THE PERILS OF PEARL FISHING,

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 269, 11 December 1876, Page 4

THE PERILS OF PEARL FISHING,

A gentleman, writing from Somerset to a resident iu Brisbane, gives the following facts, which the Telegraph publishes : —

He says that during the past month two divers have been drowned while at work in their diviugdresses, aud two swimming divers have been devoured by sharks. These disgusting brutes are now so numerous as to produce a perceptible falling oiE in the quantity of pearlshell obtained. One of the divers is described as losing his wife in a singular way. He was walking along on the bottom, which was very level and free from coral, when his life-line became entangled round a large piece of cup-shaped coral, the only obstruction for a considerable distance. The boat to which he was attached was drifting with the tide as he walked on, and, the life-line getting foul, the boat v. as anchored as it were. The strain thus brought on the life-line would appear to have drawn the diver down to the coral, thereby creating such alarm as to cause him so far to lose his presence of mind as to cut the line. He might just as well cut his throat, as, by this thoughtless act he transferred the boat's strain from the rope to the air-pipe, which was soon pulled out of its socket in the helmet. The letter adds tbat it was some time before the body was recovered. It was on its back and a knife firmly clutched in the right hand. The otber diver mentioned in the letter as dying in his dress appears to have died from heart disease, as, when hauled up, the dress and air-pipe were found in perfect order, and tbe pump acting properly. The first diver was a native of Cape de Verde Islands, and the latter an Erotnanga man. No blame appears to have been attached to the boats' crews.

