Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XL, Issue 202, 17 August 1876, Page 2

It seems doubtful if the Government will succeed in passing the Counties^ Bill during the present session. There is a very strong opposition evinced towards it, and unless it is entirely recast, there is reason to think that no majority could be found to push it through. Possibly the Government will endeavor to modify the Bill, but it is quite "on the cards " that they may abandon it altogether. In that" case, after the present Parliament had been prorogued, abolition would immediately come into effect, aud then the Government of the colony would consist of the General Government, the Road Boards, and the Municipalities, the General Government taking over the charge of all the main roads. A good deal of confusion would result from such a state of things, which could not be obviated for a considerable time. If the Government mean to avoid this, they should abandon the present Counties Bill, and bring in a new measure more suited to the requirements of the case, and more in consonance with the desire of a majority of members of the House. — Post.

At a recent voluuteer rifle competition held in Scotland, the following curious items were the principal items'. — 1 pair blankets, 6 woollen shirts (each singly a prize), 2 flannel shirts, 1 tweed shirt, 1 tartan shirt, 2 pairs woollen drawers, 4 bottles of brandy, 1 pair of leather leggings, 2 bottles of whisky, 1 watch stand, X bottle of gin, 3 currant buns (each singly like the rest), 6 pounds and 1 half-pound of tea, a cloth cap, 2 half-pounds ot tobacco, 2 pairs of braces, 2 pounds steak, a pair of socks, a necktie, and a cow's head / Truly a marvellously varied aud valuable list ! Our volunteers might take it as a pattern,

The production of artificial clouds of smoke is a common appliance against frost in France and Germany. Mons. Vinard has recommended a plan whioh is perfectly successful, and which consist in carefully mixing gas tar with sawdust and old straw, snd piling up this mixture in large heaps in the vineyard. The mixture remains inflammable more than a fortnight, in spite of rain and weather. When required for use smaller heaps are made from the large ones about two feet in diameter, and distributed in and arouod the vinel yard. If there is little wind, these heaps burn freely for about three and a-half hours, and produce a very dense smoke. The artificial cloud which thus enwraps the vines considerably decreases the radiation from the ground, and therefore prevents frost, which is greatest toward morning during calm sprine nights. B

China is a country where the roses have no fragrance, and tbe women no petticoats; where the laborer has no Sabbath, and tbe magistrate no sense of honor; where the roads have no vehicles, and tbe ships no keels; wbere old men fly kites; where the needle points to the south, and the sign of being puzzled is to scratch the antipodes of the head; where the plaoe of honor is on tbe left hand, and the Beat of intellect is the stomach; where to take off your hat is an insolent gesture, and to wear a white garment is to put yourself in mourning; which has a literature without an alphabet and a language without a grammar.

Love has been the happy means of ridding Corsica of two promising banditti. The first was Martin Polo, grandson of the notorious dannit, Theodore, who was called the King of tbe Mountain, and whose name occupies a eonspicious place in the criminal annals of the island. The other was Joseph Lec9, alias the Zouave, who had distinguished himself in the French army, bat whose wild adventurous oharaoter induced him subsequently to take to the road. Both of them were young, strong, and good looking, and appear to bave got on very well together until recently, when they both happened to fall in love with the same fair creature. Leca, jealous of the preference enjoyed by Polo, resolved to get rid of his rival by betraying him to the gendarmerie. With this object in view he invited him to a drinking bout in a wine shop near Guagno. Polo, although he smelt a rat, accepted the invitation, and during their cups he told Leca of bis suspicion. A quarrel ensued, and taking their guns, they resolved to right it out. The duel was a guerilla one. Placing themselves behind tbe trees, they popped away at each otber, approaching nearer and nearer at every shot. At length they suddenly found themselves face to face. They levelled their guns, fired, and both fell dead on tbe spot, the shots had pierced their hearts.

