The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1874.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 43, 19 February 1874, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1874.

j !1 The steamer Otago, with the Eng- , I', iish.mail, sailed from Wellington for A -Nelson at 12 o'clock last night. Waimea South Steeplechase. — There has been a pretty general clearing, out from town to-day in the direc- ,,. tion of Wakefield, where the annual Steeplechase Meeting is to be held. For the principal event, old Rustic again occupies the position of first JJ' favourite, as he haß done for many years past, by far the biggest price having been given for him at the Calcutta Sweep last night. There are X. several minor races, from which much X Bptirt is expected, and altogether the meeting promises to be a successful one.

Tho day having been proclaimed a publio holiday picnic parties are plentiful, and a cricket match is to be played between lhe members of the Artillery Company and the City Rifles in the Botanical Gardens. A knowledge of tho noble game is not essential to the granting of certificates of efficiency, but a very fair game is expected notwithstanding. Sulivan the Murderer.— Wa take the following from an Auckland contemporary: — Captain Moore, commanding the Mikado, has distinctly and positively refused to convey the notorious criminal Sullivan to San Francisco. Captain Moore has done quite right, and there are few indeed who will not oommend the action be has taken. It must be understood that when this notorious crimnal was placed on board tbe Mikado, her commander was in utter ignorance of the distinguished . passenger who had been placed under his charge, and it was not until he had touched at one of the ports on . his route to Auckland, that he learned through the Press who Sullivan was, the^crime with which he had been charged, and for which he had received a life sentence of penal servitude, instead of hangiug. Had Captain Moore been eo imprudent as to have taken on to San Francisco a prisoner pardoned by the Government simply for the reason that he could be more easily got rid of. he would have incurred a very grave responsibility. In his foresight he has been wiser than the Government authorities. What our policy, as our inclination should be, is to establish the most friendly relations between ourselves aod the American Government; but landing a criminal of the very worst stamp at San Francisco, in order to relieve ourselves of a doubly-dyed felon, is certainly not the way to go about it. Had Captain Moore conveyed Sullivan to San Francisco, it is certain he would not have been allowed to land there, and he would have had to remain a prisouer on board until he had once again arrived in Auckland. Fpeaking in the mildest terms, the whole proceeding can only be characterised as a vory great mistake; and the Govern■ment must, on reflection, feel indebted to the captain of the Mikado for preventing the serious consequences which in all likelihood would have followed upon such wrong. We are not quite sure that the American Government, when it becomes apprised of what was intended, wili not demand some exlanation from those who are to be held responsible for Sullivan's release. [Our telegrams state that j Sullivan is believed to be a passenger by the Phoebe, which is .expected here to-night.] A pedlar at Oamaru has been fined ls and costs for selling jewellery by lottery. The maximum fine is £50. Our Wellington exchanges note lhe appearance of numbers of sharks in the harbor. These have become so numerous tbat ordinary fish have left, and bathers aro officially warned to " beware." A Poverty Bay contempory says :• — " Here's something calculated to send our Petroleum Company's prospects ahead, which we take from ' Scientific Notes' in an exchange : — * The atmosphere of oil regions, which is strongly impregnated with the odour of petroleum, is- said to be beneficial to people afflicted with the asthma ; it is also a preventative of consumption." The "•* Danbury News' is made responsible for a number of funny productions, and among others is credited with the following: — It is a little singular how well a pair of boots can be made to fit at the store. You may not be able to get your foot only part way down the leg at the first trial, but that is because your stocking is sweaty, or you haven't started right and the shoemaker suggests tbat you start again and stand up to it, and he throws in a little powder from a pe.pper-box to aid you. And so you stand up, and pound down your foot, and partly trip yourself up, and your eyes stick out in an unpleasant mauner, and every vein in your body appears to be on the point of bursting, and all tlie while that dealer stands around and eyes that operation as intently as if the whole affair was perfectly new and novel to him. When your foot has finally struck bottom, there is a faint impression on your mind that you have stepped into an open stove, but he removes it by solemnly observing that he never saw a boot fit quite, os good as that. You may suggest that your toe presses too hard against tho front, or tbat some of the bones in the side of the foot aro too much smashed, but be says th_3 is always the way with a new boot and that the trouble will entirely disappear in a few days. Then you take the old pair under your arm, and start for home as animated as a relic of 18,12, all the wbile feeling tbat the world wili not look bright and happy to you again until you have brained that shoemaker. You limp down town the next day, and smile all the while with your mouth, while your eyes look as if you were walking over an oyster bed barefoot. . When no one is looking you kick against a post, or some other obstruction, and show a fondness for stopping and resting against something that will sustain your weight. When you get home at night you go for those old boots with an eagerness that cannot be described, aud the remarks that you make upon learning that your wife has disposed of them to a widow woman in the suburbs are calculated to immediately depopulate the earth of women and shoemakers generally.

