The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1873.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 65, 15 March 1873, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1873.

Cricket. — The return match between the combined Uoion and College clubs and the Wakefield club will be played on Wednesday next at Wakefield. The cricketers -will leave town by a van at 7 a.m. Wbsletan Chukch Richmond. — Sermons in connection with the Sunday Schools will be preached at the Richmond Wesleyan Church to-morrow by the Revs. W., J. Watkin, and P. Caider. On the following Tuesday there will be the annual tea party and public meeting. Mesmerism.-— Dr. Carr appeared last .night before a crowded house at Spring Grove, when the lecture and mesmeric manifestations were so well received that he purposes giving another entertainment at the same place on Monday evening. As advertised, he will give a seance at : Wakefield this evenibg. - Neison Band o*f HoMi.-rrA meeting of the children belonging to the Band of Hope was held at the Temperance Hall, on Friday, week, when, Mr Crisp gaye; notice that he would receive on the following day at hia house,; the names of m^ who wished to become members, £ SJPC?; ; then he has received no less than 450

little visitors, each of of whom has been presented -with a Temperance medal, a card, and a hymn book. Miss Aitken*. — It is many years since this popular reader paid Nelson a visit, and we look forward with no little pleasure to hearing her once more od Monday evening, when she will give one of her pleasing entertainments at tbe Masonic Hall. Miss Aitken has just had a most successful season in Wellington, andjudging from the remarks of the local press we should say that she had added to, rather than lost any of her elocutionary powers since her last appearance in Nelson. Perseverance Mine. — The Lady Barkly which arrived from Collingwood last night brought over the result of the last crushing, which is 30ozs from 50 tons of stone. Owing to the loDg drought the scarcity of water is such tbat the battery can work only a very few hours iv the day, ;d proof of which it may be stated that 11 days have been occupied in crushing the above small quantity of quartz. Add to this the great expense of pumping, and a great deal more than 12dwts to tbe ton will, be required before a dividend can be declared. An Unnatural Son. — At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, Thomas Bullard, of Wakefield, was charged with assaulting and beating his sister, Lucy Bullard. Mr Fell, who appeared for the complainant, said that Mrs Bullard had heen compelled to invoke the aid of the Court, as her son, who was over age, was so frequently in the habit of beating herself and her daughter tbat they were in bodily fear of him. The evidence of the complainants will give some idea of the manly manner in which Mr Thomas Bullard, of Wakefield, is in the habit of conducting himself towards his widowed mother and young sister : — Lucy Bullard : I live at Wakefield with my mother. Defendant is my brother. My father died seven or eight months ago. My mother is keeping a store at Wakefield. I have five brothers and three sisters. Last Sunday week defendant went into the dairy. I told him to come out. He kicked me, and afterwards chased me into the road, and knocked me down in the dust, and kicked me again. I had done nothing to him. He has treated me like this two or three times before.- — Mary Bullard : I am the mother of last witness and of defendant. I saw the assault. Defendant pushed the girl cut of the dairy, and kicked her. He followed her out cf the house, and threw her down and kicked her again. I called to a man passing by. and my son said if I called again he would knock my head ofi. He has struck me several times. — Defendant was fined 40s and costs, and io default seven days' imprisonment, and ordered to find securities to keep the peace for three months, himBelf in £20, and two sureties in £10 each. Referring to efforts made in the direction of deep sea fishing, tbe Canterbury Press says: — "The cutter Nautilus returned yesterday afternoon, after her second cruise, and we are glad to say with success. Over two tons weight of fish have rewarded the trawlers. Of course the trips have been merely experimental, the object being to find out the fishing beds, and this seems to have been accomplished. The fish brought in yesterday were some splendid trumpeters, 3 feet in length, alive in the well, habuka, blue cod, butter fish, moki, &c. The men having now found the fishing ground, there is no reason to doubt that we shall have a good supply offish in town." Ngakawau Coal. — The following is the report made by the engineer of the s.s. Wellington upon four tons of Ngakawau coal given to Mr Hartmann by the manager of that Company :— " S.S. Wellington, 23rd February, 1873. Charles Hartmann, Esq., Sir — According to your instructions I