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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 202, 18 August 1876, Page 2

With reference to a letter that recently appeared in our columns from the Eev Mr Marten on the bite of the katipoand the best cure for it, the following appeared in the Evening Post of Tuesday last; — Friend— Tena Koe— It xs very kind of our friend in Nelson to give a cure for the bite of the above ngarara (i.e. insect). Why did he not describe the ngarara, that our friends from beyond the great sea might know it when they see it? I will describe it. It is a small jet-black spider, with a very round body the size of a pea, has red legs, and lives by the sea side. Friends, be careful that you are not I bitten by it.— From your friend. ItfaAO- ? £ORE. {

Tbe, Wellington correspondent of the LyUelton Times and the Otdgo Daily Times says on the land , resolutions debate :— ",The debate last evening was dreadfully tame. Except Mr Macandrew, no one seemed really in earnest. Between Mr Whitaker and Sir J. Yogel a very good understanding seemed to exist, and neither of them spoke well. The whole affair looked cut and dried." Messrs Cox, "Williams, Eowe, Eead, and Sir R. Douglas (who voted against Sir G-. Grey's resolutions), are deuouuced by tbe Star as "The Five Auckland Traitors." There is much tall talk in Auckland about being " Heady; aye, ready, and keeping their powder dry." The Wairarapa correspondent of the N. Z. Times writes:-— Both manual and mechanical labor are coming down in price ; the supply greatly exceeds the demand, I was rather amused at the remarks made by a young man while asking a contractor for a job. He stated that : the place he was working at previously gave him the idea that money was Bcarce, as they could, not pay him his wages till Betty calved, or the pig was killed ; and as Betty might die before she calved, he thought the risk was too great to entice him to stop any longer. Ido not know whether newspapers have to wait for their subscriptions on the same lay, or whether they take the cow without being calved or the pig without being killed. The Wellington correspondent of the Auckland B£ar says that Mr Manders when speaking on the separation question caused peals of laughter by saying that Sir Grey's resolutions were like an infant born without any clothes on. A correspondent writes to us (Cross) as follows: — It will surprise the majority of your readers to hear that the gold ia tbe vaults of the Bank of France at the present moment exceeds 500 tons in weight—in other words, it weighs about as much as twenty locomotive engines of the first size. What were the treasures of Solomon or Croesus to this? To trace the process by which this immense mass has, as it were, gravitated to Paris, would be no easy task. £150,000 weighs over a ton; £75,000,000 would, therefore, weigh 500 tons, The Wellington Argus of Monday last says: — " It is very difficult indeed to see how the Constitutional measures can possibly be forced through. Ministers will either be obliged to sacrifice a large number of their measures, or to mutilate others. Hitherto, no doubt, the majority has been with the Government in every trial of strength, but it is the Opposition which has really triumphed. The Opposition policy is a waiting one. Sir George Grey and his followers know perfectly well that when the prorogation takes place the provinces will die. They have no hope of obtaining a reversal of this doom; but their object is to prevent any institutions being created to take the place of the provinces. They want to bring about a crisis ; to do as Mr Stout said, 'to steep the country in abolition ; to have Abolition, and nothing but Abolition.' It is, we fear, quite on the cards that the Opposition may succeed in preventing a county system, or any other form of local Belf-government, and may have to do what Mr Stafford the other night declared would not be at all a bad thing — simply fall back on the Abolition Act of last session. We entirely differ from Mr Stafford on this point. We think it would be a very bad thing to have to do anything of the sort. To have nothing but the General Government would be to throw everything into the most absolute contusion. The country would not stand centralisation of this kind. The Opposition, no doubt, would gladly submit to the temporary inconvenience and confusion of such a state of things, knowing that it would undoubtedly ensure their ultimate and early triumph. A reaction would set in throughout the colony, and Ministers would be unable to withstand its force. This is what the Opposition are aiming at, and playing for." The gold exports from Cooktown are increasing. Lately 6000 ounces were sent to Hongkong, and 1000 ounces to Sydney. It is estimated that there are 6000 tons of stone at graßa on the Hodgkineon River goldfield which will yield an ounce te tbe ton. A New York Baltimore Netos says: — There is in thiß city, however, one most amusing low Comedian, who has a reason for never smiling. la his youth he was the father of a little girl of refractory obstinate disposition. One day to punish her for a fault, he locked her in the bedroom, and with his wife went down to dinner. Soon the child began to scream in a terrible manner, which the parents considered as only temper; but, as the shrieks continued, the wife became alarmed and desirad to go to her. He, however, forbade her doing so, as he said the child must be taught obedience, and that she should not gain her end by screaming. They went on with their dinner, the fearful shrieks continuing for a while and then ceasing. As they were about leaving the table, smoke began to pass through the house. There was fire somewhere. Rushing ' to release the poor girl they found her dead. Her clothes bad evidently caught fire from the grate, and while tbe parents were eating the child was dying. The comedian's wife took a horror and a hatred of her husband after this aa she believed that if he had allowed her to go to the poor infant abe might have saved her life. They were divorced; no wonder that man never smilea cm or off the stage.