The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1877.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 253, 25 October 1877, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1877.

The flrebell rung out the alarm this afternoon jußt as we were going to press, and immediately after dense volumes of smoke were seen issuing from the roof of Mr \V. C. Harley's stables. The Brigade was quickly on the spot, but their efforts to extinguish the fire proved futile, and the building waa burned to the ground. The Indian Belief Committee will meet at the Council Chamber at seven o'clock this evening. Models of the dreaded Colorado br Potato beetle in all its various stages from the egg to the full grown insect were forwarded by the last mail to tho ex-Superintendents in New Zealand by Sir Julius Vogel. , Those for Nelson were brought over from Wellington by Mr Pitt on Tuesday, and are now on Yievr in Messrs H. D. Jackson's and Harling's shop windows. After they have been thoroughly inspected iu town it would be well to forward them to some of the country stores where they might be placed on vLw. Br the last San Francisco mail the Government received a communication from America stating that 200,000 salmon ova would be forwarded to New Zealand by the next steamer, which will be due at Auckland next week! They at once wrote to Mr Huddleston, the Secretary of the Acclimatisation Society in Nelson asking him whether he would take charge of 50,000. A reply in the affirmative was of course sent, and the ponds in the Government grounds are now beiug prepared for their reception. It is to be hoped that the hatching process may be attended with success. We understand that 250,000 white fish ova will also be despatched to New Zealand very shortly. This is said to be a very delicious and highly prized lake fish, and as they would find a home well adapted to their nature and habits in the Rotoroa and Rotoiti Lakes we trust that some of these too will be sent to Nelson. Mr. Charles Bright lectured last night in the Provincial Hall on " Free verms Fettered Thought," and was, on baing introduced by Mr R. Burn and Mr Sunley, well received by an audience, the majority of whom were obviously predisposed in his favor. Free thought was defined as the right to express opinions, and freedom, its natural outcome, as the right of acting under no other limitations than those imposed by the similar right to action of others. Scepticism was a confession of iguoraoce, an anxiety for fresh light. It was shown with a good deal of plausibility that all religions have arisen in the domain of free thought, that Jesus himself was a clear headed iconoclast, who saw through the shams, and denounced the effete ceremonies of his age. The impediments to free thought were nest discussed, and the " skirt significant of sex " was made the subject of much clever, but, as we think, regretable chaff. It is not a sign of strength, while it is iu extremely bad taste, to use ridicule as a weapon in a serious investigation. But ridicule aud satire are after all the principal weapons used by Mr Bright. If his frame of mind is that which is to be produced by '*■ free thought, he is likely to be regarded rather -as a warning than as an example to be followed. He lectures agaiu to-night on "Infidelity and its Deity," and to-morrow evening the lecture will consist of a clever social satire entitled, "The Barbarians or our noble selves." A meeting of shareholders in the Wakefield Choral Society was held in the Society's Hall, which is neariug completion, last night, when it was decided to increase the capital ofthe company by £100 by the issue of twenty additional shares, for the purpose of building a dressing room, and making other additions to render the building as complete as possible. The size of the HaU as it now stands is 60ft by 30ft, thoroughly liued and well finished throughout. The shareholders passed an unanimous vote of thanks to the directors for the energy with which they had carried out the business of building the Hall, and the proceedings terminated by a portion of the Wakefield Brass Band trying the acoustic qualities of the Hall, which were found to he excellent. The HaU is to be opened on the 9th of next month, with a public tea in the afternoon and a concert in the eveuing. Attkjjtiok is drawn to an advertisement in our columns of a lecture to be delivered by the Rev. W. A. Whyte at Wakefield to-morrow evening ou "Personal Reminiscences of a journey froas Pekin across Siberia to St. Petersburg " Mr Whyte a short time ago undertook this perilous aud untrodden journey, aud was considered worthy of the special distinction of being made an honorary fellow of the Royal Geographical Society ou accountof the addition to geographi al knowledge made by that journey. An account of such an expedition from an actual traveller canuot fail to be interesting. Thk strong common sense of the public is always in tbe end, more than a match for fraud, imposture and preoption. Probably within the last twenty years, five hundred attempts have been made to imitite or pirate Udolpho Wolfe's Schiedam Aromatic Sghkapps, all of which have beeu disastrous to the parties concerned. Neither secret fraud, nor open competition has effected the popularity of this famous invigorant. It stands at the head ofthe tonics and correctives of the age, as the supreme remedy for dyspepsia, general debility, nervous weakness, urinary diseases and rheumatic affections. — Advt.