The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1877.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 47, 23 February 1877, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1877.

A meeting of the Motueka Relief Committee was held yesterday afternoon, when the following additional members were appointed:—Messrs H. Jennings, A. White, E. E. Burrell, C. Dencker, S. Buchholsj, T. Grooby sen., F. Jellicoe, F. Greenwood, W. Haddow, J. Bird, R. Chattock, and Rev. Father Mahoney. The following resolutions were passed:— ■" That the Motueka and Riwaka members be a sub-Committee to enquire and report as to the extent of immediate assistance required, and generally as to what other relief is needed." — " That the local Committee be requested to furnish the General Committee with a statement, showing the amount of loss of each person iv land, horses, stock, or oiher property, accompanied by a similar statement showing the amount still remaining." The Committee adjourned until 7 30 p.m. to-morrow. The following additional subscriptions are reported:— Messrs Sclanders and Co. £10, C. B. Wither £5, C. Canning £5, M'Rae Bros. £3, Mr Lewis £2, 11. Goulstone £5, Mr Von Tunzelmann £1. R. Freeman £1 Is, T. Gilbert £i, VV. Akersten £1 Is, R. Hadfield £2 2s; J. Webb, £1; G. Ashcroft, £1. Dr. Boor wishes to acknowledge with thanks "the

receipt from "H. S." of £1 and a parcel of clothing. ; We also desire to acknowledge the receipt of two parcels of clothing from a resident in Waimea West. Odr telegrams inform us that Lieutenant Paynter, of the Stoke Rifles, was, ac the conclusion of the fourth match, leading by six points in the aggregate score for the Championship of New Zealand.. For the Belt there are in all six matche* to be fired, the fifth being at 600, 500, and 200 yards, and the last at 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600 yards. We are told that the two first ranges in the fifth match had been fired, but, just at the time when a keen interest is beginning to be felt in the result,' the agent has omitted to forward the scores. This match is to be completed this afternoon, and the sixth and last will probably take place to-morrow. We wish Lieutenant Paynter every success, and shall be greatly pleased to see Jhira bring the Belt to Nelson, where it has not been won for many years. We regret to learn that Mrs C. P. Kearns of Hope died suddenly yesterday. An inquest is to be held at noon to-morrow. Hop-picking and threshing are just now in full swing in the Waimea districts, wlrch, especially Waimea West where a large quantity of hops are grown, present a busy appearance from early in the morning until dusk. At the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning, Henry Lewis, a seaman on board the barque Chaudiere, was charged with wilful disobedience of lawful orders, and sentenced to seven days imprisonment and to forfeit one day's pay. Jamea Armstrong, charged with being in Mr Parmenter's stable last night without lawful excuse, was discharged with a mntion. Wii ic.'.m that Mr H. A. Severn, the scientific lecturer, is soon $p pay Nelson a visit, when we shall have an exhibition of scientific experiments such as has never been seen here Mr Severn has magnificent apparatus, including the marvellous new instrument the radiometer, Browning's spectrum lantern apparatus, and the automatic electric lamp of tremendous power for fusing metals, and exhibiting their spectra on a twelve feet square screen. He also has a magnificent collection of photographs of the sun and the sun's spots and eruptions, and some beautiful views of the moon and planets. The growth of crystals and animalcule will also be exhibited, and the decomposition of water by galvanism shown by lime light. A London telegram, dated 17th inst., says that 400 bales of New Zealand hemp sold at £22 10s and £25 10s. The South British Insurance Company have marked their approbation of the conduct of Captain Anderson in the cargo broaching affair which took place on board' the ship Thuriand Castle, on her voyage from London to Auckland, by presenting him with a cheque for twenty guineas. A meeting of the trustees of the Taranaki Relief Fund is to be held this afternoon for the purpose of discussing the question of devoting the amount to the relief of the Motueka sufferers. A lady, writing from Motueka to a friend in Nelson, says:— "Don't think I am too covetous for my unfortunate neighbors, but if you should hear any enquiries as to desirable relief to send, could you suggest blankets, coarse flannel, calico, stocking yarn (they are great knitters), and perhaps strong boots for children, who will otherwise have to go without, for I am sure they all have no funds to buy these necessaries." Captain Petherbridge, the manager for Messrs Shaw, Saville, and Co. in New Zealand, passed through Nelson in the Hawea to-day on his way to Wellington, where he is going to make an enquiry into the circumstances attending the recent fire on board the Himalaya.

