Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 265, 7 November 1872, Page 5 (Supplement)

Members' Honorarium. — It will be remembered that iv the session of 1871, in the place of tbe old plan of remunerating members of the Assembly at tbe rate of £1 Is. per day, it was determined that for the future they should receive a sum of £105 for the sessioa, no matter how long or how short it might prove, a deduction being made for every day's absence. The manner in which it bas been laid down that this deduction is to be proportioned is, as we are informed, somewhat peculiar. The late session extended over 103 days, and the Rule of Three decided that £105 for that period was equal to £l Os. 7d. per day. Out of the 103 days, however, there were but 58 sitting days, and hence arose a difficulty which has been got over, or blundered through, by the decision that for every day on which the House sat that a member , was absent he was to forfeit the sum of £1 oa. 7d. To show the absurdity of this we will first of all take an extreme •case. Suppose that a member failed to attend throughout the session, but at the end of it determined to take a trip to Wellington for the purpose of witnessing the prorogation. ,He takes his seat and demands his honorarium. The calculation is made that out of 58 sitting days, he -A; has been absent 57, »pd accordingly 57 > •times £1 Os 7d.,x>r £58 135., are deducted ; yjftom; , tbe £105 he 'ifvould have been >; entitled to had he attended the whole Av-'/sessibn, and he leaves the Treasury with y countenance, and a cheque for A'A'-^_|t6^7^. -his ; h : pockefc ; : as. a reward for '; A;.< 'ne^glpctibg ;- his. duties.,-'; This, however, is ;i; ; Y,!;af6a^ but - we! |*&|se^ $$$ jsi^ I ■arrived:''; . ; on?

only 48 limes £1 03. 7r»„ or £49 Bs., leav^ ing £55 12a. for his ten days' services, or at the rate of about £3 19s. 56. per day for fourteen ordinary days, and £5 lis. for every sitting day. Again, a member failing to attend until tho Ist of September, when the session was about half over, would have been absent 28 sitting days, and consequently would forfeit £1 os. 7d. for each of those days, that is, from £105 there would be deducted £28 16s. 4d., leaving £76 3s Bd, or, more than two-thirds of tbe whole sum payable to a regolnr attendant, to be received by him for doing only half his work. If the idea had been to offer a premium to members of the Assembly to stay away and neglect tbeir duties, it could not have been carried into effect more successfully. Unexpected Blessings are not often received with unreserved thankfulness, but an incident occured at Westport on Thursday last which should prove the exception. The inroad of flood and fide necessitated the pulline down of Dr. Bruen's tenement in Kennedy street, among others, nnd the removal of the roof led, to the discovery, by the carpenters, of a roll of notes, in value £31; which, for a long time past, had escaped the doctor's closest search. They had been placed some months ago somewhere about tbe roof lining, and had apparently slipped not only out of sight but „out of reach, and but for the accidental pulliog down of the building might have laid long undiscovered. Now in losing his house standing on a treacherous foundation, the treasure provides the wherewithal to rebuild it in a more safß abiding place, thanks to the honesty of the finders. A Trout of Si-lbs. weight was recently found dead in the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society's ponds. A Considerable Trade is now being done in Christchurch in locally-made drain pipes, preserving and pickling jars. Tbe articles are nicely glazed both inside and out, and are made of finer material than is generally used in England for such purposes. Mr B. Short has been lecturing in Oamaru for the Australian Mutual Provident Society, aod, we hear, has received, within a- lew days, proposals for insurance to au aggregate amount of £20,000. Townsville, the port to Charters Towers, is described by the Southern Cross as " a little hamlet of about a hundred houses, nestling under a ridge of boulders that makes it look like a baker's oven." An ' Auckland telegram of Thursday last says: — George Seymour, aged 20, sen of Captain Seymour, struck himself with tbe lash of a whip whilst driving stock. The wound gradually got worse, and symptoms of tetanus set in. Shortly afterwards his jaw set as firm as a vice, and he died yesterday. It seems that there is a claim in the Tiki (Thames) district called the Wilbelmina, which has a somewhat singular history. The local correspondent of the Southern Cross writes regarding it as follows: — " Tbe mine is named after a lady residing in the district, and who is reported to have had a similar dream on more than one occasion, to tbe effect that very rich gold was erabowelled in this portion of the district, although up to the time of selection the lady never