The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 1873.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 192, 11 August 1873, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 1873.

Parish of Christ Church. — We are requested to remind the parishoiners of Christ Church that the meeting that was to be held to-night is unavoidably postponed until Wednesday evening. Public Meeting. — In consequence of tbe non-arrival of the Wellington, by which steamer Mr- Luckie is a passenger, the meeting that was to have been held tonight is. postponed uutil to-morrow evening. Steamer Wellington. — This steamer leit Wellington for Picton early yesterday morniDg and suiied again for Nelson at 1.30 p.m., but has not yet put in an appearance. Probably she did not care to face the gale that was blowing in the Straits yesterday. She may be expected here by to-night's tide. Footba.il Match.™ In consequence of the wet weath* r the match which was to have been played on Saturdy, between the team going to Wellington and All Comers has been postponed to Tuesday, when, weather permitting, the game will be played at the Botanical Gardens, at 4 o'clock. The Nelson team will leave for Wellington the following day. Electoral Roll. — There has been a good deal of talk lately about the large number of names that had been added to the roll on the West Coast, it being asserted among other statements that 700 new names had been added to the Grey Valley roll. On enquiry we find that the w'-iole number entitled to vote for a member of the House of Representatives in that district is 767, only 403 of whom live on the Nelson side of the Grey, as ; against 365 last year. What additions ' have been made to the Buller roll we have ■ not yet been able to ascertain. \ Telegraph Cable Changes. — The • following extract fr^atii^refter written by ! the Conference delegates to the Premier of New Zealand, shows the rates for the transmission of messages along the various existing cables, and thoso to be charged between Australia and New Zealand; — ■ "jThe rates between New Zealand and Australia, as provided for by the agreement, are. we think, very favorable. The cable will be 1300 miles in length, and a comparison with the charges made on 6evei.al of the existing lines will prove the reason- ; ableness of lhat to be made between the two colonies, viz., 15s for twenty words. The charge between Port Darwin and | Batavia, 1186 miles, is £2 149; Batavia | to Singapore, 505 miles, £1 ls; Singapore to Penanjr, 405 miles, 16s; Penang to Madras, 1409 miles, £1 10s; Bombay to Aden, 1819 miles, £2; Aden to Suez, ; 1462 miles, £2; Alexandria to Malta, ; 924 miles, £l; Hongkong to Shanghai, ; 800 miles, £1 ss; (Singapore to Hong- | kong, 1400 mile?, £2 lOa. In fact, the .enly existing cable charges, co far as we are informed, with which that proposed in the agreement does not compare most j favorably, is Malta to Gibraltar, 1120 | miles, 10s." The average earnings of alluvial miners throughout the Binnockburn district, says , the Cromwell Argus are perhaps not over thirty shillings a week— certainly not two pounds '1 he Timaiu Heraldhaß baen requested to acknowledge a donation of six shillings to the funds of the local Hospital from a gentleman whose conscience did not permit him to pocket the six shillings won by him at " Yankee Grab." The Lyttelton Times states: — The Otago Provincial Council is considering a proposal (o endow with 500 acre 3of land every public library in tbe Province. The public libraries are numerous, being attached to almost every school in the country. They are already supplied with books by the Provincial Government to the extent of £1200 or £1400. Hawke's Bay is obtaining its share of prosperity. The Herald says : — The appropriation by the Council /or public works and undertakings was over£lß,Ooo ; £10,000 being devoted to the reclamation of laud and erection of two wharves at Cough Island, and £5,000 to the reclamation of the Napier Town Swamp. On roads an«l bridges more than £21,000 are to be expended. When we add to these works the extension of the Napier and P,.ki P«ki railway to Wdpukurau, and tbe huge amount of building, &c, being carried on, and about to be carried on, by private people, it will be seen that the demand for labor iv Hawke's Bay wili, lor some time to come, be very great indeed.

The ship City of Agra recently cleared out from Melbourne with a five lot of 120 useful horses for the Madras market. They were nearly all purchased for gun horses and cavalry remounts. The same vessel also took forty horses for Calcutta. The Guardian, a Ministerial paper newly published at Dunedin, says in commenting on the financial statement : — " With regard to the change in the tariff, we think the Treasurer understates the probable increase in revenue from the adoption of his scale of ad valorem duties. If we are not greatly in error in our calculations, the Treasurer will receive £120,000 additional customs revenue during the current financial year." A Luminous Visitor from upper air, and as unwelcome as unusual, made its appearance on board the barque Koh-i-noor ou the voyage of that vessel from Newcastle, N.S.W., to Melbourne. The barque encountered very heavy weather, and on the 15th instant, during a tremendous storm of thunder and lightning, a ball of fire burst on deck, and seemed to spread all over the vessel. There was nothing damaged on deck, but one of tho crew was struck on tbe thigh, and laid up for two days. The man felt as if he had been struck with an iron bolt or other heavy substance. There is a very nice little quarrel now going on in Dunedin between Professor Sale of the University, and Mr Hawthorn, the Rector of the High School. It fell to his lot to examine thej boys in Latin, and his report was highly unfavorable. Appended to it he gave numerous extracts from the exercises, showing the mistakes made. Mr Hawthorn demanded to be heard at the bar of the Provincial Council in defence of his school, and in the course of his speech he contended in the most positive manner tbat nenrly all the points which the Professor had marked as being grammatically incorrect, were, if not very elegant Latin, at least strictly grammatical. To this the Professor replies by reasserting that the passages he had marked were incorrect, and he suggests that the whole of the exercises should be referred to some high classical authority in England for an opinion. The quarrel is a very pretty one as it stands. The Post of Wednesday says : — The battle of the mail services last night was not an edifying spectacle to those who love to think of a united New Zealand. It was painfully evident that most of the remarks mado were prompted by the narrowest feelings of local jealousy — that few of the speakers had a thought beyond tbe convenience of their own locality. So long as this was consulted, it mattered not how any other place was inconvenienced. There was a great deal of the unaimable spirit of the dog in the manger also displayed, many being evidently determined tbat if they could not get what tbey wanted, no one else should be allowed to be any better off. Of course in the end Otago and Auckland managed to make matters mutually satisfactory at the expense of the public purse. It is singular that during the debate in which each province was, as it were, set against the other, no member suggested that the most satisfactory solution of the question would be to let each province arrange a mail service of its own. Thero is scarcely a subject on which the Assembly is asked to legislate, that some member does not insist that it is within, or should be within, the powers of a Provincial Council to legislate on, and that these bodies would be sure to deal much more satisfactorily with it. Why did not some of theee ardent supporters of the superior wisdom of Provincial legislatures propose that the question of mail services should be left to them, the Constitution Act notwithstanding. If each province had an independent service, probably all won d be satisfied. Judging from last nigat nothing else wouid satisfy them.