The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1877.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 211, 6 September 1877, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1877.

Br the last mail Mr James Smith, of Nelson, received the certificate awarded to him by the judges at the recent Philadelphia Exhibition for ..wines from several fruits and berries, well blended and composed, very tasteful and palatable, and kept in excellent condition." As a work of art alone the certificate is worthy of preservation, but as, in addition to this, it bears testimony to the excellency of Mr Smith's manufactures, he may well be proud of it. A miscelclaxeods concert will be given at the Provincial HaU this evening by the Nelson Harmonic Society. A dramatic entertainment in aid of tha Queen Bee sufferers was given at the Wellington Theatre on Friday night. The following apportionment of the Queen Bee relief fund has been made up to date: — £315 have been divided among eighteen passeugers; £92 among the crew; the three mates were presented with £10 each, and an additional sum of £15 was handed over to Mr Going in recognition of the services rendered by him in searching for the missing boats. In addition to this, £100 were sent home to the widow of the carpenter who was drowned. A final meeting will be called as soon as the whole of the subscription lists are sent in, and the accounts closed. We have been requested to state that those ladies and gentlemen who through the unfavorable weather were prevented from being present at the Dramatic Association's performance on Tuesday, can make their tickets available for the entertainment tomorrow evening. There is a great demand for tickets, and we predict another bumper house. A spjcciae. London telegram to the Post announces the death of Brigham Young. A gentleman who was in Nelson the other day had an interview with Brigham when passing through America in the month of July, when | the old gentleman was hale and hearty, and spoke with a considerable degree of pride of J his seventeen wives and sixty-five living children. The following regarding this j extraordinary man is from "Men of the | Time " .—Brigham Young, the leader, prophet, and ruler of the Mormons, born at Whitting- ; ham, Vermont, Ist June, 1801. He was the son of a farmer, and acquired education i enough to give him a plausible address. He at first connected himself with the Baptists I and for a time preached in that connection^ though he was never ordained. In 1831 or I 1832 he removed to Ohio, and joined the Mormons at Kir tland, then under the leadership of Joseph Smith. Hi3 shrewdness and energy soon gave him influence with them, aud he was chosen one of the twelve apostles in 1835, soon after made their president, and was sent out to make converts to the faith. He was with the Mormons in all their early troubles, and became 'their leader when Smith was killed. He abandoned Nauvoo with most of the Mormons in the spring of 1846; persuaded hi3 follswers that the Salt Lake Valley was the Promised Laud, and after enduring severe hardships in the passage of the plains in the winter of 1846-7, arrived at the present site of Great Salt Lake City in July, 1874, and founded a settlement there. Of this colony, and the subsequent additions to it by immigration, Young became the absolute ruler. In the * spring of 1849 the colonists organised themselves into a State, with the title of " The State of Deseret," and applied to Congress for admissiou into the Union; thi3 was refused, but the territory of Utah was organised, nnd Brigham Young appointed governor. He remained in authority from 1850 to 1854. At tbis time, from the very considerable immigration aud their isolated position, Young felt strong enough to defy the United States Government. In 1857 a governor who was not a Mormon having beeu appointed, and his life being threatened, President Bu. hanan seut a lai-ge body of troops there to enforce his authority; a compromise followed, and the Mormous remained peaceable. Polygamy was openly praclaimed in Utah in 1852, ancl Brigham Yoang has several wives, besides many others *' sealed to him " as " spiritual wives." One of his -wives, the fifteenth in order, left him in 1854, and soon after petitioned for a divorce from the United States courts. Pending the suit, the Judge decided that Young should pay her 3000 dollars for counsel fees, and make her an allowance of 900 dollars a month. Mr. W. Pearson, the Commissioner of Crown Lands at Invereargill, has written a pnper on oyster cultivation, which has been printed aud presented to Parliament. The oyster is not a subject calculated to inspire a writer with much "gush," yet it has so affected Mr Pearsou, who enlarges thus ou the "habits of the oyster":— "Although the study of the oyster has for years received scientific investigation, no definite conclusion appears to have been obtained in regard tp its habits, more particularly in the matter of its reproduction. Though most atoms will tpJl man something of their nature and habits, &.c, the oyster is a perfect mute. Once only, in the earliest <?awn of its eftist- \ ence, when leaving the parent shell, it launches its tiny boat on the ocean of time, and for a brief moment dances wildly on the stream of life, floating along, it realises the joy of movement. That wild saturnalia passed with safety, and a resting place obtained, it settles down, possibly to moralise witj*. palm impassibility on its six weeks' glimpses): tip ppmn jujd yjjuities of life, certainly to fatten for man's use. Its fitful dream of life is over, it is silent evermore Violence may burst open the iron lips, but they will not whisper the _tory of its birth."

