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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 136, 11 June 1877, Page 2

We understand that an information haa been lodged against one Ambrose Bicketts, charging him with having attempted to set fire to Mra Warnock'a houae in Collingwoodstreet some few nights ago. At the Magistrates' Court thia morning Edward Quirk was charged with being in an enclosed yard belonging to Mr R. Pettit, of Spring Grove, last night without lawful c icuse. He was sentenced to four months' imprisonment with hard labor. Several paragraphs were crowded out of our Saturday's issue, among them being one str ting that the apparatus for ringing the firebell by water power was tried on Friday evening, and proved a complete success. In the event of a fire being discovered Jate at night when very few people are abont the new arrangement will be found of great advantage, as a man may turn the tap and set the bell ringing, and while the alarm is being- given can enter the shed and get the hose reel out and ready to be taken away at once, thus saving a minute or two of timo, which in case of a fire is always of importance. The arrival of the Yen. Archdeacon Thorpe, who will meet with a hearty welcome, on his return from England, may be looked for shortly, aa he ia a passenger by the N.Z.S. Co.'s ship Wanganui, which sailed for Lyttelton on the 28th of March. She left London on the 21st, but put into Portland Roads on the 24th; the cook, a man named Eraser, having died suddenly. She resumed her voyage on the 28th, and landed the pilot off Torbay on the following day. A meeting of householders was held in the Lower Moutere schoolroom on Friday for the purpose of electing three members of the Education Committee in place of Messrs W. Funnell, W. J. Herrick, and R. ;Hyland, Mr H. A. Tarrant in the chair. The retiring members, together with Mr B. S. Allan, were duly proposed and seconded, and on a show of hands being taken the following was the result:— Herrick, 6; Hyland, 4; Allen, 4; Funnell, 2. The Committee met subsequently, when Mr Tarrant was appointed Chairman for the ensuing year.— At Riwaka, Messrs Drumraond, Fry, and Pattie, the retiring members, were unanimously re-elected. A weli. contested game' of football was played on Saturday afternoon, the teams being chosen alphabetically, A to M playing Nto Z. The former were the victors, thanks to a well kicked goal by Askew, the scores being A toM 6_ N to Z 2\. The Good Templar Dramatic Company will repeat their entertainment this evening. If any oue should question its popularity, let him attend aud see for himself the crowd that will be assembled in the Oddfellows' Hall long before eight o'clock. A correspondent, who carefully notes the number of days ou which rain falls in Nelson, thinks the following list of wet days iv the month of May for the last sixteen years may prove of interest at the close of the wettest month we have experienced for a long time :— ln May, 1862, rain fell on 8 days, in 1863 on 7, in 1864 on 7, in 1865 on 9, in 1806 on 4, in 1867 on 10, in 1868.-S9. 70, and 71 on 8, in 1872 oa 9, in 1873 on 8, in 1874 and 75 pn 7 ? in 1876 on 5, and in 1877 on 12. The Grey River Argus has deemed it necessary to explain an awkward typographical error which appeared in a recent issue. The editor, in a leading article on the Eastern question, wrote:—" Had we in the first flush of indignation been required," &c. v Typo," unable to distinguish between mental and bodily suffering, printed « indigestion " for " indignation." The editor earnestly hopes that tbat compositor may suffer the pangs of indigestion for tbe remainder of his natural life . Cruel though such a wish undoubtedly is, it is not altogether unpardonable under the trying circumstances. An Auckland telegram to a Wellington contemporary says:— A reporter has interviewed Mr Whitaker re the alleged differences in the Ministry. Mr Whitaker denies thai any serious, difference took place on the main policy, though there was a slight disagreement regarding minor questions. He says it js impossible a set of men could be all of one mind. . The " Wine of Life" can only, be kept free from adulteration or impoverishment by perpetuating thorough digestion anda regular action of the kidneys and bowels. A morbid habit of body tends to derange digestion, divert the bile from it 3 proper channels into the circulation, and thus render it both watery and impure. Deficient action of the kindeys also pauses blood poisoning. Regulate, strengthen and depurate with Udolpho Wolfe's Schiedam Abomatic Schnapps.— Advt.