A boy has been sentenced to seven days' imprisonment at Grahamstown for stealing a peach. In Wellington, says the Wanganui Chronicle, some people take a delight in killing frogs. It takes U\p to accomplish ;the execution. One holds the frog down with a .stick, and the other hammers its head off with a stone. Thus one of the Wellington | journals describes the modus operandi employed. The Government appear to be determined to enter upon their promised retrenchment policy without delay. The Herald of Saturday says:— The recent visit of Mr Seed, Secretary to the Customs, to Auckland, will, we are informed, eventuate in the withdrawal of pilots from several of the minor ports on the coast. Tauranga, Gisborne, Wangaroa, and Mongonui, it is said, will be the ports affected, as the shipping at these places is not sufficient to warrant the Government maintaining the pilot service at them. A saving of about £1000 per annum will be the result. Under the heading "Extortionate Usury," "A Father of a family" addresses the following letter to the Auckland Htrald-.~"l feel it my duty to make, public a matter of an iniquitous nature. I am informed there is a money dealing firm in this city which is in the habit of advancing young men amounts at rates of interest monstrous to reflect upon. I have heard of three pounds being paid for the loan of seven pounds for seventy days, and thirty-five shillings for the loan of a similar amount for thirty days, and in addition a charge of 3s 6d in each case, under the name of commission for negotiating the loan; and this rascally business was transacted with a minor. Now, I feel that this firm is a trap for young men, of which their fathers should be aware, and that young men should avoid like poison a temptation to indulge in extravagances which*" by causing them to enter into engagements which they cannot fulfil, may lead them, perhaps, to the perpetration of graver offences." A correspondent of the Auckland Star writes: — A young man who was cleaned out by extortionate usury, and had to bolt from his creditors, hit upon a device for getting a remittance from his guv'ner. He accordingly telegraphed from Waikato to the old man as follows :— "Regret to inform you your son Thomas was found drowned this morning. What shall we do with remains?" Then he signed the name of John Smith, made the telegram "collect," and awaited the result. . After a short time a telegram money order for £10 was received by the young scapegrace, with the laconic reply, •'bury them" He went and buried his sorrows and griefs in the iiowiug bole. In a few days he was cleaned out again.— Then he wrote to the old man.—" Dear father, I have just learned that an infamous scoundrel named John Smith sent you a fictitious account of my death, and swindled you out of £10. He also borrowed £5 of me, and left the Waikato. lam still alive, and long to see the old parental roof. lam in reduced circumstauces.— Please send me £20. Love to all.— Your affectionate son— Augustus." A few days later he received the following reply:— "My dear son, I have buried you puce, and there's an end of you. I decline to have anything to do with a corpse Yours in the flesh. A Bilkingcove," • J think that old mail was nowise green.