And again:— "Heat and tranquility may be considered the best friends an oyster has. The first assists and stimulates the parent oyster to brew and exude the spat, and both are necessary to enable the baby to live through its infancy. Shot as it were into life, if it is met with a cold embrace it withers and dies at once, while strong winds drive it to destruction." There is more poetry here tban one would expect from a man trained to deal with so dry and matter of fact a subject as the administration of Crown lands. We ( Westport Times) hope our readers find some satisfaction in perusal of the fragmentary bits of war news coming irregularly to hand, and which may be well termed See Saw stories. The Turks now up, the Turks now down, and vice versi with the Russians. Were it not that the public appetite for news, which grows upon what it feeds on, has grown to an iuordinate craving for sensational items at all hours and seasons, it would be much more satisfactory to publish at stated intervals a concise and intelligible digest of war news that might be relied on. " Everythiug in the house smelt of rumeven the women," aaid Mr Fox in the debate on the Local Option Bill. « The hon member must have approached suspiciously close to their lips," commented Dr Wallis. The I Doctor scored one, and the Houae roared. — Post.

The Rangiora Standard recently stated that if the Education Bill passes in ita present shape, the Secretaryship of the De** partment will be offered to the Rer W. J. Habens, the able and zealous Secretary of the Canterbury Board. A colonial built organ, constructed by Mr Hemlett, of Wanganui, and costing £400, has been presented to St. George's Church, Grahamstown, by Mr Williamson, churchwarden. From Rangitikei we hear the following tale of a scrupulous member of a temperance society, who was recently afc the bouse of a friend, when he was asked if he would like a drink of home-made wine. Answering in the affirmative, he was presented with a cup of delicious gooseberry, which proved so much to his taste that he begged the recipe from his fair hostess. To his horror he discovered that it had been fermented. He nervously asked if there was a chemist near at hand, or if they kept ipecacuanha. In the absence of anything better he said that mustard and water would do. Much to the lady's surprise he quaffed about two pints of this, and hurried to the door. She afterwards remarked that from the distressing sounds proceeding from the gentleman, she believed his tender conscience and his stomach were considerably relieved. A gentleman had fire daughters, all of whom he brought up to some respectable occupation in life. The first married a man by the name of Poor, the second a Mr Little, the third a Mr Short, the fourth a Mr Brown, and the fifth aMr Hogg. At the wedding ceremony of the latter her sisters and their husbauds were present. After the ceremonies of the wedding the old gentleman said to his guests: " I have taken great pains to educate my daughters so that they mayact well their part in life, and from their advantages and improvements I had fondly hoped they would do honor to the family; but now I find that all my pains, care, and education have amounted to nothing more than a Poor, Little, Short, Brown, Hogg. While surveyors seem to be in demand in New Zealand, they appear to be rather at a discount in New South Wales. At least their salaries are. A recent Sydney telegram states ; — Several officers in the Survey Department resign this week, and it is expected that one hundred and fifty surveyors and draughtsmen will follow suit shortly, owing to the non-payment of salaries, £ 15,000 is already due to them. The Westport Times calls upon Messrs M'Meckan, Blackwood and Co, to fulfil their promise that their steamers would call ofthe Buller as soon as a lighthouse should be erected at Cape Foulwind, and a steam tender provided. Both these conditions, says the Times, now exist, the lighthouse having been illuminated for several months, and the P's. Result fitted with new engines and boilers. The Golden Age, a journal published at the Palmer diggings says there are at present ninety eight well defined reefs at work on the Palmer, upon which some 300 claims are in full swing. The claimholders, it is said are well content with their prospects of success. The most unpopular Mayor in New Zealand appears to be His Worship of Wellington who has quarrelled with all the Councillors aud has made an enemy of the Press. His last performance is thus reported by the Post-. — The business now being concluded, the Mayor gave an immense number of notices of motion, to the efiect that everything done by the Council during the past year of which he had disapproved should be rescined. These notices, which occupied about a quarter of an hour in reading, were received with great laughter by some of the councillors, others, however, expressing extreme iudignation at what they considered to be taking unfair advantage of them. Among j the latter was Councillor Moss, who had left j the table and put on his greatcpat, preparatory to departing, but on hearing notice after notice read his wrath gradually accumulated, and, at length, frantically tearing off his greatcoat, he rushed to the table and thus spake with ferocity : — I must speak. This is a very mean advantage your Worship is taking of the Council. You know well it is the last meeting of the present Council, and so you take this action. It is treating u3 with the groseest discourtesy, and I only hope the incoming Council will treat you as you have treated us. As for these reductions in the water rate you propose, tliey are only nominal, and you arc bidding for popularity. It is taking a mean advantage of us, and offering a gross insult to us to give notice now that you will ask the new Council to undo everything we bave done that you may not happen to agree with. I ask you— -is this right, or proper, or courteous ?— The Mayor (calmly) : And I also lay ou the table a notice that at next meeting I shall move . Councillor Moss and his brother Councillors rushed precipitately from the room, leaving bis Worship iq sole ppssea3loq. Many amusing illustrations have been given of mistakes made by students in their efforts to reduce their mixed memories of history to the requirements of examination I papers, but scarcely anything, better or worse, than the following story, quoted by ■'Atlas" in the World, could be conceived;— " That native students are not only acquiring a mastery of correct expression, but of accurate English historical knowledge, is shown by the following extract from an essay on Cromwell, by a Baboo, which appears in the Allahabad Pioneer-.— 'Oliver Cromwell was a very stern man. He destroyed Charles I by repeated beheadals. After t|ijs he wss; never seen to smile, but was frequently heard pensively to murmur, If I had only served my God as I have served my king, He would not have deserted me in my old age.' "