A Napier telegram tpihe Post says:— On Saturday the bakers raised the price of bread • to sixpence the two pound loaf. A public meeting has been convened for thia evening to aiart a co-operative bakery. Since the announcement of the meeting, two of the bakers have lowered their price to fivepence. A big auit in equity has just been, settled in Canterbury between one Perry and others v. Rhodes- and others. They took seven years over it, and then agreed at last, the result being that the plaintiffs get £37,500. Now, we wonder how much the lawyers got out of that suit? According to the Home News « the railway book-stalla are now displaying a timely litt'e volume. A second edition has just been issued of the -Handbook to New Zealand," made up of contributions by various writers, the edjforial responsibility being taken by tho London Agent-General for New Zealand and ex-Premier of that colony, Sir Julius' Yogel." At a recent meeting of the Napier. Municipal Council a letter was read from the Inspector of Police, calling attention to the large amount of destitution in Napier; also, stating that he had paid £60 out of-. .his own private pocket for the relief of those requiring aid. He desired the Council, aa he could not stand such a drain on his private resources, to make some proviaion. The Council debated the matter, and concluded ,to lay the matter before the . General Government, and to apply for a refund of the £192 stopped from the subaidy for the relief of the destitute. During the recent voyage of the N.Y.S.S. Company's ship Piako from London to Lyttelton, two newspapers were carried on One of these, the Saturday Review, has been sent .to us for perusal. It ia exceedingly wellwritten and compiled, and must have been found a great relief to the unavoidable tedium of a long voyage. It waa ably edited by Mr J. W. M'Neale who waa formerly one of the mastera at the Nelson College, and who returned to New Zealand by the Piako. — Pott. The N.Zi Times states that a somewhat ludicrous and Unreported incident in connection with a recent meeting of the wharf committee of the City Council haa been mentioned about town." It seema' that one member accused another; of being interested personally in the direction in which he waa giving hia vote. Thereupon the member accused said to his accuser, "I'll pull your nose." Said another member, " No, don't ; wring his neck." And said yet again another member, " Kick him." The Mayor, preserving order, saui, "Gentlemen, please don't kill him ; " and the accuser at once apologised. The members for the Grey River district do not appear to be popular with their constituents. A correspondent of the Grey Rioer Argus writes:—" The members for the Grey district seem determined not to meet their constituents previous to the meeting of Parliament. Mr Kennedy ia doubtless too much engrossed with hia trade in coal aud coke to afford a few days amongst the 'free and independent electora ' of. the valley; and Mr Woolcock, I daresay, prefers canvassing for some newly-fledged newspaper, which ia to restore. New Zealand to % very high state of morality in the days to come. Mr Woolcock, when in No Town last week, certainly wanted to know whether he could do anything in the House for the district, but the fact ia, nobody cared much to have ;any talk with him, and, if he had. called a meeting, I don't think he would have had a dozen listeners." The Post of Tuesday says :— At the meeting of creditora in the estate of Mr James O'Shea, held yesterday afternoon, at the Supreme Court, on passing the varioua debts, a rather warm legal discussion arose on the claim of the Colonial Sugar Company, represented by Mr G. E. Tolhurst, for £1119 10s. Mr Quick, aa solicitor for the creditors, pointed out that in the statement presented by Mr O'Shea the Sugar Con_ pany's claim was set down as only £765, and he asked Mr Tolhurat whether he knew of his own knowledge that the larger sum really was due. Mr Buckley advised Mr Tolhurat not. to answer the question, and Mr Tolhurst declined accordingly to do so. On this a warm legal discussion ensued. Mr . Quick pointed out that if this claim were admitted and voted on by Mr Tolhurat in the election of a trustee, and' should the claim aubsequently be discovered to be informal, the present proceedings might be vitiated, and require to be gone through de now. Mr O'Shea said that the additional aum bow claimed was for a shipment of sugar he had received since the date of his statement. One of the creditors expressed a hope that legal squabbles would be pestponed until the legal questions arose in due course. Ultimately Mr Tolhurst requested permission to withdraw the proof of debt for the present. An Auckland telegram to a Wellington paper refers as follows to a curious case of kleptomania:— Dr Goldsbro' held an inquest at the lunatic asylum to-day respecting the death of an inmate named Henry Swain. It was shown by the