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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 83, 6 April 1878, Page 2

In the New York Times received by the last San Francisco mail, we find remarks on the position of affairs in Europe :— " Let us now briefly sum up the whole position. . .Russia will not hesitate to accept the gauntlet if thrown down by England, as victory has blinded her to her own state. Internally she is rotten to the core ; her finances are at the lowest ebb, while twotlrirds of her population are ripe for rebellion. England on the other hand, is stronger than ever she was before ; her people are united, and will respond to a call to arms like a man. It will be a sorry day for tho Bear when he meets the Lion .... England needs not the assistance of Austria, JFrauce, or any other nation, to drub Russia ; and instead of there being any foundation for the statements so often circulated, not only on the Continent, but in England itself, that the latter is looked upon with contempt' the fact is that every eye in Europe is upon her, and that her movements are watched with more interest than those of any other Powers." These remarks, coming from the New York Times, are certainly worthy of note, for that journal has hitherto adopted anything but a complimentary tone in speaking of England. " iEgles," in the Australasian, is responsible for the following,— Sneer and Goodfellow went down to the wharf on Saturday last, to observe the flood and its effects. Observing the preternatural area of floating corks, said G. : " Where the deuce did all the corks come from ? " " Ah," said Sneer, " did'nt you hear of the Good Templar encampment up the Yarra ? " I have seen a mermaid (writes a correspondent of the Queenslander). Not the daughter of a fisherman or corsair -a sea maiden which some funny fellow might call by that name — but a genuine mermaid from the depths of the sea. And not — fortunately for the peace of mind of my betrothed — a live one, whose charms, according to all historical or mythological accounts, it would be impossible for a mortal to resist, but the skeleton of one. It did not require the technical knowledge of a Darwin or a Professor Owen in imagination to clothe those bones with flesh and— fish to recognise what the living syren had been. No, there was the big round skull (alas ) wanting in the large liquid eyes and waving mass of flowing hair, ornamented with flowers of the Bea, that erstwhile lent their charms), and there the long, powerful arms, with which doubtless many a seaman, in the days of the youth and beauty of this curious inhabitant of the deep, had become too familiar, aa she fondly placed them round his neck and lured him to his destruction. There, too, were the ribs, each one free and uncompressed— of course it had not been injured by a corset -while the lower portion of the frame degenerated into a piscifortn extremity. Many people, doubtless, believe as little in the mermaid as they do in the sea serpent ; but here was positive proof, on board the Tsukaba, and in a glass case — well, if the truth must be told, of less than a foot in length. So, perhaps, after all, the mermaid's power for harm is not quite so great as ancient writers have imagined. The Lawrence correspondent of a southern contemporary writes: — We have a very bad case of leprosy— a Chinaman. He is at present in our hospital where he was sent a few days ago from Waitahuna. There is some talk of turning him out, and throwing the onus on the police. Ido not think the hospital is a proper place for such a frightful disease. We have what is termed a lazaretto, built some time ago by the late Provincial Government, where the other lepers were sent. That is the only place for such unfortuuate creatures, as their own countrymen will not go near them. > The estimated yields of grain in the Counties|of WaimateandGeraldine (Canterbury), as ascertained by the agricultural statistics' are as follows:— Waimate .- Wheat, 670,984 bushels; oats, 520,795 bushels; barley, 14,829 bushels. Geraldine: Wheat, 7:o,4(2 bushels; oats, 581,369 bushels; barley, 56,586 bushels A groom named James Wormald on March 12 attempted to commit suicide at his residence, Eureka-street, Ballarat, by cutting his throat, but was unsuccessful. It appears that Wormald has lately received intelligence from England that a legacy of £4000 had been left him by a relative.* He celebrated his good fortune by a drinking bout, the result of which was delirium tremens, and consequently a half-severed windpipe. Hia wounds, however, are not serious, and lie is doing as well as can be expected in the district hospital,

A London Workhouse Board advertised recently for a gate porter at 35s a week, aud received 850 applicants in writing, most of the candidates evidently being people of intelligence or eyen of refinement. The following, from" an Australian exchange, should act as a warning agaiaafc boys playing with gunpowder :— " An accident, which may yet prove very serious in its results, occurred lately on a Sunday afternoon. Several boy? at the rear of Petrie-terrace, Brisbane, discovered a flask with a quantity of gunpowder iii it in a hollow log- The boys, of course, thought they bad found an excellent source of amusement, and, determining to make the most of it in one big explosion, replaced it in the log, after making a short train by which to light it. One of the little fellows, not more than eight or nine years old, undertook to light it; he bent over the powder too closely, and in an instant there was a pnff of smoke, and he fell on the ground with his face blackened and burnt almost beyond recognition. At first it Was feared that he was killed, but he soon revived sufficiently to be taken to the hospital to have his injuries dressed. The Moahia correspondent of the Riverine Herald sends the following particulars of a ghostly sensation near the border town : — " About ten miles from Moama, on the east side of the line, stands a dummy house. This house bas been occupied by a party of damsinkeYS and bark-ringers. These men aver that about a fornight auo they were disturbed by knockings on the iron roof, and that upon gettiug up they saw the figure of a woman, when one among their number put the question, ' What do you want, missus ?' to which the figure replied that she had been murdered near the spot, and that the bones of herself and infant would be found towards the end of the hut, where they were placed fourteen years ago by Morgan, the bushranger. One of the party, who possessed a whip, made a strike at the figure, which did not move. The following day the news spread, and the next night a large party assembled, when the apparition again made its appearance, and the whole of these persons swear most distinctly that they saw the figure of a woman, and nothing can induce them to think otherwise. Last night a detachment of the Moama police, under command of Sergeant Vaughan, went out to see if there was anything to be seen, and there is no doubt if any person had been " playing larks" he would have received a little cold lead Upon the return of one of the police this morning I ascertained that while in the house last night a terrific noise was made on the roof like the sound of a heavy hammer, whereupon the party rushed outjof the house, but could see nothing. The noise was repeated several times, and many of the party, amongst whom were men supposed to be possessed of courage, seemed very glad on the approach of the grey dawn. The mystery, however, remains the same, and another party is to be organised, who, together with the police, intend to go out again to try and clear up the mystery. The men who were living in the hut have left it to the ghost, and gone and camped near a dam. It seems remarkable that thirty men should become alarmed, and positively aver that there is something in it."