PROVINCIAL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 37, 11 February 1873, Page 2

P ROVINCIAL.

Wellington, February 11. The steamer Bangatira'ia to make several trips to Greymouth for coal, the stock becoming very small. Dransfield, contracting to supply the N. Z.»S.N. -Company, refuses to supply private, customers. Others quote coal at .£3 10s per ton. The Cabinet yesterday awarded tenders for the

Ashley and Asburtojn railway bridges to E. G. Wright; the amount of the former tender was £20,989; that of tire latter, £19,853. The Cabinet"' also considered the report of the Commissioners of enquiryon the conduct of Mr Eyes, Comniis-. sioner of Crown Lands at Blenheim; the report recommends his removal to another sphere. No decision has been arrived at yet.^ Names, February 11." The Mary Ann Hudson will be got off th'a beach whenever the weather is sufficiently fine. Communication is at presented interrupted by floods. Auckland, February 1 1 . Arrived : The Seagull, from Fiji, with news to January 29. . . ' Marsh the British Consul has resigned and left. . .. A public meeting at Levuka demanded the resignation of {Ministers and the dissolution of Parliament. A piece of gold-bearing quartz has been found. The chief Moofu who collected the taxes, refuses to hand them over. . . The mountaineers have killed several natives. There are disturbances at Navua, several Europeans are likely to be implicated. A large number of Natives have arrived and threaten to burn a Native village; they have already expelled their Native teachers. Dttitedin, February 10 Bishop Moran (Boman Catholic) , in replying to an address from the Hibernian Society, denounced Freemasonry. For continuation of news see fourth page.

Thirty-two thousand Seed were once counted. in the head of a poppy. No lees than fifty-six total wrecks and accidents to shipping are reported in the London Daily News, of December 10. The author of the song, " The Good Rhine Wine " — Mr James Keid-— died the other day, at the age of 73. The human voice has nine perfect tones, but these can be combined in 17,592,044,414 different sounds. One of the newest rifles submitted to M. Thiers possesses the advantage that the cartridges to suit it can be manufactured even on the field of battle. . Madame Arabella . Goddaed will this year make a long tour io Australia, California, and other parts of the western world. A White Marble Tombstone is being erected over, the grave of the late Mr James Gordon Bennett, of New York, which is to cost a quarter of a million of dollars. A Committee of the Derby and Ches- ■ terfield Institute of Engineers has been appointed to consider the " possibility of erecting a memorial hall, to cost £20,000 to £30,000, in memory of George Stephenson. Jerusalem is agitated over her watersupply. The Pool of Siloam and a few others like it are all that can be depended upon, and they are full of bugs and other live organisms. In the new theatre in Cologne signals will be transmitted by means of telegraphic wires to all parts of the house, and even to loungers outside, announcing the commencement of each act. A Sisteb of Mr Spurgeon is said to be preaching with much success at Willingbam, in Cambridgeshire, where her husband is a Baptist minister. The cases from Willingham tried before the local bench have, it is further stated, decreased to such an extent that the police authorities have expressed their thanks to the lady preacher as being the instrument of the improvement. Juvenile Intoxication. — At Ballarafc intoxication is not confined to adults. A little girl, aged about two years, was found in the street insensible from drink, and had to be taken up to the lock?up, and thence to the hospital for medical treatment. The mother had been drinking with a man in an hotel, and becoming intoxicated herself, lost the child. It is presumed that either the mother or her male companion must have made the little one partaker in their orgie. In the evening the mother appeared at the city watchhouse, in a maudlin state, inquiring for " her dear child." A correspondent of the Star states that on Saturday a child about five years old, having received sixpence for going a message, invested the whole of its capital in beer. The inevitable result followed, and the question arises what penalty ought to be inflicted upon the publican who supplied a customer of such tender years with an intoxicating | beverage ? Mr Johnston, M.P., speaking at a Protestant meeting at Preston the other night, said that in recently going through the Province of Ontario, he found that the thousands and tens of thousands of the people were loyally and devotedly attached to the British connection, and desired to cherish it to the utmost of their power. It was, therefore, with infinite disgust that he read an article in the Times proposing that we should cut off the connection between Canada and the mother country; to sever the golden link which binds England and her colonies. If this was the policy ' of the present Government it was time we should know it. Any statesman who would dare to announce such a system upon the platform, or the hustings, or in parliament, would deserve to be impeached as a traitor to the Queen. Notwithstanding the advice which the Times had given to imaginary utterances from Canada, he was prepared to maintain that Canada was quite as loyal as even the men of Preston or the men of London could he.—^Pall Mall Gazette. Burning of Barnum's Circus. — Barnum's Museum, and several valuable buildingß have been burnt in New York. Thelfire^spread so rapidly that it was impossible to save any of the large number of wild beasts, except two elephants, and loud above the noise of flame and water, and the shouting, of firemen, were heard the cries of the encaged beasts which were being roasted alive. The lions and lionesses uttered piercing and bloodcurdling shrieks. The tigers howled horribly. The elephant . trumped out its agony in most unearthly notes. The monkeys squealed and wailed like infants. The sea-lion gave forth a strange and fearful cry. For fifteen minutes these awful sounds of suffering went up amid the flame and smoke. Ever and anon something would fall into the flames, a bright cloud of sparks would ascend, then a volume of 'thick smoke, and the voice of some caged martyr would be silent. . A fine panther

