The Nelson Eveening Mail. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1873.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 312, 30 December 1873, Page 2

The Nelson Eveening Mail. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1873.

The Taranaki, which is expected from the North early to-morrow morning, will sail again by the same tide, the reason of the unusual haste being that she is advertised to make an excursion trip from Wellington to Piston on New Year's Day. St. Mary's Convent. — It will be seen by advertisement that the dramatical play of *' Tabiola, or the Christian Drama," ia to be acted at St. Mary's Convent, tomorrow evening, by the young ladies of that institution. Waimea South.* — The anniversary of the Literary Institute in this district is to be celebrated on New Year's Day by .•iporfs of all descriptions and a tea-party, the Wakefield band being in attendance. All- Saints' Chtjuch. — A full choral service, specially arranged for the occasion, will be held at this church on New Year's Eve, commencing at half-past ten. We are particularly requested to call attention to thie, as notice was given in the church on Sunday that the service would not be held in consequence of the indisposition of the Rev. Mr. Thorpe. Arrangements, however, bave been made for the duties to be taken by one of tbe other clergymen, and as the service wU^be of an unusually intereetiug charaete^||gre_ wili, doubtless, be a large attendanSßßra Caledonian Sports.— Great nann tions are being made for the Calg£«i Gathering on Thursday next, ™flSifflf expected to be tbe most &ucce3dSfiS§K held. It is to be hoped that thSBJH| mittee wiil not forget the -nconvioHral caused to visitors iast year by the jpf|flfi|Bj a .sufficient number of ticket-take«BHp| the narrow entrance to the Groui*fflSg§| two combined creating a most unneSKfHn delay at, lhe gates. Country foSSBBfi hear, mean to muster strongly in tSßfflj that day. and for the convenience ■•ShSE who have not conveyances of theSßßel Mr. Holder mean*, to run his BbSBB leaving Wnkefield early in lhe iiygg/_M and returning in the evening. KSiM^j Upper Wakefield Wednes lay, -he24ch instant, she cBBB| afending tbe Upper Wakefieid BJJHJ were examined by Mr Jcaaph Shofflßlg who expressed himself well JHHH

