The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1875.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 37, 12 February 1875, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1875.

1 Thb Colonial Representatives. — Tbo Southern representatives at the receut Colonial Prize Firing will arrive by the Wellington to-uight. It was the intention of our Nelson volunteers to meet them at the wharf, but whether their ardour will be sufficient to induce them to march down -to the port at midnight, wheD the steamer is expected, we have not yet heard. Stray Cattle — A resident in the Wood has written to us complaining of the nuisance occasioned in that district by cattle straying on the roads. He says that people keep cows who have not a particle of land but the streets on which to feed them, and the animals are allowed to stray about to the injury of property and the danger of children's lives and limbs. It is not long since a child narrowly escaped death from being gored by a cow, and our correspondent appears to have very good grounds for his complaint, and a perfect right to aak that the matter should be looked into by the authorities. Hops . — Hop-picking oommenced yesterday in Mr T. Harley's gardens ; this morning it was commenced in Mr Burford's garden, and the remaining growers will commence on Monday next. The crop is exceedingly good this year. Mr. Hollo way's Opinion of New Zealand. — The Edinburgh correspondent of the Otago Daily Times writes:—" Mr Holloway, the delegate from the National Agricultural Laborers' Union, who visited New Zealand daring the earlier part of the

yentj, b*tt WSjported most favorabHprjpon thfc colony as an emigration field. lie saya that*, taking into 'consideration S\t agricultural capability tiiinerai re--Bdui < ceft ) cliitifttfcvand present prosperity, j New Zealand effers more attraction to the emigrant than any other country. This assurance, based aa it ft oft personal inspection of Ithe colony, cannot fail to hftve 6b important influence upon the agricultural laborers of Ify'g-g land who may be thinking of emigrating/ and to whom Canada and the States aro closed for a time. It is likely, too, that Mr Holloway may be able to induce his colleagues in the Executive of the Laborers' Union to send more of their men to New Zealand in the future. Indeed, from a speech made by Mr Arch, it appears that they have already been favorably considering the claims of New Zealand to receive a larger proportion than hitherto of the bone and sinew of the agricultural population of England. In this connection I muy perhaps appropriately mention that, since my return to this country, I have been questioned on all sides as to the condition of affairs in New Zealand, and its capabilities aa a field for emigrants. Working men and others higher in the social scale have beon alike desirous of knowing all about the colony, and the books I possess giving information concerning it have been lent over and over again. I have no reason to believe that mine is an isolated experience, so that it would seem that the emigrating classes — if I may coin a phrase — are eager to learn more about New Zealand, and especially here in Scotland, about Otago. Many questions have been asked me about the Maoris, but out of curiosity, not fear. Indeed, one or two persons have seemed rather disappointed on hearing how few Maoris there aro iv Otago, as if a great part of the romance of emigration thither were thus taken away. When so many are inquiring, it is reasonable to suppose that a fair proportion will be going, so you ought to get a good number of emigrants in the course of the next few months." The Lyttelton Times writes:— "The servants have the whip hand of the mistresses nowadays, it is a case of ' thirty pounds a year and do'aa I like,' frequently combined with idloue.ss,' clumsiness, aud uttor incapacity. Remonstrance for shortcomings is met by the 3tock reply • Please suit yourself aa quickly as convenient,' and so great is the demand, and the facility of obtaining places, that some women become notorious for changing their situations about once a month, and a mistress, however conscientious and considerate she may be, who insista upon her servant doing her work thoroughly, runs a good chance of having to do it herself." --/Lin a town in the Middle Island a man was one day arrested on a charge of obstructing the footpath. Thee onstable gave straightforward, conclusive evidence — the man wns sleeping bolt upright in the street when apprehended. Of course there could be no defence, and the magistrate was about to inflict the customary peualty, when the culprit offered the following ingenious defence ; — His father was a, policeman for many years, and the tendency to fait asleep in an upright attitude wae hereditary. The magistrate said the weakness was perfectly intelligible, many cases of the same kind in policemen having come under his notice, and he discharged the prisoner, adding that he wou'd leave the Court "without a stain upon his character." It is expected, says the Poverty Bay Herald, that about 15,000 bushels of grass seed will be available for market this season. At Patutahi, one firm has gathered 3,000 bushels, and has a considerable quantity still out. They have uo fewer than 150 Maoris in their employ. Cromwell won't bo clean, but does not like to be called dirty. The local papers say that " when news falls flat among the Dunedin editors and their own foul streets and filthy suburbs leave them so interval of leisure, they proceed to ereot a gallows and swing j off the township of Cromwell, to dangle before^ their readers as a hideous beacon to warn all uncleanly townships." The prosperity of the United States appears to be threatened by a serious danger. The New York Timeshv'mgß satistics to prove that the demand for railway sleepers, fences, and firewood is so great that the forests are coming down at the rafe of 8,000,000 acres a year, while the replanting does not exceed 10,000 acres of forest in one year. In ten years, 12,000,000 acreß were destroyed by fire merely to clear the land quickly. In Winconsin 50,000 acres are felled every year, and for Kansas and Nebraska alone a billion feet of timber were cut in a single year. With any other article a rise iv price would soon diminish demand, but in the case of wood, the cutters getting it for nothing, the price decreases with increasing means of communication. Nothing will save the forests under such circumstances except the creation by law of great " forest reserves." The Glasgow Weekly Mail, a paper with a circulation of 140,000, has for several years had v "special cotnrniesioner," whose duty it is to visit nn<l relieve the helpless poor, from funds collected through the Mail, or what is known as the Mail Fund In the Coniraißsionerb' report for the 31st October last, is the following: — -"I might go on multiplying cases of even greater distress, but with one more I will wind up the dreary catalogue. The name will be familiar to many of your readers from its association with a lady who was a few years ago a favorite with the Glasgow public. I mean Miss Aitken

