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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 114, 16 May 1877, Page 2

The Picton hangman has been having a lively time of it. He went to work at the Forty-Mile Bush in Wellington, bufc was recognised, and had to leave. He complains that he can get lots to drink but nothing to eat. Arthur Orton's sister has arrived at Melbourne, and gond to Sydney to see if the lunatic in Parramatta Asylum is Ortou. Mr Hookham, the champion chess-player of Canterbury, has sent a challenge to Mr Benbow, of the Wellington Chess Club, to play three games. The challenge has been accepted, and the game will be played shortly by letter. By the Suez mail we learn that Mr E. J Reed had made a vigorous attack upon the Admiralty management, pointing out that some of the first-class ironclads were deficient in engineering staff. He said that such immensely complex machines as our Devastations and Iron Dukes, are sent to sea, lefc aloue constructed, with a staff which confessedly does not understand the application of the best principles to vessels propelled by steam. The following appears in an advert isment in a Calcutta paper:— "Wanted, by a blackguard, employment of any kind, temporary or otherwise. The advertiser having hitherto conducted himself as a gentleman, and signally failed, of which his hopeless state of impecuniosity is the best proof, is induced fo adopt the other course, in the hope that he may meet with better succes. No objection toupcountry. Terms moderate. Applv by letter to 'Perdita,' care of the Printer."" Most amusing scenes are repoited to have taken place in the Government Buildings, Wellington, iu consequence of the new regulations not allowing the usual half hour for luncheon. Some of fche clerks bring down, coram populo, f ryingpans, saucepans, and toasting forks, together with all' the eatables and drinkables, and one large department, the head of which will persist in smoking, has been solemnly reported to the Gevernment, by the head messenger, for "cooking red herrings, onions, and beef steaka on the fire-tongsj " The harbour out side the buildings is further said to be covered with empty bottles. The London Times remarks: — No doubt can exist of the superiority at present of Turkey afc sea. She possesses, thanks to European loans, 20 excellent ironclads afc least, and a considerable fleet of steam transports; and Russia could oppose to these only two monitors and a few frigates, in the Euxine, the only possible theatre of maritime operations in the supposed conflict." The advantages which this- would confer upon Turkey are summed tip as follows: — « The j command of the sea by the Turks would pre- ' ve it a descent on the shores of the Bosphorus, their most serious danger, Von Molfcke thought; ifc would protect; Constantinople for a considerable time; it would, to a certain extent, impede a Muscovite advance in Asia Minor, especially as the Straits were approached. Ifc would probably confine the; main attack therefore to. the vast, difficult, and perilous theatre which extends from the Dauube south of the Balkans." In the campaign of 1828, which haa been so frequently'-, alluded to in our columns of late, the Russians had command of the Black Sea,, and were able to land a large part of their forces at Burgas, a town some distance south of the Balkans. The Times, however, thinks that this advantage will be much more than, counter-balanced by the increased superiority of Russia on land. The Sydney Evening News of the 19th uit. states that, in consequence, possibly, of the important news received from Europe during the past week, "active steps have been taken by the military authorities to have the forts efficiently manned. The Permanent Artillery have conveyed to each of the principal forts a large quantity of materiel, and the magazines may now be said to be provided wifch shell and powder sufficient! to maintain a formidable and protracted defence. Arrangements have been made with the two batteries of artillery, so as to allow of the, immediate manning of both the outer and inner lines of defence." A grand waterfall in the Normanby Ranges of Queensland is thus spoken of by the Cooktown Herald-.— "During the last few days tho Normanby Cascade, some 20 miles away, has been observable on clear days to the naked eye, and when the sun was shining brilliantly the effects were very grand. From the top of the mountain the torrent of water could be seen pouring itself into the gulf below, and the reflection of the sun's rays on the waters was very grand. The fall of this mountain torrent cannot be less than 1500 feet; and the waters on reaching the base of the hill give a roar, which, although not quite so deafening as Niagara, resembles it very much, the spray being sent to a distance ©f about 100 feet high."

> T&. waterworks of 'Manchester imve iKfe^. ■ 28 years in <jou?sd of construction, ?add hafd : cost i £2,6Qp,ooo.ij The reservoirs cover 663* 1 acres, andhavex-4 capacity 4598 ■} million^ ; gallons. Five n«£w reservoirs, covering 37. ' adeesl, an* possessing ;.^j st„qr^gd x capacityx of 1.. 6. million gallons, are td'b^^oh^ifucted.X;The Geelohg Times inquires :— « What about a corrupt Speaker of the Assembly and a corrupt Chairman of Committees after this? In addressing his constituents at Belmont on Monday evening, Mr Levien exposed a curious incident that happened; oh' the' nighfc the Berry Ministry was defeated. •.„ Mr Levien'a own words are — 'I went to the Chief Secretary, Mr Berry, on the Treasury Bench, and said to him, ' John Thomas . Smith's vote is wavering; you had better see him.' 'Go to him, Levien,' said the Chief Secretary, « and promise him on my behalf that he shall have any gift he asks which it is in my power to bestow; any appointment the Governmeufc have to give shall be afc his disposal, but we must have his vote.' " The American meat question continues to exercise the British domestie mind and butcherial ingenuity. The Manchester butchers iaire buying up patriarchal old bulls and matronly cows which they kill, and exhibit as American beef, not frozen, retailing the carcases at a low price. The customers, disgusted afc. the experiment of trying to eat the stringy meat, return and demand their "Hold Hinglish roast beef," when the butchers supply them, at the old price, from an American carcase. In .'the estimation of competent judges the Russian soldier is inferior to the Turk. He is smaller in stature, not so abstemious, and not so well drilled. The Turk is tall, heavy, and soldier-like, He fights with the inspiration of a fanatic, and faces death and danger with the-. composure of a fatalist. The Asiatic recruits which have been pouring into the camp on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus for many months past are-des-cribed as hearty, hardy, sunburned fellows, full of martial . ardour and re'igious enthusiasm, atfd easily initiated into the "trade .of war.'? - ; . The carcases exported from republican America to England not having been reared |n baronial pastures, will not be able to furnish the titled 7 joints, a Sir-Loin or a Baron of Beef. : _ The best joint will be the shin, as Shin-plasters have been very common throughout the States for some years. The tendency upward df butcher's meat in England was checked first by New Zealand mutton. Now America has come to the rescue, and quantities of fresh beef are exported to Britain. One dealer in Glasgow sold 6388 carcasses, besides sheep and pigs, in six months. A diver on the coast of Queensland was the means, last year, of recovering from a wreck, which was haunted by sharks attracted by the corpses, a box containing £9000. The Colonial Admiralty Court awarded him about £3000 as salvage, and the owner of the gold, an Australian bank, appealed against this sum as excessive. The Judicial Committee dismissed the appeal. Quite right too. An extraordinary outrage was committed on a child on Saturday evening in the. 4.30 Dunedin train. A man named Pennington, one of the employees in the Milton Pottery Works, was returning from Dunediu with his little boy, aged about seven years, who had been in the hospital for six weeks. They were, with a man named Willinden, the sole occupants of one of the long second-class carriages.. Shortly after leaving the Clarenden station, Willinden took the child up and was playing wifch him. He had just given the child koine coppers and a two shilling piece, when the child cried out;, "Father, the man is biting me:" Pennington turned round and saw the child's wrist in the man's mouth. The child was not much hurti Willinden's excuse was that he had been Dlaying wifch the child, and:was imitating a dog,, and that if he. were not drunk he wonld never had attempted to harm, the child. It transpired thafc he drank a bottle of brandy to himself after the train left town. He was severely fined.