visited the locus in quo. She minutely described every portion of the ground, Ihe blind gullies, creeks, and even a stump of a tree standing close to the present workings; and subsequent personal observation . confirmed to a nicety everything reported as having been described. The repetition of the dreams induced the undertaking to be commenced, and it is no exaggeration to state that great interest and anxiety surround the future of the company. The Navigator Islands. — A correspondent recently arrived at Apia sends to the Alta California an enthusiastic description of the Navigator Islands. He says that there are, perhaps, 60 European houses at Apia. That town is regarded as netural ground; but a long war has been raging between the son and the brother of the late King; and is still not finally closed. The President of the Central Polynesia Laud and Commercial Company, however, has persuaded both parties to acknowledge the absolute authority of the United States with regard to all matters whatsoever, and to bind themselves to adopt the common laws of America. The writer; says: — "This agreement is signed by; the two Kings and' l2o chiefs, and the British and American Consuls attach their signatures and seals. It is somewhat singular to see so many English people favoring the establishment of an American .colony in the South Sea Islands, more particularly so on such an island as this, covering an area of 1057 square'^ niost ; . : 'fer^ile^lan^^n^the ; ,. ; ;. r tjftlns^an£are^ ;' ; ;',ti|j^ beautiful climate, luxuriant foliage, and

at an elevation of not.more than 2000 feet above the level of the sea, and more than three-fourths of the island is suitable for cultivation. The very rocks seem to bring forth vegetation; the eye cannot discover anything but the beautiful tropical verdure. Spices of all kinds are growing spontaneously. The valley abounds with nutmegs, ginger, curri plant, &c. In some parts the ground is covered with pineapples, while tbe bread-fruit, guava, and other trees, lend a perfect and delightful shade to the traveller. Upolo is like no other place on our globe, and the stranger is forced to exclaim that it was the last place created The Creator, beholding all the most beautiful things in nature, centred them on the Samoan group. Sunrise on this lovely spot is splendid beyond conception; thousands of birds sing forth tbe joy of returning day; everything is filled with life, and nature seems to have bestowed more than their share of beauty on the inhabitants. The central position of these islands, right in tbe track of the United States, New Zealand, and Australian mail steamers, about 1600 miles from Auckland, 2000 from Honolulu, 1100 from Tahiti, 300 from Fiji, and 100 from New Caledonia, points towards tbem in the future as being tbe great depot of commerce in Polynesia. The coaling depot for steamers is to be at Samoa City, in the harbor of Pango Pango, and our Government has alreedy taken possession of the magnificent land-locked bay as a naval station. It was taken just in time, for 14 days afterwards a German man-of-war arrived there for the same purpose, and when the captain was told by the pilot that the Narraganset had been there and bad taken possession, he said, 'It cannot be so,' but, being assured of the fact,, at once sent for the Consul, who told him it was quite true." The Pall Mall Gazette says : — A most interesting ceremony appears to have taken place recently at Chicago. Divorces have of late years become so numerous and fashionable in that city that the need for some kind of social festivity to celebrate their occurrence has for some time been extensively felt. It has been reserved for a lady dwelling in the " west division " to make the first experiment towards supplying this need, and to celebrate her recent divorce from her husband by au appropriate entertainment. A large party of friends assembled by invitation at her house, and the " newly-made widow received the congratulations of her friends and relatives "with as much pleasure as a newly-wedded wife after the "ceremony of marriage." The whole affair, which was modelled as closely as its different conditions permitted on the old-fashioned festivities of a marriage went off with the utmost eclat. There appears to have been a kind of " divorce breakfast," either with or without speeches appropriate to the occasion, and one of the principal features of this banquet was, we learn, a handsome "divorce cake," mounted by an " elegant monogram, tbe letter D for divorce being entwined with the lady's name before her marriage." The ceremony was concluded by the presentation to the lady of a number of " highly suggestive presents." There seems to have been but one thing wanting to the completeness of the affair, aud tbat is the presence of the "ex-husband." It is conceivable that the " newly-made widower " might have been prepared on his