The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1874.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 201, 25 August 1874, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1874.

Church Conversazione. — A meeting of the members ot the congregations of Christ Church and All Saints' will be held at the Provincial Hall this evening, for the purpose stated in the advertisement. Nelson Artizans' Association. — On account of the inclemency of the weather the entertainment advertised for this evening is postponed tD Thursday next, August 27. Lady Babkly. — The Bailing of the Lady Barkly for Motueka and Collingwood is postponed until to-morrow\at four p.m. \ Bankruptcy.— The Gazette of this morning announces the bankruptcy of Henry Whiting, blacksmith. Accident to the Ketch Collingwood. —An accident occurred last night to the ketch Colliogwood, which arrived from the Wairau^ too late for the tide, and consequently had to lie outside. Having lost her anchor at the Wairau, she was dependent upon a small kedge, which was insufficient to resist the force of last night's gale, and consequently ehe drifted on then Waimea Sands, where there was a rough sea wtH^h swept her decks, compelling the crew^Sjonsisting of two men, to take to tbeNrigging, where they were discovered atday light this morning. The pilot-boat at once put off and rescued i the men from the perilous position i they had occupied for five . hours, but the ketch still lies on the Sands. We understand that she has not sustained much injury, but her galley and boat have been washed away. Mr. Holloway appears to have been talking about matters of which he knowa nothing. A correspondent of thef Wanganui Herald states that at an interview with some of the Patea settlers he " made some remarks about the way the province of Marlborough is situated. He found that the land was in the hands of large capitalists, who owned from 40,000 to 100,000 acres each, | which he considered was a very bad j state of things. He would much rather ! see a class of small farmers who would j improve what land they held, instead j of large runs which only required a man and dog to attend to a large extent of country." Had Mr Holloway taken the trouble to tramp the hills wbich from so large a proportion of the " 40,000 to 100,000 acreß" owned by | the " large capitalists," or had he availed I himself of an opportunity to take part •in a days "mustering," he would have j discovered that a very large, portion of | the acreage owned by the sheep far- < mere in Marlborough is utterly useless to the " class of small farmers who would improve the land they held." Where tw*o or three acres are required to keep a sheep it is not too much to expect that a rnnholder who takes up a large extent of country that is absolutely useless for other purposes should require two or three thousand acres of flat land in many cases of indifferent quality, on which to feed his ■beep during such times as ifc is necessary to keep them in the vicinity of the homestead. An immense deal of nonsense is talked by those who have no acquaintance with the country about the large blocks of land that have fallen into the hands of individuals, and Mr Holloway appears to be quite as capable of talking nonsense as many others who do not hesitate to pronounce an opinion on matters of which they are grossly ignorant. Id answer to a question by Mr Curtis, says the A. Z. Times, Mr Yogel stated that it was proposed by the Telegraph Department to extend a fourth wire to Chriatoburcb, to lighten the work on the existing wires. It WBsalso proposed to run a light line, by way of the present road by tbe Buller, to put Nelson in direct communication with tbe West Coast. That line would be to some extent a test line as to the value of light lilies of telegraph. The G. R. Argus suggests that if the Premier does not see his way to abolishing the provinces of the Middle Island, he could still bring about a great improvement by amalgamating the provinces of Nelson, Marlborough, and Westland. Any alteration, says our contemporary, must be for the better. The Abaura correspondent of the G. R. Argus writes : — The Road Board- is still waiting patiently,' too patiently its think; for the fulfilment of the promisea tbe Nelson Government— poor Board and poorer promises, you seem to suit each other wall. What has become of the Government of Nelson ? Nobody here seems to know anything about it. Have the Executive got the ; "Rout," or are they ''Roughing" it in prepara-

tion for the hard knocks they may hope to get when the Council meets again. The Inangahua Herald is informed that Mr Warden Wbitefoord will leave the Provincial Government service on the 30th September, lt was at first proposed . that he should receive the Wardenßhip at Collingwood, but this -he would -only accept on the under- - standing that in the event of a vacancy elsewhere he should have the refusal. This the Government declined to accede 40, and hence Mr Whitefoord's withdrawal from the service. The "sod" committee, says the 1 Westport Times; have put a climax to their absurdity by publishing a telegram from their Chief stating that he had proffered the privilege of *' turning the sod" to his Honor the Superintendent, who had declined it, and so he, Mr O'Conor, would accept the invitation. Of course the Superintendent declined, as any man having the slightest self-respect would do. He had previously been made fully cognizant of the facts connected with Mr O'CoDor'a fishing for the compliment. The offer made him under" such circumstances was a deliberate insult. The remarkably high average of 2ozs 12dwts of gold per ton was obtained at the Ajax from a crushing of 43"'ton8 of quartz, after 44 hours' crushing^ The entire yield was 96ozs 1 2d wts of melted gold obtained after, cleaning up, the batSer.es having only/ run 44 hours. \The stone was got.frpm a T drive at a depth of 270 feet from the surface. *^_ The Courier Eays : — The Buller road is " bottom up " just now, and unless repairs are at once undertaken' an embargo will be put upon all wheel between Reefton and the Inangahua Junction. J-Jie rabbit nuisance has increased to suchW extent in Southland that a meetidig was held lately at InvercargiU at whidh over £200 was subscribed as tbe comntgnoemeDt of a fund for the purpose of introducing animals that are the natural enemies of the rabbit, in N^rder to check the spread of the latter peat. A committee was appointed to collect further subscriptions. Thb importation at Hokitika- of , carcase meat from Wellington byTevery steamer continues, and with" satisfactory results to vendors aod purchasers.