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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 127, 29 May 1874, Page 2

The Thames Advertiser learns by the steamer Alexandra, which bas arrived from the Endeavor River, that upon tbe arrival of the ship Eogland at the Endeavor River from Sydney, the passengers refused to land, and after some difficulty were put on shore hy the police authorities. The captain of the England offered to bring all the passengers back to Sydney at a very low rate, but they professed to be without means, and, in fact, appeared quite bare of money. It is stated that iu the ranges close to Cooktown there are some hundreds of dead horses which have been killed by tho herbage of the place, which is said to be very bitter. Low fever is very prevalent in the place, and a great number of deaths have occured in consequence. The Southern Cross remarks of a recent sitting of the Provincial Council of Auckland, that "tho 'ruling passion' was delightfully exhibited, when Mr G. M. Reed, the Provincial Treasurer was moving' the second reading of the Education Bill. The ancient pulpit afflatus overshadowed him like a dream of {pity 'tis so) halfforgotten times, and, instead of saying the thirty-first c clause' of the Bill, he referred members to the ' thirty-first verse.' Then ran round the legislative hall one loud guffaw; and Mr Reed, with native modesty, doffed the ancient cassock, assumed the legislative robe, said ' clause ' by way of correction, and proceeded with his argument. The laughter ceased, but a solemnity, induced by the reverential quoting of chapter and verse, cast a very temporary halo of seeming devouiness over the congregation of Councillors, and the sneering philosophers scored one against the revereud Treasurer." The Riverton district of Southland seems now to be extensively cultivated, nnd highly productive. The New Zealand Land Company's land near the Otautau has yielded an average of over fifty bushels to the acre, and in some parts of the estate as high as sixty bushels. The company is now busy ploughing 1000 acres, to be laid down in grass. We may judge of the quantity of land under cultivation in that part of the district by the fact that Mr Mackintosh alone has over 400 tons of grain coming down from his farm at the Otautau That gentleman has, according to a local correspondent, sold some 9,000 or 10,000 bußbels of barley to the Distillery Company, Dunedin, part of which has already been delivered. In fact tbe land is all under cultivation now from Riverton to Richard James', a distance of twentyfive miles. At the banquet to Mr Arthur J, Burn, on the eve of his departure for Scotland, tbe Superintendent of Otago, who was in the chair, said : — "When absent, he might still be of use to us in inducing* men and women, of the right stamp, to come to our shores. He would make a good immigration agent; and if he could not send us a good article he would not send us a bad one. — (Hear, Hear.) On the subject of immigration he, for his part, thought if we could got nothing better than shoddy and devil's dust, he would rather be content with what we could produce ourselves."— (Laughter.) Late news from Martin's Bay (says the Wakatip Mail) gives hope that tbis neglected locality will soon prove an attraction to the miner and settler. A Mr Webb recently came over, bringing with him a very fine sample of some ten ounces of gold a parcel of greater quantity having previously been disposed of to a trader at the settlement. This gold was obtained about four miles below Jamestown; but we cannot say the time occupied in getting it. Mr Webb brought word that the day before he left a quartz reef bad been discovered in a gully at the back of the township by a party who had been out eeling. He describes the stone as rich, judging by samples which were broken from the reef; but of course he could give no information as to the general run of the lode. He speaks promisingly of the auriferous indications of the district. Ocean races are interesting things but it would appear that they may be overdone. Late English papers informed us that two new Clyde -ships, built in

