The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 1874.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 89, 15 April 1874, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 1874.

Artizans' Association.— A special meeting for the election of officers will be held this evening, at the usual place and hour. The Taranaki Libel Case. — We understand that the prosecution against Mr. C. D. Whitcombp, for a libel published during the late election for Superintendent at Taranaki, on Messrs Atkinson and Bayly, will not be proceeded with, the defendant having signed an ample apology and paid £20 costs. An exodus of miners appears to have eet in from tho West Coast to the Palmer River. The local papers have been anticipating this for some time, and attribute the desire on the part of the diggers to leave for other fields to the absence of water, which necessitates their being idle for at least three months in the year. The General Government have already accepted tenders for one water-race in the Grey Valley, and it is to be hcped that they will see the necessity for speedily affording facilities of a similar nature to miners in other parts, of the Coast. The Floods in thp Grey Valley. — The local correspondent of the Argus writes :— Tbe old proverb about tbe ill wind that blows nobody good applies in tbe case of the heavy rainfall of the beginning of this week. Such of the races as stood the extra pressure during the height of the storm have now an abundant supply of water, and in like manner the dams are all full, besides being well scoured out of mud and rubbish. But as there is seldom the blessing of an unmixed good, so in this case a considerable amount of damage has been done to mining property. The mo6t important is the bursting of the main enbankment of the reservoir of the Eclipse Company at Half-ounce, and the loss of the large body of water stored in it. Fortunately the accident did not take place suddenly, or at an unseasonable time, or the upper town at Half-ounce would have been destroyed. The dam showed signs of giving way all day, and finally caved about five o'clock iv tho afternoon j co ■that preparations for an emergency were made beforebnnd. From Noble's Creek come reports of falling fluming, and breaking away of races, while at jCallaghan and Nelson Creeks considerable damage is visible. At the former .place the flumes of Williams and party were thrown down, entailing a serious loss upon the party. There are also -;coraplaints coming from No Town, where the works of the Chinese miners at the lower end of the creelc have been again demolished. The tramways near the town are partially destroyed. Whitnejl'a lower dam, on Stewart's ;Hill, burstj and is a complete wreck. |Th.c tracks to Abe's and Paddy's Gullies are destroyed, and the loss to ■miners in Abe's especially is extensive ;and serious. It will take in some parts ,of the No ToWn district weeks to repair the total damage caused by the storm.

A representative of the v?eathy firm of Ah Foo and Co., Chinese merchants, ani ship owners of Melbourne, is at present in Hokitika, with a view of arranging a branch business there, and placing a ship on the berth to meet the requirements of the Chinese. A trip by train was made on Saturday from Wellington to the Hutt and back. Several carriages were attached to the engine, and were filled with passengers invited to make the trip, including tbe Hon Mr RichnrdsoD, Minister of Public Works, and Mr Carruthers, Chief Engineer. We learn that the Mongol will transship her passengers and mails at Kandavau, to the Cyphrenes, which will go on to San Francisco. The Mongol will await the arrival of the Mikado, and take from her the New South Wales mails, with which she will proceed to Sydney conveying and assisting the Macgregor to that port. The Mikado will bring down the New Zealand mails, and will take out the May mail from this Colony. The Provincial Government of Ota go have accepted tenders for four distinct lines of light railways in the Province. The aggregate amount of the contracts iD £142,581. Mr