part " to receive the congratulations of friends and relatives with as touch pleasure as a newly-wedded husband," and the presence of the " happy beaming faces of the divorced couple, seated side by side at the "festive board," would have crowned the gaiety of the scene. Threatened Potato Faminein Eng-land:—-"A letter in this morning's Times" says the Pall Mall Gazette of August 20th, '* raises before us another food spectre. The potato crop is stated to be likely to prove a complete failure this year. Examination of the fields in the potatogrowing district . iv Lincolnshire shows that " three-fourths of the tubers are diseased, while the mischief is still in active progress." This state of things is not confined to one district, though the facts have not yet been ascertained by accurate reports. It is found that the disease is as virulent in other places as it is in Lincoloshire,]and it is considered doubtful if the return of the crop will yield more than enough for next year's seed. It is desirable tbat the truth should be' ascertained by reports from all the potatogrowing districts of the United Kingdom as soon as possible, so that we may know what to expect. We do not fancy the result will be found' quite se alarming as the Times correspondent anticipates. The .tptaljps^ says, will be equivalent tba loss of about thirty millibns ißterli_g^;,pr tte yalue;;p%(B^ : qgiirier^ •the"|e£feclfcAof . that would bejn further augmenting the prices and producing widespread suffering

SORRY HE DID NOT LEA.RN A TRADE. (Coachmaker's Journal.') A young man, well dressed and of prepossessing appearance, called at bur office recently, and enquired in great earnestness if we had employment of any kind to give him, for but a few days, if no longer, as he. was a stranger in the city, out of j money, and unable to pay for a few days' board and lodging. He further stated that he was a bookkeeper, but after a diligent search, he had found no one who wanted any help in that line, nor could he obtain employment at anything that he felt competent to perform in a satisfactory manner. Tbe positions of clerk and bookkeeper, he remarked, were all filled, and applicants for them far in excess of the demand. [ "I am sorry," said he, " that 1 did not learn a trade." The appeals of tho young man excited ! our sympathy, but, requiring no further j assistance in the office, we were compelled to reply to bis eager questions that we could not employ him. The door closed after him, and he again went out to continue what, in all probability, proved to be a fruitless search after employment. But his words lingered behind, and, as we sat musing on tbem, recalled to mind the oft-repeated expressions of the mechanic, in which he reproves himself for want of foresight in selecting an occupation. Here lam doomed, he ' says, to toil in a shop at work which is I hard, affording but poor pay. Like a dog, I must come at the call of a whistle, or like a servant, obey the summons of a bell. Had I studied bookkeeping, or entered a store as a clerk, I might have been leading a much easier and more pleasurable life. In the cases cited, we find each one dis- j satisfied with his selection, and, wishing to exchange places. And the difficulty at once presents itself as to how we shall decide for them and the classes tbey represent, so that the seeming mistake may be remedied. We acknowledge we are unequal to the task. Food, clothing, tools, machinery, houses, ships, and an almost endless variety of other things are continually in demand, which require the labor of farmers and mechanics; while thai class which makes exchanges (merchants) is of necessity comparatively few in number, and, therefore, needs but a small force of assistants. Tbe necessities of the millions on earth require by far the largest number of persons to be employed in agriculture and manufactures. Whenever, then, through pride or any other motive, parents disregard this law and encourage their sons in seeking after situations as clerks, bookkeepers, &c, rather than to engage in those pursuits for which there is a natural demand, there must be a corresponding amount of suffering as penalty. Hence we find the so called respectable occupations are glutted, while the mechanical branches are suffering through the lack of skilled laborers. An advertisement for a clerk will quickly bring to the office door a small army of, applicants of all sizes and j ages, while tbe " Wanted " column may ! plead several days for a mechanic and fail to meet with a response, " Sorry he did not learn a trade." Let apprentices and journeyman, who may be bewailing their lot, at once resolve to thus I repine no longer, but by hard study and close application master their trades, and, having done so, demand a fair compensation. Then by adding to skill, honesty, punctuality, and economy in expenditure, there need be no fear that they shall be