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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 223, 18 September 1872, Page 2

Oddfellows' Hall.— rWe remind our readers of Mr. Maclaren's, entertainment, which is to take place at the Oddfellows'; Hall, this, evening. . , - , ,' ' San Francisco Mail.— The Phoobe, with the English mail, saiied from Ouehunga this morning, and consequently may be looked for here on Friday morning. Wesleyan Missions. — Public meetings will be held at Bichmond this evening, and. at Stoke to-morrow evening, in connection with these missions. The chair will be taken on each occasion at 7 o'clock, and collections will be made in aid of the fund. Magistrates' Court. — Henry "Williams was this morning charged with unlawfully assaulting Johanna Arnold, a little girl about nine years of age. Mr., Fell appeared for the prisoner, who was fined i£o and costs, or, iv default, two month's imprisonment with hard labor. The Supebintendency. — We regret to ; learn from Mr. Sharp that his other en-; gageihents wilt prevent his becoming a ' candidate for the Superintendency. Various names are mentioned in connection with this office, but at present nothing certain is known with regard to the possi- ; ble candidates. 1 ' ' Telegraphic. — A telegram from Wellington informs us that the negotiations ; that had been entered upon for. an amalgamation between Greville-s Company and. the Press Association have, been broken off, " Greville " being determined to hold his ground, and to supply telegrams at a cheaper rate than the Association. .'. Maori Representation.— -Mr, Sheehan has given notice of his intention to move in Committee amendments to the Maori Representation Act providing that the number of Maori representatives shall be increased to seven, one for each of the following districts : — The Northern, the Waikato, the Bay of Plenty, the Taranaki, the Eastern, the Cook Strait, the Southern; the four members at present in the House being held to represent four of these districts, as. follows :— Wiremu Katene, the Northern .; Karaitiana Takamoana, the Eastern ; Wiremu Parata, the Cook Strait ; Hori Taiaroa, the Southern, For remainder of news see fourth page. \

> ; v ; ; Mr; Harbison and the ; West. Coast Petition.— -The Tost of Wed nesday last lias ,thei.;follo.wing :r-One::of!, ihe most amusiug scenes that;took .place yesterday afternoon In the House of Representatives, ■was afforded: by My. Harrison, the member for Greymoutb, trailing after him up to the table with much ostentation a petition several yards in length, from " 1000 inhabitants of the South-west Goldfields, complaining of the mal-administration of the Nelson Provincial Government, and praying ,the : House to place the whole of the West Coast Goldfields under one form •of government." Mr. T. Kelly,' the member for New Plymouth, who is Chairthan of the Public Petitions Committee, drew the attention of .the Speaker to the fact that, as the body of the petition was printed, the Standing Order to that effect prevented it from being received. So the presenter had to return, this time with his long tail rolled up under his arm, amidst general laughter from both sides of the House. Considering that this movement is well understood to be oue of the "dodges" in support of the aspirations of Mi*. Harrison to become Superintendent of Westland, if so enlarged and restored from county to provincial institutions, this ridiculous blundering at the threshold of his new political adventure does not promise much for his busineßS-like habitß if he ever should be dubbed " His Honor.". He is of old standing enough as. a member to have known by heart all the regulations as to the presentation and reception of petitions. But he has another lesson to learn, namely, that even if all the men whose prayers to the House have been thus rendered of no value by his ignorance, were to vote for him at any possible; election for a Superintendent of Westland, either as now existing or enlarged as proposed, he would not have a chance; for south of- the Grey River at least he is well appreciated as in many respects unfit for so important an office as that would, be. " The cobbler must stick to his last." The fastest railroad train in the world is said to be the express on the Exeter and Great Western Railways, from Plymouth to London-?— a journey of 194 miles — which occupies four hours and a quarter. The Ovens and Murray Advertiser reports that a Chinaman was caught while robbing the sluices of Morris and party at Reid's Creek. The proprietors of the claim had fixed a spring gun in the race and the Chinaman in his haste to get rich fired the gun. He was so severely injured, that he had to be taken to the hospital. ])r Croke, the Roman Catholic Bishops of Auckland, recently went to Australia in accordance with a promise which he had made to a brother to preach on the occasion of the laying of the foundation-stone of a recent convent. He laid the foundation and preached on the . occasion in a country village, with a population of about 800 people, of whom the Catholic population did not exceed 250. After the sermon, the congregation gave tbe noble sum of £1482, and a further sum was promised, which would make it £1666. The New Koh-i-noor. — The great diamond, weighing 154 carats, which has been found at the Cape, aud is now on its way to England, is already furnished with its legend. It is said to have been found in the wall of one of the native huts. A poor Irish adventurer had received hospitality for the night, and being surprised at the light shinning amid the darkness, he had upon examination found it to proceed from a clump of the earth of which the wall was built. Of course the clump was soon detached by the visitor, and the new Koh-i-noor, with many other smaller diamonds, found within. The- Melbourne Argus states that " owing to the easy state of the money market, capitalists, it has been discovered, have been placing their money at 4 per cent interest in the Post Office Savings Banks, which were established by the for the special benefit of the poorer classes. It;doesnot f pay the State to carry oh these institutions, but it is worth while to incur a little . loss for the sake of encouraging aud promoting habits of. saving amongst the people. It was > never intended, "however; that men with large means should take advantage of the system, and a .regulation has been made ,to; the, effect that oo interest .shall be payable on deposits of £250 and upwards. • -, : r Buß^s^'-TiTtEs;' Court i Circular, in the* Times of June !22 ,; there appears '-i the/. translation - of avletter Jdeliyered'tb^the His Majesty: i^he 'King ' of B as „. follows t^^romiEtis ; Great, Glorious^ * and Moist Excellent^ Majesty^ King , ■ Rising Sud;*^ ;to ;, Her Most ~; Majesty Victoria, Queen of; Great Britain ; and; Irelahd&ftTh^o^ ';';;duces.''ta : .tlie'; Gpurfe 'two':'^ta^^%^yoyB f -:', ;• .\:conclud^ >* Palace, Ratcabon, A m Burmah, this eighth aaiy of the Waxing Moon Taboiing, > £$ffis'sss'£' ttAAAiAAv^AAA^A^Ar \'A 7-: .<■"■ ■ ■'- ,: .

