The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1874.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 310, 16 September 1874, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1874.

Good Templabs. — A meeting will be held at Richmond to-morrow night. Intending vieitore are reminded that applications for seats in the convey, ancea starting from town must be sent in this evening. San Francisco Mail.— The Luna left Onehunga for Wellington, via New Plymouth, with the mail last night. She has the Neleou bags on board , which, therefore, will not reach us ui'tif the arrival of the TaranaEi on Sunday. Buller Road.— Tenders are invited for constructing the road from the Grip to ihe Oweq. Why this route baa been preferred to that by way of the Hope we are quite uaable to understand. It certainly has' thes# adVantagea— if advantages they may be called— that it

is sixteen miles longer; that it presents steeper gradients; that it passes over higher ground, where the snow lies in the winter; that it connects (he property of a member of the Provincial Council with the Buller Valley; and that it opens up communication between Marlborough and the Buller, and consequently will enable the Blenheim importers and Wairau producers to compete with those of our own province. It may be that these considerations have influenced the Executive in their decision, but we are at a loss to know why they should do so. However, it is so decided, and all that we can now do ia to pray that, for the future, our Government may be more discreet and learn to exercise sounder judgment. Fatal Accident. — The news was brought into town to-day of a boat accident in the French Pass on Sept. 1, which resulted in the drowning of two Maoris. It appears that at 6 o'clock in the morning of that day a Maori man named Timoti and a woman named Peki, accompanied by Miss Eliza Smith, an English girl, 19 years of age, started from Durville'a Island in a dingy 10 feet long to go across the Pass to Arthur Elmslie's. The flood tide was runniog very strong, and Miss Smith remonstrated with the Maori about attempting to cross, but he persisted , saying that he was old enough to know all about it. The words were scarcely out of his mouth when the boat got into one of those dangerous whirlpools that are so common there at certain stages of the tide, and was sucked under, bow foremost. The Maoris went down at once and were not seen again, but Miss Smith contrived to seize the paddle, with which she kept herself afloat while she divested herself of her clothes, in the meantime cooeeing and crying out for help. She then started to swim across. Fortunately her cries were heard by Elmslie, who, together with Wallace Webber and William Smith, the girl's brother, put off in a boat, and were just in time to seize her by the hair as she was sicking. The bodies of the Maoris have not been recovered. Nblson Cricket Club.— A meeting was held last night at which 23 were j present. Mr Tennent, after reading the balance-sheet and giving a general epitome of the business of the past , year, stated that as he intended leaving Neleon shortly he must resign the i Secretaryship. Mr Wix was then ; elected Secretary, and Mr Atkinson Treasurer. The following Committee was appointed : — Messrs Shaw, Barnicoflt. A. Bunny, F. Blundell, and Tennenc. Mr Tennent informed the meeting that the Westport and Blenheim clubs were anxious to play a : match, that Wellington owed a return match, and that Christchurch would probably wish to pay Nelson a visit. Reference was made to the probability of the Melbourne team visiting Nelson, but the question of raising funds to defray the necessary expenses was deferred. If. was decided that the club be called the ! Nelson Cricket Club, and the sub- ; ecription be 10s 6d, per annum. The season will open on Saturday next, when^ a game will be played in the Botanical Gardens commencing at 2 30 p.m. Wfllington, frok an Outsider's Point ot Vibw.— The writer of «• Here and There," in the Otago Daily Times, aayst :— " What boots it to ask why the seat of New Zealand legislation should have been named after the Iron Duke ? Oar Wellington always blusters ; the warrior never did— lucut a non. Trollope avers that the colonist is given to blow. Vaiious winds racy of the brine ■ attest the fact as regards this town iu ; every hour of the twenty-four; and the inhabitants verify Trollope as regards themselves, from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. See Milan, and die; see Wellington, and survive it if you can. It has the Seat of Government, and a tolerable sense of its own importance. Earthquakes have failed to check its vainglory, and the encomiums of Sir George Bowen could | not increase its pride. It looks better on the map than from any other point of view, and would be considerably improved, if it could be put in any other place. \The main productions are . potatoes, taxes, shipping companies, and fried fish. It ha3 never produced a great poet, nor found a moo, nor dis- ' covered the authorship of. Junius — nor^ in fact, perpetrated any discovery such as you would expect from a place of such pretensions Its dwellinghouses and houses of business, with a . few notable exceptions, appear to have been designed by the ingenious architect ot children's toy palaces, and incline the visitor toward the belief that they are composed of eggshells and packs of cards; but the inhabitants have the faculty of being alwayb able to raise the wind. On* might as well hope to meet with a bargeman in white kid gloves, or to see an undertaker eating omelettes, as to come across a Welling<on:an otherwise tbaa well to do, which says a great deal for them, or somebody else. The Premier thinks a great dial of them, and has given them a railway; but, as they don't want to go anywhere, and wouldn't if they could, the utility of it is not yet apparent. If a spiritual medium could be induced to visit the town he might— weather permitting— call up the shades of some of the ancestors of the inhabitants, and get an opinion of the way they're going on. Nothing but a voice from the other world can influence 'the people in that reseeqt; and in that light a spiritual nedlam might do good."

According to the Mount Alexander Mail, an experiment for the improvement of the larrikins of Castlemaine has been unsuccessfully tried by the committee of a local mechanics' institute, It aaye:—" Among the classes that visit the free reading room at the mechanics' institute is one which has been considered as the the most desirable to obtain and improve. There is no uncertainty about the real article being caught, for its presence has been indicated by signs as unmistakeable as the writing on the wall. The larrikin —•the outcome of unruly and undisciplined youth — has been drawn off the street, and taken his place at the reading table to peruse the papers and the volumes on the shelves. He was an early atteoder, as was manifested in the room by his scrawling, blotching, and abu3ing the visitor's book, on which names are requested to be written. This book was removed, along with the pens and ink, to put a little restraint upon the mischievous propensities of ill-cultured youth, unaccustomed to the respectful use of privileges. After allowing some months to elapse before introducing this book, it was determined to make a trial of it again, to learn how the intermediate time had operated in smoothing down youthful exuberances. Plenty of names were quickly enrolled on its pages, but soon there appeared at the heading words of filth and disgust, such hs young blackguards chalk on walla or pavements. Some youths bad also began to make the room a place of assignation among themselves, and were about to make it an arena for settling their disputes, when they were speedily expelied.