The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1874.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 249, 20 October 1874, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1874.

The Nelson Variety Troupe will give an entertainment at the Masonic : Haljrthia evening. They programme is varied and attractive. '■>- : *)■ ' Mr Eugene Desaunais has been appointed Postmaster at Neudorf, and Mr Christopher Remnant at Nga Tiraoti. & ! >" : •'• - , "---*- '>$■ J It • Mr. Parker addressed tbe electors of Motueka on Thursday last, when a resolution was unanimously carried to 6 the effect that tbe time bad arrived for doing away wiih Provincial institutions. The Albion, with the Suez mail, arrived a{ the. Bluff this morning, after a smart run down. According to tbo published time table the mail was not due at Melbourne until tomorrow, or at tbe : Brtuff jantjl ttbe. '27 tb. It has, therefore, arrived in New Zealaod eight, days before the contract time. By our telegrams it will be seen that the Nelson portion of the mail is on board. tbe Tararua, which left Melbourne for Hokitika a few hours before, the Albion. We observe that Mr. and Mrs. Symons are passengers by tbe Albion. The tbree-maated schooner Craig Ewan, of Peterhead'/ Captain Birney, ■ from Mauritius to Lyttelton, 59 days ; out, put into harbor this morning' to repair damages sustained inthe receot r gales, and to procure provisions, ali that she had on. board having been spoiled bjr the seas she shipped, wbich . carried away her bulwarks, and did other damage. She has a cargo of sugar for Messrs. Edwards nnd' Bennett, of Cbristchurcb. . , Good Templars — A tea meeting, under tb^auspicea of tbis body, will -be he^ld' at "the i Temperance Hall tomorrow evening. After the tea a , public meeting. will be. held/ when ad-, dresses will be_delivered by the Nelson and Marlborough delegates! Radical Reform League. — There was a large qieetingrof , the League last night, when the following resolutions ; were carried unanimously t-—- ? That in the opinion of this .meeting there is not the slightest necessity at the present time to incur, the expense of calling tbe PrpvinciaJ ,' Council together. That while believing the present Executive to some extent blameable for permitting tbe very objectionable truck system to be carried on in connection with the road contracts, are willing to allow tbem time to remedy an evil of eo long standing." — "That tbis meeting is of opinion tbat the most satisfactory course to the public wobld be to request the Superintendent to call a public meeting, and tbat the members of tbe Exetive be invited to attend, when they will in all probability do or say something that may dispel tbe dissatisfaction spoken of in the petition now going round tbe town aud country.'' A petition to the Superintendent was also drawn up, asking him to call a public meeting, for tbe purpose of giving the members of the Executive an opportunity of explaining tbo true state of { the working of the Executive Act.' The petition will be left at various places in (own for signature. Tbe decimation of small native birds is accounted for by a native correspondent of the Waka Maori as tbe work of cats, rats, and especially bees. He says of tbe bee: — These, with tbe sharp swords attached to their hodiee, pierce the birds upon the pleasant blossoms of the rata, the rewa, the kohai, the hou, and other trees. When' the birds alight upon these blossoms to drink of tbe liquid which they contain, the bees,. which are concealed within, wound tbem witb their stings, and they die. And ogain, in the breeding season, when tbe birds are collecting food for tbeir young, when they snatch up varieties of flies, crawling insects upan the ground and upon the trees, they also snap up tbe honey bees, which they crush to death in their bills, and die of the wounds received in their throats from tbe sharp swords (stings.) The disappearance of these birds, which cheered us with their happy yoices; warbling forth their songs among the trees, has a depressing influence upon my spirits. ' """' '