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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 188, 10 August 1877, Page 2

The Wellington correspondent of the Auckland Star says:— l believe an attempt will be made during the session to raise the honorarium to £300. Many needy politicians would support it; and others argue that as an increase was made last year from £150 to £200 on the express grounds that the session was prolonged beyond three months, this year, unless the session ia similarly prolonged, the honorarium should be dropped to the old amount. A crop of flax.— The Irish Farmer says that last year, near Ballymena, two statute acres gaFe the enormous yield of 86 J stone of flax to the acre, by careful tillage and skillful handling. The money value of the crop was £37 17s per statute acre. The Auckland Herald gives a long report of the ceremony of admitting Miss Kate Edger to the degree of Bachelor of Arts. We are told that after the diploma had been \ presented to her, the Right Rev. Bishop of Auckland approached her, presenting a white camellia of considerable size and beauty, which meant, according to some who are skilled in such matters, " unpretending excellence." A man named Walker was fined £10 for sly grovelling at Kakanui. The North Otago Times says:— We should like to see a few convictions obtained against the sly grog-selling of Oamaru, as the open manner in which the trade is carried on is a disgrace to the community.

. Mr.Spurgeqn_, speaking of grocers' licenses, said :— llook upon the law permitting the sale of wine and spirits at the grocers as one of the most mischievous pieces of modem legislation. To my grievous knowledge, the am of intoxiction among wpmen has been suggested in some instances, bromotedMn others, by thiseas/>and respectable mode ofobtaining 3trong drink. The tliiladelphia. Item, says that it has been positively asserted in Washington that exPresident Grant, while ostensibly visiting Europe for pleasure, is really to take command of the whole Turkish army against Russia. The story is that. England was instrumental in making this choice of a new commander for the Sultan, in the hope that Grant's success would render her interference unnecessary. It is added that the .offer was brought to this county by the exPresident's son-in-law, Mr Sartoris, who, with Frederick Grant, is to be on the General's staff. Finally, the latter's commission, it is said, dates from May Ist, and his pay months which he is to receive in advance upon taking, command — will be largely increased should he succeed. _. A Wellington. tailor offers a reward of £5 for the best poem on his estublishment. "I'm on the pacific slope," as the Yankee said when he ran away from a row. Major Bolden, 68th Light Infantry, was mauled by a tiger near Nusseerabad in May last, and died after the amputation of a leg. He was about firing from an elephant's pad wheu the elephant swerved, throwing him into the tiger's jaws. Count Munster, the German Ambassador td. England, a'ppeara to 'be : cultivating the .charming frankness which distinguishes the chief man in the empire which he represents. " May.Fair "relates that, talking to a friend recently about the declaration of war, his Excellency said —"l don't see how England is to be kept out of the fighk It is absoI lutely impossible.?' j A telegram received at LJoyd's from Philadelphia states that the Saratoga steamship, while being launched in the Delaware Kiver, near Chester, started prematurely while forty men were under her, blocking- her up on the ways. Many were dragged into the water, eight were killed, two injured mortalty, and a large number escaped with slight injuries. j ••" Atlas " writes in the World-.— lt is re- i freshing to hear Russians writing of English | spies in the deserts of Central Asia. What, I should like to know, are those Russian ladies and gentlemen on the Continent and in England, who under the disguise of tourists, travellers, exiles, and refugees, ply their trade as acolytes and familiars of the third division (secret police), of which the famous Tripoffi is the great inquisitor, watchlhg acd eavesdropping in our drawing-rooms as well as in our dockyards and arsenals ? The Bishop of Ballarat has by no means an exalted opinion of the morals of Victoria, Of a clergyman's arrival in Melbourne his Lordship says i —Judging from the extracts you have been good enough to enclose, Mr Jones must be a man of no common power. I trust he may be enabled of God to do good service among us, in helping to lift Victorian life out of the falseness and frivolity into which, it seems to have sunken. Such men —and many" more of them— seem sorely needed in our colony. Cardinal Uullen, in a pastoral to his clergy, says:— lf Russia be allowed to take possession of , Constantinople and of Turkish provinces, there is every danger that under her influence Cossack barbarity will be widely spread ; that Governments will become despotic ; that individual and family liberty will be destroyed; and God's Church placed in great jeopardy. An honest yeoman, of very correct habits, who was told that if he smoked one less cigar a day for two years he would save money enough, priocipal and interest, to buy a good farm, has made himself sick as death every. day for the past two weeks trying to smoke. Thus is the path of honest industry beset with difficulties. Writing about the English gift to the Pope a home paper says that a complete list of the amounts contributed in each Catholic Diocese to. be presented to the Pope has just been made out, and it appears from it that Westminster contributed £1846; Beverly, .£1080; Birmingham, £1230; Clifton, £420; Hexham and Newcastle, £850j Liverpool, £2702; Newport and Menevia, £143; Northampton, £307; Nottiughain,£3Q4; Plymouth, £260; Salford, £500; Shrewsbury, £457; bouthwark, £1615; and the Catholic Union of Great Britain added £3056. Thus the total amount was £14,770.