CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 108, 6 May 1873, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

*** We are desirois of affording; every reasonable facility for the discjssion of puulio subjects; bat it mlist be understood that we are in no -way responsible for tho opinions expressed \>y correspondents." ' fin,— A meeting is called by advertisement "at the request of a number of inhabitants of Waimea South" to consider certain matters touching the Local Education Committee of Spring Grove; such meeting to be held at Spring Grove. I question whether any orse outside the educational district of Spring GroT© has the right to call such meeting, or to be present, or take any patt in it. Gathering from the letters which have appeared in print, referred to in the advertisement, the matter in dispute is purely a legal one, as to whether certain persons aie, or are not members of the Spring Grove Local Education Committee. It seems quite too simple a matter to require a public meeting at all, as all the facts could be elucidated by the Local Committee submitting its minute book to the inspection of the Central Board. I am, Ac, An Inhabitant of Waimea. South. May 5, 1873.

The old cathedral city of Lichfield has been visited by a terrible calamity. Early one morning it was discovered that the premises of Mr W. Corfield, a watch-maker and jeweller, situated in the Market-place, were on fire. The house was situated between the Three Crowns Hotel and the building in which Dr Johnson was born. Through the energetic efforts of the local firemen, the surrounding property was. saved from destruction, but the house in which the fire originated was completely gutted. Amongst the large crowd that congregated in front of the blazing building, it was at first thought that the members of the family that occupied it For remainder of news, see four th page.

Hollow ay' s Ointmen t and Pills .-Sudden chan ges of temperature sorely try all persons subject to rheumatism, sciatica, tic dolojeux, and many maladies scarcely less painful though of shorter duration. On the first attack of stiffness or suffering in any muscle, joint or nerve, recourse should immediately be had to fomentations of the seat of the disease with hot brine and by subsequent rubbing in this remarkable Ointment, the uneasiness of the part will be assuaged, inflammation subdued, and swelling reduced. The Pills, simultaneously taken, will rectify constitutional disturbances and renew the strength. No remedies heretofore discovered have proved so effective as the Ointment and Pill lor removing gouty, rheumatic and scrofulous attacks, which afflict all ages, and are commonly hereditary..

JS

■■':■ had effected their~escapeito the neiehbour- ; ing hotel. So assured were the firemen on this.point^that no attempt, was made at a rescue before the flames were subdued. As soon, however, as it was , deemed safe/ to make 1 an^en trance which was done by means of a ladder, the men were horrified by discovering first one dead body, and then another,, and finally no less than five others, comprising; in fact, every member of the unfortunate family that occupied the house; ;In each caße death h<jd resulted from suffocation, and if; \ was clear that the poor creatures had amde desperate efforts to escape their horrible end. All the bodies were much scorched and browned by the smoke and heat. The following are the. names of the victims of this! shocking catastrophe : — Mr- Corfieidaged about forty-two; his wife aged thirty-six ; their four children, the eldest of whom w^s six years, and the youngest only a month old: The tragedy was completed by the death of the mother of Mr Corfield, who had reached the advanced age of eighty-five. The fire is said to have been caused by the woodwork of the stairi case having become ignited through a small stove. . , A Candid Cokkbspondent of a Melbourne journal gives his experience of an hour's quiet repose in a right-of-way near an hotel : — "I was passing behind a wellknown hotel the other evening, having had a late supper with some friends proceeding home in the '* Somersetshire,' and happening to loiter on the way — and probably owing to the number of ' richt quid wally-wachts, or something similar,' hot, with sugar, which I had suffered during the evening — anyhow I woke up after a refreshing lounge on the kerb, feeliDg one of the strangest sensations imaginable. To rub my eyes and gaze around seemed natural enough, but little recked I of the scene around me. I should say thousands of rats were creeping . over me, near me, and around me, some of them as big as healthy kittens, others perfectly white with age ; most of them were fighting over something which lay aheak -of me. I gathered my surprised senses about me, rubbing my eyes gently like, so as to preserve my anonymity, and watched the strange ceremonies going on. There were young rats and rats of middle age fighting with, iron-grey veterans and larrikin rats ; there were staid old tail-skinn'd 'uns, holding their, own in crowds of hundreds, and all rolling over a mysterious parcel in the middle of the right of- way. I watched the brutes for I should say, a quarter of an hour. I then commenced to shy little pieces of dirt at them, and, beyond causing a slight disturbance amongst forty or fifty near me, the rest fought, bit, and cursed one another in front. Some of the wretches sat on their haunches and grinned at me, but the main crowd fought on in the middle, each one walking off apparently munching something and looking happier, surprise got the better of me: the heaps of mud I shied in amongst the ' varmints' touched them not,; and at last, after using up a heap of blues tone, I ventured to stride in amongst the crowd; and, after levelling two or three score with my bootsl found the mystery, "and wished at the moment I had stayed with my ' Somersetshire' voyagers. My hat, a clean" white bell topper, nearly new when I entered that right-of-way, 1 found in 400 pieces, and nothing distinct save the paper. They didn't care for paper, but they enjoyed the felt."