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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 8, 9 January 1878, Page 2

The Talue of rateable property in 'Wellington is estimated at £176,050 for 1877, as compared with £169,509 in 1876, and £72,125 in 1870. The valuation for this year is expected to exceed £200,000. ': ;•, ■ . i -r-, Mr Ballancej we understand;: is expected in Wellington to join the Ministry. His accesion to the Grey party is calculated to " strengthen it. Hi 3 speeches last session were moderate and judicious 5 .indeed from their tone one can hardly think Be would be inclined to go the whole-length with our somewhat erratic Premier, or consent -to act Entirely at his dictation. Time, alone can tell how he and the great pro-consuls will pull together. — A r . Z: limes. . '. i We take the following from ib.e...FW ! of Monday:— The editor of the Wairarapa Standard, Mr B. Wakelin, has very foolishly revived a discussion about Sir George Grrey's famous letter to that journal. It seems that Mr Curtis, M.H.R., speaking ; it' Nels"bfi''the A other day, " attacked Sir G. Grey's action last year, ridiculing his telegram home that force was going to be used in order to abolish . the provinces, and his' foolish' 1 Tetter r tpHhe : Wairarapa Standard, 'stating thatithe Superintendents would' be removed if riecessiriyi by ' poison." This speech! has aroused the ire of Mr Wakelin, who issues a formal] challenge, to Mr Curtis '.' undertaking .to, psy"tjie. sum of £50 to any public institution that he (Mr Curtis) may designate, if , any. competent andimpartial tribunal that : may 'be* mutually' agreed upon shall decide that the letter in question is deserving of the epithet , that it refers directly, or lnferentially to the poisoning of Superintendents, or that it will bear any such interpretation thatihe and others have given to it; on the'understanding that he (Mr Curtis) forfeits a*lik\ sum if the decision, is given againstj himiV j. ?Wea would advise Mr, Wakelin to drop tjhe. subject of that letter. The less said about it the better. Nobody else in New Zealand could make head or tail of that letter except Mr Wnkelin himself. ' ! . A gentleman of Teutonic origin .(saysahe Wellington Argut) who lives in thiscityVand who has but little faith in- the stability of any banking institution^ but tb.ose in Germauy, was plundered the other \day jin the coolest manner possible. Not having faith in any of our local banks,, he has been in the habit for some time past of keeping his money of which he has, or rather had, "a 'considerable amount, at his dwelling house. It was stowed away in a secret compartment- in a> chest of drawers—a compartment, which nobody but the maker of the drawers and the owner ever knew was in -existence. The other day the gentleman' in .question was waited upon at his house by two other gentlemen who have been known "■ about town" for some time past: they observed thaf be seemed pretty snug, &c. The German said : Yes,. he was ; would they like to look over hises.tablisb.ment ? Certainly they would. They examined h?s furniture, and told him he was a lucky fellow to be so comfortably circumstanced, By and by they came to the chest of drawers above referred to, They ' remarked that it was a nice article of furniture. He admitted that, but informed them that it was more valuable than they'anticipated. They seemed to doubt this, and,, to prove the truth of his assertion, dur friend opened one of the drawers, touched a spriug, a small door opened, and lo ! before them lav the wealth of. the householder! Ti(a secret drawer having been closed again, and the house locked up, they all went put for a walk, and remained out some time ; before they separated. When the German got home at last, he found that his house had been broken into in his absence] aud> his> money abstracted from the secret place in which it had been hidden. The thief has not yet been arrested, and, as far as we can 'learn; the police know nothing of the matter. At any rate, the story ia quite true. . ? „

The resignations of Colonels Moule and Gorton .are gazetted. /.y'A'yputhof 17 was sued in the court this morning for a sura be £17; The defendent'a i^agesjamounted'only to £12s 6d per week, .andjas he was a minor the case had to he adjourned sing die, the plaintiff having to pay '*aH and;, receiving the. comforting assurance that the Court might be" able to grant an order on the defendant for his money if he lived to come to age. — Post. The Taupo (says the Wellington Argus) brought up a consignment of young salmon •from, j the Christchurch ' Acclimatisation iSociety, whjch were to be turned outi n the fiver "at Upper Hutt as far up as they can be put. One of the tins in which the young Jsy., w . e .r e contained, .was .defective, and resulted itrtne loss of a-considerable number. The remainder appeared in a fine healthy condition. The following story is told by " Atticus " in the Leader: — A gentleman who has done a good deal to educate the taste of the public into a liking for colonial winea was 'expressing i ßis profound' i egret the' other tfayiai the introduction into Viet ora of the dreaded phylloxera vaatotrix, " I make no charge against'ray man," he said, " but it is, to say the least, a very remarkable coincidence that a leading man among the ,Crpod' : -Templars —an insane teetotaller — should have been home on a tour through the districts in France where the vine disease is at its height, that he should have been' ttirough the Geeldng vineyards ott his return, and that now the plague should hare ; Broken QUtto.erel'^ ;] : " We always thought that the members of Boards, were staid, virtuous, decorous men, entirely above being guilty of questionable proceedings. It is therefore with « pain and > surprise that we r , learn -from the 'Otago Daily Times •• that the members of the Education Board there have been cuddling -thegirls^schopl," Good Heavens, in such a proceeding possible on the part of these potent, grave, and reverend seigniors ?". r< [ust fancy .-the.in '< cuddling" a lot of girls— that is; according te the real old Doric, kiiia;dng; hugging, 'and gallivanting amongst these b^,u^hing,,blooming damsels. What next ?— arid fiekt M ? " ' It occurs to us, however, that "the'S' intelligent 'compositor" may have printed,", cuddling" for "coddling", which latter' is aru altogether different thing, and thereby seriously slandered some highly respectable members of the community in douce ;.and '\ unco-guid'-' Dunedin.^^Post. • In'c'drisequence of the obstructive action taken by i'-the i Napier Telegraph at the time of Sir George Grey's visit, the Working Men's Club, after an animated meeting, have expelled the. editor and manager. Like Sir George, they evidently believe in freedom of opinion, t c., freedom to annihilate all who differ f rpm you.