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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 65, 17 March 1874, Page 2

The capital employed in sawmills in tho Province of Auckland, as stated by the Herald at £200,000. The number of men they employ directly is 1200, and the number indirectly in carriage to market and otherwise is very much larger. They produce sawn timber to tbe value yearly of £800,000 and form one of the most important branches of local industry. Notwithstanding the lale unfavorable accounts from "the Palmer, a very large number of miners are bent on going from this district and the Grey Valley. A great mnny ore only waiting to dispose of their claims before starting, whiUt others are abandoning claims that pay small but steady wages, nnd this is especially tbe case in the Grey Valley. For several days past the streets havo been comparatively crowded with men, purposing to set out by the first Melbourne steamer, whether by tbe Bluff or direct, and tbo Omeo, expected on Saturday, laid on for Newcastle, will be pretty well filled. 7he full effect of tbe exodus will not be felt till after St. Patrick's Day, that being specially observed as holiday time in the Grey district. After that is over it will set in with' full force, and some thinly populated parts will be almost depopulated. That a large proportion of those "rushing" will lay their bones in Queensland, there can be no doubt, owiDg to iho difficulties and dangers of travelling the unhealthy climate, and hostile savages, but any attempt to divert the stream is wholly useless, and bitter experience alone will inculcate wisdom when too late. The neglect of past years in not providing means to fix the population by water races, &c, is now bearing such fruit as might be expected. Had tbe Governments and legislatures of this colony of the past been more far-seeing, at the present day New Zealand would not have periodically lost her most valuable population. Possibly the lesson now being taught may open the eyes of the Assembly on its meeting in July next. — Greymouth Star. The Morton correspondent of the Wellington Tribune writes : — ln the humble opinion of " Your Own " the appointment of Mr Lee as Inspector of Government schools for tbis province, was one of the best steps yet taken by the Wellington Education Board. Mr Lee is now on his tour of inspection,

nnd has just finished tho examination of the schools in thiß district. His training and long experience as a teacher, combined wiih a considerate but firm manuer, will qualify him for his position well. With one or two, exceptious he has expressed himself as satisfied with his inspection. This being hiß first visit, tho examination was of an elementary character, but on his next, he will be in a position to noto the progress of tho schoolf, ond the results of his future inspection will afford him a true test of the efficiency of the teachers. By pointing out the requirements of the different Bchools in the shape of alditional teachers, larger buildiugs, &c, he wiil no doubt greatly assist the Education Board in placing the same on a high and more efficient footing than hitherto. At the annual meeting of the Wellington auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, His Excellency Sir James Fergusson, who wai iv the chair, said that he was glad to nee, notwithstanding tbe disagreeable ni»ht, that an attendance so numerous had heen accomplished, although, he himself did not take the numerical test as a proof of the interest which the publio evinced, in a great cause of this Kind. Members did not appear at tho annual meeting, he knew, who took both a personal and pecuniary interest in fhe l Bible Society. Indeed there were some of its warm friends who woul 1 rather give their money lhan attend the meeting. "Oh, I'll give you half-n-crown (they say) but don't ask us to attood." It, however, was the duty of somo of them to attend — it was his duty to do so — and if he should succeed in any measure in helping to keep np the interest in the society, he would esteem it not only a duty but a privilege. The circulation of the bible was not a movement to raise any sudden enthusiasm — it was no new object, and there was nothing new to be said regarding it The society had been doing its woik unostentatiously and steadily for many years, and all that seemed necessary was to keep up the pressure, so that this work should go on, ond go on, if possible, with increasing vigor. The society was eminently deserving of support. It would be found that, duriDg the pa?t year, it had undertaken fresh fields of labor, besides more thoroughly cultivating old ones, in on effort to bring the Bible within the reach of every educated person, and this was not confined to one nation, but by means of different translations, the society haJ sought fo carry the Bible to various countries in a chenp and tangible form. He had witnessed the operations of the society in Great Britain, on the continent, and in several of the colonies, nnd hi 3 own impression was that nowhere were theße operations more beneficial or more deserving of support than in the colonies. Numbers of men here live isolate J one from nnother, busbraen, shepherds, miners. They carry a light load — they may have been carelessly brought up, aud they have come to think the Bible hardly necessary aa a companion. To them the society comes bearing the Word with it and urging its acceptance. And this society is not narrow in its constitution or ils aims. All Christians, .all who believe in tbe Bible, ore welcomed as members. It has even printed the Bible iv the Roman Catholic version. There ib uo question of High Church or Low Church or nny Church. Tbe Bible is placed in the hands of all who can use it, and thoy are encouraged to do so. He would only add a few words to congratulate the meeting on the object which had brought them together. Thoy would hear a record of the work done for the past year, and he felt satisfied that on no work in which it was their privilege to be engaged, would tbey look bark with more satisfaction than on tbe work of Bihlo circulation. An awful crime has heen committed at a place called Bung Bong, lying between Maryborough and Avooa, where a man of temperate habits and industrious character destroyed his thiee children and then hanged himself. The most remarkable feature in the affair is that Porter, tho father of the children, made the most deliberate preparation for the cruel act, and wrote to a gentleman in Melbourne telling him what he was going to do, and his reason for doing it. He declared that he was tired of life, and that as modern Christianity taught there was very little chance of adults getting to heaven be intended to send his three children there; as for himself, he wrote, he expected to go to tbe same place that he should if nature tock its course. The latter was promptly placed in tbe hands of tho police, and the utmost despatch was used in Ben'Jing to Porter's residenco. When the police arrived there they found a notice on the door telling strangers not to come in but send for the police, aud upon the table in the room, where lho dead bodies were, a note to tbe effect that the writer would have burned down the place with the horrid secret it contained, only that he feared to injure his neighbours, There is evidence in all this of an extremely sensitive organisation, but at tbe same time of a mind unstrung. There is abundant evidence to show that Porter was a kind husband to his wife, who died a year ago, waiting upon her in her sickness with the tenderness of a woman; that he was a good father and an houost man. The jury returned a verdict of felo de se, but is hard to believe that a fond parent and a good man could do such n cruel act as Porter did nnleßS he had been temporarily bereft of reason.—Melbourne Leader,