The Nelsn Evening Mail. MONDAY, MARCH 30, 1874.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 76, 30 March 1874, Page 2

The Nelsn Evening Mail. MONDAY, MARCH 30, 1874.

Gkey Valley Election. — The polling in (his district took place ou Saturday, and resulted in the election of Mr Bernurd Maguire as a member of the Provincial Council. Fatal Accident. —An accident occurred on Friday last at Motueka Valley whereby a man named Christian Pouleon lost his life. It appears that he was at work on the road when a tree that one of his mates was grubbing up fell sooner than was expected. Deceased was warned, but became confused and ran backwards and forwards, and at last took refuge behind a stump when one of the branches of the tree fell and struck him. across the back. About a quarter of an hour later he expired. An inquest was held before J. G-illow .Esq., J.P., and a jury, and a verdict of accidental death was returned. Deceased was unmarried. Public Works. — The General Government having agreed to advance a sum of £20,000 for opening up communication with the interior, tenders will be invited for completing the dray road from Nelaon to the Mavuia as soon as Mr Dobson arrives from the West Coast and haß been able to prepare the specifications. As it is now universally allowed that it is upon rendering the valleys of the Buller and the Grey and their tributaries habitable by means of roads, and thus throwing them open to the miner and the agriculturist that the prosperity of the province is to depend, it is gratifying to be able to state that the work is to be proceeded with without delay. It is by some thought that it is scarcely necessary to construct a road though a country which, in the course of three or four years, will probably be traversed by a railway, but it must be remembered that coach and dray communication will also be required between the various settlements that are expected to be dotted about in the Buller Valley, while the mere fact of having a population, however sparse, located there will strengthen our hands in applying for the railroad, and will probably tend to lessen the cost of its construction by a certain amount of labor being available on the spot. Karena, of Ha,wke's Bay, has paid one thousand guineas for Major Pitt's racehorße "Marquis." A prodigious growth of oats from one seed has been produced in the garden of Mr Black, librarian to the Alhenseum, Dunedin. It has thirty stalks, some of which are very thick, and 2100 grains were counted from it. Eminent contractors, like " eminent engineers," differ a trifle upon occasions. For the Deborah Bay railway contract seven tenders were sent in, the lowest of which was £35,227 [(accepted), and the highest £81,613. The "eminent contractors," Messrs Brogden and Sons, put in for £70,023. Either Bomeone is going to lose a " pile," or someone else hoped to make one. A Jury unable to Agree. — At the sittings of the Supreme Court at Hokitika, John and James Hayes were charged with conspiracy to defraud their creditors. At 7.15 p.m. the jury retired, and at nine returned into Court, when the foreman said they were unable to agree, eleven being " for," and one " against." His Honor said that the foreman should not have stated their numbers. He was very sorry but under under the new law he could not discharge them until after twelve hours' deliberation. In civil coses a five-sixths majority was faken after six hours' deliberation. There was nothing for it but that they should go back to their room. He would be , ready to take their verdict at any time up to midnight, as he did not want to lock them up all night. At twelve o'olock bis Honor again sent for the foreman, who said there was no chance of agreeing. The judge said the law required him to detaiu them, as no second trial could take place otherwise. They must wait till breakfast time for refreshment, as he could not order them anything. He would adjourn until ! until an early hour (8 o'clock), in order to save the jurors further detention. At that hour the jury again returned, when the foreman stated that they were still unable to agree. They were therefore- discharged, and a new

trial commenced. On the adjournment of tho Court at 6 p.m., the case not being completed, the judge said that "he thought that he would not be doing his duty did he not detain the jury from their homes for the night. The Sheriff would see that proper accommodation was provided for them. Looking to the number of challenges of jurors summoned, and to other circumstances, there was reason to suppose there was some strong under-current which might interfere with the administration of justice if they were dismissed for the night. There was undoubtedly great public interest in the trial, and there would be much temptation to talk if they were at liberty. It was true that the jury which had already tried the case had not been detained, but looking at the result of that trial he thought it necessary to do so in this instance. He would further caution the jurymen not to attempt too much to form an opinion on the case at its present stage, as all the evidence was not before them. This was a particularly difficult cass, and they should keep their minds open in order properly to discbarge their important functions, as many felt a sort of pride in not going back from an opinion which they had once expressed." The .papers to hand do not contain the result of the trial, but we learn from other sources that the prisoners were found guilty and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Snyder has his scy about the Carandinis as follows : — The three Misses Carandini are phantoms of delight; likewise Madame Carandini, all but the phantom parr, which couldn't be expectod or looked for. I like Mr Gordon, and should like him better if he wasn't always singing about shipwrecks, and churchyards, and graves, and Bextons, and snowstorms, and gathering in dead bodies, which must be anything but delicious to contemplate, leaving out the departmental work of the gathering in. I don't go to concerts to be made uncomfortable, and to be reminded in double-bass tones that tho time is not far distant when I shall have to be gathered in myself. I like things to be in keeping. What do Miss Isabella and Miss Lizzie Carandini mean by saying that they have been wandering o'er the mountains ? Miss Isabella is in yellow satin, and Miss Lizzie in blue silk; and they laugh in their. song, which they wouldn't do if they had had a mountain or two to wander over such as I have had in my time. I am of opinion that Miss Lizzie's blue silk dress wouldn't have looked quite bo fresh as it did if she bad been over mountains wandering as she said she had on the occasion I was present. And then, because I have taken a middle seat on tha front row, Miss Fannie comes on to the front, and fi&ing her eyes upon mine says, right before five hundred people, " Did I not love thee ? " A good many girls have told me this «ort of thing in' my time, but they didn't go blurting it out before company. Already we have a fair share of lawyers — quite sufficient, and a little to spare — but what will it be in a few years (asks the TVellingtou Tribune)? The number of young persons in the colony who have embraced the profession is amazing. In Dunedin alone, we are informed, there are no fewer than fifty articled clerks. How will all these obtain employment? New Zealand is certainly a very litigious country, but we hardly think that even it will be able to support so many in the legal profession. The thing is overdone, and must ultimately work its own cure. The clever men nnd good jurists will come to the front, while all the duller sort must go to the wall, and turn th^ir attention to some other kind of work . A Maori woman named Jenkins recently died in the Wanganui district, aged 110. The old lady, says a weekly contemporary, remembered the visit of Captain Cook to these shores, and often gave a vivid description of his advent, and of the profound impression his ship made upon the native mind. The Maoris had never seen a ship before, and took it for a huge bird, supposing the sails to be wings. Cook's visit was in 1769, from which an idea of the longevity of Mrs Jenkins may be gathered. According to the statistics collected by Mr Archer, Melbourne, there are at the present time 6000 acres planted with grape vines in Victoria containing ten millions of vines.

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