There has been a (terrible row going on over the flogging at Wellington College of two boys, who had absented themselves from afternoon school without leave. The governors of the institution have assembled in solemn conclaVe, and discussed the 'pros and cots. Some were terribly irate, while others seemed inclined to agree in the verdictserved theji right. Finally a resolution was passed completely exonerating" the Principal from any charge of over severity. Of the Wellington Provincial officers only one has entered the General Government service. One or two others Avera afforded employment at reduced salaries, but preferred accepting compensation for loss of office, and then shifting for themselves. Singular as ifc may appear to outsiders, the Civil Service is not popular in Wellington, ;and its rauks are not to any large extent recruited from Wellington youths. People here see too much of its petty jealousies, &c, to like it, and nothing is more common than to hear parents declaring that they would rather see their sons working as laborers than in Government office. To those who know the Service and the positiou and prospects of most of the officers in it, this does not seem at all extraordinary, i The Victorian Parliament has voted £1500 for preliminary expenditure in establishing an experimental farm at Dookie. The object is to show farmers what wheat crops are suitable to certain climates, and in what rotation the crops should be grown. It is held that such farms would raise the standard of cultivation, in Victoria by establishing a system or systems of rotation whereby lands might be cropped without fear of impairing their fertility, and at the same time at a profit to the occupants; while experiments could also be conducted on these farms on the growth and after treatment of many products, the cultivation of which was little understood by the majority of farmers in Victoria. The cost of conducting the purely experiment portion was estimated at £1200 per annum; of buildings, £3000; and the expenditure on the general farm at £600 to £700 per annum, uuiil it was brought under cultivation, when the returns from this portion would probably cover the outlay on the experimental grounds. A most extraordiuary. circumstance in connection with a sudden death from disease of the heart is mentioned by the Parkes correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald. He •writes:— "The deceased had been in the employ of Mr Robert Simpson, grazier, at Duladerry Creek, and left there through illness, intending to go to Parkes Hospital. Deceased remained some four or five days in Bunbury; and while drinking with a friend, he was talking intelligently about poets and great writers, and remarked: ' In ten minutes I could tell more than they ever wrote, and more than all the great men of England!' adding, < I have seen the Angel Gabriel and the Saviour. 5 He then took off his hat, and, stepping back, fell into the arms of a bystander, exclaiming, 'Let me fall and rest.' The deceased spoke no more, and was dead in about five minutes." A Home correspondent writes to a contemporary:—"Before I pass from the dark and horrible to themes of a cheerful kind, let me take note of an announcement by the side of which all other horrors grow pale. A committee of the established Presbytery of Edinburgh has been sitiing upon drunkenness, and has now published the result of its inquiries. It has arrived at tliis sad estimate, namely, that within the area to which its investigations were directed, drunkenness . has during the last five years increased 33 per cent among men. We know what that means. Thirty-three per cent more enemies of the human race will grow fat upon the sale of drams; as the existing dram-sellers will grow thirty-three per cent more fat by their selfish trade. Thirty-three per cent more children will inherit the priceless advantages of a drunken parentage. Thirtythree per cent more parents will laugh to scorn the instruction imposed by the State, while they afford to their children at home their own undoubted but peculiar education. Thirty-three per cent more women will learn the pleasures of working hard all day to earn the salutation of hob-nailed boots, pokers, bill-hooks, kettles of scalding water, and other implements of husbandry at night. Thirty-three per cent more men will discover the excellency of our laws of matrimony, and divorce which grant to the wealthy cuckold, though the victim of but one offence, a release they deny to him whose wife is daily debauched by drink." Land and Water states that in the Abbey of Lindores, near Newburgh on Tay, one pear tree was stripped this season of its fruit, and 1900lbs were obtained. One apple tree in the same orchard recently showed 46 apples less than 4000. An extraordinary incident occurred at the Waterloo Hotel, Kaiwarra, near Wellington, a few days ago. When the four o'clock train was passing, myriads of sparks were shot out of the funnel of the locomotive, and one of them entered one of the bedrooms through a small hole in a window pane. It caught the curtains, and in a few seconds they were blazing. The flames then caught the covering of a bed which was placed near the window, and extended to the lining of the walls. | Some people who were down stairs smelt smoke and hurried to the bedroom and extinguished the flames. An ingenious pamphlet has been written by a German on improvements in war. War, he maintains, if properly conducted, should in no way affect non combatants, except in so far as they may suffer by reason of bereavements; and, moreover, much may be done to make it less disagreeable to actual combatants. With this view, he suggests that some neutral territory be set aside by the European Powers and devoted entirely to bloodshed. No fighting is, under any pretence whatever, to take place out of this territory, which fs to be fitted up for war in the most elaborate fashion. There is to be a training-3chool for nurses, a college for surgeons, and large hospitals, Prisoners of war will be confined in suitable buildings specially prepared for their accommodation. There are also to be vast cemetries, and depots for artificial limbs, &c. These conveniences will be open to all nations wishing to fight at fixed and reasonable charges. Weapons of every description— and in fact all the appliances for war— may be bought or hired; but no credit is to be given, and the charges fqr battle fields are to be paid before the first gun is fired. All profits after payment of expenses will ba devoted to the maintenance of the widows and orphans of the fallen. A horrible occurrence is reported in the San Francisco papers. A confirmed drunkard named John McKinley, with his wife "and five children occup'ed a house in one of the slums. He was in the habit of constantly beating his wife, and the family had been reduced to such a state of utter destitution by the drunken habits of the father that they depended upon the chairty of neighbours for food and clothing. The brutal husband often seized any articles left in the house and carried the n off to exchange for drink. Owing to a representation of the neighbours a warrant was granted for the man's arrest on the charge of habitual drunkenness, and a policemen went to the house. Here a ghastly scene met his gaze. The children, ragged, dirty, and half-starved, were huddled^ together in a corner. Lying on the bed was the dead body of the mother, and by her side the husband stupified with liquor. A docior was brought and found that the woman had died from small-pox, combined with illtreatment. The usual precautions were taken against the spread of the disease, the man and his children being removed to the hospital.