rival yards, had started on tbeir first voyage to Melbourne, the one from Glasgow, and the other from Liverpool, and considerable interest was taken io the result. Tho one was the Loch Ard, from Glasgow, of about eleven hundred tons, and the other was the John Kerr, of over sixteen hundred ons register, .from Liverpool. Tbe wo ships passed out. of the South Channel nlmost together. A few days ago wa learned by a telegram from Adelaide that the Loch Ard had been spoken by a ship which bad arrived at ibat port. She was then totally dismasted, but refused assistance. Now we leam from Melbo; rje that the John Kerr has been spokeu iu precisely the same condition — totally dismasted. Nautical people will be curious lo learn particulars of tho two events. Says the Southern Gross:—*' Once more little Schafer, the amatory traveller, mokes bis appearance. Many will remember the little traveller, with his inordinate vanity aud his sudden love affairs, his portfolio of distinguished people, whose signatures he obtained, and probably subscriptions alctig with them. In Nelson or Dunedin poor Schafer had sundry love affairs, and in one instance was induced to fight a rnock duel with a German compatriot, who fell wounded from a severe patch of vermilion on bis forehead, and the traveller for a time was kept in great terror. His marriage with a Maori, in Ohinemuri, was one of the results of his visit to Auckland; but his life in the woods with the dark-eyed maid did not suit him long, and he departed, perhaps getting a broad Maori hint to do so, such bints being akin to the Irishman's which took the complexion of throwing the man out of tbe window. The poor little fellow afterwards attempted suicide in Australia, and spent a few months in gaol to consider the impropriety of trying to take even what he termed his miserable life. He turns up again in some inland town in Victoria, where a local newspaper savs of him: — Mr Schafer writes requesting ue to state that he would be grateful for any subscriptions that might be sent to us on his account, to enable him to pursue his journey through China and the East.' People are tired of purposeless travellers, who morely collect, autographs, and manage to shirk woik; and we should suppose the gold will not roll in rapidly to the account of funny, lazy, little Schafer." A country paper contains au account of a machine for plugging teeth, which reminds us of the invention patented many years ago by Dr. Slugg. It was a tooth-puller. Slugg bad an enormous business, and he concluded to economise hia strength by pulling teeth hy machinery. He constructed a series of cranks and levers, fixed to a moveable stand, and operating a pair of forceps, by means oi a leathern belt which was connected wiih an engine. The doctor experimented with it several times on nails firmly inserted in a board, and it. worked splendidly. The first patient he tried it on waß a judge who called in to have an achiag molar removed. When the forceps bad been clamped upon the judge's tootb, Dr. Slugg geared the machine aud opened the valve. We believe it was never known with any degree of exactness at what rate of power the steam engine was working. But, in the twinkling of an eye, the judge was twisted out of the chair, and the moveable stand began to execute the most surprising manoeuvres around tbe room. It would jerk the judge high into the air and souse him down in on appalling manner. Then it would jerk bim up against the chandelier three or four times, and across the room; it drove the judge's head through the oil portrait of Slugg'a father over tho mantlepiece. After humping bim against all the ancestors, it fluug the judge around among the crockery on the wash-stand, and danced him up and down in an exciting manner ; finally, the machine dashed violently against Dr. Slugg, who seized the judge's leg with the forceps, and out came the tooth. When they carried the judge home, he seemed inordinately glad his tooth was out. The New York Herald thus describes a charity ball given in that city: — "Looking down," says the reporter, " from one of the boxes in the first circle, the coup d'teil was bewildering. The eye fell on an ever-restless throng of dancers and promenaders, and as tbe sun, smiling through crystal drops, shakes its white light into blue and red and yellow fire, so in the glow of tbe huge chandelier the many colors of the rich toilets were, reflected. Like shattered flame-flakes the lances of light were shiveredon flashing diamonds, on burning rubies, on scintilating emeralds, or lost themselves in the crystal depths of priceless pearls. As the poet once said, * The metallic lustre that gleams upon the wide blue wings of the Brazilian butterfly, the green dissolving into glitter of rubies upon tbe breast of the humming-bird, the long reaches of golden kingcups in June meadows, or opal tints upon wet shells and blown foam, was bi ought to the mind when the sparkles of jewels on bosom, arms, or nestling amid luxuriant tresses met the eye of the beholder. The sheen of silk and satin, falling from polished shoulders and rounded arms, and rivalled only by the lustre of the eyes that flashed their irresistible radiance on their masculine attendants; the occasional glitter of a uniform, and the general hurly-burly wben tbe ball was at its height, had an intoxicating influence. Now in the formal stately measures of the quadrille, again in the voluptuous whirl of the

waltz; at one time in the dash and excitement of the galop, at another in tho easy conversazione of the promenade; thus fled the flying hours, and at night the climax of enjoyment was reached."