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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XL, Issue 199, 14 August 1876, Page 2

The district of Marton in the Province of Wellington must be a nice civilised Christianised' sort of place in which to live. The N. Z. Times furnishes the following details of the kind of scenes that are to bo witnessed there. Our ; contemporary says.—-" A correspondent has written us a letter, giving full and disgusting details of a fight, or series' of fights, at Marton on Saturday night and Sunday morning, the 29th and 30th ultimo. Ifc appears some question arose, and to settle ifc a fight was decided upon, and about ten o'clock on Saturday night a ring was formed at the rear of one of the principal hotels of the township. " The pugilists stripped to the waist, and the cpmbat was commenced. It continued till one man's face was reduced to a pulp and the thumbs of fche other man were put out of joint, and both of the fighters became too exhausted to continue the struggle. It might he asked where were the police? Such a commotion in a small township could not have occurred without tbe knowledge of the police officers. This was bad enough; but worse followed. The party adjourned to a public house, and after drinking had been indulged in to a considerable extent, a regular prizefight was arranged hetween a couple of rowdies. Persons occupying high offices in- -to- district found the money, and officiated as seconds and timekeepers, which accessories were considered indispensably necessary. The fight commenced on Sunday morning in the middle oi the muddy road or street in front of the hotel, and continued lor two hours and twenty minutes, night being made hideous by the yells and oaths of a half-drunken crowd." The prospectus of the Empire Gas Consumers' Company, "Wellington (Limited), has been drawn up. The following are- the main features:—" The capital is to be £30,000, in 30,000 : shares of £1 each, and the first issue of shares will be 20,000. The company is formed with a view to supplying gas at a smaller cost than that at present paid by consumers to the Wellington Gas Company; the failure of that company to come to terms with the Corporation haying led fco the present company being formed. The promoters are of opinion that 10s per 1000 cubic feet ,'is a sufficient price fco pay for gas, and the directors offer the following benefits: Ist. That the price of the gas shall not exceed 10s per 1000 cubic feet. 2nd. That no charge shall be made for the meters supplied by the company, nor rent demanded as at present. 3rd. That day and nighfc meters shall be supplied, so that gas may be used for manufacturing and domestic purposes during the day afc a lower rate than 10s per 1000 cubic feet. The estimated cost of the works is £16,976, and with a further expenditure of £6000, the works will be enabled to produce no less than thirty million feet of gas per annum." News has heen received from the East Coast of Africa of a fight between the crew of a slaver and the seamen in the boats of H.M.S. London. . Lieut. Grassie was in charge of the boats, which boarded and captured the dhow, by which means 130 slaves have obtained tbeir freedom. The Arabs on board and the crew fought to the last, continuing theit fire upon the boats' crews until they were close on board. The blue jackets, however, aimed high, so that only one Arab was wounded ; but two women who were on board were found shot through the heart, having, it is supposed, been killed by the Arabs in order that they should not fall into our hands. None of the English seamen were wounded. At the departure of the last mail the crew of the dhow were imprisoned at Zanzibar awaiting further punishment, and the dhow had been destroyed. This capture brings the number of slaves liberated by the London's crew up to nearly 500. Prom a private communication from the East Coast, we (Auckland Herald) learn that about a fortnight ago a young native girl named Hera, who resides afc Kawakawa, East Cape, was accidentally drowned whilst crossing the Waiapu river in a rickety canoe. The body was washed out to sea, and washed ashore again near Te Anauui a few days afterwards. Some time previous to her death, a young pakeha, who was struck with the girl's features and remarkably lady-like figure, presented herewith a ring, with [an ardent expression of his attachment to her. When the body was recovered the ring was found on her finger, and the natives—who assembled m large numbers to make lamentations over the remains of the deceased*— repeatedly declared that the ring was the cause of her being drowned. What gross superstition ! In the maw of a monster shark, recently caught at Port Denison, Queensland, were found a gilt-edged ! Bible and a tin of preserved salmon, with other miscellaneous articles. Mr Ricciotti Garibaldi, son of the general, is settled in Melbourne, and qualifying himself for a State school teacher under Government. He is writing for the Argus some papers on the defences of Melbourne, and he speaks with Borne authority, bavin" served with tbe French, against the Germans in the war of 1870-1.

