The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, MARCH 9, 1874.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 58, 9 March 1874, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, MARCH 9, 1874.

<- Customs Duties.— The amount collected for Customs duties to-day, amounted to £2453 18s 6d, being more than was ever collected before in one day at this port. American Rose Potatoes. — Some excellent yields have been obtained in the Buller Valley from the seed of the above potato obtained from Mr W. Hale, in one instance four cwt. having been raised from 61bs of seed. The potato is highly thought of for several reasons, and among others on account of its coming to maturity much sooner than the Brown River. ; The Richmond Coal- Mine. — The following report from Mr Thomas Mackay to his Honor the Superintendent on the above mine, was placed in our hands for publication on Saturday. The seam proves to be five feet six inches wide, and we are informed is well defined and favorably situated for working. The coal is dark brown, and of a superior quality, and, if found in quantity, will be a great boon to the "district, where firewood, which hitherto has been principally relied upon, is now becoming both scarce and dear. Mr Mackay writes as follows, under date March 7 : — " Sin — Referring to my report of 23rd July last, addressed to your Honor, and subsequent one of 29th October to Dr Hecior, and correspondence thereon which you have perused, I have now the honor to further report that I inspected on yesterday the exploration lately untborised hy the Hon. the Minister for Public Works to be made on Mrs Higgs' land, and have the pleasure to inform your Honor that the plau I have adopted for the discovery of the seam has been successful. I communicated the particulars yesterday afternoon from Richmond by telegram to Dr Hector at Wellington, as follows: — • ' Richmond coal seam found as planned. Width on top, 5 feet 6 inches ; strike; E.N.E., magnetic ; apparent dip, 78° N.N.W.; but the seam has to be more bared on both sides, and the water pumped out (upper side) to determine positively.- If the dip turns out as above, its direction will be towards the plain, and consequently much more favorable for working. — I have, &c«, Thomas Mackay, C.E." Saturday's Gale. —It is seldom that Nelson is visited with bo severe a gale as was experienced here on Saturday. The night before, the weather betokened a change, and in the morning the wind freshened, until noon, when it . became a gale, which increased in fury during the afternoon until about five o'clock, when it began to subside. When at its height the gale reached a pressure of — 161bs avoirdupois to the square foot, or a velocity of 55 miles an hour. The quantity of rain that fell daring the twelve hours

was Vl7 inch. In the hop-gardens, especially in those at the northern end ot the Wood, considerable damage has been occasioned by the hlowing down of the poles, quite half of which are in some of the fields lying on the ground. What the pecuniary loss will be we are . unable to say, but we fear it will be far from trifling. The orchards, those of them at least which were exposed to the full force of tbe wind, present a pitiable sight, some of the trees being absolutely stripped of their fruit. Apples and pears are lying about in all directions, and even walnuts, which aro not nearly ripe have been blown off in large quantities. In some of the gardens within a quarter of a mile of the sea; we are told that the fruit has been tnrned quite salt by the showers of spray that fell upon if, and in many places altogether out of the reach of the salt water, the leaves of trees and hawthorn hedges are quite blackened. We are glad to say that no more serious damage has been reported, but we shall be anxious to hear whether the gale has been felt elsewhere, information not having yet reached, us owing to the interruption of the telegraph which has not been at work since noon on Saturday, owing no doubt to the falling of trees on theMauugatapu. [fince the above was in type we have learned that the building ueed as a Church of England Sunday School at Waimea West — the original St Michael's Church — was blown down, and torn to pieces by the wind, also a large barn on the top. of Burkes Bank, Waimea East. The name of the owner we have been unable to ascertain. Several trees have been smashed and others torn up by the roots in different parts of the town and country, and the hop gardens in the Waimea have Buffered considerably. The gale : was severely felt at Motueka.] The Cabindinis.— Another delightful entertainment was given by this Company on Saturday night to a wellfilled house. Mies Fanuie's " Thoughts oftbee" was most sweetly sung, and on an r encore being demanded she delighted her audience with "Rocked in the cradle of the deep," a song in which she always excels. Miss Isabella's beautiful voice was heard to great advantage in "My mother bids me binds my hair," and Miss Lizzie's rendering of "II Segretto" was a perfect gem, while the concerted pieces were all sung with an amount of taste and correctness that could not fail to please the most critical of audiences, Mr Gordon's songs were well received, and one of them was encored, and Mr Cotterell was especially happy in his delineation of the character of that remarkable old lady, the " Widow Meals," as also in his little dissertation on " Mystery and music." The Company will this evening give their farewell entertainment, for which a programme has been published that cannot fail to attract a crowded audience, comprising as it does a number of new songs and concerted pieces, as well as some of Mr Cotterell's most popular characters, including the scientific lecturer, « Professor Fidget," and that amusing old German gentleman who never fails to delight his bearers when he tells them in song how " I schmokes mem.pipe." Late Auckland telegrams informed us that the outward San Francisco mail was this month to be conveyed from Sydney by the Cyphrenes which, no doubt, is the vessel referred to in the following extract from the Home ■ News of January 13: — "The Cyphrenes, 'screw steamer, of Dundee, bound for Sydney with emigrants and a general cargo, and about thirty passengers, put into Portland Roads without her captain on the 12th January. The captain left his cabin early in the morning, went on deck, and bad not been seen since. The captain's wife was on board. The mate reports a heavy gale in the Channel, and snpposes the captain to have been washed overboard."