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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 184, 1 August 1873, Page 4

FIJI is making constitutional experiments rapidly, and is gaining Parliamentary, experience fast. Many countries /which have possessed representative institutions for generations have not tested their capabilities and tried them in so many ways as Fiji has in its year or two of constitutional government. We now learn that the Parliament has passed votes against Ministers on several different grounds. One is a curious one It condemns the Government for refusing to admit Mr Ireland to be a member of the House unless he would make a declaration that he would not again make armed resistance to the Government. Mr Ireland seem.3 to have declined to make this declaration, apparently reserving to himself full freedom to act in case of emergency, and the Parliament appears to bear him out in his refusal. Ministers resign, and ask the King to appoint their successors. Cakobau declines to do this, and prefers to dissolve Parliament. The House is accordingly dissolved, but some of its members meet and coudemn the legality of the dissolution, arguing that it is "void and inoperative," and appealing to the Supreme Court to decide the question. We read that the end of the session was as farcical and ridiculous as the session itself, and, indeed, if the proceedings often included suc:h pleasnntries as "sending conversation lozenges to the Piemier, and moving that the 'document' be read," it may easily ba a -milted I hat. the description of the session is pretty correct. Th<m the Premier gravely reports fo thi* House that the Government holds "800 prisoners of war," who afterwards are- found to be " 800 pi»s." There is an unfortunate gentlemen holding the position of clerk of Pailiampnr, combined with that of editor of the Fiji Government Gazette, being in the former office a servant of the House, and in the latter a servant of the Ministry. In the latter capacity he wrote a political article in the Gazette which the House regarded as an attack on its "privileges," and with a dignified sense of its position worthy of a Victorian Assembly, it had the unlucky writer before the bar, and after bullying him wiih the threat of v heavy fine and a common prison, ordered bi*r into custody during the pleasure of the Home. From all which it is evident that Fiji possesses in an exaggerated form the characteristics of young communities. It cannot find itself in the possession of powers and privileges without, testing them to their fullest extent, q-iite regardless of the absurdities in wLich it may involve them and itself by such childishness. — Australasian. At the Clerkenwell Police Court, Frederick Phillip Lbwr, letter-carrier, was charged with stealing a hundred and fifty five Cape diamouds. A new lighthouse lamp baa been placed over the clock towers at Westminister as an experiment. It can be seeu during clear weather at a distance of twenty-five miles. The wreck of the steamer Atlantic has been blown up, and 300 bodies recovered. One person employed as a sailor on board the steamer, who had beeu successful in caving lives, was drowned, and on examination found to be a woman. A Horsebreaker at Brighton (Enuland) Las been sentenced to three months' imprisonment for pouring oil of vitriol into the ear of a restive horse. The animal was so infuriated by the agony caused by the vitriol that it became necessary to destroy it. It may interest teetotallers to learn that the late King of Spain drank nothing but water, was an early riser, and set his face against late night hours. A glass or two of wine might have given him the requisite amount of nerve, brain, stamina, and energy to have kept his crown. A Factory Girl about 14 years of age While crossing from one part of a Birmingham factory to another with her hair loose hud it drawn by the spindle. Her hair was wound in by the machinery with such terrible violence that her head was completely sculped all round, the skin and hair being torn off as completely as a nightcap. The Congress of the Evangelical Alliance closed at Brighton recently. The proceedings terminated with an animated discussion on the subject o( occasional interchanges of pulpits among orthodox ministers of the gospel. Ultimately the quest ion was referred to the council to take such rateps as they might deem proper. Wooden Railroads. -<- The wooden railroads in the vicinity of Quebec have i attracted som« uttention. It appears that there are now a huudred miles in operation. The gauge is 4lt B£m. The running time is about 16 miles per hour. The

rails are made of maple, 4in by 7iu., set up edgewise, and notched into the cross lies 4in deep, and held by two wedges down in the notch on the outside of the rail. The tics are Bin thick and laid 20in apart. The cars have four wheels, and some of the engines weigh 30 tons. In frosty weather the driving wheels have le3B adhesion than on metal rails, but no considerable difficulty is experienced from this cause. The rails will last from two to four years, according to the quality of the limber and the amount of the traffic. The post of such roads is from 4000dol. to 7000dol. per tnilp. They accra to be very well adapted for light traffic, aud as soon as the business of such Hues may require if, metal rails may be substituted for wood without any change in the equipment.