The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 1875.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 82, 6 April 1875, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 1875.

Tiie brief telegraphic summary of the Superintendent of Canterbury's speech in opening the Provincial Council, as reported in our yesterday's telegrams, presents a strange contrast to those which we in Nelsou are accustomed to hear from our chief executive officer upon similar occasions, and shows bow very marked is the difference between the condition of our own province and that of our wealthy neighbor. The progress reported to havo been made in the agricultural department is so enormous that we can scarcely credit tho tale told us by the wires. That 90 000 additional acres should have been brought into cultivation in the short space of twelve months is, if it be correct, indeed a giant stride in the onward march of this rapidly advancing district. But ifc requires confirmation, and we are scarcely prepared to give full credence to the statement until a fuller report of the speech haa reached us. The amount expected to be realised by the sale and lease of land had* not beeu reached by £40,000. In the- comparatively impecunious province of Nelson we. should look upon a revenue of £40,000 from such a source as something extraordinary, and worthy of a special paragraph in the Superintendent's opening address, and lhe fact that there exists such n deficit in tbe actual os compared with the estimated receipts will probably give a better idea of the enormous resources of our wealthy sister than anything else could have done. At the same time, it may be the little straw that' shows how the wind blows, nnd be regarded as the first indication that henceforth the revenues of Canterbury are not going to keep up tothe mark that has hitherto made her the envy of those less favored provinces, iv which the receipts from land Bales bave for years past been reckoned by hundreds rather than by thousands and tens of thousands. Perhaps ifc was some such thought as this that induced the Superintendent to coquette 'with the proposal to abolish the provinces, and to declare that any change in • the Constitution must be such as would apply to the whole colony. The* result of the immigration policy appears to have been hif-bly satisfactory in Canterbury, over 10,000 of " an excellent class of immigrants " having been introduced during the year, while the railways are progressing at a rate that would almost 1 justify a passing breach of the tenth commandment amoDg Nelsonians. When we heßr of the 209 miles of railways that will shortly be available for traffic in the neighboring province, it is scarcely to be wondered at if we regard with a slight sensation of disgust the paltry little nineteen-mile line, in the construction of which so much "leisure" has beeu expended in our lesß favored district. Still, however, let our mouths water as much as they may when we read of euch progress elsewhere, we can eincerely congratulate the Superintendent and people of Canterbury upon their rapid advancement and substantial prosperity. To them have been given vast areas of rich agricultural and pastoral land easy of access; to us large deposits oi minerals. It may be that some day we shall require all their surplus meat and grain to teed our dense mining population. At all events the prospect is a pleasant and agreeable one, and its realisation by no means impossible, even though under existing circumstances it has au air of improbability. ■ ' '"•_■______.

Auckland appears to be hard pressed ior money wherewith to educate its youth. List year showed a deficiency of £8000 under this particular head, and the Board is unable to *"' carry on." Bir George Grey, the new Superintendent, haa promised to provide sufficient funds to keep the system alive until the meeting of tho Council, but what is to be done then? Is there uot something ominous to the cause he so valiantly espouses, when we fiud the great champion of Provincial instii tutions asserting that education, the j promotion of which should be tbe first i care of a legislature, "is of such impor-

tance that.it should be (jleaJlt witfy, by the General Government??' Did/ $ir Gebrge,;in making-sdich^ statement, fully appreciate its true ndqnning, Or'its bearjn&;inpon the position .he has ..ta'ken up? ' Provincial Governnients are not capable of dealing with matters of importance, ergo Sir George Grey, erstwhile Governor of New Zealand, is now to be regarded as the head of a body to which .-'.the administration of trifling and unimportant affairs alone is to bo entrusted. Far better that you had .remained, in the. seclusion of Kawiiu, Sir George, since one of your firat official utterances has of necessity beeu of a nature so humiliating to yourself and your Provincial protege.

We have to-doy, the 6th of April, to acknowledge the receipt from the Government printers of tho Provincial Government Gazette of the 3rd instant. The Customsrevenue collected at the port of Nelson during the quarter ending March 31, amounted to £10,616. It is notified that John Millar, Esq, CE,, F.S.A., has been appointed Provincial Eugineer and chief surveyor of this province. Artizans' Association. — The members of thia Society will give their quarterly entertaintneufc this evening. The piece they have selected is a popular one, and tha little company will, no doubt, have, as usual, the satisfaction of performing to a crowded house. In the Grey River Argus of a recent date there appears a telegram under tho heading "Press Agency," in which it is stated that several cases of typhoid fever bad occurred in Nelson. The local agent requests us to state that the telegram was not sent by him. An extraordinary occurrence is reported from Tauranga, the whole of the telegraph staff there beiog at present prostrate, with measles?, which are eaid to be very prevalent in the district. The line was closed for a time, until the arrival of an operator Irom another elation. But who is to tusure him agaiust measles ? The Plague of Measles. —Tbe Fiji correspondent of tbe Auckland Herald writes concerning this disease which has proved fatal to so many hundreds of natives :—-At first they buried them in coffins, but they Boon found out that.they had not enough of carpenters to make the coffins, so they had to resort to mats Atone time it was seriously- spoken of :to; take the bodies outside.the reef aud sink them there. I think, it-would have been the wieest plan, and have prevented more sickness, as the gr.aveyard is quite full, and some of the bodies have only been buried from six to eleven inches under the ground. The natives aod foreign laborers only scratch the ground a few inches deep and cover the body over, ond the late heavy rain has .washed tbe sol off, and -thei smell is something horrible. ; You can imagine the result when the hot weather sets;ih,. A great many white children , have died of measles, and dysentery iis very prevalent. A cutter has just arrived from Anghu, and reports that a great many natives are lying dead, and no one will bury them. The Government*are doing all in their power. They-have sent medicines to all the towns, and have men going amongst them, but they take neither food nor medicine.- I have iust heard that six.out" of the seven mountaineer chiefs came down to give in their allegiance to the-Governor have been carried off by the measles, and the mortality i amongßt the natives has been frightful. It is only when I the vessels arrive from the different islands that we hear of tho extent of the disease. Disease has done its work with greater severity and more fatal consequences in Victoria-than has been the case in any of the sister colonies. In New Zealand the death rate for the last two months has been very great, but the results have not been anything like what is chronicled in other places. In Melbourne proper, without taking in the suburbs or outside districts, the fell destroyer has created so many caps that there is scarcely a family but what, within the period of a few weeks, has' had to mourn the loss of one of its members The actual number of deaths in Melbourne during January was 992, while the average deaths during the last two years for tbe same montb only amounted to 437. The causes for the great number of these cases are set down to sunstroke, diarrhoea, dysentery, and measles, brought on by a deficient supply of water, the absence of proper drainage, unwholesome food, and badly constructed dwellings. —Herald. Dr Aicken writes as follows on the means of extinguishing fires on shipboard:—"l have for many years en-' deavored to convince sceptical individuals that nothing is easier than to extinguish a lire iv the hold of a ship - It matters not what her cargo may be composed of, carbonic acid gas will speedily extinguish any fire, provided atmospheric air be excluded. The hold', of a ship is precisely the place into which the requisite quantity of enrbonic acid gas could be pumped to annihilate the greatest possible conflagration in the hold, as well as the smallest spark of fire. Common chalk, or bi-carbonate ofsodo, acted on by dilute sulphuric,] acetic, or any cheap acid, will develop gas; the articles are very cheap, and tho merest tyro iv chemistry can show how it can be accomplished. It is a disgrace to this scientific age to find Government and emigrant ships unfurnished with fire annihilatorß.'^