The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1873.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 170, Issue VIII, 16 July 1873, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1873.

We desire to express our great regret that there should have appeared iv a telegram which was published in the country edition of the Evening Mail on Thursday last a slanderous charge reported to have been made by Mr Ivesß, in addressing his constituents at R^efton, against Mr George Donne, M.P.C. We have no hesitation in offering a sincere apology to Mr Donne for the publication of the message as it appeared in that edition of the Mail, and in justice to ourselves we desire to explain that its publication was purely accidental. It occurred thus. As the country edition was being prepared for the pres?, the messenger came across to our printing office with a telegram containing a brief resume of Mr Ivess's speech, which, in the hurry of the moment, and in the absence of the editor and the proprietor, was set up by the compositors and printed in the paper. On the editor's return, to the office he revised the paper, and on seeing an objectionable sentence referring to Mr Donne, he at once ran his pen through it. apd consequently it did not appear in the later edition. It is scarcely necessary for us to assert that we do not for one moment believe, or desire to endorse, the charge containeftl therein, nor to state that we have no reason whatever for suspecting the existence of the slightest grounds for its being made. On the contrary, we most sincerely regret that it should have appeared in our columns ; we are exceedingly sorry .that, owing to a pure accident, we should have been the means of wounding the feelings of the gentleman so unjustly, as we believe accused; and we feel excessively annoyed that, through inadvertence, the Evening Mail should have been converted iDto a medium for the circulation of such a alander. The sincerity of our regret is best shown by the fact that no sooner did the words meet the eye of the editor, than he directed them to be struck out and not to be allowed to appear in the remainder, and by far the larger portion, of the d&y's issue.

Discovery op Coal at the 'Owen.— It having been represented to the Superintendent that good coal had been (Hecovered at the Owen, and his Honor seeing the importance of such a discovery especially with regard to the proposed railway, ho immediately instructed the superintendent of public works, Mr Lightfoot, who was goin^ fo the Buller, to inspect some road contracts, to ascertain the whereabouts of the seam, to examine it, and bring some to Nelson, and if satisfied that it was a good 'coal, to cause a couple of hundred weight to be brought to Nelson by pack horse immediately. Mr Lightfoot on examination found it to be a good black coal and accordingly carried out his instructions, and two bags of it were brought to the Superintendent's office this morning, one of which his Honor has taken with him to Wellington, in order that it may be examined by the Government Geologist, Dr. Hector. The Superintendent has instructed Mr Lightfoot to have a further examination of the deposits made at once, and in tho meantime the land including the coal seams has been reserved from occupation.