The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 1875.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 133, 4 June 1875, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 1875.

Serious Fire. — By our telegrams it will be seen that; an extensive fire occurred at Eeefton this morning, involving a serious loss of property. As the insurances effected were but trifliug compared with, the value of the property destroyed, it is to be feared that the effects of the fire will be disastrous to those concerned. Our Uasworks. — Last night darkness was once wore upon the face of the earth, hnd in the shops, and in the billiard rooms, and in the newspaper offices, and in the public bars, and in the private houses, and in the Btreetß, and everywhere, in fact, where there should have been gaslight. la (he gasholder shrinking and growing visibly lees every day, or what is the matter? Gas consumers are getting very sick of this state of things, and kerosene lamps and oil will soon be looking up. The Torres Straits mull steamer Brisbane arrived at Townsvillo on the 18th, and landed 340 Chinese at Cooktown. Among the passenger was Sir A. Gordon, Governor of Fiji, also Narcisse Peltier de Stigilli, formerly a boy in the French ship Si. Paul, whioh was wrecked at Roesel Island in 1858, with 300 Chinese on board, all of whom except seventeen were enteu by the natives. The master and crew started overland, and abandoned the boy. They were picked up by a vessel, aud landed at New Caledonia. The boy was found by some natives, who treated him kindly, and be lived on the islands for seventeen years. He was discovered *qu the 11th of Aprii last by Captain Fraser, of the John Bell. lie lauded at Brisbane. The Saxon virtue of speaking out bis mind is to be claimed by Mr Fitzpatrick, M.L A., id New South Wales. Having occasion to refer to a fellow member (Mr Buchanan) in a recent debate, the boo. gentleman did so io the following terms : — "lt was one of the peiile of which public men must run the risk. Constituted as they were, it was possible for -. ot^epee! in intemperance ...j uncleanliness of life —a m-*v wbo9e lips teemed with pollution — who had uo words even for their Queen on her throne but invective — a man bo drunk and diesipated as to be kicked out of the kitoben of a Iste ; member of this House— to be taken in the street in a filthy state of intoxication, and wheeled in a wheelbarrow, and actually carried into the lock-up, a festering mass of human filth, such a man — did he say a man?— such a tiling, defiling a place in this Chamber, and confronting him or any other honest man, might find a place among them and void its filth upon anything that was pure aud honest and upright." Mr Buchanan said this description was 'simply falsehoods, simply li«a."