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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 21, 24 January 1874, Page 2

The experiments which have been made with the 35-ton naval gune, better known as the " Woolwich Infants," have produced results which have been tabulated by Captain Noble, showing the^bllowing to be the capabilities gf those gfans with the service cbargeW powdeiWnd the 700-pounder ehot, it being understood thatlya ;_ach case the ordinary backing ofihard wood has to be added to the thickness of the iron target. At 200 yards the projectile can be sent through 15 inches of iron; at 500 yards through 14 inches; at 1,700 yards through 12 inches; at. 2,600 yards through 11 inches; at 4,oooyards through 9 inches; and at 4,500 yards tWpiJteh £ inches of iron and the usual timverV-upports. Thus, at a range of more -tsan-> three miles, a shell one-thiftF of a ton in weight can bo made to pierce the sides of some of the heaviest ironclads, which a few years ago were thought to be well protected by eight or nitoe inches of iron. r I The ' Alta California ' is responstlle for the following : — " Clark Foss, the celebrated Geysers stage man (in fact, the finest driver in the world), says that Sothern, the actor, is the best amateur six-in-hand driver he ever met. His only drawback (Foss says) in his utter recklessness where precipices 1500 feet deep are .within six inches of the wheels and he recommends him wllen next be drives from Calistoga to Gfejfter Springs, to drive alone, and put sandbags in the waggon instead of passengers. Sothern has offered to pay for any accident, and also gi^a 1000 dollars should one take place. iToss has accepted the proposal. f l he query is, Will the passengers soe this arrangement in the same amiable light?"

A terrible accident has occurred near Columbus, United States. About 200 yards from the farm-hogse of Mr Neumayer is a small sand-pit, so small that no danger was ever suspected to lurk there. Four of his children were playing there in the afternoon, ; wben the clay and sand forming the ro.ol'vof their play-house, loosefred. 'iJifobably My the recent rain& fell upon tbem. It was nearly an hour before 'the parents missed their ohildren, and went in search of them at the sand-pit, when Willie was found alive, though exhausted, his hair sticking out of the earth, but the other three were dead. The boy said that he bad heard teams passing along the road, and had called to the teamers, but his voice was too feeble to ba heard. After the earth had fallen on them* his little sißter Emma had ealled to him through the sand, "Willie, where are you.?— -are you going Mme?'' Then all was silent. O, thfi_^snore, the beautiful snore, filling her chamber from ceiling to floor! Over the coverlet, under the sheet, from her dimpled chin to her pretty feet! Now rising aloft like a bee in Juue; now sunk to the wail of a cracked baßsoon! Now, flute-like,sub-siding, then rising again, is the beautifu} stiore of Elizabeth Jane,