have tested the forty bags of coal sent on board at Nelson. I found that three tons of them lasted bb long as three and a half tons of New South /Wales coalj this was under eaßy steam. Od putting the engines to full speed, I found I could not carry within three pounds of the pressure of steam I could have carried with New South Wales coals under similar circumstances, but with slightly less consumption of the New Zealand coal, I am of opinion that we could have carried better steam if the firemen had had experience in working the coals. They are a very strong coal, and I should think would be very severe on the fire bars. They make very little ashes * or clinker, and the least smoke of any .coals I ever treed. I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, John Luys, Engineer s.s. Wellington." The Wool MARXEr,~A writer in fche Melbourne Argus says :— The tide ;• has turned.. , ;,* The fall in wool, which it was, expected would show itself at the May sales, has come in February. Everybody thought if he could get his wool /delivered ,by vtebr iiary he was .; ;::saf&* '-.' ■■) Andi as v, is; often \fche ; : ':;.case,; ; was k wrong.; rTSpt 7'^cm^ v ;improvei^t||: be y, expected,-:

although a further fall is possible. For wool (says my favourite wool authority) has been for some time above its normal value as a manufacturing staple. Then again, as workmen are on strike, and coals have advanced in price, the manufacturer will work Bhort time, and compensate himself for the disadvantage named by buying less and. giving less for his raw material. A fall of sixpence per pound on greasy wool means a diminution of tbe producers' profit of a million sterling. It would sot ruinously affect the position of those who have been using years of plenty to get out of debt — it would only diminish their incomes. But it would severely punish the speculators who have been paying for stations fancy prices based op tbe late extreme prices of wool. The men who " sell and repent" will have had the best of the bargain lately. Twenty- two thousand tons of breadstuffs were exported from Adelaide in the first seven weeks of the present year. The hop crop at New Norfolk, Tasrriania, is much heavier than was the case last year. Over 500 acres are in full bearing, and nearly 3000 men, womeu, and children are employed in picking. A day or two ago a letter from a Sydney sharebroker was shown to us, in which was the following :- — " There has been a great fall in Krohmans. Only half a ton of gold got this crushing," This is not fooling, but sober earnest. The gold got represents £50,000, bufc tbe modest shareholders expected a £100,000 yield. However, the proprietors shouldn't be too much down on their luck. Half a ton of gold hasn't a bad sound.— Australasian. Here is a scrap of statistical information which illustrates the great wealth of the two principal Australian colonies. In New South Wales and Victoria there are 13 banks of issue, six of the number carrying on business io both places. The average deposits in these 13 banks during the last quarter of 1872 amounted to more that 21| millions sterling. A further fact. Ihe deposits held by one bank (the Bank of New South Wales) at all its places of business amount to more than £5,900,000, upon Z\ millions of which no interest is paid. At the current rate of accumulation it would not be beyond the range of possibility to find foreign nations after a while endeavoring to borrow in the Australian money market.— Australasian. American Musical Criticism. — Some " choice specimens " of musical criticism have lately appeared in the American papers. Here are a few. Speaking of Signor Mario's recent appearance in opera in the United States, one New York critic writes. — " The perfection of his method remains; but his voice like tbe memory of a buried joy, may be imagined, but hardly admits of description," another, however, wishing to be more concise, simply compares the artist "to an old nightingale with acold," Of the style of •« highfalutin" the critic on Madame Ruthersdorf affords a rich example — this is also from a New York paper: — " to tell you how she sang would be impossible, but if one may compare an object of sight to one of sound, we would say that ber voice is like a rocket, which from the first bursts upon the sight with a magnificence that claims undivided attention, and iv an instant carries your attention from earth to heaven, wben it bursts into ten thousand orbs of glory that scintillate, each a separate gem upon tbe blue empyrean, and burn, each with a varied hue of beauty that at once distracts and commands attention, until they burst into a fleecy trail of stars that floats down the vaulted sky softly and slowly, until the earth seems over-arched by a lacework of fire, tbat drops earthward as it falls, growing thinner, finer, until, like the last expiring breath of a sigh, it is lost in the evening air."

