To the Editor of the 'Evening Mail.'

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 269, 13 November 1874, Page 2

To the Editor of the 'Evening Mail.'

Fib—-In the i terest of humanity, through the medium of your pape, I beg to call attention to tie fact that—(if lam righty informed)— the schooner Kaiiuna ii missing, aud on board of which vessel is our townsman, Captain Scott, his brother, Ta«m»n Scott, a<d two other men. Tha <ircumstaocea, aa related to me, serin to point ti the possib'lity of the vessel being wa^er- logged — perhaps dismasted, and floating about in all probability not farther from the coait than from 25 to 50 miles, more or less, according to thi direction and force ot the winds since. The vessel, ie appcae, wis last sten off Pegasus' Bay, ne»r lort Cooper, standing to the southward. Now, as ihe vessel is quite new and timber lalen—white pine—ahd no wreck has been seen along the coist, it is my opinion that the vessel has in all probability b(en thrown on her beam ends in the heavy gale ehe was kniwn to be in.and that Captain **cotfc has cut away the masts to right en her. She may now bedrifti g with her fami«hed crew, at no great distance from the co ist, and, being dismasted, would not te visible at a great distance. I will give my mite towards a vessel zig-zaging the coist in search of her Wrat will the owner give, or what steps bas he taken ? I hear >he is insured for «S ODO. Will you please, Mr Editor, to write this matter up. Jt is mw three weeks -since she was last seen, and no time should be lost. The vessel would not sii k «nd if ilie masts were cut away she would float upright, but would be perfectly heip'es?. Some steamer sent out from Port Cooper wo»H be the readiest wav of affording re itf. lam just informed that she was in Akaroa and ltft for Oamaru. I a-n, &c, Williasi Akirstkn. Nelson, 12th November, 1874.

