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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 259, 29 November 1876, Page 2

It is reported by the Auckland Herald that so plentiful are the female domestic servants at the present time that it defies the registry offices to find employment for them, and many young women who are oufc of situations are ia destitute circumstances in consequence.. Within the last few days several servant girls accepted engagements at less than half the usual wages, owing fo their having no means of subsistence. A fire broke 6ufc in the yard qt the Wei- ; lington gaol on Friday night which at; one time threatened to be very serioHS, but, fortunately, it was put out before, extending, to . the main building. ' ' . ■ "We {Post) notice Jhat a tenth of an. acre in Featherston, on which a small cottage was erected, was sold at a aheritt'a ««le for £175, or at the.rate of £1,7,50 peracr*:" Our contemporary, in his laudable desire to show how great is the value of land in the district referred to, omits to remark that in order to make the acre worth £1,750 it would be necessary to build nine more cottages on it. A Ghristchurch 'telegram of the 17th inst is as follows:—" The. I'imes this morning i openly states that importers are in tha habit of falsifying invoices to escape ad valorem duties, and challenges disproof. It points to the vast disproportionate 'decrease in thei6 duties compared with others in support of the assertion." ■■■'.'. A gang of thirteen shearers were engaged last week in the Wairarapa to proceed to Marl borough.; The rate to be Toaid per 100 is 15s; which, strange to say, is" according to the local press, 5s per 100 less than was demanded iv the Wairarapa.— N.Z. Times. A Chinaman named Ah Fob has been fined £11 17s at Auckland for evading the duty on cigars. ' : The following paragraph, showing how nice a place is Wellington to live in, occurred m a recent report sent in by the Inspector of Nuisances in that , town:— "l beg leave to call the attention of the Council to the number of dead dogs aud quantity of putrid flesh at present being thrown into the harbor, and which ara being cast up on the beach between the Clyde Hotel and Oriental Bay beven dogs and a large quantity of stinking flesh (some in bags) were buried last waek, at a cost of 15s to the Council. There are again two dogs more and a number of sharks or dog-fish in the same locality, from which the most disgusting B tinks are spread all around. 1 ? a n ed recently poisoned himself at Dunedin- with strychnine A coroner's, inquest was held, and the'iurv added a rider to their verdict censuring the chemist who sold the poison. The latter, Mr Barnard Isaac, has instructed bis solicitor to take proceedings against Mr Solomon, foreman of the coroner's jury in Deudney's case, for the statements coutainad in the rider which was appended to the verdict returned Damages have been laid at £1,000 The Dunedin Star says the recent breach of promise to marry caaea cost Mr Shand ore* J62OQQ sterling,.