th'o popular alilrebs whoke • labile tehdings' 1 iW<\ ttt dehglitlhe large audiences ilie attracted to the City Hail. Miss Aiikf'n went ou a professional visit to Australia aeVen or c-iijbt years Ago and since that time has been lo£t ftmht of? but ft short tlrite ago h case oi' distress vVaS brought under my notice by v missionary that brought, back the memory of • The May Quoen ' and Bui'iib' ' Cottar's Saturday Night' in an hour with Miss Margaret Aitken. The invalid was the mother of the talented actress, herself a lady in manners and appearance, fend sadly unlike the poverty of her surroundings. Mrs Aitkeu'fl story is a sad one. When a girJj she married James Aitkeo, n popular actor and elocutionist (a 'star' in G-lasgow as some may remember). She had two children, one of whom only survived— Margaret. After her husband's death, Mrs Aitken worked for her own support, and bas continued to do so until broken down by illhealth and misfortune. For a number of years she was stewardess in first-class ships — Australian, American, Indian, &C. — and hoid3 high testimonials from the captains with whom she sailed. Ten years ago she to<|k ague abroad, and Biace that time fier health has gradually broken down." The S. M. Herald of the 23rd ult. writes: — "There probably never was a time in the history of the colony when labor was scarcer than it is at present. There is hardly any department of industry, skilled or unskilled, in which a sufficient number of men can be got to do the work which is offering with reasonable expedition. In many instances it has been difficult to get tenders for works at all, and It is now regarded as altogether hopeless to expect contractors to finish their jobs within a specified time. We believe it is no exaggeration to say that 10,000 men arriving in the colony would all be employed within a month at high rates of wages. We are informed on the authority of the Minister of Works that 4000 additional men might be profitably employed on the present railway contracts alone. Some of the railway contractors have had agents travelling through Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland, but it seemß useless to expect further supplies of labor from the neigttboriQg colonies at present." The Melbourne correspondent of the Otago Pailt/ Times writes : — ln Melwe have hud our water famine too. Duiing the fearfully hot time the Van Yean supply failed to ms^t the demand made upon if, and r» great' deal of distress wos the result. The water supply department, which is conspicuous and supreme amongst our Government offices for ita capabilities of blundering, blundered (his time terribly. A reserve reservoir, which is supposed to be kept full for auch emergencies ns this, was found to be empty at the beginning of the hot week. The department saw itself at once compelled to make the supply intermittent, go as to give ifc to one half of the city at a time ; but, owiug either to to bad management, or to the bad system of reticulation, or to sheer official stupidity, or to all these causes combined, some parts of the city were left without a drop for days together. The management of the department was simply infamous, and if a riot had occurred it would not have been a matter of much wonderment. Melbourne is left to encounter the torrid heats of summer with a supply of water that may fail just when it is most wanted. If, in an outburst of indignation, one or two Ministers are banged about this, however we may condemn such an irregularity, we must admit that there is a feeling of natural justice at the bottom of it ; and I, for my own part, only hope that the right men are laid hold of. In comparison with the sufferings of those thousands of thirsty families, the distresses of men and beasts, the scenes of desolation where, v week ago, were blooming gardens— all the misery, all the loss, all the vexation that has been occasioned by theWiruimil mismauagement of one set after another of unscrupulous popularity-hunters — the hanging of a few of our Ministers, such as they are, would seem n very small matter indeed. We commend the following clipping from the Bruce Herald to the attention of our agricultural and pastoral readers. We understand that the conjunction of other planets is likely to have a similar effect, though probably to a leas degree, to that produced by the transit of Venus, and in any case there is n transit of Venus a few years ben^e. We have no doubt Mr Douglas will be happy to Bupply information on the subject, which is likely to prove of such important interest to the settlers ia the colouy. " John Douglas, Esq., of Mount Royal, sowed £3000 worth of mixed grnss seed this spring on his estate. The results are extraordinary, the 6eed having been sown amongst the tuBsockB. This valuable experiment proves the fact that it is not necessary tor the agriculturists to break up lands for the production of artificial grasses. A due allowance raupt, however, be made in this cane, as Mr Douglas lisked the result on the transit of Venus causing irregular weather. Hie sagacity has won him a success worth, to his estate, £50,000.— Otago Daily Times. The chief product of the Canary Islands now ib cochineal, which hns sprung up into extraordinary importance of late years. Cacti are grown wherever there is a piece of safe ground. On it the mother or madres of the insect are placed. The- plants are soon covered with young insects.