was seeu to actually bend the bars of its cage in its desperate energy and to squeeze through. Barnurn's loss is estimated at 300,000d01s ; insurance 80,0O0dols. ; other losses, 313,000d018. The night was bitterly cold, and the police had a terrible duty to perform. As soon almost as the water fell to the ground it became ice. Where it was dashed at the men it instantly froze. The men's feet even in some instances were frozen to the ground where they stood. An End to Sea Sickness. — A Bristol paper says that a number of people recently attended at. Mr Bessemer's residence, to hear him explain his new invention and to see a working model of a Baloori which he had constructed ia his private grounds. The following is the technical description which was supplied to the guests : — A steamship to be fitted with the improved saloon has been designed by Mr E. J. Keed, C.B. To insure longitudinal stability, and thus counteract the effects of pitching, an increased length has been adopted, and the vessel will accordingly be 350 feet long, with 45 feet deck- beam, and 65 feet over her paddla-boxes, and when fully loaded will only draw 7 feet 6 inches of water; thus enabling her to use the present shallow harbor accommodation on both sides of the Channel. As the position in the centre of the ship generally occupied by the engines will be devoted to the saloon, the former will be placed fore and aft, and will drive two pairs of paddle wheels. Her engines will be of 750 horsepower nominal, indicating up to 4,6C0 horse-power, by which it is expected a speed of 20 miles an hour may be attained. To enter and quit existing harbors without, the necessity of turning, the vessel will be double-ended, and a well-appointed cabin for second-class passengers will be fitted at each end. At the two extremities the ship will have a very low freeboard, so that she may cut through the waves instead of rising to them. This freeboard will tnke up about 50 feet at either end, thus reducing the total ' length of the vessel on which the wind can exert its force to about 250 feet. The saloon, in which is comprised the grand object of Mr Bessemer's inventions, will, as before stated, be placed in the centre of the vessel, anii suspended at points in a line with the keel. It will be 70 feet in length, 30 feet in width, and 20 feet in height, and carrying on the top a promenade deck at a height of seven feet above the ordinary deck of the vessel. While striving to subdue the slightest possible motion, and to overcome various difficulties, the comfort of passengers has not been forgotten. The saloon will be well lighted and ventilated, and will be fitted at each end with four principal rooms for ladies and four for gentlemen, while the promenade deck will be accessible at all times by means of 'a broad staircase free from all motion. This suspended saloon will be governed by a set of powerful hydraulic apparaust beneath it, and so arranged that as the vessel rolls to either side the pressure or resistance afforded by the water is at once brought into use to check the motion. A pair of equilibrium valves, actuated by a double lever, like the handle of a bicycle, at which stands a steersman, who, with a curved spirit level before him, watches the slightest indication of rolling in the vessel, immediately suppresses the tendency of the saloon to follow the motion of the ship. Tho experiments were watched with considerable interest, and appeared to give general satisfaction. The Weather in Europe. — The London Daily News says : — The closing monthß of the year 1872 will long be remembered in many a bereaved household and in many a devastated district. We do not know that history has ever recorded such a continued series of hurricanes, rain floods, and inundations as would seem to have prevailed pretty nearly throughout Europe during the past three months. Almost constant rain has swollen the great rivers, until the accumulating waters have burst through whatever frail embankments had been erected by human provision, and turned into lakes immense districts of land from which the inhabitants had to flee at risk of their lives. Gales have swept down on distant coasts, ruining the industries of the small population? living on the produce of the sea j and; hurricanes have caught in midocean the great fleet of vessels carrying the world's merchandise from port to port, wreaking such havoc as is not fully mads known yet. One catastrophe has followed closely on the heels of its predecessor. The damage caused by the earlier risings of the Po and its tributary rivers leading down from the regions of the Alps seemed at one time to have reached its utmost limit. The worst appeared to have been done that could be done by floods that swept away bridges, destroyed railways, sapped the foundations of houses, and rendered* the preparation , of the, land for the coming spring'- an impossibility.'' But once more, as our Correspondent telegraphs to us from tho suffering districts, this

