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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 248, 19 October 1874, Page 4

Mr. Holloway, io a letter dated Cbristcburcb, 4ih May, published in the Laborers' Union Chronicle, of 25ih July, {jives a very promising account of Otago aad Canterbury, and says thai) when one or two matters are set right, the Union "may confidently recommend any of our sober, healthy, and industrious farm laborers to come oat to this fine country. I say fine country because the air is most salubrious, the atmosphere clear aod bracing, the climate healthy and delightful, the wages good, provision cheap, clothing slightly dearer than at home, cottage rents high jußt now, but persons of energy and perseverance sood run up a cottage of their own." They look forward in Chrisichurch to prime beef realising 40a before Christmas. What will the new comers say to this being a land of plenty? — it may "flow with milk and honey," but it doesn't with beef and potatoes at present. The London Times concludes an article! upon immigration as follows : — To" the able and honest agricultural laborer, or mechanic, who finds himself in a condition in which he can .work only for Saturday night, and has to begin the world every Monday morning, we do say " Emigrate ;" and we believb there is no better place to go to than New Zealand. This 13 the man for the colonies. We could do with any number like him. Although odlj a "clerk," a profession which is pot in great requisition here, there is the pith and marrow, bone and muscle in him which will go down with us very well indeed : "P. W. C. T." writes to the Times to say a man cao get on iv New Zealand. He, landed there without a friend, aud finding clerks at a discount, walked 120 101 It% to the Duns tan goldh'elde, carried Wood to a hotel — eight miles of

rough travelling — for 3a a bundle ; carried buckets of water into town, up a steep hill, for 4d a bucket ; drove first a bullock-waggon and then a twohorse dray for £8 a week ; carted bricks, broke stones on the road, made roads in the bush, walked any distance to any place where work was going, built thatched houses, in short, did everything he couid find to do, and was " most comfortable and happy." John Cartan, an East Coast trader, who runs his vessel, the Sarah, between Opotiki, Auckland, and Coromandel, reports the discovery of plumbago, and other useful minerals, some thirty-five miles from Tauranga. He is also con- I vinced that he has discovered auriferous deposits in the same region, and is making preparations to thoroughly prospect the neighborhood. We regret to learn that quite a third of the young cattle in this province have died during the year. One farmer at Maogarei lost over a hundred, and another whose name has been mentioned to us has lost thirteen head, the whole of his young cattle. A disease something like, if not influenza, we are informed has been very prevalent among them, and has proved fatal in many cases. Feed has been very scarce during the winter, and the spring season is proving a very unfavorable one — Auckland Herald. The Dunedin Guardian says : — lt may not be generally known that for a considerable time past Christcburch has been infeateJ by a gang of "sharpers," who are not only au fait at all the cheating dodgeries of cards, but have been known in several cases to carry loaded dice about with them in their pockets. By a skilful manipulation of these articles, they are enabled to deceive the unwary, and in this way manage to eke out a "respectable" existence. To save themselves from the operation of the Vagrant Act, they resolve to all kinds of manoeuvres. One of the gang, for instance, will put a few trumpery articles into an auction room, and in accordance with prior arrangement another of the fraternity purchases them. Jt is in this way thai these creatures accommodate each other, and so evade the operation of what has been generally recognised to be a very useful Act of the Legislature. As an advertisement, the following from a San Francisco exchange is unique: — -"Dry goods merchants' attention : A strictly first-class salesman, a thoroughly efficient, reliable, and trustworthy expert, now in New York wants permanent employment in San Francisco, or vicinity, in a retail house. Six years' experience in New York, twelve in London; age 29, and married; is very energetic and untiring ; steady, industrious, hard-working, atd temperate; has a refined, cultured, fascinating address — sweet as nectar, inex-hauet-ible, ami charmingly persuasive ; sells every lime, nnd is sure to prove a general and special favorite, satisfaction guaranteed; dress, silk, shawl, or white department preferred; can buy, sell, or manage; now ready to start ou call by letter; reference, Al. Address early (principals only), stating terms, and New York agent. William Howell, 142 Warren-street, Jersey City, N.J." How the farmers of Wiight county, lowa, drove away the grasshoppers is revealed by the local papers. The crops in that county wer<j abundant and the anxious husbandmen were in hopes that these destructive pests would not appear until after the harvest. At once they came, however, in clouds that darkened the sun. By a preconcerted plan the farmers set fire to piles of dry straw on the borders of the wheat fields, and smothered the blaze with green hay. That caused volumes of smoke to roll over the fields. The grasshoppers didn't relish the procedure at all. They rose with such a multitudinous hum of wings as to deepen into a roar like distant thunder, and fled the country. Io that way the Wright county farmers have a fair prospect of saving their crops.