The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1875.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 79, 2 April 1875, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1875.

A Handsome Dividend.— At the annual meeting of the shareholders in the Norwich Union Fire Office, a dividend was declared at the rate of £20 per share of £30 paid up. The dividend was accordingly at the astonishing rate of 60 per cent per annum. Nature at FaulT.—A singular fatal accident happened on Monday lost to one of onr newly-acclimatized b.|r,ds. At Long: Hook-out, about six in the evening,"' a ,bevy 0f ... Calif ornian quail were seen to fly rapidly ., towards the house, and one bird daahed against a window Iwith such force that it fell back on the [jriisa, and waa picked up, dead. No hawk or other bifd : was seen in chase. . Accident. — A- serious accident occurred'- yesterday afternoon at the excavations now being carried on at .the back of Mr: Jones' hp.use'ou road. A number of man were.engaged in petting out jearth . for 'the railway works, when a; quantity of -stuff tell without givjng the slightest warning, and one large lump struck !one -of the ; men, named Thomas Williams, on- the leg, causing; a compound fracture of the bone just above the ancle; joint; Dr Scaly was soon in attendance, and farwarded the unfortunate roan to ! ,the hospital. Williams has a large family of nine children, and an invalid wife. Harmon/c Society.— The annual meeting of members and -subscribers was held at the Society's Roonarlaat night. A hearty vote of thanks 1 was tendered to Mr Cutley, who resigned the office of Secretary, for hia valuable services which had extended over so many years, and the opinion was generally expressed that, had it not been for his exertions and tact, the Society must have broken up long since. The following officers were elected for tho ensuing year:- — President, Mr D. Monro, Vice-Presidents, Messrs Gully and E. W. Bunny; Secretary and Treasurer, Mr Fell; Committee, Messrs Catley, Scaife, Blundell, Stanton, Leighton, and A. Bunny. The Post says it is reported that Mr Miller, F.S.A., is likely to be appointed Provincial Engineer of Nelson. As high as 105 bushels of oats to the acre has been obtained in East Hawkesbury. 102 bushels were threshed from an acre paddock, the crop being the ninth in succession without manuring, From other parts of the district as much as 90 bushels of oats have boen produced, the lowest average exceediag 50 bushels per acre. A magnificent trout was captured in the Shag River on lha 18th. Its dimensions were — Length, 28in; girlb, 16in; weight, 9£lbs. It may be interesting to some of your "farmer friends" to know the yield of the black Norwegian oats which I got from Australia two years ago. I commenced threshing a 350 acre paddock of them a few days ago. The first fifteen hours' threshing gave 480 bags of first and second, the total averaging four bushels per bag, and at the rate of ninety-six bushels per acre for the space cleared. Some parts of the field grew a denser crop than that which is now threshed. — Star. A Napier paper mentions a new industry in that town — pocket picking — and addß : — A surer sign of the prosperity of tho province, and the giant strides we have lately been making on the great road to civilisation, than is afforded by tho fact of the members of this profession finding it worth their while to establish themselves here, it is hard to imagine.