The formation of another influential company in Europe to. work colonial mines is announced. The ( Gym pie Times ' has seen a letter from Messrs Eldridge and Spence, Sydney, stating that the manager of a company provisionally formed in Europe to search for, and develop cinnaber lodes in the Wide Bay district, hss arrived in Melbourne. We understand that Baron Rothschild, the Hon Saul Samuel, and a lorge Munich firm, whoso name was not mentioned, are on the provisional directory; that ample capital is available, and that on discovery of a true lode operations will be commenced forthwith. Messrs E. and S. state in their letter that tne gentlemen just arrived has likewise had experience in the working of antimony, and will be able to report on the lodes of that mineral here existing in such a way as to command attention from European capitalists. A boy at Norwioh is literally his own grandfather ! It is in this wise : —-There was a widow (Anne) and her daughter-in-law (Jane), and a man (George) and his son (Henry). The widow married the son, and the daughter married the father; The widow was, therefore, mother (in law) to her husband's father, and . consequently grandmother to her own husband (Henry), By this husband she had a son (David), to whom she was great-grandmother. Now, as the son of a great-grandmother must be either a grandfather or grand-uncle, this boy (David) was one or the other. He is Jbia own grandfather. Thomas Hughes, barrister-at-law, and author of " Tom Brown's School Days," returned from the United States in October last, and has since been lecturing on his American experiences. We append his rematks on railway travelling in America. Mr Hughes saysr-r-In England you are expected to take your ticket just before the train starts, and which you can only get on the same day you travel. When the train comes you must get into it at once and when you are told, and if you oppose the officers you are walked off to the Police Court. Then, again, each side of the line is zealously guarded ; but it is all different in the United States. There every man is supposed to look after himself and the railways for the most part even run through the main streets without the least protection by the sides. Children play about upon the line until tbey hear the sound of the bell which tells them the train is coming, and after getting off to allow it to pass resume tbeir play. At the crossings the other attempt at protection is a notice "Lookout for the engine when the bell rings." Then you may get your ticket, put it in your pocket, arid use it when you feel inclined, and that is a very great convenience. I confess to beiug of a rather impatient turn of mind, and I regard it ns a great advantage to be able to get into a train at my . own risk and whenever I please. When you stop for dinner, too, and the bell tingles, anybody may pay attention to it or let the train go as they feel inclined, or jump into it aftor the train lies started. In fact, •** individualism ' is strikingly illustrated in the railways, where people have to take care of themselves, get up and down, and do just as they please." A story is told of a poor soldier having one day called at the shop of a hairdresser, who was busy with his customers, and asked relief, stating that bo had stayed beyond his leave of absence, 'and unless he could get a lift on the coach, fatigue and severe punishment awaited him. The hairdresser listened to his story respectfully, and gave him a guinea. "God bless you, sir !" exclaimed the soldier, astonished at the amount. "How can I repay you? I have nothing in the world but this "— --pulling out a dirty piece of paper from his pocket; " it is a receipt for making blacking; it is tho best that was ever seen; many a half-guinea I have had for it from the officers, and many bottles I have sold; may you be able to get something for it to repay for your kindneas to the poor soldier." Oddly enough that dirty piece of paper proved worth half a million of money to the hairdresser. It was no'less than the receipt for the famous Day and Martin's blacking ; the hairdresser, being the late wealthy Mr Day, whose manufactory iB yet one of the notabilities of tho metropolis.