with the manner in which many of the pupils in both divisions acquitted themselves. Ho considered the arithmetic in the firs'; class to be deserving of noiice. In tha afternoon the Examiner presented tho prizes io the successful competi* ors, aidreesing each child in a kiiid.'y manner, and hoping at some future lime to bave a similar pleasing office to perform. Mr Shepbard then handed, a couple of books, presented by himself, to the Chairmau, Mr J. Pearse, to he competed for on subjects to bo selected by the Committee and teachers :~^ i'irst Division: First Class — Annie Hoult, 1; Jane Lane, 2; Charles Hoult, 3j Samuel Hoult, 4. Secoud Class— -N. Samson, 1; Alica Pearce, 2; JaDe Hunt, 3; Khoda Lines, 4. Third Class— Mary Line*--, 1 ; Laura Batt, 2; Joseph M'Farlane, |3; Emily M'Farlane, 4. Fourth Ciass — W. Chamberlain, 1; JantesLines, 2-, Alfred Batt, 3; Samuel Wadsworlh, 4. Second Division : First Class— William Carreil, 1; James Brown, 2. Second Class — Isabella Lines, 1; Rose Currin, 2; Edith Chamberlain, 3; Patience Wads-worth, 4. Third Class — Augustus Fanchilli, 1; Joseph Hoult, 2; Thomas M'Farlane, 3. Such was tbe force of the wind at Anderson's Bay, Dunedin, on Saturday week, tbat n fbur-whetded bus standing empty and without any horses harnessed to it, in front of tbe Anderson's Buy Hoi el, was blown into the sea, capsized, and damaged. The London correspondent of ths Auckland '■' tar' furnishes the following information about a gentleman well known in Nelson:— The Eev W.H Ewald, M.A., of Wadhara College, ond late of Wellington, New Zealand, has been appointed to the Cburch of England Chaplaincy, at Warsaw, in Poland. The Wairarapara correspondent of the •Wellington Independent' writes: — The Scandinavians, I am sorry to say, are revelling in dirt, and Buffering /'/pro ils dire effects — disease, white some ■•( r*vm have already paid the penalty of death. No one cou pass their dwellings without being struck with the squalor and dirt. Tbey love tbe dirt, and no advice, no effort short of absolute force will lead them to make any amendment. Medical attendance they have, but what avails this when his orders are unheeded? And no remonstrance, it seems, can bring official interference to bear upon tbis plague-spot. Better burn tho wholo settlement and recompense them for their loss thau the seeds of typhoid (I believe that is the type) should be disseminated in tbe whole district. The * Timaru Herald ' says : — " Last week as a party of ditchers were digging a, drain somewhere near to, or on tbe property known as " The Stomps " south of the Orari, tbey found on the edge of a small swamp underneath a terrace, the remains of a human being — the skull and lower jaw with its teeth intact, and a lot of/ bones — together with several spear shafts. Along with tbe bones some roughly hewed pieces of timber, apparently of manuka, showing that the remains (the spear shafts pointing them to bo those of an aboriginal) were duly coffined. The pieces of tho boards fouud were remarkably sound, owing to the fact probably of their beiog buried four feet iv a black swampy soi! — one of the best preservatives of timber. Around the spot where the remains were discovered, there i 3 not the slightest indication of there ever having been there a place of sepulture. An English paper says:— "lt wpuld seem that we shall shortly have to fall back upon Australia and New Zealand for potatoes, as well as gold, wool, and preserved meats, for great concern is being caused amongst the farmers and potato growers in the large district of which Sittingbourne is. the centre, aud in East Kent generally, by the alarming spread of the potato blight. The whole of the crop dug up ready for market has been entirely destroyed by the disease. A new experiment, in gas manufacture, is said to be in successful operation at Chichester, in England, whereby ihe cost of making gas is enormously reduced. We believe that the attention of the manager of our Gas Works has been directed to' the invention, and that he is col lectin 0 information on the subject. If its merits prove equal to report, it is not improbable that the gas consumers of this city will ere long participate in the benefits resulting from the new process of manufacture. — ' Wellington Post.' Under the heading '* A salmon at Last," the Hobart Town * Mercury ' states that a fish bas been caught which is really believed to be a salmon by those who affect an acquaintance with tbe outline and general appearance of that much to be desired fish. The fish in question was caught in tho River Der went at Bridgewater, by a man named Connors, who sent it down to Mr Morton ADport. It was on view at the Museum on the sth December, and as the news that a salmon had at last been caught soon circulated, I. • people flocked to see it the whole day. I During the morning ifc was lying on a plate, | hut it was found advisable to put it in [spirits towards noon. Its weight is 21b 14oz Sand though, as usual, there were some j persons who refused to believe in its [genuineness as a true salmon, and even J explained their reasous for arriving at •this opinion, the weight of evidence was j largely in favor of the belief that it was salmon without a douht. Even those ho declare that it is a sea trout say that ia the nearest approach to n salmon they uvo s. u en caught in Ihese waters, and that i itself is something. Tho fish will be mt to England. An interesting item of nows comes om New Bedford, Massachusetts. The 3w whaling barque Glacier, Ciptnin p *tter, which arrived ihere the otber day om the Arctic regions, had on board veral interesting relics of the Franklin ipedition, procured from the Esquimaux, here wers heavy silver spoons aod

forks, having upon them the armorial bearings of the family of Sir John Franklin nnd of other English families. They were procured st Repulso Bay from" come Esquimaux who had come from King William's Land, near the spot where Sir John Franklin's vesssls were abandoned m 184 S. The natives say that bolh vessels (the Erebus and Terror) had gont to pieces. All traces of the ill-fated expedition are fast being obliterated. Ak Extraordinary Visitor.— The 'Observer' extracts from the 'Nationa' Zeiiung'' an account of an extraordinarj accident, consisting in the driving of . railway-engine into a house at Dusseldorf The occupier of the place— a furnitun warehouse — says, in a letter to his brother — "It happened at half-past seven in fh< mormno*, as I was sitting in the room wiU my wholo family taking "breakfast ; I wai ready to go to business, and bad risen fo (bat purpose. As I looked by chance ou of the window, there came towards th house with great rapidity an engine. '. saw at once that a catastrophe threatened and cried out, 'We are all lost ; th engine is going through the house ; rm to tbe back V Before;, however, the rooc door could be reached (in about 15 or 2( seconds) the thing was over j the laconic tive had driven through tho warehouse had broken through tbe boards and a par titioa wall, and stood puffing by the doo behind. Ged be praised the house did nc fall down ! But my next fear was tha there would be a fire. I could not reac the staircase, the way beicg tbroug smoke and steam. I climbed over a littl root 07 means of a ladder down to tb yard behind, in order to open the escap valve. Unfortunately, this was so injure that ifc had become useless. I left th ladder lying against tbe houso to whie my family had fled, in order that the might escape by it to tbe street ; and thi wa. done. Thtou«h the »k\ of my ov? workpeople, and of Bpme 30 masons aD servants, further misfortune was avertec I immediately caused all windows io b propped and supported, in order t prevent the falling of the gable, which v to the present moment has not happil occurred. The engine went on snortio tiU balf-past 11. It atill remains in th house, and ifc cannot be removed for som days.