\ The Lyttelton Times, referring to the Counties Act, says:— We pity the Solicitor-General if, as we hear, he is expected to give an opinion on every legal question which arises m the mind of every County Councillor on every clause of the Act. There are sixtythree Couuties and about four hundred Councillors, and two hundred and thirteen clauses in the Act. Those of our readers who are expert in arithmetic can calculate for themselves the aggregate of this awful infliction. It positively amounts to cruelty to Law Officers, and should be suppressed by law; In. the meantime, we advise the Solicitor-General to apply to the Supreme Court for an injunction to restrain this thirst of County Councillors for his " opinions." This slight sketch imperfectly conveys an idea of the present confusiou. It is blindman's buff, with every one blindfolded. Chaos umpire aits, And by decision more embroils the fray By which, he reigns: nest him high arbiter Chance governs all. In the Otago Daily Times of Monday last there appeared the following letter addressed by a Mr ltedmayne, from California, to Mr Macandrew:— "Trentvale, Alamanda County, California, December 26, 1876.— James Macandrew Esq. My dear sir,— l do myself the honor to address you on a subject that you may take some interest in, seeing that your strenuous exertions on behalf of the pioneer settlers of Otago have been unsucessful. In anticipation of the present political troubles I was requested by a number of persons before leaving Otago to look out for a suitable place to move to, for which purpose I have during the last two years been on the look put, and visited various parts of California without finding air the essentials for a sucessf ul settlement. At last, I believe I . have met with a section of country that possesses more advantages than my. most sanguine imagination could. have ; expected, namely, in Lower California and at present under the Mexican Government. Mr George Duncan and myself have already purchased several thousand acres each, and are negotiating for two or three thousand more at a few pence per acre on conditions of settlement under the Mexican laws of 1875, which give unusually liberal inducements to immigrants, which are too numerous to mention in a brief letter. Amongst others I may state that 640 acres or a square mile are given to each family, and to be free from taxes and import and export duties during the first ten years. The climate, nature of the soil, mineral and other resources, are probably unsurpassed in the world. It has hitherto been a terra incognita, except as a grazing place for some wild herds of cattle and sheep." A French horticulturist, to study the physiology of the vegetable kingdom, conceived that the smallness of certain plants— the violet for example— was owing to an atmospheric pressure too great for its delicate organs. Haging carefully resolved this idea into form, he determined to test the correctness of it by some satisfactory experiment. After not a little calculation he at last hit upon the possible and probably only means by which he could illustrate his new theory. He prepared a small ballon, of as light material as was consistent with the necessary quality of durability, and that he made perfectly tight so as to prevent the escape of any gas with which he filled it. To this he attached a strong silken cord, 12,000 metres long, or say 4000 ft. Attached to the balloon, in plfce of a basket, was a pot of earth, in which were planted Parma violets just springing from the root. The result has been wonderful. In the thin air which the delicate violets breathed at that height— for flowers do breathe in their own delicate way— they throve marvellously, the blossoms enlarging to five times the size attained at the earth's surface. This beautiful experiment, after two months of judicious trial, rewarded the ingenious and scientific horticulturist by presenting him with violets as large as Bengal roses, something probably never before seen on earth. {For continuation of Newt see fourth page)