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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 45, 21 February 1877, Page 2

The Otago miners have suffered serious losses from floods. The Carrick Range race overflowed and did great damage, hundreds of ounces of gold being washed away in the tail races. On the 26th of January, during the regatta at Sydney, the Premier of New South Wales, on behalf of the colony, presented a testimonial to Mr Edward Trickett, the champion sculler of the world, the testimonial consisting of more than 9QO sovereigns. We (Herald) have received information that within the last few days there has been a marked improvement; in the health of Sir George Grey, who has been for a considerable period confined through illness to his residence at the Kawau. We (Taranaki Herald) have been shown by Mr Crompfcon a live lizard, which had come out of a log of ironwood whilst it was beiug chopped. The lizard is about nine inches in length, and appears to be none the worse for the many years of imprisonment ifc evidently has experienced. Mr Parnell, a member of the International Gun and Polo Club, has, afc Brighton, performed the feat of shooting 100 penny pieces successively in 50 minutes, thereby winning a wager of £300 to £15. The thrower-up stood eight yards from the shooter, and he was not to throw any piece more than three feet above hia head. The Hokitika Star says: — Scarlet fever is spreading in various directions about; the Borough, and other sickness is prevalent. The epidemic and contagious disease mentioned, is one requiring certain stringent and active measures to stamp out, and we would like to know what the Local Board of Health have done towards the repression. We are not aware that they have done anything whatever, and have not heard thafc they purpose doing anything. But ifc is time thafc they bestirred themselves if an active trade in the coffin business is to be looked upon as a calamity. A correspondent at Waitekauri, dating February 13th, writes to the Auckland Herald-.— The elements have combiued to give a grand entertainment; for our especial benefit, the performance commencing at eleven o'clock on Friday nighfc with a grand aud brill iaufc exhibition of the Aurora Avsiralis, which lasted for over an hour. The flashes were exceedingly vivid, lighting up the whole place, small objects being as dis-. tinctly visible as if ifc were day. The afterpiece was in the shape of some very heavy showers; The second part of the performance commenced ou Saturday, about one o'clock in the day, when Ave saw one of the i most brilliant flashes of lightning it has ever been our lot to behold, followed by a peal of thunder, which fairly shook the ground, and even startled men working 300 feet under ground. In the Waitekauri mine a man working on top of the No 2. winze received a slight shock from the electric fluid, which . seemed to bit him a smart blow across the back. He was working the windlass at the" time, and had to steady himself for a minute or two before he was able to go on with his work. This is the first instance I have heard of lightning affecting persons underground, and what makes it more "remarkable is that ifc would have to travel 500. feet to reach where the man was afc work, that being the < distance of the tunnel from the adit.

