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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 76, 17 March 1876, Page 4

The Colac Thnes (Victoria) in reporting the placing of a numhpr of fish in Lake .Colac, Bays :— " When thereat of tho fish had been consigned to/the' <!e r elp, Mr'Adara Rea called upon those present to join him in offering up a prayer for tbe success of the venture.", .An unlimited supply of cognac was subsequently disposed of.

The walking match between Mrs Wiltshire and Mr Edwards came off at the Odd Fellows' Hall, at Wellington, on Saturday last, (March 11), the attendance being really excellent. Mrs. Wiltshire started first to walk the six miles,. Edwards having agreed to give her onovinile start in seven miles. She commenced in splendid style, and walked throughout in a manner which excited,general admiration and surprise. Although the atmosphere was exceedingly' 1 closes sl_e maintained^ a steady pace, occasionally putting on beautiful spurts. The six miles was accomplished in 57 minutes 40 seconds. Edwards then started to walk the seven miles. He completed the first mile in 7 minutes 10 seconds, and walked the first two miles in 15 minutes 20 seconds. At this point Edwards (who had previously had no training) succumbed to the heat, which of course had been increased during the evening, and became veryosickJ But he recovered, and manfully went at his task amid the cheering of the audience. Tbe general opinion was that he could not accomplish .the .feat . he had set himself to perform, and he himself was doubtful of success. He did his best, however, and cacfiejlp with a splendid spurt tbe last mite victorious, bavin-? performed tbe distance in 57 minutes 25 seconds, being r ls seconds less than the time in which Mrs Wiltshire walked the six miles. This performance of Edwards was really wonderful, considering that he was totally unprepared for walking in the matter of training.

The Sydney Morning Herald says it has seen at the oflice of the New Zealand Insurance Company two pieces of stuff resembling slog, which, it appears, is really wool whicb haa been burned, and which was taken from the inside of a bale on board the barque Corinth at Brisbane. . During the stb, says 'the. Brisbane Telegraph, a smell of fire was prevalent on board the ship snd around the wharf, and the smell increasing in the evening, one or two of the bales in the hold were tried, and being fouud considerably heated, were sent ashore again. Next morning, on beiug opened, they were found to have been overheated and smouldering, and a quantity of wool in the bales was completely destroyed. About twenty more \ bales were then sent ashore, ripped open, and found to be very damp; and in all probability, had it not been discovered in time, the flames would have burst out before the Corinth had been long at sea, when the consequences would have been most serious. lt is to state that the combustion occurred in scoured wool.

The following from a recent issue of the Melbourne Leader, is well worthy of reproduction :— Persons who bave effected insurances on their lives would do well to insist that, their ages should be admitted by the directors and endorsed on their policies, otherwise their representatives may find it very hard to get the insurance money ; for there are many persons, especially in tbis country, whose friends would find it difficult to bring forward evidence of the exact date of their birth which would satisfy an insurance office which did not want to be saisfied. A very unpleasant case has recently been brought under my notice. A gentleman, aged 59, died very suddenly. The newspapers erroneously stated that his age was 62. For uo other reason whatever the office in which deceased had insured his life for more than fifteen years resisted payment, and threatened to compel the widow to force them into a court of law. Of course the poor lady hesitated to take so extreme a step aud eventually the company compromised. I oannot well conceive anything meaner thau thus to take advantage of families at the very time they are plunged iuto the deepest distress.

In speaking of the stoppage of operations of the Petroleum Company at Poverty Bay, the Poverty Bay Herald says : — '' There are strong indications that the existence of the Poverty Bay Petroleum and Kerosene Company is fast drawing to a close. A meeting of the shareholders is announced to lake place in the Court-house, on Wednesday next, whet), after a statement of the present position of the Company bas been laid on the table, the shareholders; will be called upon to decide what shall be the next step. Very little has been heard of the doings of this Company during the past montb or two, for the, simple reason that there was very little going ou. The Manager continued boring, and had attained a depth of some 150 feet juat prior to the flood. During the heavy rains a serious slip occured, which displaced a portion of the boring plant, and caused an instantaneous stoppage in the works. This lasc mishap, following so closely on the heels of mauy previous ones, induced the directors to suspend operations, and we have good reason for believing that, at the meetiog on Wodnesday evening, they wili express themselves Btrongly in favor of winding up the Company altogether. Our belief in the value of the Company's ground' is not one whit diminished, nevertheless, we fully coincide with the directors regarding the advisability M wiudjng up the Company."

We (Australasian) are glad to learn that classes for dressmaking have been commenced at the Melbourne Home, and that there is every probability of their being as successful as 'the cookery classes which were held last year, and which gained such universal approbation. We learn that the latter will be renewed shortly.

A death from an unusual cause bas occurred at Lincoln. A grocer named Picker, who keeps fowls, waß feeding them, when a bantam cock spurred him in the left thumb. Mortification set in, and all efforts to save the man's life proved unavailing.

The Argus of Thursday says : — Mr. Redwood's horses Korari and Amohia are on board the Taupo, on their way hence to Dunedin. From Mr Redwood's trainer we hear that there is no foundation whatever for tbe statement that Amohia is lame. Sbe is at the present moment " as flt as a fiddle," the statement to the contrary being the usual dodge on the part of the bookmakers to " bull " the betting market. Mr Redwood baa two two-year-olds on board, who are to take part in tbe Christchurch Autumn meeting. The people of Queenatown are getting up a purse of sovereigns for presentation to Mr Manders, M.H R. A correspondent of the local journal remarks : — " It should not be supposed that those who opposed him will not take an interest in Bending a representative in an independent state, financially, to Wellington. The temptations there will be great, and until we get payment of members, the electors are bound to place tbeir members above pecuniary anxiety." lis this correspondent ignorant of the fact that members are already paid, and that pretty handsomely ?

