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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 235, 1 November 1876, Page 4

The following dolefully concise telegram from ICumura was reoently published in the Dunedin Star *, — "Overdone: gloomy faces. Cash scarce; little gold. Preveut frieuda from coni'int-.'' The Ho'oi-ffc Town Mercury states that salmon is now regularly sold by all the fi-jhrnougera in that city at sixpence per lb. Two fishermen caught sixteen sslmon in one night by a net. Some of the fish weighed upwards of fifteeen pounds each. A painful accident, resulting in the death of a Maori named Te Koati. look place, says the News, at Tutaekuru lust ' week. Deceased, it appears, waa engaged felling timber when the forked end of a stump unexpectedly started away from the trunk. In iis fall it caught him about the pit of tho stomach, and literally ripped him open, teirioQ; out a portion ol hia bowelß. Wben found iiis body presented a most hideous spectacle. Daspite the awlul severity of the injuries sustained, he lingered till Saturday last, wheu death put au end to his suffering. Deceased is reported to have been a stout, healthy man, aged .about 42 years.

It is stated that Mr J. P. Klein, formerly proprietor of the West Coast Times, has taken the Army and Navy Hotel, Wellington. Mr James Osgood, at one time well known throughout New Zealand as tbe landlord of the Empire Hotel, and recently of the Metropolitan Hotel, died at Wellington on Friday last. Labor is so scarce in the Naseby (Otago) district that Chinese laborers are receiving Ss a day. Three orphan children named Johnston were committed to the Industrial School at Dunedin the other day. From statements made by their uncle, it apappears that the public trustee has nearly £700 belonging to them, but nothing could be got from him for their support. We (Post) understand that the Hon Mr Kussell has raised au action for libel against the Waka Maori. The ground of action is a letter from a Maori, published in the journal in question, reflecting upon the character and conduct of the hon. gontleman. The damages claimed are £10,000, and writs have just been served upon Mr Didsbury, the publisher, and Mr G-rindell, the editor. These gentlemen are nomiually the defendants, but in reality it is the Government, as owners of the paper, against whom the proceedings are taken. The case is likely to prove an interesting one, and will aftord abundant employment and profit to gentlemen of the long robe. Sir John Campbell Brown, K.C.B , Surgeon-General of the Bengal army, who bus taken part in Indian campaigns siuce ]536, ie at present in Melbourne, and will visit New Zealand on the way (o England by the California route. A Victorian contemporary eays it is reported that thb celebraied Pere Hyacinthe aud the Rev Henry Ward Beecher will shortly visit these colonies. A Mr Adolphus Cooke has just died in England, with a rent roll of £4000 a year, which ia claimed by Lord Longford as his heir. He was a declared atheist, but believed in the transmigration of souls. His fixed idea was that he was going at one time to be a fox — not recognising the fact that he whs rather in that way aiready, in some respects. With his cunning, however, was mingled a great simplicity; this theory was tbat all animals were gentle unless provoked by man, and to illustrate this position he endeavored to conciliate an angry bull, with the most unfortunate results. Ha caused sticks to be annually collected for the crows facilitate their nest building, and affirmed that trees when cross-cut would grow again if stuck iu the ground. Yet Mr Adolphus Cooke died "at Ifiigp." and wus buried in a tomb built fot' liis f n his garden, aDd in which were several arm chairs and loungeß. — Melbourne Argus. In a recent leading article the editor of the Coromandel Mail says: — " Auckland owes its present depressed state more to personal extravagance than to any other cause that can be named. Here, in a beautiful but slill semitropical climate, tha people gorge themselves from huge joints of iat meat, aud other gross things, when a much lighter diet would be better for health and pocket uhke. They wear clothes fit for London's Regent-street, when the cheapest of light fabrics in the summer and autumn seasons would be infinitely preferable. They ririuk strong beer aud ardent spirits, when more innocuous simpler, aud less expensive beverages would be so much better for health cheerful spirits, and morality. Our great sin is the sin of extravaganceof pursuing so much that leads to vanity acd vexation of spirit, and delrauding the grocer and provision dealer. We do nofc say that Auckland stands alone in its vast folly; because other parts of the colony are alike wicked in waste and nokless extravagance- but this cannot be accepted as an auswer or an excuse. Uutil the people turn from their follies, we see no hope that Auckland will be other than what it is now.'' Mark Iwain as a Horse Buyer. —-At a lecture in New York, Mark Twain related au anecdote in relation to buying a horse, which he told as follows :-— I bought tho horse 8 t auction • t-.iey called it a Mexican plug. I did not know what that was, but supposed it wus all rij-ht. The brother-in-law oi the auctioneer took me to one side and fcaid : «« Now 1 could .cheat you, but I won't ; 1 see you are a stranger. Now, that horse is a genuine Mexican plug, uud besides, he can out-buck any thing in the country." I did not know what "bucking" waß| but I wanted a horse that could excel in something, so I bought him. The next afternoon I thought I would ride him, *0 I brought him out, ana two men' held bis bead and another man held him down to the ground by the tail. aud I mouuted ; aud just as sooo as they let go, that horse brought all hia j feet together iu a bunch and lowered his back, and iheu suddenly elevated it, throwing me some feet into the air. I wunt straight up and straight down and lit on the saddle ■ ond up again, end aiill again. This time I lit on the neck of the animal und hung fast. Then he rose on bin hind feet and went through j all the gymnastic performances he knew I of, and fiuuily ended by throwing me up again and while I was up in the air I heard someone bay, " Ah, how he bucksl" bo that w«3 bucking. B - fore I got down, some oue bit thai ' horse, aud when I got down he was! not there. Plenty of friends gathered around to offer me sympathy ; they always do when you want to be alone. t wanted to sit down and I did ait down * and I was so core and bruised

and shaken, I put one hand to »y head, and the other to my stomach — aod if I bad had 16 bauds I could hava found places for (hem. One friend eaid, " Why, you might have known he waa nothing but a Mexican plug." 'Yea, I did know it.' Another, " Why, you could Bee that animal bucked." Yes, that was what 1 bought him for.