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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 307, 29 December 1874, Page 2

Familiar Cattle. — A Massachusetts farmer eay a: — "■My cattle will follow me until I leave the lor, and on the way to the barnyard in the evening stop and call for a lock of hay." Smitheon says there ia nothing remarkable about that. He went into a barnyard in the country one day last week, where he had not the slightest acquaintance with the cattle, and an old bull not oniy followed him until he* left the lot, but took the gate of the hinges and raced with hira to the house in the most familiar way possible. Smithson says he has no doubt that the fellow would hava called for something had he waited a little while, but he didn't want to keep the folks waiting for dinner, so he hung one tail of his coat and a piece of his pants on the bull's horns, and went into tbe house. {For remainder of News see fourth page.)

Madame Goddard'e famous iron piano, which she has carried with her over half of the world, is not likely to leave New ZeaTand at present. Madame does not desire to take it with her across the Pacific, another instrument awaiting her at Sao Francisco; and she has therefore, accepted an offer made for the piano by Mr Ellis, of the Masonic Hotel, Napier, to whom the famous iron "Broad wood" will be forwarded as soon as Madame' s concerts in Auckland are over. The departure of a gold eßcorfc from the Reefton district carrying away rather more that 3000oza of gold ia an event, says the Courier which will afford the outside world another proof of the bona fide character of the quartz mining ventures in the Inangahua. It is evident such as this that will carry real conviction to the minds of unbelievers and to persons unacquainted with oar resources. The escort which left Reefton (or Greymouth this week carried away the National Bank gold ooly, and it may therefore be assumed that an equal quantity of gold is still in the hands of the Bank of New Zealand here awaiting despatch. It was estimated only last week, that tie gold then in possession of the banks and that to arrive from crushings in progress, would, by the 20th December next, bring op the total to something j over 10,0000z3, and there is no doubt the estimate is considerably under tbe mark. There is a paragraph in our Ballarat correspondent's letter, the Melbourne Argus writes, which will furnish rather a hard not for the anti-emigrationist party to crack at its leisure. It is as follows:—" A number of miners, firstclass men, have been engaged here to proceed to New Zealand ; their wages are to be 12a a day, and twelve months' work guaranteed." Surely it is rather surprising that other colonies should be sending to Viotoria for labor — Victoria the exclusive and protected heaven of the working map, the colony where the grossest injustice has been done to other classes in order that he might be free from competition, both as regards his labor and his productions. And it is still mora curious that there should be no difficulty in getting it. Equally surprising with the rest is the fact, that tbe demand for more labor at a far higher price than is ruling here, abould come from a colony that has been pouring in emigrants by thousands for months past. We have been told over and over again that she never could absorb one half the people bo rapidly thrown upon her shores; but not only has she done that, but here we find her calling out for more, and seeking it near at hand instead of waiting to supply her wants from home. Truly protection and the short-sighted selfishness which stopped immigration have brought things to a pretty pass. Mr J. Reid Mackenzie, a Dunedin sharebroker, reports in the Otago Times that business is dull, and tbe money market tight. He fears there will be no recovery until after tbe shearing, or possibly the return from Europe "cf the very foremost man of the Equator, with his surpassing genius and tact, indomitable pluck and industry, fertility of resource, and entire devotion to the interests of tbe colony." He adds, " Let one and all earnestly pray for his safe and speedy return to tbe land he has so faithfully served, and to whom thousands and tens of thousands owe a deep debt of gratitude for his wise and beneficent measures, in which he has been so ably seconded by oar worthy and talented Superintendent—another of the foremost statesmen in the Southern Hemisphere, who ia still happily amongst us to frown down croakers, laggards, and men of fossilUed ideas." Id somewhat similar rhetorical style Mr Mackenzie delivers himself of about another half column on things in general, until one wonders whether "tightness" is peculiar to the money market. Tasmania appears to have at last thrown off the lethargy which so long affected her, and to have begun in earnest the race of rivalry in which the colonies are engaged. From a table published by tbe Hobarton Mercury, we see that the imports in the first ten months of the present year have increased, from £633,945 in same period of 1871, to not less than £1,029,393. The increase has been gradually, but was most marked in 1873, when for the like term the figures were £914,168, as compared with £646,606 in 1872. Though the exports have not increased to the same tune, they, too, are satisfactory, and indicative of progress. The exports have not for some years — if ever — equalled the imports; hut in the same ten months of .the present year they reached a total of £934,559, against £570,583 in 1871. The New York journals call for more submarine cables across tbe Atlantic. They have become so indispensable to commercial men, who habitually use them, that tbe slightest derangement of the wires throws business into confusion. A few weeks ago, a break occurred in the European cable connecting at St. Pierre. Communication was interrupted for twenty-four hours ; but long before insulation was restored, there was a general outcry. "The valuo of telegraphic communication," writes one of oar contemporaries, " was felt very strongly by the mercantile body, who were left in ignorance of the fluctuations of values in Europe, though owing to the absence of stirring events there, the general public did not feel the interruption very much. Tbe moral of the lesson was, that the public

should not be content to depend ou one or two cobleß terminating at the same point, and therefore exposed to the danger of being rendered useless by the same accident or local cause that disables one. "Prompt communication with Europe," the newspapers say, "is a3 much a necessity now as the morning newspaper, and we cannot be content to remain exposed to the danger of being cut off from hourly information of what is passing in the old world. We must have more ocean cables." What the submarine cables have done for America, will lead to the hope that at least one wire will soon connect New Zealand with the telegraph-circled world.— N. Z. Times.