C. Young, of Church Bush, in the Province of Canterbury, has reaped over 522 bushels of barley, the produce of six and a-half square acres of land. The police atationeel at Tokomairiro, Otago, have planted 2000 young trees in the police paddock there. The trees are said to be fairly established in good growing condition. The gold lately forwarded to Melbourne from Dunedin to be minted there bas been ascertained to be of a very high class. A parcel from the Serpentine assayed to the value of £4, one from Lawrence £4 23, and one from Mount Ida, £4 3s per ounce. The contract for bringing in sixty haads of water to the Inangahua Quartz Mining Company's claim has been let, the price being £787. This work when completed will give employment to over 100 men, in opening up and working ground in the vicinity. The manufacture of spirits in this Colony is increasing at a rapid rate. In 1872 the number of gallons taken out of the bonded warehouses for home consumption was 34,606 gallons. In 1873 the quantity was 60,478 gallons. These were from the Crown Distillery, in Auckland, end from the New Zealand Distillery, Dunedin. A nice passage-at-arms has occurred between Mr Bathgate, Resident Magistrate, and Mr Harris. The latter said he had been twenty- five years practising as a solicitor, and was never so treated before. He then put on his bat and left the Court before the case in which hs was engaged was finished. The Auckland Herald says : — ln answer to several inquiries, we may state that Sullivan has been disposed of to (his) advantage by the Auckland police authorities. The Wellington Tribune informs us that the other day 15cwt of superior smoked fish reached Wellington from Akaloa Bay, Pelorus Bay. The fish comprised four kinds, viz., moki, rock cod, hapuka, and conger eel. Tbe Napier Rifles, the oldest Volunteer Corps in Hawke's Bay, have sent in their resignation to the Government. But we do not read nor can we learn, that his Excellency has thought proper to convene a special session of the Upper and Lower Parliaments to consider what should be done in the matter, and so guard the province of Hawke's Bay from any attack which may threaten it from within or without. The Napier Rifles have had their feelings lacerated by Major Gordon at a lato inspection. The volunteers were defective in drill, slovenly in appearance, and but little acquainted with discipline. They smoked their pipes when they should not have smoked, came on parade late and left it before being dismissed, and did or failed to do that which would have made them what their commanding officer desired they should be, so they have resigned, and nothing is stated us to what is to be done in consequence. The cor ps were started in 1863, and has, it is said, although upon what authority we do not know, been called out for active service, which may mean a short drill at the " double quick," but we do not think it means fighting. We believe the true secret has come out since their resignation. The uniforms of the Napier Rifles wanted renewing, and there was no one who would renew them. Church parade resolved itself into a difficulty, and an invitation to a ball in regimentals could not be accepted. And for this reason the province and the colony is to be deprived of the services of the gallant Napier Rifles. — N. Z. Herald. The Tinited Service Gazette contains the following: — " We learn that Commodore J. G. GoodeDough, in command of the Australian station, has accepted a seat in the Executive Council of New Zealand, but that the Admiralty not being prepared to recognise such au innovation iv connection with the duties of an officer commanding a squadron, hag requested the übiquitous commodore to resign his new office." A proposal has been mado at Auckland, that £50,000 should be borrowed on the security of the City reserves for fifty years; £11,000 to be applied to tho extinction of existing liabilities; £15,000 for the construction of sewers, new streets, and general improvements, and'£24,ooo for paving, kerbing, and channelling the whole of the thoroughfares.

