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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 139, 3 June 1876, Page 2

Captain Campbell- Walker, head of the States Forests Conservation, is at present at the Thames. '■ Carp are increasing in great numbers in the Lake districts. They are evidently very partial to hot water, as it is in the vicinity of Euapeka where they are generally seen disporting themselves.

Several cases* of fstacl&burning have recently occurred Jn Otago, and in two case* Coroners' juries? haye;'decided thatf the fires were thp wbrk of an incendiary, | but .] no ; trace of theWminal has been j foun4 in Either instance. . x j \ v The marriage i^of >~De Murska witHf Hill has been the occasion of mingled feelings of pain and surprise in Melbourne. It has in no way added to her popularity, and the sympathy so lately '%xpressedVf6r |her inf her bereavement j and the arising- but of her* pecuniary difficulties with Anderson's family have given place to ja feeling which may be best expressed in the" colloquial > expression '-- '* Serves yheu right." Though her marriage is nobody's busiaess but her own, people,wilL» •talk, and do ..say that,,their opinion is ntbat there^was a —^vell^not a discreet haste in a marriage consummated four or .fiYejwpeSs after the deathVoft'ohe^r whom she expressed suchi a deep re- ' gard, though it was unworthily returned. The Melbourne people feel £ trifle fooled. -They won-'t -gush "so Rigorously over the next '". divitip' songstress*' that exchanges so many :-'*! notes "J with ..them.',; ; \\.[\\\\\rs i «.' j, wAv} t>v..f The Melbburn'e 1 correspondent of the Otago Daily^ Times- write* i— " The Governments is ' going pn^irjbm one bjunder~td another in itß^deaiij^withr, Mewsjri Stevenson; aud'S btiit" ano^grWe other importers. When the statements 'against . the_ Stevenson firm were first made, they were accepted -by. the public as true, coming as they^did^ on the authority of the Government, and being inherently not at all improbable. But the case has been so grossly mismanaged by the Government, the course of detaining the letters of the firm was so outrageous, and that of delivering them with a mean threat was so contemptible, the conduct of the Customs towards the firm In needlessly opening every, package and case for . the mere purpose of causing inconvenience Ana delay , has } been ,so . vindictive and tjrrranicai, that public opinion has gone round in favor of the firm as the victim of gross injustice and persecution, Tn l e * * Commissioner of Customs, Mr Ander- - son, has shown ah amount of incompetence, bad taste, lack of judgment, vand want of taste and discretion over this affair. Astonishing,.]^ mean, not as coming from him, as there,. . was no reason to anticipate any great • display of wisdom from him, but as showing what a depth of imbecility -may be compatible with a fair- amount, , of success in /public: jm3 ? Tprofessionaj^ life." A money-lender of Cambridge has been mulcted .by a jury, in the sum of . £100 damages under' rather" unusual < circumstances. He lends money at ah""' immense interest to the undergraduates of the University, and lent some to Mr. F. H. Linkla'er, a young man 20 years of age. * The money lenjipryrfe warned by Mr. Linklater's father that he would pay no such debts for his son, but nevertheless be^lent the sptpmoreF money ; aid ion the father's refusal to| pay, prosecuted the son for obtaining money under false pretences. The charge was dismissed by the magisr tratee, and Mr. Linklater then brought;' an action for malicious prosecution. There was the 'usual amount of hard swearing, the money-lender contending,, that Mr. Linklater, jun. — a very weak ' young man, who, after promising not; f to borrow, borrowed immediately— had misrepresented his age; but the jury ; gave a verdict for the plaintiff,, ;w|thj. £100 damages. A French correspondent, of the Melbourne Argus relates an anecdote touching a conversation held, between.the King of Prussia and an Ambassador :— "Let us for a moment forget,", said hia Prussian Majesty, " that lam a King and you are an Ambassador of Russia, and let us inquire of each other whether, pur two nations, friendly. ..a^,. they are now and for ever, should they by an cause impossible to foresee iall into a quarrel—- -whether',' I sayytbeywould wage war on each other, and how ; would the war., be, carried .on 2 ; You are a general, and the matter must j have occupied your thoughts, more than" once. I have thought of ' it many l a time. Come, now, let os lay 7 down a plan." It could not be anything „elee, than a . simple, subject of conversation, , a mere game to wile away, the time.; the contingency alluded to by the King? was, as he said, an utter impossibility.. However a table was brought, and/t^b". maps were spread out thereon, a map ) of Prussia, and a map of Kussia, marches, and counter-marches, so to say, chalked out upon thrm/ and. com r >ri parieons drawn between the muskets,' artillery, jand. cavalry, .of the two. nations. "Prussia posses the best artillery in Europe*" " True, sire, so Sadowa has Bhown." "And thejkte' of battles is decided by artillery." After having shown how he proposed to move his guns about when once ob Russian soil j " I can easily see where the war^ would be parried on." Then said the Russian statesman mildly, ' " But I don't see where peace would be made. You may get into Moscow, sire, but 0 you -must remember tha/t you cannot get out of it." The King laughingly replied : /"But we are only talkj^ ing of mimic warfare." "Let us hope/)' said the statesman, "that we shall never know any other." Meanwhile the study of the Russian language has been declared compulsory < throughout all the military schools in Prussia, as the study of French was before 1870; and no Prussian officer, it is said, is to be met with who has not in his (pocket i a map of the Baltic provinces of Russia,^ as formerly he had, abbut him a map ! ,of the departments^ of the north and east Of France. e :,i ; ;:;•..,- .-,:::