An Outlet for New Zealand Flax.— Tbe San Francisco correspondent of the Dunedin Evening Star writes :« — The wheat production of California and Oregon will be larger thia season than any former year, and the crop is iv splendid condition. Bar* ley and oata are likewise a heavy crop. There are now iv harbor fifty-five vessels of 65,000 tons register, to load with wheat before the end of August, but over 500 ships of 1,500 tons, will he required for the shipments of wheat flour, and barley this season. To give an idea of the magnitude of the grain trade of the Pacific coast, it is estimated that 25,600,000 grain bags will be required for thia season's crop. Thia includes 2,500,000 bags lor Oregon, aod 20,000,000 bags for California wheat. When it is etated that these bags fetch from 13£ to 1 4£ cents, the stimulus given to manufacturers by the agricultural development of the Pacific slope will be seen to be enormous. Since January 1, 1876, the bag imports have been iarge, the City of Peking, from Hongkong, and City of Sydney, from Panama, bringing one million aod a-half grain sacks. Four million five hundred thousand sacks Are on the way from Great Britain (Dundee), and four millions from Calcutta. The Oakland factory here will furnish three millions more. Now, here is au outlet for New Zealand flax which Rome enterprising firm should take up. The machinery would not cost much; bags could be woven seamleas or hand-sewn, and shipped here to a certain market. If requisite, I would willingly furnish every information on the subject. As the tariff favors the foreign manufacturer in this branoh, I think New Zealand colonists should try and compete with East Indians in the Californiau market. There is no iear of a falling off in demand. The contrary will be tte case. When wheat can be harvested and put into grain bags at 6 cents a bushel, and the soil remains productive, California will practically remain the granary of the world. New Z3aland can't competo, but it can furnish bags and bagging, and thus turn its indigenous products to good account. New Zealand cordage l£ inches diameter and upwards, fetches 10 cents per lb; discount to retail dealers, 1 cent per lb onallqualities. I think, however, that a coarse fabric for bags might be manufactured from phormium tenax which would go into immediate consumption, and command average priceß. This would give considerable employment in New Zealand, and inorease its wealth. The San Francisco Evening Post says tbat Churchill county, in Nevada, sets about tbe moat liberal example in the free school line that the world ever gazed upon. A large building has been erected at a coat of 3000 dollars, and constitutes a boarding school for the children of the county. It is to run ten months in the year, aud furnish board, lodging, and tuition free, There are forty-three children oa the census roll and thirty of them attend the Bchool. Where the other thirteen may be is a mystery. Parents cannot afford to keep their children at home under such condition.. It m.y be they are deaf mutes, or are not strong — something must ail them. This generous aeheme is the closest approach to practical compulsory education ever devised. Put a similar one in operation in San Francisco, and the school attendance would be wonderful in nature and extent. Estimating the number of our census children between five and eeventeen years of age at 43,000, it would cost us only about 8,600,000 a year to put the plan into operation ia the city.

According *o a London correspondent, tho Khedive of Egygt is known to have been on bad terms with the Sultan Murad during the lifetime of. Abdul Aziz end it is supposed that he does not regard the Softa movement with any favor. There are some pregnant rumors of startling events to happen in connection with the Egyptian business. The report is that England has made a secret treaty with Egypt, of which the cardinal article is that in a certain contingency the Khedive is to throw off the yoke of the Sultan, and put himself under the protection of the British Government. The belief is general in Paris that England is meditating some great stroke of this kind in continuation of the Suez Canal coup, and this lends a new item of distraction to the general impression. Tbe atmosphere is favorable to the flight of canards, and every day brings a flock of them, bold and strong on the wind. The latest idea is that England is about to separate Egypt from Turkey, to assume, in fact, the suzerainete" vice the Sultan. One of the French papers goes the length of announcing that England will immediately occupy Egypt. All this is the idlest speculation, yet there is some substratum of truth in it, though " dashed and brewed with lies." The British Government is quite prepared to take care of Egypt when the time comes, and there is, it is thought, a perfect understanding between tbe Khedive and ourselves. That astute potentate whom the World — Mr Labouchere being a " bear" io Egyptians — calls the " contemptible scoundrel named Ismail," is fully aware of his own interest, and would naturally prefer a master who can protect him to one who can't. The occupation of EgyP fe b 7 England would scaroely involve a military operation. It would resemble, rather, a creditor taking possession. And it is not an unlikely result of the present confusion that before long we shall proceed to enter upon our property in Egypt.

In a popular novel a woman is introduced who being mortally offended, declared Bhe would never speak again. Critics pronounced the incident unnatural and impossible. It was neither; for here we have the faot on which the incident was founded. Madame Rignier, the wife of a law officer at Versailles, while talking in the presence of a numerous party, dropped some remarks which were out of place, though not important. Her husband reprimanded her before the whole compauy, saying, " Silence, Madame; you are a fool 1" The lady immediately subsided. She lived twenty or thirty years afterwards, and never uttered a single word to any living soul, not even to her children. A pretended theft was committed in her presence in the hope of taking her by surprise, but without effect; nothing could induce her to speak. When her consent was requisite for the marriage of any of her children, she bowed her head and signed the contract; and even when she died* Bhe merely signed Adieu !

After a sufficient comparative trial, the contest between granite, asphalt, and wood for carriage ways has been decided in favor of tbe lust, and tbe recent conclusion of the Corporation of London may be regarded as a final confirmation of that decision. Mr Heywood, engineer for the city, has shown (says Iron) that before a horse falls he may be expected to travel on granite 132 miles, oo asphalt 191 miles, and on wood 446 miles; and although between the two last materials there is a trifling advantage iv the cost on the side of asphalt, that is much more than counter-balanced in other ways. In easy traction and the absence of noise there is no comparison between wood and granite, and _iuce tbe surface water has been kept out by means of asphalt, wood has become one of the most durable of pavements. The rapidity with which it eau be laid, and the ease with which it can be repaired, are not the least of its merits, while the flooring of planks, which is now laid as a superstructure, gives great elasticity and by distributing the weight equally over the whole pavement, adds to its power of endurance.

A man wss boasting that he had been married for twenty years and has never given his wife a cross word. Those who know him cay he didn't dare to.

Beep-tea in Fever.— lt has been found to be a successful method to freeza beef-tea and to administer it, in lumps to children or patients to suck during fever. Jn tbis form they will prefer the beef-tea to any other kind of food.