Sir Cbacroft Wilson haa met with another severe accident by a fall from horseback. It seems that when rounding up some cattle a cow with her calf made a rush towards Sir Cracroft. How it all happened no one can say, but presently all ■four were hors de combat. Sir Cracroft was removed to his home, when it was found that he had sustained a 'fracture of one rib and shoulder blade. A Serious Fire, believed to be the work of an incendiary, originated about midnight on Saturday last, in the centre of ten stacks of grain belonging to James Eosser, living on the North road, Christ^ church, near the Waimakariri bridge. Seven stacks of wheat, containing from 1500 to 1600 bushels, were totally destroyed, and were uninsured. The wheat, a fine sample, had been sold for delivery in Christchurch at 4s 3^d per bushel, and the threshing machine was to have commenced work on Monday morning. The loss will be about £350. The Scandinavian Camp. — A Masterton correspondent supplies the following: — Twenty- two more families, Norwegians, daily expected by the next ship, ohe month overdue, are to be sent to the front, and from the fertility of the soil there is no doubt Mauriceville will be a thriving community, provided the General Government will continue employing labor, and sufficient time is allowed them to carry out their immigration and public works scheme. The hills towards the Manawatu Gorge are low and undulating, and the highest does not exceed 200 feet of altitude. The Scandinavians cultivated a plot of Weston's Clearing, and obtained some excellent potatoes, and wheat, 35 bushels to the acre. The women and children do all their agricultural work, while the men go away and earn the " baubees. " Some of the settlers have employed the womeD, and they are real hearty helpers at harvest work. The people are much delighted with their adopted country, and. have been doing very well, earning on an average 7s per day, working early and late, wet and dry; and they truly deserve every encouragement for their perseverance. The Danish families are of a different stamp, and therefore have not been so successful either in obtaining contracts or pushing on with their work, having a few growlers amongst them. The township of Mauriceville is now being laid off and surveyed, four and a half miles from the camp, on the left of the main line, for the purpose of giving the first settlers the prior chance of purchasing more land at the back of their allotments, the Government reserving the frontages to the main — a wise course, as they will fetch at •jeast £5 per acre — for sale at some future time. A Grecian Heroine. — A story comes from Athens about Greek Brigandage, very refreshing to honest people, and BUggestive of the question whether women might not govern Greece better than its men*. One of the courses of modern Hellas, as everybody knows, is the unextirpated guild of brigands, who infest the land, defying the Government, suppressing commerce, demoralising tbe peasantry, and robbing and murdering strangers or rich natives. One of these unhanged villains lately captured the youthful son of a widow woman of property, well known upon the border. The usual message was sent down from the hills ; the brigand chief must have one thousand drachmas by a certain day, or the life of the boy — he was only twelve years old — would pay the forfeit. As usual, too, the last hope which a mother could cherish in such a frightful position was the chance of Government help. The wretchedly weak administrations which play at "in and out*" at Athens still allow these scoundrels to hold the roads and passes of the country, and this poor woman had to trust to her own courage and wits. Neither were wanting ; there was some true old Odyssean blood in her, and she hit upon a plan for saving both heir child and her drachmas. She had a brother, a young fellow of pluck, though his cheeks were as smooth as the Delian Apollo, and him she dressed up carefully as a Greek girl. Having appointed to meet the robber chief in a certain spot, she took up two hundred drachmas and a present of cakes and fruit, the " Greek Girl" going with her as a "guide." On reaching the place they found the scoundrel waiting, with the captive lad bound hand and foot beside him. The woman first ascertained by cunning questions tbat the man was really alone, and then offered with many supplications her money, and the present of cakes and fruit. The villain took the latter, and munched while he counted out the drachmas ; then with a fierce batb, he said it was far too little— that she must go back and send enough to make up a thousand, or the head Of the lad would be sent down to her without delay. " While the waman clung supplicating to his knees, the "Greek girl " sudden^Sung: a grip of iron arround the robber's arms, and, _as, the. fellow wbb thus pinioned, the outraged - •."'.•*'. •'-'.' •.-...',''- "f"V'\"' "?->'* ■"T-'"'' V.''Y:'?''i' ' f.'ir " : !?'"i?. -' o, '.Y-k-k-y 7 '•■'• '•■•'*•' -.r. * yy.y?! i ..-yrfyy 'iV" Yy-.-Y .yV.r.y'iY,.