Referring to the adulteration practised by publicans, the Hokitika Star says that not many weeks since a Chinaman who sells vegetables in the town, went into a public-house in Hokitika, aud was served with a pint of beer. As soon as he drank it he became insensible, and on recovering consciousness, found that a sum of £2 15s had been token from him, nnd this ia by no means a solitary instance of " what may happen to a man in Hokitika. We (Grey River Argus) should think that the Telegraph Manager will cow see the necessity of completing the telegraph from the Lyell to Nelson, so as to not only to afford an alternative main line for the whole Middle Island, but to relieve the office at Christchurch of West Coast business from tho North. Had the wires been stretched to Nelson the West Coast coukl now communicate with the rest of the Colouy, although the wires overland to Christchurch were down. And should it again happen, as it has done before, that the main line gets stopped through Marlborough, communication would still be open via Nelson, the West Coast, and Christchurch. The Fiji correspondent of the Auckland Evening Star says that most of the cargo of the a.s. Macgregor had to ba sacrificed before she was got off, and the Native population of Kandavau had some fine pickings in consequence. The Auckland ''own correspondent" of the Otago Daily Times telegraphs as follows to that journal respecting the late meeting of the Natives: — "From Alexandra private letters state that Te Tapihana and Rewi spoke to the meeting very positively against Tawhiao's drinking and vacillation. Rewi declared he Would act for himself, and see Mr M'Lean or the Governor. The writer of the letter says that if Rewi returns successful, Tawhiao will foliow suit, and take credit to himself; if unsuccessful, Rewi will get the blame. Tawhiao is described as being perpetually drinking and surrounded by women. The Southern Gross correspondent says the dances were disgusting, and loaves of bread were thrown about by hundreds in play. The ground, was strewn all over with broken bread, and many hard knocks and black eyes were given by these strango missiles. Purukutu was desirous to shoot some cattle and Europeans, whom he heard were on his land; but neither Tawhiao nor Manuhiri would consent. Rum was selling on the ground at a shilling a glass or ten shillings per bottle; and there is no doubt of a dead split between Ngatimaniapoto and Waikato tribes." Tho special correspondent of the Sydney Empire in his report from the Palmer River rush says :— I will mention a few cases that will give you an idea of what men have suffered, which will be only a fraction of what actually has occurred. One party declared they took th 9 girths off their saddles, green hide ones, cleaned them as cleaD as possible and stewed them, after being three days without food. The same party, when they came to the Normanby River, had to camp several days, when many more situated the same as themselves joined together, and between them collected £16, and paid it to one of the men that was detained, who had a wretchedly poor horse, described as so poor that you could hang your hat upon his ribs. They killed it for food. Some stewed it. Those who did so generally got the dysentry. Others roasted their portions upon the coals, when the froth that came out of it was astonishing; but, on the whole, it was not such bad eating. Another party of three left their horses behind, and after being several days without food, gave £5 for what they consumed in one day. Francis Walstab, son of a Melbourne auctioneer, has been committed for trial on three charges of false pretences. He was arrested at Oaraaru, en route for Melbourne by the Albion. A strange story reaches us from India. It will be remembered that the steamer Dhoolia was wrecked in the Red Sea. Among the wreckgoa, sold for a mere song, was a box, supposed to contain nothing valuable, but afterwards discovered by Egyptians to contain damaged Indian postage stamps to the value of about four lacs of rupees (£40,000). The stamps had been manufactured in England for the Indian Post Office, and sent out as cargo, with no proper description or declaration of value. Those stamps are finding their way into India through various channels ; they would be no loss to the country if at the bottom of the sea, but, being found and sold, aro likely to cost the Government of India little short of £40,000. Such is the story, which, if true, shows considerable laxity somewhere in regard to a box of such value. — Homeward Mail. A new manner of catchiDg rats is exciting great interest among the New York householders. A barrel is filled half full of water. A layer of powdered cork is laid on its surface, and over this a layer of corn-meal is sifted. A chair and a box or two are placed unobstrusively in the neighborhood, whereby the rat gains the edge of the barrel. He sees nothing but tho meal. He has no innate ideas which teach him to beware of the treacherous foundation on which that tempting surface rests. He sniffs, he lespa, and goes gently down through meal .and cork to his watery grave. If any of his friends sees him disappear froth .'.the edge, of tbe barrel, they hasten, a^fter him to get their share of the plunder, and are in turn taken in by hospitable death.

