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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 195, 14 August 1873, Page 2

It is stated by a northern contemporary that the natlvps in the Taurnnjia district are very ill off for provisions, and may be seen iu the coldest weather in search of pipie. A Blenheim telegram dated Tuesday last, saya: — There was a high flood yesterday, when the water rose four inches higher than the l«at flood. It came principally from the new breach in the Opawa. The Pelorus valley was inundated, and the water rose five feet above the town bri Ige. There was also a heavy storm of wind, and a railway viaduct was blown down. The floating of the Rangitoto, says the Independent is beginning to exercise the public mind. The result is brisk betting as to the result of the undertaking by tbe purchasers. Odds are offe-red bysome that the steamer will be flonted again, while others go so far aa to wager that she will be steamed from Jackson's Head into Wellington Harbor. Mr Rolleston has given notice that, on the motion to iuto Committee of Ways aud Means to consider the proposed duties of Customs, he will move, that articles necessary for subsistence and for promoting local industries should not be unduly burdened; that many of the duties proposed to be levied under tho new tariff would heavily and unwisely tax necessaries of life aud articles required for the development of local industries; and that it is therefore expedient that the proposed scale of duties be revised, so as to admit into New Zealand such articles either duty free or at rates lower than those proposed. For remaindtr of news see Jour th page.

The Philadelphia Medical Times reports that a student, undergoing his examination, was asked what was the mode of action of disinfectants. He replied : — "They smell so badly that the people open (he windows, and the fresh air comes in." The Dean op Exetee, in a lecture on tbe National Church, has stated ihat in the last fifty years the Church of England had raised and spent, in the erection of churches £25,000,000, in the endowment of churches £30,000,000, in the erection of schools £15,000,000, and in the erection of parsonage houses £5,000,000, making a total, raised under the voluntary system during this half century, of £75,000,000. The Warsaw Israelit contains an account of a most remarkable piece of superstition, which appears ludicrous in the extreme. It seems that a cook, in the employ of a Jew, informed ber master that ehe had suddenly heard heartrending and piercing screams proceed from a piece of meat which she was about to convert into steaks. The man fully believed that the soul of a Jewish sinner whs in the meat, and that it cried for honorable burial, ac- j cording to the rites of our holy religion. He hastened to the Eabbi, and requested him solemnly to bury the beef steak, dressed in a shroud, in the Jewish cemetery ; and to perform all the ceremonies appertaining to the interment of mpmbers of tbe Jewish race. The Israelit adds that the foal wa^ severely reprimanded by the Rabbi for his superstition, the propounder of the silly request being shown the door. ! On the momentous question of (he spread of Ipprcsy at Honolulu, th*i Hawaiian Gazette of the 30ih May says: — •' We are constantly receiving letters referring to the plague, which is now attracting so much attention among us, and would fain put them all into our wastebasket, as we dislike to write, much less to circulate, the startling details which each month reveals to us. But wl at can we do ! Ignore its existence, and calmly fold our hands, atid see it spread around us; or seek to make known, and impress on everyone the dread reality, tbat leprosy is contagious like the small-pox, aod more fatal than the cholera ? Disagreeable ns the fai-k is, it must be done, and the characteristics of the disease must be impressed on every one till it becomes more dreaded and feared than the yellow ever." A correspondent of the Australasian writes : — " Twenty years ago one of my brother's men became affected with what is called a bad leg, aod so serious had the disease grown that medical skill gave it up as incurable. Tbe man, however, having always proved a faithful servant when in health, was not cast off, but kept on board to the ship to steer, mend sails, and do other odd j >bs that his lameness allowed. How it was I know not, but Bill took it into his bead to try gum leaves. These he boiled, taking the liquid internally, and using the pulp as a poultice for his limb. This treatment effected a perfect cure, and "Our Bill" some time afterwards emigrated to BydDey, where he stole a ship aud received his reward in the shape of a sentence from Sir Alfred Stephen. For all that though, he was cured by gum leaves after the medical faculty had abandoned his case." At a country church a young minister a great " swell," came to do duty. Entering the vestry, he doffed his coat and vest previous to donning the cassock and cloak, nnd looked round for the lookingglass which generally forms part of the vestry furniture. He searched, however, in vain. At laßt, losing patience, he cried out " Church offiaaw \ Church offisaw ! " After calling out for some time tbe bead of a grey-haired man peered in at the door, and a stentorian voice demanded, " What's yer wull ?"— " Where's the mirraw ?" — demanded the minister. — - " Sir ?*' says tbe other. — "The mirraw — the lookingglass ?" said fhe minister impatiently. — "Oh (he lookin'-glass. Ye see, oor minister's sich a handsum man naterally, that he doesna need a lookin'-glass; but a'll bring ye a pail o' watt- r, if ye like." Beggars on Strike. — A strike, perfectly novel in its way, ban been executed at the city of Tieces. In obedience to an ancient custom, established from time immemorial, tbe beggars in the city collect on certain Saturdays in the year to march in procession through the streets of the "holy quarter," aud conclude their promenade by a united prayer for the welfare of the place, for which they have long received the scarcely liberal acknowledgment of a kreutz'-r apiece. On tbe latest occasion of their devout assemblage the beggars demanded higher remuneration on th» ground that all the necessaries of lite had risen in price, and that a kreufzer would no longer Bu£B«eforthe extra breakfast they were in the habit of enjoying on the Sunday after their holy pilgramage. The rulers of the city thought this demand unreasonable coming from beggars, and refused to accede to the request, but the others persisted, and at last flatly declined to pray for the ungrateful town. That was a trump card to the inhabitants of the holy city. To forego the time honored priyers would be to bring down divine wrath upon the place, so the remuneration was doubled, and the prayers now go ou ab usual.