1223, Burmese Era ; r corresponding with the sth of February,. 1872," of. the Christian; Era.— l tun, ; Madam, my Royal, Sister; Your Great and Most Glorious Majesty's Good and Royal Brother, Theeree pawara weezayanuntayathapundoctaMahadumma yazade yaza. His Great, Glorious, and Most Excellent Majesty King of the Rising Sun who reigns over Burmah. His Excellency the Prime Minister of Burmah, Pagan gyce Myp-sa Mengyee IVlenthado Mengyee Maha Menhla Saythoo." The Copper Fever in Queensland. — The copper fever (says the Gympie Times) continues to rage with unabated violence in local mining circles, and even gold, the "king of metals," has to hide his diminished head for a short lime. Our lists of mineral selections are quite sufficient proof of tbe activity of the contagion; aad the fact that "new finds," " specimens," and selections "of copper are the common and most frequent topics of conversation on the goldfield need hardly be stated to persons who have been resident here for even a few days only. This kind of thing is not calculated, in our opinion, to promote the progress of jjthe gold-mining industry, and it is not strange that there is not at present a great deal of activity in the" market for gold shares. But it is a fine thing for the district, as it will be the means of rapidly developing the enormous natural wealth of this portion of Wide Bay, so long, and so unaccountably neglected. It is also ;a remarkably fine state of affairs for the Treasury; since the 15ih of July the Local Land Agent has received no less a sum tbau £1789 as deposits on mineral selections. We are very unwilling indeed to damp the enterprise of those interested, directly or indirectly, in this pursuit of mining property, but a timely word on the probability of overdoing the copper " movement " will do no harm at least. It seems to us that in this hasty scramble for copper-bearing lands a large number of inexperienced -parties are engaged, and besides many undoubted prizes a serious proportion of blanks may turn up. We are informed that selections have been taken up upon the strength of "specimens" having been obtained from the land, the said specimens containing only as much trace of copper as some of the stuff got in several Gympie goldmines— very little indeed. As regards the present effect upon goldmining, there can be no doubt that industry has been unsettled by the rage for copper. The Geneva .Arbitration.—American; Rumours.— -The London Times of June 24 gives currency to the following extraordinary rumour : — " New York papers per the the Cunard steamer Scotia are to hand. The New York World of the 12th gives the following a conspicuous place iv its Washington correspondence : — ' Private letters received in this city from persons in high official positions in London make a most extraordinary statement in regard to the origin of the marked distrust with which both the English Government and leading members of her Majesty's Opposition have received all the propositions of our Administration relative to the Alabama Treaty. It is that well r informed Englishmen believe the American Government to Have undertaken secret negotiations , with the Aribtrators or with some of them at Geneva. It is alleged that a large sum of money (£50,000 sterling is named) was drawn from the Japanese Indemnity Fund, or from some other secret source, by the United States' Foreign Office, and that this money was paid by a banking house in London to. one of the agents of the United States, who took it to Geneva and did not bring it back again. Since this story has reached us from England, it may be interesting to observe that a similar story was current in the highest diplomatic circles here more than... a month ago. At a dinner given about that time, by a public functionary, something like a scene arose out of this story. A Senator, nob very friendly to the Administration, asked a foreign Envoy) there present whether he thought any of the- arbitrators were to be bought.: The! foreign Envoy replied witbi; .warmth; that the Senator, had forgotten to; whom he 'was' speaking, and that one; of those Arbitrators; was a countryman: : of ; 'the;'- Envoy , himself. The . story is not 1 a pleasant one, but' it is- idle to : ignore it, as it is current in the most in-, fluential quarters, and as the letters above „%]I»II#4/ I"6 ipjpsitively attribute to it a mo^t injurious effect upon the negotiations f or i the" explanation ; and protection of t ne Treaty at Londqn.V; The London c.orresppndent oi theJSerald says .'T-Inr.ehdbes ! insulting to the .honor of the Arbitration (Tribunal, .are curr^ It is. said that Russian^m^ey; is operating jand ia« men- 1 #° n^?a .'.^n%#ng ;%e system; 'o^'workl for;(the exerfcisfof wMph h^ ; wasTekpeiie/- f Prince^Gbrtch'ikoW-diplbm^ ? u sssWtf u !^Ps?ntf^ lormidabJe to be encountered with safety."