We are (says the New Zealand MeraU) making the most extraordinary efforts to introduce the ova of the trout into our rfaera, without any certainty whether when they are hatched there will be the'kindof foodtosupport them. We spend money in introducing birds and aninjals belonging to distant countries, aU of which may be very right and proper. But we appear to make no effort to stimulate tbe supply of fish food Which is native to our waters in aueh variety and abundance. Within the last six or eight weeks meat has adyanced in price from twopence to threepence j»r ponnd. Dairy produce * a ..Pfty per cent higher than it was at this season last year. Vegetables are scarce and dear ,• but while oar waters swarm with fisb, and there is a large demand I6r all kinds, a dozen or bo of baskets are all that tbe boats will fill of a morning. 'And now fish, from the circumstance that no 009 enters upon the business of taking it in anything like large quantities, has advanced a honored per cent. The anomaly of all this is that we are sending to distant colonies for our potatoes, to adjoining provinces for our butcher's meat, and to alien countries for the ova of strange fish, while we altogether overlook what should con* tit ute onr home wealth in these essentials of life. An island, five acres in extent, is floating about Lake Monotnonauk, which lies partly in New Hampshire, and partly in Massachusetts. It travels two miles at a time. It has been estimated that two- thirds of the earnings of Britiab workmen artf r sjpent on liquor, involving an expenditure of £96,000,000 every year.r ; The Jargeat plate that has been rolled, in Scotland from a single pile ■was tolled at the Blochairn iron works 1 recently. The dimensions are twenty-/ three feet six inches long, four feel wide, and one inch thick. The weigh! 01 the pile going into tbe furnace wai 4400 lbs — nearly two tons. \ Baltimore is boiling down her superfluous canine population into glue, by which the city gains five cents per dog. Five years ago the nnmber of persons engaged- in mining in Victoria was close upon 70,000, at the present time the number is set down at 46,488. Gas emitted from the earth is used with success as /nel at an extensive iron works in Leeohburgb, Peonsylvania. The enormous Californian fleece which is said to weigh fifty-one and a half pounds, has been sent by tbe owner to the editor of The Live Stock Journal as a proof of its existence, doubts having been raised by ibat journal aa to its possibility. The condition ofthe^ft is, that when it is proved by examination to be a genuine fleece' oi one yeara growth, the fact! shall be published dnd tbe fleece ex- j hibited in tbe name of, the owner. i A life insurance man: in St. Louis is in the habit of getting himself on lo juries when business in his line is dull. Then he hangs on with his\consent to a verdict, nntil everyone of tW^ury is insured in his company. If the '« coming farmer " fails to thoroughly understand his business, it will scarcely be for lack of advice as to the proper course of study to pursue. The latest suggestion comes from an English farmers' club, and is to the effect that the prospective stockbreeJer should study for " three years in ao agricultural collage, and then for three years logger in a "butcher's shop," tbe last term beiog considered necessary 10 give tbe.ijouth practical experience." With suc&preparalion be ought surely to be able (0 carve his way straight to fame and fortune. Sohae abius^o^ proposals are made by a cbrrespohdeoiof the South Australian Register, as to tlht tests which should be applied to^provY the eligibility of persons who offer themselves at Home aa working men desire-us of emigrating. Holding that it is genuine Working men who.) are wanted, and not pretenders,- or shams, "A Northern Farmer* submits three tests, to which ali Candidas should be subjected. One of these is .the hand, with regard to which ■"• the 1 -fingers shopld be short and square, at the, ends; if over thirty, yeajsofage a little knobby on the knuckles* ._ Tlbf palm should be\hard and dry, and when the owner is a\ked to put his hand flat .on the tabje\it should be foundy resting on the'Vrm and tips of the fingers." The next 1L the' handwriting; • " A man should not be i cpudemne^''_fbec>Uße be is able to write' bisf own name, but to the good farttltboreeil will bean effort requiring a sigh after \is finished. Any at-tempt-at i'fii^ish should cause a man's rejection". w ~The third test is " speaking" capabilities," and with reference to this he Baysir-^" Make" the applicant stahd on a ohair and ask him a few questions; if he speaks as readily as when on • the ground be doubtful of "him, bnt it he shows the least tendency to wave his arms, condemn him at onee — he is a born orator, and if bropjhtjout be will never work himself, r and will try to prevent others from working, but will possibly get into Parliament, or come to some bad end." There is, of course, some wisdom at the bottom of this humor. A Ya?jke_ Hotel.— A little salt must .„ be sprinkled over the following before, it is swallowed :— - The latest American progress in building will bejthe Mammoth Hotel, soon to be erected in Obicago. This enormous hotel is to have a frontage of three English tniles, and a depth of six'ttHes. The height of iavgnty.ee ven

stories will measure 3,480 feet from the ground floor to the roof. The hotel will have no stairs, but five hundred balloons will always be ready' to take visitors up to their room?. No room-waiters are to be employed, but visitors will be served by a newly invented automatic, put up in every bed room, which wbich will do all the shaving, shampooing, &c, for tbe guests — a very simple and ingenious mechanism. Supposing the guest requires hot water, the automatic will be able to call down stairs, "A bucket of hot water up to room number one million three thousand one hundred and seven!" and the water will be up in seven seconds by the patent elevator. One-half hour before thn table d'hote, instead of tbe ringing of bells, a gun (24-pouridei) will be fired ou each floor to call the guests to get ready for their meals. Tbe tables in the diningroom will measure four miles each, attendance to be performed by twelve waiteis on horse back on either side of the table. Music during table d'hote will be played gratis by eight bands of seventy-seven men each. For the convenience of visitors a railway will be built ou each floor, as well as telegraph oflices. Tbe price of one bed-room will be from one to ten dollars. The cost of this building is estimated to be £680,000,000d15. The billiard-room will contain nine hundred American..oioetynine French, and one English table; aod most oi the visitors are expected to be American. The billiard-ioom will be fitted out with a ppittoon of one hundred feet in. circumference.— From ihe Berlin National Zeitung