The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, MARCH 16, 1874.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue IX, 16 March 1874, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, MARCH 16, 1874.

His Honor tbe Superintendent was j a passenger to Wellington by the Fhcehe yesterday morning. Professor Bavan will give his last performance in Nelson this evening, when an additional attraction will be offered by Signor,. Ferrari with his trained, monkeys. A number of new tricks will be performed by the Professor. PERMANENT BUILDING SOCIETY.— A meeting of the members of this society will be held this evening, at 7 o'clock. Fire Brigade. — A special meeting =; is called for this evening at half-past seven . Nelson and Foxhill Railway.—We have been informed that the tender of Messrs Bray Brothers for the Stoke to Nelspn portion of this line, for £11,125 19s. Bd., has been accepted; . CniCKteT. — The Nelson team started for Wellington by the Phoebe yesterday morning. , The match will be played : to-morrow and the next day; Mr Guinness is gazetted as Registration and Returning Officer, and . Receiver of gold revenue for the [ district of Collingwood. Suez Mail. — The Otago ~ with the j'Suez mail may be looked, for at the Bluff now at any hour, the mail, of 'which she "will bo the bearer, Having been due at .Melbourne on .* the Ilth instant. . Telegraph Office. — - There are now. three young ladies engaged in the Telegraph-office in Nelsoh, one having been employed there for some time as a clerk, and two moro having arrived by the Taranaki from Wellington yesterday to undertake the duties of operators. Zante Currants. — There is now pn exhibition iv Mr Burrell's window, a very fine bunch of Zante currants grdwri by Mr Strong in his garden on the Port road. The vine from which it was taken is more than twenty years oldi and has several times borne very prolifically. Artillery Firing. — On Saturday afternoon two detachments fired for the Government prize, but this being the first practice in Armstrong gun firing, it was not to be expected that any good shooting would be made. Twelve rounds of shot and shell. were fired, and though nearly every shot fell short, the . direction was extremely good, the target being covered all but once; On ; going to remove the canvas covering-it.:

was\ discovered that ypipwtyj shot s had ricochVuei'through it, and also that it had been struck by7several splinters fro.ni the>hells, j ; .J v ss-:;sy!e bafce x reeeiyed;T:tne ;first rilimjber. oHhe Horticultural Calendar pu blushed hy Messrs Thomas LaDg ond Co. of 52 , Elizabeth-street, Melbourne. It contains a gardening calendar for the cajTept^ month, information regarding & r^ Bs ?P| seeids, &-c.;-and a list of, seeds and plants on salb at tho publisher?. The Calendar is forwarded iree to all wbo apply for it... Writing of the late gale, the Bleu-, heim News says: — Chimneys and tre* s were blown down. Jn, .ayeeral quarter*, and other, damage done. At the Bank of New Zealand a chimney was" blown I down, as were nlso chimneys nt Mr I H. Dodson's, Mr D. Wemyss's and Mr Bngge's. Some windows at the Masonic Hotel, Mr Scott, the baker's, and at the old Vicoria Hotel, were blown out. Io the country eeveral hay and corn stacks were blown down. At tbe Big Bush several chimneys and sheds aleo suffered, and on the Kaituna and Picton road considerable damage was . done, and traffic obstructed by fallen trees, one of the latter having only juet cleared the Kaituna bridge near Mr Farnell's. The Opawa bridge has also been slightly shifted at the Northern end, A Mr Belvie, of Wanganui, is stated to have grown over a ton of grapes in the open air, in his garden tbis year. In a recent police case in Auckland there was a long battle on the point of whether certain artificial teeth were necessaries, or whether being front, teeth they wero merely unnecessary ornaments. The dentist, however, wae granted his fees. It is said by tbe Nupier papers that at Wnipawa the Good Templars command a majority of over two-thirds of the population, and that tbey are determined to shut up all the public houses next licensing day. A good point in the Maoris of Raglan has just come to my knowledge. Tbey owed the late Mr James Graham (who, by-the-by, bad been amongst them for upwards of 20 years) sundry small sums. Since