmi ; or.;{fpurteehr:tb littlecbinpanyi marched round the town^tw jngD|be|^ :Rttd4ipae:of theinteiini^ ''"#

West Coast.— From jh Qj ...ports of Hokitika ana^Greymouth^we^have seen .n|i^ate^telegr|ms|t,o, theleffect" that the TO^fplhpliaces sajfe unlorslole owing to jh'eayyjweaper, Jhe Charles E'dwardf ffom'Westpbrt, and thVliyttelton, from Okarita, being both outside'of the former port unable to enter, while the. Kennedy remains a prisoner at the latter "thr'ough the heavy sea. jKUpper Btjllek.; — A traveller recently 'arrived. : from this district informs us that the Government Hut at the Devil's Grip has been.. burnt down., There are some suspicions that the fire was not altogether accidental, and the loss of the building Will 'be 'much felt,' ; as it formed the only available shelter in the district, and was the regular halting place for all travellers passing, through the " Grip." The New Zealand Medal. — A medal for services rendered in theNew Zealand war was presented at the Commanding Officer's parade last night to Mr. Henry Wallis, at present a member of the Nelson Rifles, who served his country well as a Taranaki volunteer in the campaigns of 1860-61 and 62, Mr. Wallisiook part in the engagements of Waif eka, Mohaetahi, and Omata, and, including: all the various skirmishes in which he was present, has been under fire no less than seventeen times. The medal has been distributed somewhat indiscriminately to soldiers of her Majesty's regiments who" happened to be in New Zealand at the time of the native disturbance} but few of them can lay better claim to it than the gentleman who received his well-earned reward last night. San Fkancisco Mail Service. — In compliance with a resolution of the House to that effect, returns have been laid on the table showing tho amounts deducted from the subsidy payable to Messrs. Webb and Holladay during the year ending June 30, 1872, aud also of the amount of penalties to which they were liable, but which were not claimed from them, for the same period. The former is as follows : — For non-arrival of April steamer, and nondespatch :of steamers from Auckland in ' May , £3,384 1 2s. 3d. The latter was :— Outward voyages, "JE2J736; inward, £982, which, after deducting £74, the amount of premiums earned, leaves a balance of £3,644. The Rev. Mr. Pierce, a Methodist minister at Syracuse, N.Y., has discovered how polygamy may be eradicated. His plan is to introduce into Utah vast quantities of fashionable millinery goods, and induce the Gentile women to " come out " in gorgeous style. This will produce such a competition on the part of the Mormon sisterhood, and such heavy bills for finery, that the Saints won't, be able to stand the pressure. Think of a man with six wives and eighteen daughters fitting out each of these individuals with "Dolly Vardens !"

One of the osLriches Jn the London Zoological Gardeh%'di€?d^alelyii and in its stomach £w,ere a|n%ni]b'er of halfpence, andean entire j^dpyf of|the Daily Telegraph^. It;! is:, now, *bejng disputed whether the coppers or the^eading articles were the cause of the bird's death. Great Fire in Japan. — Oh the 3rd April last a. very .destructive fire' ocurred at Yedoj; no *less than two 1 square miles of the city was laid waste, 30,000 persons rendered homeless, and between 250 and 350 persons killed. "The' distress is described as overwhelming, and a meeting of the Yokohama Chamber pf Commerce was promptly-held, from which a memorial was sent to the Governor, of Kanagawa, expressing the willingness of. =tho. foreign community to render such assistance aa was in their power. : , . . , For remainder of news see fourth page.