In the city of Sydney there are 560 licensed grog shops, and in the. colony of New South Wales a grand total of 2500 amongst a population of little more than 500,000. Tho above does not include the number of grog shanties throughout the colony where grog is sold " on the sly." The Banbury News Hays : — You can a! way 8 tell a boy whose mother cuts his hair. Not because tho edges look as if it had been chewed off by an absent-minded horse, but you may tell it by the way he stops in the street and wriggles his shoulders. When a fond mother has to cut her boy's hair, she is careful to guard against any annoyance, and begins by laying a sheot on tiie carpet. It has never occurred to her to set him on the bare floor, and put the Bheet around bis neck.- Then she draws the front hair over his eyes and leaves it there while she cuts that which is at the back. The hair which lies over his eyes appears to be surcharged with electric needles, and that which is silently dropping down under hia Bbirtband appears to bo on fire. She has unconsciously continued to push his head forward until his nose presses on hia breast, and is too busily engaged to notice tho snuffling sounds that are becoming alarmiugly frequent. In the meantime he is seized with an irresistible desire to blow his nose, but recollects that his hankerchief is in the other room. Then a fly lights on his nose and does it so unexpectedly that he involuntarily dodges, and catches the point of the shears in his left ear. And then he begins to cry and wishes he was a mao. But his mother doesn't notice him. She merely hits him on the other side to inspire him with confidence, and goes on with the work When ehs is through she holds his jacket-collar back from his neck, an! with her mouth blows the short bits ol hair from the top of his head down his back. He calls her attention to this fact, but she looks for a new place on his head and hits him there, and asks him why he don't use bis handkerchief. Then he takes his awfully disfigured head to the mirror, and looks at it, and, young as he is, shudders as he thinks what the boys in the street will say The San Francisco Bulletin, speak - iug of the new line of steamers traiing between New Zealand, Australia, and America, says that Commander Meade said the best coal he ever saw for steam cott him, in Australia, 2dols 500 a ton, and tbat the same coal could be laid down in Honolulu for 9 dols a ton. " If we cannot have an Australian line under the American flag, the rext best thing is to have it under the British flag, and thereby secure a class of steamers which will go far to ensure success. The Hall and Webb line met with the natural fate of pioneer enterprise. Hall was obliged to accept such steamers as he could charter in Australia; and Webb tried to utilise the side-wheel wooden steamers which had been built for an opposition line on tbo Panama route. Although comparatively new steamers, yet, after they were drawn off from the Australian line, a survey showed that they would require large repairs to make good the loss from decay, which had already set in. The Australian line opens up a more direct communication with populations speaking the English tongue, amounting to nearly 80,000,000. San Francisco will gain as much from such a line as any port on the Pacific; and that fact , may console us for the failure of our side- wheel steamers, and for a commerce which is nominally under a foreign flag." At a marriage of two of the performers of the Lydia Thompson troupe recently, in St Louis' Miss Lydia wore in hor bosom a diamond that is said to have cost her 35,000 dols, and the diamonds and point lace worn by the wife of the Hon Benjamin Wood, nt the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum ball, in New York, wore valued at over 140,000 dols. A reward of £40 has been offered by the farmers of County Cavan for the head of a wolf which has been committing great depredations among sheep in the county. It is said that two have been seen in the neighborhood of Lough Sheelin, and they are supposed to have escaped faora some menagerie. Tichborne Claimant's Sentence. — The American telegrams relative to this case give the sentence of the Claimant as twenty-four years instead of fourteen. Tho telegram runs thus : — "The defendant in the Tichborne trial has just been sentenced to twentyfour years imprisonment. The prisoner was but little affected by the sentence imposed upon him. The court-room was crowded, and the sentence was pronounced amid deathlike stillness. The jury were oaly out a short time."' A London correspondent writes : — "In the books of an old established wine merchant in London, with whom country families have been accustomed to deal for generations, occurs the entry, sixty years back, of presents of wine made by the then Sir Henry Tichborne, the seventh baronet, to a person named Orton, residing at Wapping. The connection of the two names may bo only a coincidence, but at the same time it appears a very curious ono, when we consider the mauner iv which the sam 9 names have beeu connected in the pending trial; and it may be that we Bhall yet hear more of the circumstances under which Sir Henry Tichborne sent his presents of wine to one Orton at Wapping, at a time long antecedent to the birth of the i claimant. !