.. T h . c Wanganui Chroxielehaa been informed that it is more than probable thafc the Hon »V.J«ox; will arrive in New Zealand on or about Sunday next, on which day the next fcanlrancisconiail steamer will'be due at i Auckland. " V. • {j«W Dowiii^ a pressman well-known iv Wellington, and generally. liked aud respected (sayg the N; % Timei), left by the ! l^yttelton last evening to tak« the editorship of the Marlborough Express. Mr Downie is a member of the Harvard staff of reporters ananas at one time editor of the Colonist, The unemployed agitator, M'Laren, was rather severely dealt with by the Commissioner of Customs lately. The Punedin Star ' gives the followihg'acriount of the matter :—' Piecework v. day labor was a moot question at the unemployed's deputation, and it was stated by Mr Blair 'that 'the men at work on the railway works at Waikouaiti were averaging 6s 6d per day at piecework, M'Laren pointed out that some able-bodied men might ' be able to earn that amount, while others, such as himself, would not make more than 3s. ,«= But hard work and you do not agree; yeu prefer earning your money more easily " was^Mr M'Lean's reply. M'Laren asserted he had not cornea 7,000 miles to work hard, nor did he intend to.. The Christcburch 1 correspondent of the Otago Guatdian tells the following good story about Mr Moorhouse:--" A very good story is going the rounds concerning a wellknown ex-Mayor of Christchurch, who lately figured m a very disreputable case at the Supreme Court. At the last general elections he busied himself greatly in securing the return of Mr Wason for Coleridge, and Mr Moorhonse for Christchurch; and, of course, boasti agood deal of the part he took in the matter. Meeting Mr Moorhouse the other day on the racecourse, he addressed him thus m front bf a number of other gentlemen w his usual patronising, aggressive manner:— •Do you kno.w,Mr.Mporhouse, that I am not at all «ati«ftBd with the line you adqpted in the Home this session? You know I put you in for Christchurch, and I also put Wason- in. He has conducted himself pro-perly-,lmt I am not at all pleased with you.' lne M.H.R. looked at him, a^id replied -'Do you know that |f I consulted my own inclinations and the disposition of my constituents I should knock you down at this moment?' and turning on his heel, left the discomfited magnate feeling very small indeed. Report says that Mr Moorhouse is one of the beat boxers in the province, and, no doubt, at the moment he must hare felt both able and willing to carry out his threat." < At Ballarat two novel societies have recently been formed— an anti-smoking society and an early-rising society. Both have already a. large membership. The earlynsing gentlemen are allowed eight hours' sleep, but any membar who, in good .health, sleeps longer than the prescribed time is fined one shilling. It is said that there are more lies told in the sentence, " I am glad to see you," than in any other six words in the English language. ° "We bend the knee, but i«± the elbow," is the motto of a TemperancTOefdrm Club. " This is supposed to refer," says a wag, « to a dexterous habifc of drinking out of the bunghole." The Sydney Echo reports that on the afternoon of the 2nd ihst; a very sad occurrence took place at the Surrey t Hills. A tin of kerosme exploded without any apparent cause, unless it be, as it is supposed, that the rays of the sun striking -upon the tin, which was on a balcony fully exposed, heated the oil Which it contained to such a degree that an explosion was the result. A little boy named Kegmald Platt, six years of age, seems to have been in the balcony when the explosion occurred, and close to the tin ; but the child earnestly affirmed, after the occurrence, that he had not put a light in the oil, or interfered witbit many way* Attention being called to the balcony by the noise of the explosion and screams of the boy, his clothes were found to be on fire, and the burning oil was spread over the balcony. The little fellow was much burnt about the face and body and, although all was done that could be done for him he died the following morning. in the Australasian, observes that the pretty little game of fleecing young Englishmen out of large premiums, on the pretence of teaching them how to become rich squatters, isn't yet played out. Most people know that this bush education means only getting laborer's work out of them for nothing -whilst making them pay for the privilege of doing it. But there is even a worse case than this. Old Griudhoof obtained £600 as premium from the fathers of two young fellows for two years' maintenance and nutruction in station duties. At the. end of fourteen months he sold his station. And, according to. his system of arithmetic, the rebate he paid these young men was £50. > No one as yet has succeeded in discovering how he worked dufc thafc sum. lne Melbourne correspondent Of the Otago Daily Times says that owing to tne victory of Bnseis the bookmakers "skinned the lamb," that is the public, to a very, large; figure. He writes:—" I must say nothing of the avalanche of hats that these excitable and profanely speaking men threw up to the sky when the race was won by Briseis, a mace that had hardly been mentioned in the betting, from the belief that her owner, meant to withdraw her and save heir for the Cup. One man, Mr Joseph Thompson alias the Leviathan, alias the King of the Bing &c: is said to have won £12,000. Now these men must bless the confiding natures of the touts, who tip always so ingeniously wrong and abore all the. devoted, self -sacrificing limitless trust of the general public. In Philadelphia there are according to the estimate of the Press, $0,000 men unemployed. ■ In real estate the fall within 3 . years ha? beeh.2o per cent on an average and during June 800 housas^were sold under the hammer: Over 10,000 houses are vacant in Philadelphia,- and rows and blocks, built by speculators,, stand nntenanted. One man put up a saloon on a plot he rented for six months for 75b0d01, which.tbi whole structure failed to realise. Considering that Philadelphia is the city of the Centennial Exhibition; it is evident thas even one so fortunately placed cannot escape the universal depression A correspondent of the Times describes in the columns of that journal a "vast and singularly well-regulated establishment for the education and cultivation of pigs," which ' exists in Buda-Pesth. Ife, contains 16,000 pigs, m pens holding from .100 to 200 each the animals being divided into two main classes, viz., those which voluntarily seek the means of purification, and those which maks a. virtue of necessity, and submit philosophically to be cleaned \fith a hose. The pigs are brought down from the country when fifteen months old, and fed upon brewing refuse, maize, and barley, ad lib.; salt and other condiments being used to increase their appetites. The consequence, is that the pigs fatten very rapidly. " The most remarkable" says the correspondent, "werethe woolly pigs, with curly bristles, resembling fleece, which j is said to be worked into some of the coarse textile fabrics of the country. They are well deserving, of the attention of English breeders, for by careful cultivation, pig's wool might become useful material for yarn." This establishment belongs to a joint stock company, and pays a handsome dividend. The same writer mentions the gigantic brewery of the Dreher Company of Vienna situated at Kobaaya, near Pesth, The caves' in which the beer is stored are hewn out of solid sandstone, and form a subterranean town of innumerable halls. A walk through the main streets of this underground city iof beer occupioa three quarters of ail hour.

■ The Wellington Argus says:— " The, manulacture of brooms and brushes from the leaves of the cabbage tree is being exteti* siv-ely earned on in Dunedih. Machißery for making the stocks and bandlea has been^ Tsr\ d l and the fcwoms: and brushes are wJn } S « f , excellent quality. An order for 300 dozen for Christchurch has lust been, completed."' ; .. "*, —^- io™ h l 7^r era J^ !e a Phorißm of the^Tale amented Mrs Glasse has its application even in this advanced and enlightened age. A number of Melbourne gentlemen connected with the trade of Riverina conceived the nappy thought of asking Sir Hercules Robinson to dine with them whilst on a visit to Victoria. His Excellency promptly accepted. And then came the. difficulty. These hospitable fellows discovered literally that they had reckoned without their host. For riot a caterer. in ; Melbourne would undertake to provide an extensive dinner in Melbourne duongthe race week. Not a cook nor a waiter was disengaged. And they say that the impulsive dinner-givers have had to explain to His Excellency that they have no dinner to give him.

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