We clip, the following from a Darlington paper:— « Emigrants for New! Zealand.— An affecting scene occurred at the Northeastern Railway Station at Darlington lately on the departure of between fifty and sixty emi- . grants* for New 2ealand,7yia London. The farewells were of a touching ahd pathetic character. As the train moved off the whole party sang Moody and Sankey's well-known hymn, beginning—' We shall meet on. that beautiful shore.' " The Post of Tuesday says:— lfc is understood that on the fprmal announcement of Mr Pearce's resignation of his seat in the House of Representatives for this city Mr W. T. L. Travers will offer himself for the vacancy. There is also a report that the thrice defeated Mr W.Hutchison, who has unsuccessfully wooed the constituencies of Wanganui, Rangitikei, and the Hutfc, will try his fate once more by offering himself for the city. We should think that Mr Hutchison would scarcely like to repeat a disagreeable experiment. Bye and bye we shall doubtless hear of more candidates. Meantime the names. of Mr Gisborne and Mr Tooraath are also mentioned. The members of the Otago Convention are coming to their senses. Practically, they perceive that fighting, against the accomplished fact of abolition is absolutely useless, and that ifc will be wise to submit to circumstances. So ifc comes about that they have formally resolved that the mad project of sending Home Sir George Grey and Mr Macandrew shall be abandoned, but that the petitions which these delegates were to carry shall be sent through the post office to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Then they propose to return the subscriptions collected for the abandoned mission to the subscribers thereof- should they want the money back— but if not, they will keep them to serve as the sinews of war in future agij tations against those odious centralists who j have robbed them of their rights and liberj ties. This, in truth, is the beginning of the | end. The game of Macandrew and "the j Lairds o' Convention" is played out. This laiest meeting of the Convention is the last convulsive kick of an expiring political body. — Post. At Greytown (Otago) the flood rose ten feet, and the water rose level with the platform at the station. The principal sufferer among farmers on the plains is James Shand. The whole of his crops are totally destroyed; 1200 sheep of his are also drowned, and 45 head of cattle. His loss has been put down i at £5000. The Meadow's Bank estate loses £3000; Menlore, of Windsor Park £4000. Ifc was fche carrying away of the embankment near Outram that did all the mischief. A recent telegram noted the fact that in a I foot race afc Auckland between Ellis, a weilI known local pedestrian, and Selby, the Nottingham representative of the All-England Eleven, the latter won easily. The Auckland , people appear to have been rather astonished by Selby's victory The Herald says:— "A good deal of cash changed hands over the event, and we regret to state the cricketer and his friends had a * soft thing,? and won close upon £300, much to the chagrin of tbe Aucklanders. fcelby was looked 'upon as a novice, nothing being known of his previous career as a pedestrian. After tbe race, however, the ' cat was let out of fche bag,' and ifc was then ascertained that he had no mean pedigree, having won several important events afc home, and also during the tour of the team through Australia, and is engaged in several more on his return to that colony." The Southland Times says:— ln an action between two parties, of whom one resides in Auckland and the other in a southern district, matters were amicably settled out of court, the former agreeing to pay the law costs of fche latter. The bill for these was sent up to Auckland, and was found to "tot up" to the respectable sum of £123 10s Considering that the case had not been brought into court, and that therefore these were preliminary costs, that sum of £123 10s may be safely declared to be a respectable one. The Auckland party got the bill "taxed," and the result was a reduction to the paltry fee of £8 10s. Last nighfc (writes the Wellington Argus of Wednesday) the rats swarmed in Mr Murphy's booth at the Cricket Ground, and not content with eating a large box of sandwiches they went in for a heavy " burst," at . least, so we are sold. Our informant states that tbey knocked over several bottles of spirits, broke the necks off in true Bucchanmtfian style and got so " awfully jolly " that dozens were discovered this morning as tight as lords, some being asleep on the ground. ! while others were trying to struggle home in a very seedy condition. The story seems incredible, but our informant is a man of unimpeached veracity, and when we add that his assertion was backed by a good round " swear " no one will doubt what is here related. A death from a curious source is thus related by the Bay of Plenty Times:—" Captain Tovey, J.P., Coroner, held an inquest at Ohmemutu on Saturday on the body of Helen Hinemoa Wilson, aged two years and eight months, the youngest daughter of Mr Isaac Wilson, of that township' who died on Friday from falling into a hole of boiling water iu her father's garden. Ifc was adduced m evidence that there was a boiling spring at the foot of Mr Wilson's garden, and that near to it a hole .has been dug, and a- barrel put into the ground, into which the boiling water from the spring is conducted for washing and other purposes. The spring was protected by a fence, but there was nothing rouud tbe top of the hole to prevent people from falling in. 'I he poor little child fell into this hole, and died half an hour afterwards, though without suffering any pain after she was taken out of the water. The Marlborough Press records the following fatal accident:— ln the early morning of Wednesday, or late at night, on Tuesday, a sad accident happened in the family of Mr Jennins. For some days past several members of his family have been suffering from scarlet fever, and on the night of Tuesday the youngest child died. The sorrow this caused was the means of awakening a little boy eleveu years of age, and Mr Jennins went into the room to console him. and to give him a drink. Unfortunately, in the excitement occasioned by his recent- bereavement;, he took up a bottle containing crude carbolic acid instead of a bottle containing porter. Some of the noison was poured in a mug and given to the boy to drink, and he toak a quantity estinuited afc two tablespoonfuls. The father then gave the mug to a little girl in the same room to drink from, when she detected ifc.. Mr Jennins, having discovered his mistake, promptly applied snch domestic antidotes as were afc hand, and obtained medical assistance without delay. When the doctor arrived he found the child in convulsions, and he shortly after died.

(For continuation of Newt see fourth page)