his death every amount bas been paid, the debtors, with a fore* thought certainly not universal among tbe Europeans, saying tbat the pouaru (widow) might want the money. — Correspondent of Crois. The Emperor of Austria has bestowed the Grand Ducal Order of Merit (Hesse-Darmstadt) ou Dr W. L. Buller in recognition of his services to science. A contemporary says : — Tbe bot springs of Taupo bid fair to become as famous as the pool of Siloam, if half that is said about their efficiency be true. Here is one of tbe latest " perfect cures" effected by them, as recorded by the Wanganui Chronicle:— The miraculous cures affected from bathing in the hot springs at Taupo are daily increasing in number, tbe latest that we have heard of, as related by a gentleman who was lately there, is tbat of a man who has been used to wearing spectacles for some eighteen years, but. after spending a week at the lakes, and indulging in a few bathe, can read easily Bmall print without the aid of glasses. A Napier journal states tbat a new difficulty has arisen io that province with respect to tbat bungling piece of legislation, "The Licensing. Act of 1873 " Three parties who have made applications for licenses for houses now in course of erection, are prevented from obtaining the same through some interpretation which has been put upon it, which neither Magistrate br lawyers can unravel. The opinion of tbe Attorney-General has been taken on the subject, but' he appears to be in: as great a quandary as other members of the Bar. That is a capital Idea of the New Zealand Government shipping their prize criminal, Sullivan, off to America. It is a thousand pities the affair got wind. The game might have been kept up until .the gaoh were completely emptied, arid what ft saving that would have been to the colony! Now I fear there is nothing for it but r to. enter into negotiations/ lite generals after a battle, for an exchauge of prisoners. Or a bureau might be established, where a regular Dr. and Cr. account could be kept, as is done in some cases with ciistoms duties. If Australia were to open books of that kind with England, what a debt we should be proud to owe the mother country. We should have td go on paying out criminals for years before we were entitled to strike a balance. How stupid it is of us, when a good healtby malefactor starts off on his own responsibility, that we take infinite trouble, to catch and bring him bapk again. The New Zeaiand authorities would never act in that absurd i&^hxon.'—Australaiian. The Palmer River — From a copy of the Brisbane, Courier we give the following: — The troubles and difficulties to be surmounted by diggers, who rush bffi hundreds of miles at the rumour of a new gold field, unprovided with sufficient rations is well borne out (says the Northern tlie following, v related to us by Mr John Gillespie, a miner well known in this town, on the Broughton, and elsewhere which should . bave some influence in preventing many from leaving, ..places .where thjey can make a livelihood before starting to an almost unknown part of the country without plenty;of rations and a certainty 'of bettering their condition. Gillespie and his party left here ten weeks since

arriving at the Palmer River in twentyone days. He describes the country as being very broken, and similar to the .accounts already published, but rations ; an.d necessaries of .every detscripUon are^senf, and with a few exceptions matters look very gloomy for thes* that remain during the rainy season. Many are obliged to go to the Walsh and* Firth's for supplies from the. waggons going up, nnd even iv siich eases very little can be obtained for your money. Gold was obtaiued by . tho.party, which would be considered payable under different circumstances; and on the 4th ultimo, Mr Gilleßpie started on his return journey to Charters Towers, with but six pounds of flour, his horses being nearly' knocked up. He managed to obtain a supply of flour and tobnrco at Tail's— prices two shillings aud sixteen shillings respectively. Ho travelled on to the Mitchell, where he fell in with Bill Burns an old miner well known in this district, who was also returning from the Palmer, but who was quite helpless from sickness and want of food. Gillesp'e, with a truly humane spirit, shared what little he had, and travelled Blowly towards