POLiTicsTT-We^hear. of the game pf.politics anSvo£^ board. Practical politics, however, do not so much rleaembleta game of chess, as a game of whist.. ; Inr chess, the position of the pieces at beginning of the game is precisely simiiiar for both contending par ties,, and every moye. is made by the deliberate choice of the players. : The result depends; therefore, exclusively on their comparative skill ; chance is altogether excluded. ; In. whist on the other hand, Ihe distribution of the cards depends- upon chance; that is to say, it depends upon circumstances .not- within the control of any of the r players, but with the cards so casuaiiy dealt out, each player plays according to his free- choice. The result, therefore, depends partly upon chance, or luck, as it is so called, and partly upon skill. . This !ia exactly analagous to the state of things in politics. A large number of cirumstances upon which the practical politician has to act are beyond his control. They are like a hand at cards, dealt oat to him by a power which he cannot regulate. But he can guide those circumstances which are within his power, and the ultimate result will depend partly. upon the character of the circumstances upon which he as to act, and partly upon the wisdom, skill, and pudence with which he conducts himself in reference to them. If the circumstances are very adverse, the utmost skill may be unavailable to produce a successful result. If they be propitious, he may be successful with a moderate amount of good management. If the circumstances should be unfavorable, good management will only meet with chequered success, arid will be no effectual security against occasional reverses, though it will be successful in the long run, and taking together both favorable and unfavorable circumstances. — " Methods of Observation and Reasoning in Politics," by Sir George Lewis. How xo Sell Slops.— Some of the Atlanta merchants are shrewd. I heard of a good thing, perpetrated by one of them, which was related by him to a New York drummer. The merchant aforesaid is in the ready-made clothing business, and he told the gentleman from New York that when a customer came in, after letting him try on several coats, he would say to him that he had a coat which he had given a gentleman the night before, but he was not satisfied with it, and re- > turned it, perhaps it might fit his customer. "Now, you know," said he,/' all men are more or less dishonest, so I put a pockethook in one of the coat pockets, which cost me thirty or forty centß. Now, when the man tries on the coat, he puts his hands into the pockets and feels the pocket-book, and he buys the coat at once for a considerable advance on the usual price, and he never comes back to see about it." The Dbama's Futube.— The dramatic instinct will not die out of men as long as the race survives. Tha dignity of the actor's art was never more sure of a recognition from the public than it js at this moment. Make it in its practical exercise -—and this is now, merely aquestion of the internal arrangement of theatres, and of theatrical management— a vocation which men and women of education and pure habits can pursue without forfeiture of self-respect, and the ranks of the profession 'will [speedily he recruited by persons of ability and character, who would in -time drive into their fitting obscurity the incapacity and unseemly impudence which disgrace so many of our stages. Bat there is we are assured,, only one way, of doing this, and it is by giving our artists a fit arena < for the exercise of their .art in a theatre where the artistic spirit reigns, and where intelligence and high principle are at the head of affairs. .Let. such a theatre be once' firmly, established, and there, need be ho fear that England will be as famous for her acted, as she is for her written drama.— The. Drama in England, Silk: Spinning in China.— There are ' three methods of spinning ' j in two the cocoon is boiled, in- the third it is spun raw. For the first, two four ounces of soda are put into the water in which a thousand cocoons are; boiled, the water is then,slightly drained /off, thegpub . extracted, and the cocoons are dried and tied up in bundles. , The r first method of spinning -i'e j by distaff, 1 and the thread is 'then called neen-seen. In towns, men yofythe^working r '"'3assesj'''Bhbpinen'' especially, are seen twisting little distaffs, at every odd and vacant moment, and no amall^mlpu^^^ wayy and woven into cloth for the spinners' own use. The second method of spinning * is by means of a .spinning- wheel, and the thread %ci^ third method v.pe^ed !,the^ ground' in 4be|fo^ :■ threadis, wound; round this-by -fiahd'Ht is ..^ciijlettito^ i the grub, it is eaten tyLthe economical and ingenious,., Chinese ; of" the; lower .classes, who esteem it a great, damty.-rr^gp/ted ,-

;A Histobical jr RBLic.r-Tbere is in the I cbuntyifbif; Prince :;.. Edward/, .Nbftti Carolina, a very remarkable relic of the early colonial times. It is a Spanish musket, seven feet' sis inches long, and of large calibre. It is in the possession of the surviving children of the late Colonel Charles-Woodson, and has remained in the family for more than two centuries. The history of the " long gun," as it is called, is as follows :— At the time of the second massacre of the colonists by "the Indians, Dr. John Woodson, one of the ancestors of the family, was killed by a party of savages as he was returning from a visit to one of his patients. The Indians then proceeded towards the dwelling-house, which was barred to prevent their entrance. There was a shoemaker present by the name of Lignon, who, with his gun, fired at the enemy as they approached, and killed three of them. The residue attacked the house, and endeavoured, to force an entrance. One of these, having entered through an aperture in the wall, was run through the bpfly with a roasting spit in the hand of Dr. Woodson's wife; another was scalded to death with hot water as he came down the chimney. The savages then beat a retreat, but in the meantime the gun had been reloaded, and two more of the band were killed as they were retreating. — i\£ Carolina Journal, Tbaits op Telfobd. — That Telford was enabled to continue to so advanced an age employed on so laborious and. anxious a work was no doubt attributable in a great measure to the cheerfulness of his nature. He was indeed a most happy-minded man It will be remembered that when a boy he had been known in his valley as " laughing' Tarn." The same disposition continued to characterise him even in his old &%e. He was playful and jocular, and rejoiced in the society of young people and children, especially when well-informed and modest, but when they pretended to acquirements, which they did not possess, he was quick to detect and see through them. One day a youth expatiated to him in very large terms, about a friend of his who had done this and that, and made so and so, and could do all manner of wonderful things. Telford listened with great attention, and when the youth had done he quietly asked, with a twinkle in his eye, "Pray can your friend lay eggs?"— ,SWfe> "Lives of Engineers?' The auburn hair which Bella wears Is her's : who would have thought it ? She swears 'tis her's, and true she swears— For I know where she. bought it. : [Written nearly 2000 years ago.]