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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XL, Issue 205, 21 August 1876, Page 4

At Clarendon, on July Bih, Mrs Lafferty in taking up some firewood, was severly bitten in tbe arm by a brown snake, which held bo tightly that it waa with difficulty shaken off. Dr. Webster was sent for, but in the meantime, Mr. T. Sprigg, a neighbor, kindly sucked tbe wound, and no doubt extracted some off the venom. On the arrival of the doctor ibe arm bad begun to swell, and Mia Lafferty became drowsy, but the injection ol ammonia into a vein soon had tbe effect of reviving her. 'Ihe doctor gave it as his opinion chat sbe had had a very narrow escape, and might thank Mr Sprigg for materially assisting ia saving her life. — Advertiser.

A man named Warren Baker, 42 years of age, died in Melbourne on July 11 from tbe effects of an overdoße of chlorodyne. Herr Herrenschmidt, of the Yarraville Smelting Works, Melbourne, has beld a meeting of his creditors. His liabilities are stated at £15,800 and his assets at f6l'ooo, iucludiog £50,000 for patent rights. His creditors have given him three months to make arrangements. Servant girls (aays the New Zealand Times) have formed subjects for many jokes; indeed, at one time, when a number of funny newspaper people seemed to be attacked with eervantgalism on the brain, it appeared that they were, apart from their domestic talents, an exceedingly useful claaa of society, in the way of having a capacity passively to create fun. But there are people in tbe world whose experience of them is of a melancholy character. A gentleman lives in Wellington who feels that servant girls, as he finds them this side of the equator, exist simply to annoy the unfortunates who employ them. His name is Bowstring, and he has a wile and family. He has tried many servants, and is now reduced to a condition approaching distraction, in consequence of a general attempt to get one who should prove herself of the smallest use and to a small amount regardful of his interest, such as should consist in the preservafciou of orockery and the limbs of hie children. Tbe first one he got was addicted to wine, and, like Mrs Gamp, seldom made, her appearance in the family apartment without carrying with her an odour which might have teen occasioned by the hiccup of a passing fairy who had previously visited a wine vault. Her name was Shakspere, though, as she stated, no relation to the play-actor of that name. Bowstring administered lectures by way of producing moral improvement in his maid, but without effect. He tried again, and next got a somnambulist, who distinguished herself on the third night by walking out of a two-storey window under the impression that burglars had taken possession of the houae. The girl was pleasant and useful in the daytime, but this habit of walking out of windows at unseasonable hours was a little inconvenient, and Bowstring parted with his second. He next tried a Scandinavian maid, {hen an ItaliaD, but colloquial complications rendering the thing impracticable, he gave it up, and Bince has had servants hailing from a few other nations ; the result or his frequent attempts to be satisfied being that his four children have all had several limbs broken, there is not a piece of furniture in the house that is not fractured a good deal, and the disappearance of delf and spoons he regards as Btrange. Bowstring feels sad. He is getting weary of the thing altogether. He thinks the Government should provide a school to train up helps for the people, and believes that posterity would be as much benefited by that means as by anything Sir G. Grey has lold Parliament about up to the present time. In Melbourne it ig now a criminal offence to " blow " meat, but it was not generally known until a few days ago, that another practice existed in the butchering trade, which has for its object ibe improvemeut of the meat vended, When & calf or a sheep is killed and prepared for sale by a butcher, the ekin is wout to assume a har6b, dry appearaoce, leading to the suppo3ition that, after roasting, the diah would be utterly devoid of gravy, thus denoting an absence of fat. In order to give the meat a well-fed, and the skin a shining appearance, ub though fresh from green, luxuriant pastures, Boma enterprising butchers rub the skin over with f>»t— fat from i>oy other animal generally preferred. Provided that it is the fat of the same aoinaal that ie usod, there ig no offduce, but the Government will not allow the carcase of a sheep to be rubbed with the fat of a calf or a pig, and vice versa. To butchers one fat is about as good aa another, and hence they are not very particular in their method of imng it. Several butchers have been fined for greasing their meat. The police report the death of a young woman Darned Grace RobinsoD, at Ivanhoe, New South Wales, under circumstances of the most painful nature, from the effect of a dose of strychnine, on the 3rd of July. The Hay Standard reports that deceasad had been engaged to be married to a man named Thompson, at Mosegiel, aud all the usual preparations had been maJe in the way of obtaining wedding appavpl from Hay, inviting friends, &cl , The affair had beeu abruptly broken off on account of some alleged misconduct on the part of deceased. Thomson then went away, and deceased followed him to Ivanhoe, where he promised to marry her if she went up to Bourke, gave her a small sum of money, and again left her. She appears, however, to have arrived at the conclusion that she was deserted, and resolved to put an end to her life. Laudanum and strychnine were first employed in the work of self-destruction, but hor friends, with the aid of powerful emeticc, came ( to her rescue, and she lived to express | her sorrow for what she had done. I Shortly afterwards, however, deceased j again swallowed strychnine, and died I in great agony on the 3rd. On two previous occasions, through evil influence, the marriage of deceaued was broken off, and public feeling, amounting to mdignaiiou, is very strongßin the district against him whose conduct has at last resulted ia a tragedy.