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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 78, 1 April 1875, Page 2

Hakmonic Sqciett. — The annual meeting of members and subscribers will be held at the Society's room, at 7 o'clock thia evening, for the purpose of. electing officerß,,&c. '.. Waimfa Westh— -A ; correspondent writes this morning: — \Yhat is usually termed n hop feast.'was yießterday giren by Mr John Palmer of Waimea West to his hop pickers nnd a numerous body of friends. Sports of various descriptions were indulged in during the afternoon, and. in the evening tbe whole of the party adjourned to (he large ball room, where, after- doing ample justice to the good thing 8 set before them, dancing was commenced, and kept up with great spirit till the small hours to the strains of the Waimea West band, which by the- wny discoursed gome very excellent music. Mr Pulmer cultivates about six acres of hops, the whole of which, excepting a few yearlings, will average about a ton to the acre. The laud in the immediate I neighborhood of the hop gardens in i Waimea West seems ppecially adapted to the growth of hops, and we may hope that at no distant date these will form one of the principal items in our export list. Good Templars.— -The full degreemembers of the city lodge 3 met last evening, according to circular, in the Temperance Hall. After formally dissolving the provisional temple, Bro. A. Wilkie, Special Deputy, G.W.C.T., organised the "Union of Nelson" Degree Temple, No. 3, of New Zealand South. The officers for the term ending February Ist, 1876, being elected, were installed as follows : — Degree Templar, Bro A. Wilkie ; D. Vice-Templar, Bro J. Pilkington ; D. Secretary, Bro W. T. Sherwood; D.F. Secretary, Bro A. G. Betts ; D. Treasurer, Sister E. K. Lucas; D. Chaplain, Bro W H. Berry; D. Marshal, Bro J. Sherwood ; D. Guard, Bro J. Webb;; D. Sentinel, Bro W. Runkio; D.D. Marshal, Bro B. Murphy; Past Degree Templar, Bro W. T. Bond. On die from the Grey Argus of Good Friday that twelve spinsters and bachelors at present, and six happy couples in prospective, are hopefully; but impatiently waiting at Reefton, to be united iv the silken bonds of matrimony after Easter. Every Beatrice and Benedick among them is said to be anxiously but religiously wishing for the termination of Holy Week for more reasons than onr. Tho absurd extent to which prizegiving is carried in New Zealand schools is shown by a published report of school examination at Macrae's Flat, a small out-of-the way place in Otago. Forty-two prizes were given, the list culminatiug in two special prizes — one. each to the most amiable boy and most amiable girl in the school. The unbounded delight of the parents of all rejected candidates may be imagined. The Marlborough Times of 23rd instant says : — An adjourned meeting of members of the Church of the Nativity was held lust evening ia

E|art|§ilalit ijis kibrdship the Bishop°f;||elsMi was ixj tb/echaii, having coma fr|^ 3|ijcton e&presaly to attend the m sss& el i e w &? a good attend- • anceparia considerable interest wafl manifested in the business for which/ the meeting was held. It was decided that a new church be built, and that the one now in use should be appropriated r,fpr the purpose of a Sabbath school. !j iThe church is to be built on the ground now in occupation but nearer the road. A committee Was appointed to carry out the object of the meftUyOg. „ „ . .-,,,. The honorable member /or Hastings* Mr T. Brassey, wbo is on a cruise in I his yacht, the Sunbeam, has Sent home for publication a Beries of letters relating to his voyage; Dating from Constantinople* he writes^ relative to the Government of Turkey : — " The authorised civil list of the Sultan is about £1,200,000 a year. All along the shores of ; the Bospborus vast palaces and elaborate kiosks occur in succession at a distance of a little more than a mile apart. Some of these buildings are furnished in the most costly style. The daily dinner of the Sultan — he always dines alo.ne~consißts of 94 dishes, and 10/ p^her njeßls are prepared in case it should be his fancy to partake of them. He has 800 horses, fOO wives* attended and guarded, by 350 eunuche. For this enormous household 40,000 oxen are yearly slaughtered, and, according to Murray, the purveyors are required to furnish daily 200 sheep, 100 lambs or goats, 10 calves, 200 hens 3 200 pairs of pullets, 100 pairs of pigeons, and 50 green geese. Between the profligate luxury of the establishment of ihe Sovereign and the miserable poverty of too many of his subjects, the contrast, is truly melancholy. The incomes of the /.principal Ministers of State are such as would grievously shock* the radical reformers of our own country. The ealary of the Grand Vizier is £30,000,- of the Minister of Public Works, £11,000; and so on in proj portion for the other principal Minis- | ters." Galignani states that, the French Stamp Office has just purchased the secret of the composition of an ink absolutely iudelible, and which resists the strength of all known re-agentp. Owing to that discovery it will be able to put an end to the numerous frauds which are constantly committed to the prejudice of the Treasury, , and which 6 msist in restoring to Btamped paper already used its original purity. , The annual loss to the revenue on that head is calculated at £600,000 in the department of the Seine alone.