The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1877.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 221, 18 September 1877, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1877.

I If the Nelson justices could be persuaded | to take the public into their confidence they might afford; them some interesting- information as to the mental process by which they arrive at the proper amount oi punishment . to be awarded to juvenile offenders against. I the law. Our seeming inquisitiveness will be I regarded as pardonable when we relate how I it has been- aroused. Two cases of' petty [ larceny bave come before tha Magistrate's I Court within the last two days, one half of j the " Bench " consisting of ths same Justice , on both occasions. Yesterday a lad, just | over fourteen years of age, was charged with j stealing money from a till, and he . was sentenced to one month's imprisonment. To-day a boy twelve years of age : was brought up for stealing "& pair of cotton drawers and two pairs ot woollen socks." His punishment was ordered to' be one month* imprisonment and a whipping. Was the crime of stealing money a lesser one than that of appropriating clothing, or did the fact of yesterday's culprit being two years older than to-day's in any degree tend to exculpate him? To some such reasoning as this must be attriI buted the discrepancy between the two sentences, but we are quite unable to follow it, I and shall be glad to receive such enlighteni ment as will enable us to do so. ! At the Magistrates? Court this morning before W. W. Squires and H. C. Daniell, Esqs., J.J.P., John Speer, twelve years of age, was charged with stealing a pair of cotton drawers and two pairs of woollen socks, the property of Thomas Gormann. He was sentenced to one month's imprisonment, and to be soundly whipped. A house in Happy Valley, the property of Mr Isaac Harvey, and at one time in the occupation of John Bungate, but recently uninhabited, was yesterday destroyed by fire in a most unaccountable way, no one having been known to be near it. The house, which is said to have been a well finished one and in excellent order, waa insured for £150 in the Northern, and the same amount iv the Standard office. The police are endeavoring to discover the origin of the fire. The half-yearly meeting of the members | of the Naval Brigade will be held at the j Custom House Hotel to-morrow evening at : half-past seven. At the meeting of the Nelson Agricultural Association held at Richmond on Saturday night, the next public holiday, the Prince of Wales' birthday, was very wisely selected as the day on which to hold the Spriug Show. The result of this, if we mistake not, will be that this exhibition, which is annually growing in popularity, will be the centre of atj traction to a large crowd of people from the I town as well as from the country. The prize list is not yet published, as the Society have not had the means of ascertaining what funds will be available for the purpose. Those who are already subscribers aro reminded that the small sum that they are annually called upon to pay is now due, and those who are not will find, if they are disposed to remedy their past omissions in this respect, that the Secretary or any member of the Committee will be very pleased to receive the necessary authority to place their names on the roil. Matters of this kind cannot be carried on without the sinews of war, and the Committee hope to receive such an amount of public support as will enable thera to ensure the success of the Show. Some years ago the sum of £1000 was set apart by the Provincial Council of Nelson under the authority of "An Act to promote the use of the Rifle in the Province of Nelson," the interest of which was to *>c devoted to annual prizes for rifle shooting. Since then it has appeared that the uiouey might be expended to greater advantage upon other matters connected with volunteering iv Nelson, and a Bill has consequently been introduced into the House by Mr Curtis to amend the Provincial Act for the purpose of allowing lhe iuterest to be applied in other ways. The Bill consists of but one clause, which is , as follows-.—" It shall be lawful for the Goi vernor from time to time to lay out and expend the aimual interest already accrued and to be from time to time received from investments authorised by the said Act in such manner and for such purposes connected jvith the several Volunteer corps in the P'ro- | vincial District of kelson ns shall be cer- | titled to the Gove, uof by tho senior commis- ( sioaed officers for the time being of the several Voluuteers in such provincial district as most beneficial for such Volunteer corps.- Provided that the sum of twenty-five j pounds afc least in each year shall be ex- | pended out of such interest for the purpose of prizes for rifle-shooting, to bo competed for by members of such Volunteer corps." On the motion of Mr Reynolds a return of reserves for educational purposes in the various Provincial districts has been laid on the table of the ' House. From this it appears that in Nelson the following reserves are HpAd-bXi flip friacktiqn Board:— ln the Town of |-f^og^s.aci:^^vfai--d at £ 800, aud ju the country 7#l. acre., v^fued at £8,350. Total value, £9,150. The town reserves aro yielding an annual income of £68 for . two acres which are ieased; the country reserves £598 for 5244 acres. Total aunual rental, £667. As an eudowment for the Nelson College there were set apart 28 town acres, twenty-six of which are let at £!45 a year; and 3,1 10 acres of country lands yielding £234 annually, the total annual rental being £379. In Canterbury the total value of the lands set apart for the College and general educational purposes is oyer the total annual rental received beiug £10^316. In Otago, including Southland, the total vqdu.e of the reserves is £014,000, and the total annual rsqtal at present derived from tbem £14,84:0. In 'both of these districts the annual value will very largely increase in the course of a few years. The indefatigable Wesleyan Church Choir purpose giving another of their very attractive secular musical entertainments at the Port Fire Brigade Hall to-morrow evening. The object of the concert is to raise a small sum of money towards defraying the expenses incurred by the Wesleyau Sunday evening services in the Hall; of its quality little more nee^ be said than to point to the success which attended a similar entertainment given in the Temperance JEjtall h. short time ago. !

The Wanganui Chronicle thinks Jth at tha j report of ths death of Brigham Young is a fabrication, as otherwise something would have 'been heard of it through the Press Agency. . The Herald thus relates how an Auckland "cabby" recently overreached himself :— George Smith, of Panmure, was charged with a breach of by-law by driving at other than a walking pace round the corner of Queen and Shortland streets. Constable Gillies de- , posed that the offence had been committed in June, but as the defendant gave a wrong 1 name and address, the summons had not been served until lately. Mr Bantow: " Well, what is your name?" Defendant: "I have two names, your Worship — Reilly and Smith." Mr Bars. ow. "Very well; I shall ' fine Reilly 5s and costs, and Smith 5s and costs." The decision evoked shouts of laughter. A gentleman in Auckland has discovered a plan of keeping the sparrows itom attacking his young peas. He says:— l planted several rows of peas in my garden lately, and the young rogues came down upon my garden and ate all my peas. I was a little bit put out; in fact, I was angry with the sparrows, and conceived a murderous idea; again, I thought— a sparrow cannot fall without the permission of Heaven— aud. l conceived a second idea, which has been successful in saving my second plants, and which I wish . to communicate for the good of others. I soaked some pieces of bread in kerosene, and placed the saturated pieces oh the peaground, and since that act, not a single sparrow haa approached either my garden or my peas. ,-A,