here ; the unfortunate man, notwithstanding fhe attention paid him, gradually grew weaker, and at sundown last Sunday, 30:h Novem ber, died on his horse ! Gillespie strapped the lifeless body to the saddle on which he had expired, and brought him nine miles to Stewart's Btation, where he obtained tools to dig hisgrave. The trade in fungus carried on in this colony, cays the Auckland Herald, has long afforded Jcod for speculative discussion as to what uses it was put to by the Chinamen, 'lhe attention of tbe Customs authorities has also been called of lato years to the export of fungus from this colony to China, and inquiries have been instituted as to its destination, uso, and talue. We bave been furnished by Mr Hill, Collector of Customs at this port, with copies of correspondence on the subject, from wbich we extract the following particulars: — Tbe domand arose in New Plymouth with a Chinese dealer, Mr Chow Ching, who advertised for and first purchased the material ; the merchants and traders of the j 1 ice, on inquiring of their correspondents in Sydney and other ports where Chinese merchants were established, finding that the article was in demand in any quantity in China, entered into the trade in competition with Mr Chow Cbiug, and bought of both settlers and the Maoris. Further than this little more is known of it by them os on article of commerce. The price paid in Taranaki has been 2d to 2£' i per lb ; the quantity exported up to laat March has been J4<s bales, each containing 480!bs, in all about 65,2501^8. Twelve months ago tbe Hon W. Fox wrote to the Colonial Secretary, Hongkong, asking as to the uses to wbich the fungus . is applied, aud to its marketable value iv China. The following reply has lately been received, dated Hongkong, Ilth June, 1873:—" In reply, to your letter regarding the accompanying specimen of a kind of a kind of fungus, on which you desire a report, I have the honor to inform you that this fungus is much prized by tbe Chinese community as a medicine, administered in the shape of a decoction to purify the blopd. It is also used on fast-days. A mixture of vermicelli, bean curd, and this fungus is boiled and eaten instead of animal food; The sample which accompanied your letter is a very good one. The ordinary price of the article is from Bevmteen to twenty taels per pecul, wholesale, and one mace five candereens to two mace per catty, retail* — that is to say, about lOJd per ib. I may add that a superior kind of the same fungus is produced in ihe Chinese provinces , of Sze Ch.uert and Yun-Nau, which is sold at the rate of thirty dollars per pecul (l&S lbs.) — I have, &c, Cecil Clementi Smith, Acting Colonial Seoretary." The secretary to the Kent Agricultural Laborer's Union has selected 200 adults to go in tbe William Davie to the Bluff, and about 75 adults in the Wennington for Wellington. Both these vessels are expected to leave Gravesend about the 14th January. Just prior to the departure of the Kentish emigrants on board these two ships, a grand entertainment was given at the Coin Exchange, Maidstone. The two halls were decorated with much good taste. The walls were ornamented with emblems bearing inscriptions such, ob " Welcome Men cf Kent/ "Prosperity to the Union," "Hurrah fbr New Zealand," "A health to Kentish Farmers," "Owe no man anything," "Success to the Emigrants," "Farewell and Thanks to all." A large platform was erected atone end of the great hall, behind which there wbb a giant fir-tree — a Christmas tree — laden with oranges, and bowed down with useful presents for the emigrants. The proceedings were ably opened by the chairman, Mr Roots, who gave a capital address, full of sound advice. Then followed music, singing, and the drawing for the prizes on the Christmas tree; an excellent address of half-an-hour's duration was given by Mr C. R. Carter, a New Zealand Government officer; then more singing vaud music; lastly, agood farewell speech by Mr Simmons, at the conclusion of which the band struck up "Avid Lang Synej" in. which the audience': joined. There were from 1500, to 1600 persons, present. Next day the emigrants, headed by a band' Of music, left ir in ! a body for the Maidstone Station, and from thence proceeded on their way io' Graveserid,'to join their ' respective Ships. *-' i '- i - "•'•■'• -':A.\:-..- r ' -'- :