Mr Travers writes to the N. Z. Times as follows: — As the slug worm _3 now appearing on plum, cherry, and other stone fruit trees, I venture ;to suggest to those who ara interested, the following means of mitigating the injury they can do:— Mix together one part of quicklime with ten of ashes and ten of soil, the whole finely powdered. Powder the leaves with this mixture, using a close sieve for the purpose, and it will destroy all the insects ou which it falls. If the tree be too high to be otherwise reached a step-ladder will enable the operator to deal with it. I have found it quite effectual for the last two years. We learn fom the Otago Drily Times that a Chinamen named Ah Mong, who has been earning a lucrative living of late by catching small fry in a net at the comer of Rattraystreet jetty, Dunedin, and who occasionally nets a trout, waa charged at the City Police Court, Wednesday last, with contravening the Fisheries Act, 1867. The police had seized his appliances, which consisted of four long bamboo poles on which the net was fixed, a net of small meshes, decreasing in size towards the bunt, so that the most minute fry could not pass through, a scoup, and a fine plump trout, weighing s£ lbs. It was proved that defendant had caught other trout, and had been warned by the police, but on getting a lawyer's opinion that he was not contravening any statute, he defied the police and continued fishing. The Bench inflicted the nominal penalty of Is and costs. The ferrets imported by the Hon. Mr Waterhouse appear to serve their purpose admirably. We (News LeVer) learn that they were let go at a place where the rabbits were very plentiful, and they have cleared them out very quickly. There is now not one in the neighborhood. Doubtless the ferrets will quickly serve their purpose where they were liberated, and then spread to other parts where rabbits are more plentiful. While they do not in themselves become as great a nuisance as the rabbits, they are certainly likely to prove a great benefit to the district. The following is a short account of the extraordinary proceedings in the Tasmanian Parliament, taken from papers just to hand. In the Council, attention was drawn to Mr Meredith, the Treasurer, having in the Assembly used words of a most insulting character in reference to the President of the Council. A message was sent to the Assembly demanding an apology. Though ample time was given to him for consideration, Mr Meredith absolutely refused to apologise. The Attorney-General moved in the Council that the message be read that day six months. All the Ministers voted for this but the motion was negatived on the casting vote of the Speaker, and the debate . was adjourned. The Council, on being informed of this, to mark their sense of the course pursued by the other chamber, adjourned for three mouths, this virtually bringing the session to a close. A bitter controversy has been going on lately between Archbishop Vaughan and the Freemasons of Sydney. The Archbishop, in an address, severely denounced the Masons, which elicited replies from leading members of the craft, and Protestant .clergymen. In defending himself from accusations of disloyalty, the Archbishop replies:- -Previous to my consecration, I took an oath, by which I consider myself bound during the rest of my life.— (l.) To regard the Soverign Pontiff as my spiritual head, and to |die rather than deny him to be such. (2.) To regard her Majesty the Queen as my temporal head, and to die rather than deny such to be the case. (3.) To do all I can to open the eyes of my fellow men to the truth and beauty of the religion of our ancestors— the religion of those men who laid the foundation of England's greatness, established her universities, built her cathedrals. (4.) To do all this with gentleness and charity, that is, in the spirit of our Saviour aud only to speak vehemently wheu vehemence seems the only way to make onself understood. (5.) To consider loyalty to the Crown as much an obligation placed upon me by Almighty God, as obedience iu spirituals to the Pope, and to be willing to lay down my life rather than prevaricate against either. An ingenious farmer near Napier has posted up the following notice on the gate of . a cricket field:—" Notis Na harses Allad In side this gate." Most of our readers know (says the Ballarat Star) that the late Miss Julia Mathews has a niece in Ballarat who has shown considerable histrionic ability, aud we now learn with pleasure that Mrs Scott-Siddons has promised to take the young lady under her care whenever the great tragedienne gets a company together. On the 25th November a little boy two years old, son of James Hamilton, settler at Hamilton Bay, Lower Harbor, Dunedin, was scalded to death by falling backwards into a tub of hot water, in which his mother was preparing fowl food. A good deal has been said of late as to the disadvantage of the carbine at a long range in competition with the Snider rifle. To show, however, what a good shot may accomplish with a carbine, the Otago Daily Timet mentions that Lieutenant Muir, at the 500 yards range, using a carbine, succeeded in scoring 37 out of a possible 40. He made eight bull's eyes, a centre and an outer. Regarding the Christmas sports at Kumara, the local Times says :— " The great event will be the Kumara Grand Challenge Handicap, of £110, determinable by points; the next is the Teremakau Handicap of 40 sovs; for wrestling £75 is offered; the winners of the mile and a half race receive £12 10s each; the best vaulter £8; and the winners of other events, £25. The only drawback is the want of proper ground for sports. The Otjgo Daily Tim s mentions a case of a woman in England, whose husband ran away from her taking with him somebody else's wife, being determined to follow him " twice round the world if necessary,' 'as she expressed herself. The elopement was from Scotland, and following him up, his wife gained information that he had taken ship from London for New Zealand with a handsome woman some twenty years his junior. Her course was at once fixed for Melbourne, where she arrived a few weeks ago, and thence to New Zealand she followed, acting upon information gathered by the way in search of her arrant husband. We drop a veil over tbe discovery. The runaway was brought to bay not a hundred miles from Dunedin. He implored her forgiveness, and a reconciliation took place. The reconciled ones left for the old country in one ship, and the young woman went by another. The Bank of New South Wales was sued, on the 6th November, in the Supreme Court, at Melbourne, before the Chief Justice and a jury of twelve, by Mr W. Marstin, a storekeeper near St. Arnaud, for damages for dishonoring a bill which he had accepted in favor of Messrs W. Buhlerfc & Co, of Avoca. ( The Argu* says that Marstin had funds at his credit to meet the bill, but o^Ymg to some misunderstanding be.*, ecu the clerks of the defendant and a clerk of the Bank of Victoria at St. Arnaud, the bill was dishonored. The clerk from the Bank of Victoria alleged that he presented the bill, owing to instructions afc an earlier hour than the usual ex- | change, and that it was not paid. The de- ! fendants asserted that they asked for a reason for the presentation at that hour, and having received no satisfactory answer, told the Bank of Victoria clerk to call again. The jury found in favor of the plaintiff, that the bill had been dishonored, and gave a verdict for him, with £500 damages.

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