mother drew a loaded pistol and shot him dead. The pair lost no time in liberating the lad, nor did they forget to cut off and wrap in a cloth the head of the " Chief ;" and as a reward of three thousand drachmas bad been set upon this precious article, they made quite an excellent day's business of it, on arriving safe and sound at their own village. The Stbategetic Cat. — "Talking about cats," said Uncle Tim, a regular Yankee, " puts me in mind of a cat I once owned. Let me tell you about her. She was a Mal tee, and what that cat didn't know wasn't worth knowin'. Here's one thiog she did. In the Spring of '46 I moved into the little old house down on tbe crooked river. We put our provisions down in the cellar, and the first night we made up our beds on the floor. But we didn't sleep. No sooner had it come dark than we heard a tearin' and squeakin' in the cellar that was awful. I lit a candle, and went down. Jerusalem ! Talk about rats ! I never saw such a sight in all my born days. Every inch of the cellar bottom was covered with them. They run up on to me, and they run over me. I jumped back into the room, and called tbe cat. She came down and looked. I guess she sat there about ten minutes, looking at them rats, and I was waitin' to see what she would do. By-m-by she shook her head, and turned about aDd went up-stairs. She didn't care to tackle 'em. That night. I tell ye, there wasn't much sleep. In the mornin' I called for tbe cat, and couldn't find her. She'd gone. I guessed the rats had frightened her ; and to tell the plain truth, I didn't much wonder. Night came again, and the old cat hadn't shown herself. Says Betsy Ann (that's my wife) to me says she, ' Tim, if that old cat don't come back, we'll have to leave this place ; the rats will eat us up.' — Says I : ' Just you leave the old cat be.' I didn't believe she'd left us for good and all. Just as Betsy Ann "was puttin' the children to bed, we heard a scracbin' and a waulin' at the outside door. I went and opened it ; and there stood our old Malfee on the door-step, and behind her a whole army of cats, all paraded as ye ever saw soldiers 1 I let our old cat in, and the others followed her. She went right to the cellar door, Bnd scratched there. I began to understand. Old Maltee had been out for help. I opened the way to the cellar, and she marched dowD, and the other cats tramped after her in regular order — and as they went past I counted fifty-six of 'em. Oh, my ! if there wasn't a row and a rumpus in tbat 'ere cellar that night, then I'm mistaken ! The next morning the old cat came up and caught hold of my trousers' leg, and pulled me towards the door. I went down and saw the sight. Talk about yer Bunker Hill and yer Boston massacres ! Mercy ! I never saw such a sight before nor since. Betsy Ann and me, with my boy Sammy, was all day at hard work as we could be, clearirg the dead rats out of that 'cellar I It's a fact — every word of it." Mr Anthony Trollope thus describes Tasmania :-— " The scenery of this Island is lovely beyond description, and the air and climate so sweet that in the Christmas summer months, from the middle of December to the end of February, men and women flock here from the other colonies as they do in France and England to the seaside. Everything in Tasmania is unlike the things of the other colonies, and much more English to the eye, ear, and taste. The parts of the island in which roads run are much better macadamised than in , Queensland or N.S. Wales. The waters flow bright and clear, and the lakes are lovely as those of Switzerland. The waters of the Australian continent are generally turbid and muddy. The fruit and vegetables of Tasmania, where they gradually ripen, are preferable to those I have found in the colonies where they ripen too quickly, and are consequently flavorless. In Tasmania, though they grow more abundant thau in England, they have the ' English flavour, It may be that I am prejudiced in favor of the island, but to my taste the mutton, poultry, and butter, were all better in Tasmania than in any of the other colonies. Were it my lot to take up my residence in Australia, and could I choose the colony in which I might reside, I should certainly pitch my tent in Tasmania. 'Stanley in his recently issued book " How I found Livingston-^ " thus describes the great traveller 'i~ Dr. Livingstone is about sixty years old, though after he was restored to health he appeared more like a man who had not passed his fiftieth year. His. hair has a brownish colour yet, but is here and there streaked with grey lines over the temples; his beard and moustaches are very grey: His eyes, which are hazel, -are remarkably bright; he has a sight keen as a hawk's. His teeth alone indicate weakness of age; the hard fare of Lunda has made, havoc in their , lines; v; His^ form/ 'owhich; soon assumed a stoutish appearance, is a little iovei the ordinary height, with the slightest