medical evidence that the deceased labored under a peculiar form of insanity, known as kleptomania, and this had assumed such a pronounced type that he could not resist the temptation to steal any articles he could lay his hands on, and was in the habit of running off with the patients' blankets. In an examination of the scalp, it showed large quantities of congested blood, and on the inner surface of the skull aDd to wards the interior, portion of the frontal bone there was a speculum of bone a quarter of an inch long, which was thought to have been a source of irritation to the membranes apd brain Death was attributed to exhaustion, resulting from congestion and chronic disease of the brain. The jury returned a verdict accordingly. The deceased had frequently brought himself into the hands of the police by his singular freaks, and was recently confined in Mount Eden Gaol, but only for a few hours. After his release he was again attacked with a mania for stealing, and was arrested. The medical men are of opinion lhat the piece of bone found in the brain, by the irritation it would cause, was sufficient to account for the peculiar mania with which he was afflicted. In an article speculating on tbe possibility of a general European war taking place, tho Timaru Herald points out the complications which would arise amongst the members of the various reigning families. " The Courts" it remarks, " of Great Britain, Germany, and Russia are conuected by the closest and most numerous family ties ; and it is impossible that a rupture could occur between any two of these Powers, without filling many purple clothed breasts with grief and anxiety. The Emperor of Germany ia intimately related to Queen yictoria, and his eldest son is married to her eldest daughter. But the Emperor's sister was mother to the Czar Alexander, so that his relationship with the Russian reigning family is quite as close as with that of Great Britain. Next we find that Queen Victoria's second son is narried to the Czar's only daughter, while the Grand Duke Alexa ider, the Czar 'a eldest surviving son, is J married to the sister of the Princess of Wales, I and the Grand Duchess Olga, niece of the \ Czar, is married to King George of Greece, brother of the Princess of Wales. Here is suc'i a delighful kind of omnium gatherum connection that the next generation of royal and imperial youngsters in Great Britian, Germany and Russia will be about equally related to one another. These people plume themselves on tho purity of- their descent, and the scrupulous care with which any but kingly blood is excluded from their veina. Does it never qccur to them; we woider, thai, in reality, they are about the greatest of aU mongrels ?" «

It ia stated that very few of the >County Councils in the Otago provincial diatrict will be represented at the Conference to be held, in Wellington. An English paper thus describes how pina are made .—A snappish, voracious little dwarf of a machine pulls in the mve, bits, it off by inches incessantly, one hundred and forty bites a minute, and juat as it seizes each bite a saucy little hammer, with a concave face, hits the end of the wire three taps and " upsets " it to a head, while he grips it in a countersunk hole between his teeth, and laya it sidewaya in a. grooVe, where levers and springs, playing like lightning, point the '■ pins, and whence they are dropped into a box. The pins are then polished, and two very intelligent machines reject every crooked pin. Another automaton assorts half a dozen lengths, and a perfect genius of a machine hangs the pina by the heads, and- transfers them to slips of paper, and by one movement sticks them all through two corrugated ridgea in the paper, when the work is finished. The pin machine is one of the nearest approaches to the dexterity of the human hand that has been invented. It is about the size of a sewing machine, which it closely resembles. Both Russia and Turkey are getting large quantities of military supplies in the United States. Russia ia chiefly buying gunpowder, while Russia gets arms and cartridges. Russia for several months haa been pushing the chief American powder mills to their utmost capacity, and there is now arriving in New York a consignment of 150 tons of gunpowder for immediate 'shipment on her account. For Turkey four ateamers have been laden and despatched from Newhaven for I Constantinople within two months, and another 1 is on the berth taking in cargo. Turkey has been employing the Winchester Arnia Company at Newhaven steadily since 1870, though until lately the business haa been conducted very quietly. She is also getting arms made at Providence and elsewhere. Itseenosto be pretty conclusively established that all the leading American makers of arms, gunpowder, and military supplies have been for months working on xull time to fill extensive foreign contracts made on behalf of Turkey, Russia, or Austria.