' ", An extraordinary, occurrence was brought to light at, an inquest held recently eta fhe body of a man in South London. S flna workrooirt. where many young 1 girls: were afc : work,, a mouse suddenly made its appearance on a" table, causing, of course, considerable commotion and a general stampede. The intruder was seized, however, by a young man who was present, but the mouse, slipped out of his . hand, and running up his sleeve came out between his waistcoat and shirfc at the back. The unfortunate man had his mouth open, and the mouse, on fche look out for some place of concealment, entered the man's mouth, aud he, in his fright and surprise, swallowed it. That a mouse can exist for a considerable time without much air was unfortunately found to be a fact in the present instance, for the mouse began to tear.aud bite inside the man's throat and chest, and the result was that the unfortunate fellow. died in a little while in horrible agony. A verdict of " accidental death " was returned. The General, Government have just received by the Sarah Bell, from London, a most valuable collection of meteorological instruments, to be used for ..the purposes of the system of storm warnings, which has become so valuable and permanent ah institution here as in Europe and America. The instruments are designed exclusively for this object, and not for purposes of climatic data, which latter branch is under the charge of the Meteorological Department of the Geological Survey. ■ The instruments consist of the following :— . 23 standard mercurial barometers on Forfcm's principle, registering from a fixed zero point, and reading to -001 inch; 4 portable standard mercurial barometers, specially adapted for mountain use, and fitted with millimetre scales; 26 anemometers, on Dr Robertson's principle, registering up to 500 miles; 22 sets of wet-and-dry-bulb thermometers (i.e., 64 thermometers) for hygroraefcrical observations; 2 hypsometersfor determining mountain heights by the temperature afc which aqueous ebullition takes places. AU these instruments are of the best possible class, andare manufactured by MrL. Casella, P.M.S., tbe famous London maker. Ihey are beautifully packed, and have arrived quite uninjured. They will be distributed shortly to the various stations from whence weather telegrams are obtained. All the instruments have been tested and verified at the Royal Observatory, Kew, Surrey, and each has its own special certificate of accuracy and index errata. Their total cost was about £300 -r-Post. Tho Wellington correspondent of the Southern Cross sends it the following: -—If this Separation policy is carried, I advise all who hold real properties or interests of that character iv Auckland to sell out and settle in Otago and Canterbury. A joke in the lobbies illustrateathe position. Auckland Members: Ohlbeiaration will suit us. We can have a lump sum from you, & by-and-by when we have settled our Native difficulty we shallbavea finer land fund than you. Yours will be wasted, and you will be glad to reunite with us with a common purse."— Otogo Member.: "Nae fear ma mon; before ye get to that ye ken we'll hae brought up a' your land at half-a-croon an acre ; ye'Jl be paupers, ye ken, and we'll hae a' the baubees."— lf the people of Auckland are blind enough to let their representatives repeat the Compact of 1856 fiasco, tbey deserve no pity." In the British Houae of Commons, on May 18_h, Viscount Sandon introduced an elementary education bill which provides {hat no child shall be employed io agricultural or other labor before the 1 age of ten, or between ten and fourteen, unless it has its certificate tbat it has attended school 240 ■Jays of a year for five years, or has passed an examination shewing a certain degree of education. The local authorties are empowered to enforce penalties on parents for neglecting to send their children to school. Tbe application of the bill is to be gradual. The uumber of times which children must have altended school before their employment is permissive, being gradually increased until 1881 wbea the Bill will attain its fall force. The bill was read a first time. Mr Forster expressed regret that direct compulsion is not prescribed. The Auckland correspondent of the Brisbane Courier bas drawn a very doleful picture of the present financial position of New Zealand. Iv a recent letters he says : " Whether ns a Government or an agglomeration of individuals we are in a very impecunious condition! Now ail the public mouey ia gone we find the railways not half completed ; but our private men of enterprise, not calculating that our railways would be finished, went and invested all their own money — all the money the banks would lend them all the money raised upon promissory notes, mortgages, bills of sale, liens, and the like securities to buy lands, build hotels, village township., farm-houses, and make pri fate roads and wharves to where tbe termini of Btations were to be. Other extravagant acta were committed, for which unfinished railways were held answerable. And these nonpaying ruinous enterprises, together with au extravagant mode of living we have entered upon, are begining to show the consequences. Wo shall get over it all, _ 0 doubt ; but in the meantime, if it were not for the ten ier relations which exist between the Insolvent Court, and reckless dishonest indeptedfaess. I do not know what a good many of us would do."

(For continuation of Newt see fourth page,)