"iEgles" writes in the Australasian : — The etiquette of the Legislative Assembly is for some one to call somebody else a liar and then to apologise for the lie. For it seems to me that if an hon- member falsely accuses his fellow of falsehood, the withdrawal is an admission that the accuser was himself false. Now, as this curious and edifying ceremonial occurs under strongly similar conditions several times during each week, one is irresistibly led to the conclusion tbat Parliament is not exactly a Palace of Truth. Nothing can be more honorable tban an acknowledgement of error, and as our representatives afford themselves suoh constant opportunities of consuming their own smoke (I might put it much more coarsely), it is easy to understand how lofty is the pinnacle of honor to which they aspire.

Philadelphian Statistics .— As Philadelphia is to be the seat of the great Centennial Exhibition of 1876, large bodies of foreigners will doubtless visit it, Consul Kortright in his commercial report on that port, just issued, details, for their information the followiog accurately collected statistics, which give at a glance the general aspect of the city. Philadelphia has a population of nearly 800,000, and it lives in an area of 129 -J square miles. The city has 1000 miles of streets and roads open for use, and over 500 of tbese are paved. It is lighted by nearly 10,000 gas-lamps. The earth beneath conceals and is penetrated by 134 miles of sewers, over 6CO miles of gas mains, and 546 miles of water-pipes. It has over 212 milea of city railways, and nearly 1794 city railroad cars passing over these railroads daily ; 3,025 steam boilers ; over 400 public schools, with suitable buildings, and over 1,600 school teachers, and over 80,000 pupils. It has over 34,000 bath-rooms, most of wbich are Bupplied wiih bot water, and for the use of the water ot low rates the citizens pay more than half-a-million of dollars annually ; it bas over 400 places of public worship, and accommodation in tbem for 300,000 persons ; it has nearly 9 000 manufactories, with a capital of 185,000,000 dollars, employing 145,000 bands, the annual product of whose labor is over 384,000,000 dollars. It exported, in 1873, in value over 24,000,000 dollars, and imported in value over 26,000,000 dollars ; the amount for duties in gold was nearly 8,500,000 ; the real estate, as assessed for taxation, was over 158,000,000. dollars, and there was collected nearly 9,000,000 dollars for taxes. The lunded debt in 1873 was 51,697,147 dollars, and the annual outlay in 1873, inclusive of interest on debt, was 7,726,123. It has Parks and public squares, and Fairmount Park, which is one of them, contains 2,991 acres, and is one of the largest parks in the world.

In a cricket match' recently played in ihe Waikato an eleven pot seven runs in their second innings,' and the score was made up of byes and wides. An 'amusing account is given in the Fiji Times of a matter in which. Iha nevj/ colony was concerned, ahd which led! to diplomatic correspondence between the Foreign Offices of Eogl-ind and Germany, and a threatened dis T turpanceof the pacific relations' between' the: two empires. When* Fiji was still a kingdom under Cakobau Rex, and its destinies were ruled by Thurston, Woods, and Co., there was a rebellious Germau resident of Levuka, who refused to pay tbe Customs dues imposed by the Government. The Government insisted on payment, and be persisted in his refusal. A resort to arms was threatened, and a revolution seemed imminent, when a peacemaker interfered in the shape of a captain of one of Her Majesty's ships of war. He requested the rebellious Teuton to accept the hospitality of his ship for a short time. The invitation was accepted with all cordiality, aod after a few, pleasant days passed beneath the British flag, the guest quitted the ship well pleased with his entertainers, and the ! quiet solution of the threatened diflieulty. But while in Fiji the little disturbance bad become a matter of bistpry and almost forgotten, tbe two gre^t Powers, it appears, have been in serious correspondence about it. The captain of the man-of-war oharged the sum of 12s. 6J. for tbe entertainment of his guest ; and that sum duly appeared upon his' accounts when' they were presented to the Lords of tbe Admiralty. Shocked that the " department" should be expected to pay so enormous an amount — one for which no provision had been made in tbe Estimates, tbe Admiralty forwarded the " little bill " to the Foreign Oflice, which at once placed itself in communication with the Imperial Government of Germany ; and, after several reams of correspondence and much diplomatic reference to blue books and to precedents, not wholly unaccompanied with vague allusions to probable consequences, tbe Chancellor, Prince Bismark, directed that the sum should be paid to the British authorities, who thereupon withdrew all expressions calculated to endanger the entente cordiale, and gave a receipt for the twelve shillings and sixpence, in full of all demands. Armed with this important document, the Kaiser has commanded his trusty and well-beloved Frederick W. Henniogs, Consul-general > in these seas, to ask, demand, sue for, and recover the said sum of 12a. 6d. frem tbe persou or persons on whose account it thus became a liability of the Imperial Germanic Government ; and that person, Mr. Frederick Schulle, is now called upon to pay the same. But Mr. Schulle is no longer' in Fiji — and again must official authority go to work with despatches, seals, foreign messengers, &c, and Tonga and Samoa probably be menaced witb the frowns of German armaments if the said 12-1. 6d. be not paid.