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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 25, 29 January 1873, Page 4

— -~ A rather curious scene (says the Tamtoortk News, N.S.W.) and one which gave a very vivid impression of the pluck of the principal actor therein, was presented & few days ago. A swarm of bees decided upon changing their quarters, and were pursued by their owner, who evidently did not mean to let them go away very easily, to the vicinity of Cohen and Levy's old stores were they came to rest temporarily. The owner, a weaker vessel, came- up in hot chase, banging a tin-pot, subsequently changed for more effective instruments in ' the shape of a pair of bullock bells, which ■were vigorously manipulated with a view of winning back the errant insects. Tho operator charmed so wisely tbat a number of the bees settled upon her hat, from which they hung in crawling pendants, never stinging the wearer, who, nothing fearsome, plied tbe bell until they gradually occupied the interior of an umbrella she had in the meantime expanded, when she bore them off in triumph, to the surprise of a number of spectators who stood in admiration of this exhibition of coolness and nerve on tbe part of a feminine bee hunter. At the Methodist Episcopal Conference, which recently held its session in the United States — the richest and most influential of all Christian bodies in the Union — it was agreed, by common consent that the Neto York Herald had done more to promote the cause of Christian missions than any other agency employed for tbat object of late years. Tbe discoveries of Stanley were pointed to — or rather' the verification of Livingstone's discoveries by Stanley were referred to — and it was resolved to occupy the new mission field thus opened. The sum of ten thousand dollars was appropriated by the Conference for the African mission and it was resolved to prosecute the same with unflagging energy. We are pleased to see this spirit manifested in the missionary bodies of the United States. The extent to which missionary enterprise is carried in the Great Eepublic will best be gathered when we state that the sum of .nine hundred thousand dollars has been appropriated for the year 1873 by the Episcopal Methodist Society. — Herald. Alluding- to Bteamship subsidies President Grant, in the message to Congress, issued subsequent to his re-election, said : — "Your favorable consideration is respectfully invited to the recommendations of tbe Postmaster- General for an increase of the service from monthly to semimonthly on the mail steamship route to Brazil; for a subsidy in aid of the establishment of an American Hoe of steamers between San Francisco and New Zealand and Australia. * * * There are but three lines of ocean steamers, namely, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, between San Francisco, Chins, and Japan, with a provision made for semi-monthly service after October 1, 1873; the United Stateß and Brazil line monthly: and the California, New Zealand, and Australian line, monthly,, plying between the United States and foreign ports, and' owned and operated under our flag. I earnestly recommend

that such liberal contracts for carrying the mails be authorised with these, lines as will ensure tbeir continuance." Mr Domett's Poem. — The Spectator thus concludes a lengthy and favorable critique on this poem : — As an epic, we cannot say that we .think its structure closely knit enough to justify a form which obliges its readers to read it altogether if they read it at all. It is hardly a complete poem, but it is full of poetry. The animation never dies away. The keen intellect rendered vivid by imagination sparkles throughout, though not unfrequently one feels its vagaries out of place, — as, for instance, in the long description of the astronomical glories Amohia could not discern, for want of knowledge, as she turned on ber back in her midnight swim over the lake, and saw the great constellations flaming above her. Here and there, but rarely, there are gleams of tenderness and passion. But the claim of the poem to be read is the masterly grasp of the conditions of the modern problem as, between Theism and Positivism, though we bold that the author has abandoned a great and permanent stronghold, in giving up, as he undoubtedly does, the freedom of the human will, and the absolute and infinite spiritual chasm between evil and good. Whatever the true critical estimate of this " South Sea Day Dream," there can be no doubt but that its. author is a man of great originality and buoyant imaginative life. No one who really understands tbe book can^ielp thoroughly enjoying it, whatever he may think of it as a work of art.