{aboul three; years ago sonije ii|ree d(!ze|f| jyounigi cgrj* werP. libe|s|ed^|n Lak|f 'Taupoi JTheqe fish ha anjpat Tokano are Betting them wholesale, . stringing and drying them, as eels and young sharks are prepared for keeping by the Maoris. Many of the carp that have beep/ caught weigh between four and ffve founds; ■ - : f *. On Sunday last one of the strangest .scenes ever witnessed in a Roman Catholic church took place in Oamaru, when a clergyman in his sacerdotal robes denounced from the altar certain members of the congregation. Father Donovan in very strong language stated that the promoters of the recent "H.A.B.C.'s ball, in consenting, in deference to other people's feelings, to leave ouf; the Pope's health, were unworthy of the name of irishmen or Roman Catholics, and that they should be shunned and avoided by his congregation. The proceedings are likely to form the subject of actions in the law courts at the suit of members of Father Donovan's congregation^ unless ample apologies are made to the men so publicly spoken of and stigmatised by him. An Auckland telegram of Saturday last snys:— A psseenger by the India, named Thomas William Bouhon, about 19 years of age, was assaulted last night in Hobson-street by two men. He did not observe any one in the vicinity one of the two* men seized him. When he was thrown down\>n the footpath, one of them put his knees on his arms, while his pockets were rifled by the other. Their object being accomplished, he was lifted over the fence into a paddock. Before lifting him over the fence, one of the ruflians gave him a hard kick on the right side, a little below the axilla. By the blow and rough trentment he received, he was in a semi-conscious state when he fell on the ground-on the inner side of the fence, but was of opinion, from the sound of their receding footeteps,\thai they went up Hobson-street towards Wellington or Pitt-street, About ten minutes elapsed before he was sufficiently recovered to be able to climb over the fence, and thus regain the street. While lying on the footpath, he noticed that both men wore long black masks, which came about a foot below the chin. Though he saw their eyes .-'.through round holes cut in the masksj he would hp.t be able to recogniso them ugainj^' He says he has been threatened by two] men for evidence given in the Police Court in arcase connected with the:ehfp, but owing to the long masks he coult] not recognise his assailants. ■-■» v > It is not generally known ;(says a Queensland paper), that sharks do not confine themselves. ? io salt water. In i the neighborhood', and :for several miles above: the Binjgera Falls, (..these un- .", pleasant bathing^companious.aTe neither few nor far betoreeTsn. !: poly'"' Very recently; whilst some^of the ndti^e. blacks were disporting.. themselves iothe water near the Cidgera station, a shark some six feet in length suddenly made his appearance in (heir , midst,- and not : beingiof a very delicate {urn of mind, losj; up time in {'appropriating the foot of a imme'd Eureka jCharley: but -Charley, '"hot' 5 appreciating the friendly grip, by "a^desperati kick freed i himself, leaving -however, '-his siiarkehip 'the greater part of his big; toe. It has always been understood that sharks would, not touch a blackfellow, but it. seems the Burnett 'sharks will; and we; regret that sucti' is the case, because j our. sable brothjer.s -|>are not, as a rule, overburdened wi't'lV'a sense of.c!eanli- ; ness, and we are f afraid that Eureka! Charley's adventure will cause them — for a season at least — to eschew anything in the shape of awash. A quarryman in Wales has bitten; hia neighbor's nose- off. Tho unhappy! affair resulted in a county court action at Carnarvon, which was tried recently, when Thomas Parry wns sued for ■damages for injuring John Roberts. It; anpeared by tho evidence that Parry aijd Roberts are quarrymen, and wer« "chaffiug" together iv the quarry. The "chaff" led to a quarrel, aud the quarrel, to a personal encounter, in the course! of which Parry " got the end of the plaintiff's nose between his teeth and bit a portion away." Roberts not only; lost part of his nose, but also much of his money; for he was under a doctor's hands for a month, and for two months was unable to work. It was urged ori Parry's behalf by his counsel that he' was a man of irreproachable character, who had for seventeen years occupied a prominent position in one of the religious communities at at Penpgroes.' He had in a moment of extreme fright,' anger, and excitement, committed an act for which he desired to express the most sincere contrition. The jury assessed the damages at £25 — not an excessive amount, considering all things! —fall Mall Gazette. A correspondent of the Scotsman writes: — In the present scarcity of gold it may be satisfactory to hear of the discovery of fresh goldfields in India. From time immemorial gold has been found in certain streamß running from the Neilgherry hills in ludia, and quite recently gold reefs have been discovered iv the coffee plantations in the Wynand, the watershed of these streams. The country there is partly the property of the native rajahs, partly of English coffee planters. The latter have already begun to work the goldfields with machinery from Australia. The yield is about 2 ozs to the ton. This dier covery is of such importance that the Governor of Madras has gone to the hills to inspect the goldfietch. l