terrible scourge has come upon the peasantry of Northern' ltaly ;• and as to the mischief that has been wr.ouglifc, no, man can see the end of it. Tho suras of money devoted by the Prussian Government, v/ilh the subscriptions generously forthcoming from all (he North German towns, may do much to mitigate the effects of the hurricaues which swept alowg tho 'shores of the western Baltic ; but such measures of relief Beem sadly unavailing when confronted with the enormous destruction which baa been wrought in Italy. Moreover, the storms that have raged from time to time during this disastrous winter have struck at a wider area than any we have mentioned. What do we know yet of the sufferings that may have been endured at sea by crews who will never see the land again ? Not for many a year back have so many vessels beeu unexpectedly " delayed : ' by stress of weather; and we all know what that delay sometimes turns out to be. About a fortnight ago the Hat of. large ships expected and overdue was really appalling; and little consolation was afforded by the reporls of those captains who had weathered the storm and got into port, of the masses of floating timber that were tumbling about the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel. There are stories still to bo told of those few disasterous days, Tho Marine Insurance Corapaniea will cheerfully pay over to certain owners an ample compensation for their loss; but who is to make compensation for that agony of despair and sudden death which was Ihe last farewell of many a brave man and woman to the world ? The peasant who has his vineyard destroyed may receive opportune help; (he fisherman who has his nets broken and his cottage blown over may accept a welcome subsidy; but out of no Consolidated Fund as yet discovered can the means be got of buyiag back the helpless human Jives that each of these terrible gales sweeps into the unknown. Fearful Sufferings at Si4a. — Thesteamship Moro Caßtle, which, arrived at New York lately, brought four more survivors of tha ill-fated steamship Missouri. Mr David North gives the following story of their escape from the jaws of death : — " When the boat touched the water there were at least thirty persons in her, many of whom were passengers, She was freed all right from the stem davit, but she fouled in the stern davit in some way so that she could not be instantly freed. A heavy sea coming at this time, she was pluDged uiider, and on emerging but nine persons were left aboard. All the rest were washed off and drowned almost instantly. The plunge freed the boat, and the • ship, with one sail set, moved away from her. The sea had filled the boat to the edge, and in the excitement of the time no effort was made at once to bale her. It was about this time that the. other boat that got ashore came up to us; we aßked them to take us aboard, but they refused to do so, and persons who were floating about on life-preservers implored them to save them, but they turned a deaf ear to everything but the promptings of their. own desire to escape. On taking an. inventory of the boat's outfit, we found that we had four oars and a boathook. We stayed around the ship until she went down, and then took in our oars and began the first night of suf ering. All our efforts to bale the boat were unavailing, as every wave filled her again, so we had to sit waist-deep in water. The boat lay in the trough of the sea, with every wave breaking over us.. We had to lock our legs under the seats, and clasp arms round each other's necks, as every sea threatened to wash us overboard. When morning- broke the sea was still running mountains high. We could not keep the oars in the rowlocks., The men by this time ■ had grown careless, and there was no semblance of discipline. Mark Anthony, the oiler, became crazed in the afternoon of this day. The second night was like the first, only intensified by the complaints; of the starving men, and by the ravings of Anthony. When the morning broke no prospect of land or sail could be made out. A shoal of sharks swam around the boat, seemingly certain of : their prey. The barber, Wm. Sterr, became delirous toward afternoon. He -was terribly emaciated with hunger and thirst. About dark he died, and a sea swept him off. Before morning Shea, the porter, and Mark Anthony jumped overboard in a fit of insane frenzy. It was on the morning of .the. fourth,. day ...that our. hunger seemed to have left us. The tortures of thirst were, intensified so as to. be , almost sunendurable. McCurden gave'injto it, and he threw himself over; backward; into the sea. , Thomas Egan, one of.. th V.fivei ye Jeft alive on the . morning of, the fourth day, while describing a splendid entertainment to which hie was engaged,; suddenly fell forward and died. He was thrown oyerr board; and a shark look .him before; our