possible bow in the shoulders, When walking he has a firm but heavy tread, like that of an overworked or fatigued man. He is accustomed to wear a naval cap with a semicircular peak, by which be has been indentified throughout Africa. His dress, when I first met him, exhibited traces of patching and repairing, but was scrupulously clean. I was led to believe that Livingstone possessed a splenetic, misanthropic temper. Some have said that he is garrulous; that he is demented; that he bas utterly changed from the David Livingstone whom people knew as the reverend missionary; that he takes no notes or observations but such as those which no other person could read but himself; and it was reported, before I proceeded to Central Africa, that he was married to an African princess. I respectfully beg to differ with all and each of the above statements. I grant he is not an angel, but he approaches to that being as near as the nature of a living man will allow. I never saw any spleen or misanthropy in him; as for being garrulous, Dr Livingstone is quite the reverse. He is reserved, if anything; and to the man who says Dr. Livingstone is changed, all I can say is that he never could have known him. I must also beg leave to correct tbe gentleman who informed me that Livingstone takes no notes or observations. The hugh Lett's diary which I carried home to his daughter is full of notes, and there are no less than a score of sheets within it filled with observations which he took during the last trip he made to Manyuema alone, and in the middle of the book there is sheet after sheet and column after column carefully written of figures alone. During the four months I was with him I noticed him every evening make most careful notes; and a large tin box that he has with him contains a number of field note-books, the contents of which I dare say will see light some time. As to tbe report of his African marraige, it is unnecessary to say more than that it is untrue, and it is utterly beneath a gentleman to hint such a thing ia connection with the name of Dr. Livingstone. You may take any point in Dr. Livingstone's character and analyse it carefully, and I would challenge any man to find a fault with it. A Plethora op Pigs. — Had the " learned pig " been still in existence, that erudite animal would read with mingled feelings of pride and melancholy some statistics lately given by the New Yorh Daily Bulletin. It could not but fill him with proud pleasure to be mado aware that the birth rate of little pigs in America depends upon the largeness of the harvest just as directly as tbat of the small bipeds who consume roast pork. When* the yield of wheat is considerable and bread stuffs are cheap, marriages are more plentiful and so are pigs. For instance, lowa having had two splendid harvests, reports that she possesses 1,244,169 head of porkers, against 1,008,671 in the preceding return. These are mostly young pigs, and similarly flourishing figures are sent in from Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, and nearly all the Western and 8 outh- Western States. The' explanation of this is found in the fact, that when the prairie-farmer has grown more grain than he can sell, his resource is the pig-stye. Then he can turn his surplus store into the marketable commodity of succulent fresh pork, or substantial salt flitches; and the same maize which would be a glut in the corn marts and flour mills becomes most profitable when transformed into the quadruped to which ignorant Orientals are so unjust. But for the faculty which pigs possess of eating as much as tbey can get, and turning it into streaky rashers, we should have heard this year — as often before — of fires lighted with maize and of magnificent crops being left on the ground ungathered. The west of America has secured a wonderful harvest; at Chicago and the other emporia the stock on the 28th of September last was double that, of the previous years. But for the pigs there would have been great waste; whereas now, what is not wanted for bread or puddings goes to the poultry and the " grunters," and the consequence is that American barreled pork ought to be very good and very cheap this winter. Let careful housewives take note of these statistical facts. Millions of extra piglings, fattened with the finest diet, are squeaking for their patronage. Thus, what with Australian tins and Cincinnatti hams and cheeks, the monstrous price of fresh meat need hot make the winter an object of dread. — London Daily Telegraph.