The Nelson Evening Mail. FIRDAY, FEBRUARY.27, 1874.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 50, 27 February 1874, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FIRDAY, FEBRUARY. 27, 1874.

. Mb. Mabin reports a sale, yesterday, at the Richmond sale-yards, of 26 twotooth Lincoln rams, at 325. 6d. ; 38 Lincoln ram lambs, at 265. 64. Nelson Institute. — Tbe annual general meeting of members will be held this evening at half-past seven. A marvellous change has come over the temperature within tbe last twenty-four hours, and we seem to have made a sudden leap, from midsummer into the outskirts of winter. Several snow showers fell on the hills yesterday afternoon, and tbis morning before sunrise the ground at the head of Toi-toi VaUey was white with frost. Good Templarism. — Mr Mackune lectured at Richmond on Wednesday evening, but the weather proved unfavorable, and there was but a small audience. A.t Spring Grove he lectured last night, and formed a new lodge under the title of the "Good Hope Lodge," of which ten gentlemen and six ladies formed the nucleus. Mr Mackune will lecture to-night at Lower Wakefield, and to-morrow" evening at the Temperance Hall, Nelson. We call the attention of tbe Nelson members to an advertisement stating that there will be no Lodge of Instruction this 'evening, in c:nsequenco of Mr Mackune's absence from town. NelsGn College. — A series of lectures in connection with the New Zealand University will be delivered at the Nelson College by Dr Boor, commencing on Monday evening next, and continuing on successive Thursdays and Monday. The subjects will be, on Mondays, Botany, and on Thursdays, Chemistry. Tbe public will be admitted on the payment of a fee of half a guinea for the entire course. The Census. — The triennial census will be taken throughout the colony on ithe night of Sunday next, the Ist of March.- Thp papers have been left at all the houses, and. full instructions are given on the back: of them with regard to the manner in which the fprms are to be filled up. Any one refusing to supply the information required or making false statements is liable to a penalty of £5. One very absurd form appears on ,the paper aoiong the agricultural statistics, viz., a column in which is to be stated the quantity Of land in barley, wheat, and oats. At this time of the year when the harvest has just been gathered in it is simply childish to expect to receive any information on this head. A splendid yield of 2240z of gold was obtained a few days ago as the result of the week's crushing for the Caledonian Company, Thames, which included 60 tons of quartz and 1301bs of specimens. The former was poor stuff, which had been sent to the mill prior to the rich stone being founJ, and, at a rough estimate, the 60 tons could not have been worth more than 20oz, so thafc the remainder was entirely the produce of the specimens. We observe that 16s a day is offered to masons for work within a few miles of Dunedin. At the Taieri harvest hands are getting £2 a week and found, with a prospect of even this high rate of wages being increased. The Greymouth « Star ' understands that the country sub-enumerators have great trouble with the Chinese. As soon as the Mongolians see anyone with blue papers in their hands they obstinately " no savee," and all the explanation that the unhappy official may offer might as well be addressed to the nearest stump, for all tbe seeming effect it haß on its auditor. When the paper is after all left, they seem to regard it as an unholy thing, and destroy documents of the kind as soon as possible. On the sub-enumerators paying a second visit there is a general stampede; empty tents and mimics only meet his view, and to get any returns is an impossibility. It is evident that the Celestials think the sub-enumerators tax gatherers of some kind, and it is probable that not one per cent, of them hold miners' rights. The, ' Wakatip Mail ' has the following :--•' Sixpences are very scarce in this district, and have been so for a long time past. One who ought to know something about the matter informs us that the absence of this small but useful coin is attributable largely to the Chinese, who use it. as a gambling stake. As these people play in every camp, and generally commence with stakes of sixpence, they take good

care to keep a supply. Some wI:o desire to gamble have often, at the commencement of ' a bout," to purchase- the coin at a premium. As gambling is evee incessant amongst them, tlj© mysterious disappearance of sixpences may, s to some extent, be accounted for, and remove the odium that attached to ' mine host ' of rarely ever being able to find a sixpence for change purposes/ We (Auckland * Herald ') learn by the Suez mail that meat lias been preserved in Buenos Ayres by a new process, which is not unlikely to affect the Australian and Now Zealand demand for preserved beef and mutton. A 401 b tin has been brought under the notice of the Committee of the Society of Art. Xhe tin was opened in the presence of a large number of persons, when the meat was found to be perfectly good and free from taint of any description. It hod, we are told, all the appearance of fresh meat, and when -cooked and served up to a select party was pronounced to be very good. There was, so the report goeß on to say, no unpleasant flavor or odour about it; on the contrary, the steaks had an appetising smell, and wero extremely palatable, as the company quickly demonstrated. We are not told by what method (he meat was preserved in an uncooked state. We only learn that it was good to the taste, fresh and succulent, and we further know that Buenos Ayres is among the greatest meat producing countries in the world ; quite capable within itself of supplying the whole world for the next half-dozen decades. We all know what tho consequences of calling a man in Dunedin a Bumble are — £50, and as much as the lawyers can invent in tbe way of costs. But this will be a trifle to what will happen in Victoria. The 'Age* has called the Great Grace, of the All-England Eleven, " a Bumble." As Sergeant Buzfuz said, " Gracious Heavens!' ; Are not the probable consequences too awful to contemplate? When the Great Grace reads what happened here, what damages will he not go for! Theonly hope for the 'Age' is that Melbourne juries and Dunedin juries may not be the same in their views onthe matter. — 'Guardian.' Cotton-growing, of which such large expectations were at one time formed in Queensland, has met with a check, owing to the very low price -which the staple commanded in the home markets. Tbe cultivation of cotton at Fiji, has now, to a very large extent, been given up, while the manufacture of sugar tokes its place, with every promise of meeting with a rich reward. Suitable labor, at a lower figure than it at present enacts and obtains, is all that is required to make the fertile areas of Queensland a sugar-producing country, which would at nb distant date throw tho Mauritius into ths shade. The crushings of the present season bave turned out very rich, while the quantity is stated to be all, and even more, than could be looked for. Iv addition to this new source of wealth, our late exchanges tell us that the Queensland tin mines continue to yield abundantly, and that the average produce from Stanthorpe equals 120 to 130 tons per week. The gold diggings show an increase in the returns. Immigration is setting in, and a vast prosperity characterises the northern settlements of the vast Australian Continent.—' Herald.' A most disgraceful and horrifying scene occurred at a house in Cole-street, Williamstown, the other day, says the Melbourne 'Argus.' It appears tbat a shipwright named Keating, aged 55 years, returned home from work on Saturday night very drunk. His wife was at the time lying in a dyiug state, and Keating, in his madness, dragged her out of bed. He was fortunately prevented from doing further mischief by some neighbors. On Tuesday evening 4 he went home again very drunk, his wife having died in the meantime. He went into the room where the dead woman was lying, armed with a horsewhip, and began belaboring the corpse. Having been checked in this barbarous conduct, he.went into the yard,, and returning with an axe, attempted to smash in the coffin. The undertaker in attempting to prevent this got severely assaulted. The police were sent for, but as they could not arrest the man in the house he was forthwith bundled into the street by his daughter, and was then arrested by the police on the charges of being drunk and disorderly, and of assaulting the undertaker.