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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 260, 30 November 1876, Page 2

Thee following items appeared in the G. JR. Argus of Monday :— The Resident Magistrate at Reef ton, the other day, ruled that a tenant who, in tha absence of any agreement, paid " Parliamentary taxes," was entitled to deduct the amount from hi« (rent. In this case the payment of a Road Board rate wa3 the question at issue, and the Magistrate gave a judgment for the tenant —Scarlet fever has made ita appearance in Kumara. — It is said that about £250 has been subscribed for the Christmas sports at Kutnara.— Several applications for agricultural leases on the route of the Greymouth and Kumara Tramway hare been lodged in the Warden's Court, Kumara.— A heavy thunderstorm occurred at Reeftoo on Friday afternoon. The Herald aays that the effect of the first thunder peal upon a number of heavy draught horses which were feeding in the vicinity of the township was most startling. The affrighted animala dashed awaythrosgh the streets of the town, and ultimately breasted the river. They were recovered in the course of the day.— ln consequence of the malignant character of the cases of scarlet fever at Kanieri, the Health Officer has cautioned women and children against visiting the district. — Marlborough Province once had two Superintendents, and it appears that the Arcadian Paradise at Jackson's Bay is blessed with two Chairmen of its local School Committee, causing things educational to get considerably mixed.— The Kumara sty-grog informers were brought up before the Resident 'Magistrate at Hokitika on Friday, charged with perjury. A quantity of evidence was taken, and the accused were remanded until Monday. The Mosgiel Woollen Factory in Otago is now employing 100 operatives. The amount of amalgam collected from the plates of the Wealth of Nations QuartzMining Company for the week ending 25 th iaat&nt was 3190zs lldwts. An omnibus, bearing the name "Cavcrsham," formerly running between Dunedin and Caveraham, and drawn by a team consisting of two mules and two horses, arrived in Hokitika recently, bringing a number of passengers from Dunedin to the Kumara. The trip was performed iu ten days. At the laying of tiie foundation stone of a new railway station at Christchurch the other day, tlr Rolleston said that 700,000 passengers had travelled on the Canterbury railways during the present year, and that next year he believed the number would be over a million. Forty gallant Kumarites have enrolled their names as members of a Volunteer Rifle Corps and Band, to be called the Kumara Rifle Rangers. Brick-making is an industry already established at the Kumara. A contract has been taken for making 200,000. The Charleston Herald says:— The water near the Heads appears to be infested with sharks. A large number of these voracious fish have recently been caught, and a day or two since Mr Charles Craddock on drawing his seine found that it contained a, shark six i!eet long, and several smaller ones, and some dog-fish. No other kind of fish were in the net, and f ro*n the non-success of our amateur fishermen it would appear that the presence of these terrors of the sea in our waters has driven the small fry away from the coast. A large establishment has been opened in St. Louis for drying eggs. It is in full operation, and hundreds of thousands of dozens are going into its insatiable maw. The eggs are handled by hand— that is, examined by a light to ascertain whether good or not— and then are thrown into ah immonae receptacle, where they are broken, and by a centrifugal operation the white and yolk are separated from the shells very much as liquid honey is taken from the coub. The liquid is then dried by heat by a patent process, and the dried article is left resembling sugar, whiah is put in barrels, and is ready for transportation anywhere. This dried article has been taken twice across the equator in ships, and then made into omelet and compared with omelet made from fresh eggs in the same manner, and the best judges could not detect the difference between the two. Is not this an age of wonders ? Milk made solid; cider made solid; apple butter made into bricks. A cold water dairy has recently been established at Karere near Palmerston by Mr Schouv. The Manawalu Times says that instead of shallow dishes, Mr Schouv uses bucket* some 16 inches deep for holding the milk, and these buckets are immersed in cold water which can be renewed at pleasure. The advantages claimed by this system are that the milk keeps longer than under the usual treatment, throws out all its cream, produces butter of a superior quality, and does not become unfit for boiling or feeding young calves. It also economises space in the dairy, and diminishes the labor of cleaning. Butter made in this manner has been exported in tins from Denmark to China at a good profit. Some idea of the wheat crop for the year (writes the London correspondent of a con-., temporary) can be gathered from published facts, the result being satisfactory to colonial growers wanting a market. Although the crop is finer in quality, the yield is below the average, accounted for by the fact that the extent of land under wheat is 378,000 acres less than last year, or more than 20 per cent less than what is usually termed an average growth. Mr Caird, a well-known writer on the subject, estimates the yield at 10,160,000 qrs, which after deduction of 800,000 qra for seed leaves 9,800,000 for consumption. The annual consumption is 23,000,080 qrs so that a large margin is left for- importation. The European crops are under the average In quantity, but America will have plenty to export at an advanced rate. There is one business in Napier, says the Teleyraph, evidently not overdone, and that is the cab business. There are now only 43 cabs licensed for hire, and as there is probably room for a few more, about ten other individuals intend to obtain a crust by following this lucrative occupation. Our contemporary imagines it must be a fine, easy, jolly life, that of a cabman in such a climate as Napier possesses. It takes six hundred and fifty-four bites to satisfy a flea, according to the investigations of the celebrated etnomologist Herr Scheckelheimer, so that when you can count six hundred and fifty-four feeding spots on your body you can know that that flea is satis 3ed and gone to take a nap. In reality, a mosquito is much cheaper boarding.

An Auckland talegrani to the Post says:— r In anamber of rases ot^cluWjpagne received^ by <a : merchant by a late Elg%h ship it -tres found' on opening; that >vest bo&ttea had peea abstracted*; and tfeir\p!aees filled with : lumpa;of coah; This is supposed to have been done qn board of ship. Pi a \ . s J,;?: 7 ,~^ v > ; lraa-^naae^}good thiafojit h£hia pamphlet upon the Bulgaria^ atrocities.' Hundreds of thouianda have been sold at the price of one and sixpence per copy, and his popularity amongst the people of England was never greater. As a correspondent of a Canterbury paper says, •• he is once more the People's William." >ji k\ /; " lt Great interest has been excited among agriculturalist in the neighborhood of Read- . ?%.■"* Newbury by an extraordinary feat which -has been performed by Mir Charlwood, farmer and miller, of Padworth, who made a wager that he would himself, singly and unassisted, put on carts the produce of 20 | acre3 of wheat :and.secdifeiojje stacked, the time specified being as soon as ha could see to load in the morning and as long as he could see at night. Mr Charlwood commenced his ta«k on the farm of Mr N. G. Hutchinson, at Crookham, near Newbury, at a quarter before four o'clock in the morning, and by 20 minutes past nine at eight he had acomplished the unprecedented feat. Mr Charlj wood was much exhausted at the finish, the crop being very heavy, as will be gathered when it is stated that the ricks built comprised three ten yards long and five yards wide, one ten yards long and six yards wide all of good weight, besides which there was a smaller one. About twenty sheaves were put up in a load, and they were carted to the ricks. It is computed that during the time Mr Charlwood did not cart a less quanty than 200 sacks of wheat, and 55 or 60 tons of straw, calculated to be equal to what would be considered a fair amount of work for three days for an ordinary agricultural laborer.