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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 84, 8 April 1878, Page 2

Mr Fox, in a recent lecture at Bulls, stated that the annual amount of the taxation of the Kangitikei district was £7000, and that the money spent iv the same period by the people for drink was £28,0L0, If this be true the Kangitikei people must have hard heads and strong stomachs. The Post of Tuesday says:— Captain Williani Allen, master of the schooner Maiden City, has been missing ever since last night. His disapearance has been reported to the police, and an active search has been instituted. The Maiden City is a schooner belonging to the port of Nelson, and has been employed lately in the timber trade between Wellington and Pelorus Sound. The first meeting of the Wellington Fire Police Corps was held last week, when the Treasurer's statement showed that the receipts from all sources during the past six months amounted to £113, and the expenditure to £104. The following is an extract from the Secretary's report :—Since its formation the services of the corps have been called into requisition at ten fires, besides which there have been several false alarms, at all of which your committee were pleased to remark the promptness of your members to respond to the summons, and your committee trust that the friendly feeling at present existing between your corps.and both of the city fire brigades may always continue. Your committee, in conclusion, would thank the public for the liberal support accorded to the corps at its formation —the amount of £62 Is 6d heing subscribed by the general public ,£25 by the City Corporation, and £20 by the Associated Assurance Companies, making a total of £107 Is 6d, subscribed for the expenses of starting the corps outside of itself. A Wellington paper says :—The evidence taken in a civil case at the R.M. Court this morning, showed that one may occasionally pay a dear price for a very innocent amusement. The action was between Rolleston and Bowler, the claim 10s, for damages sustained by the destruction of property. It appeared that the defendant was out shooting at Ohariu, and somehow shot two fowls belonging to the pla:ntiff. The evidence was ufficiently practical, and therefore, judgment was given for the amount claimed, and costs, which with the sum to be handed over, by defendant, reached £2 18s. This was paying dearly for his sport. In referring to Mr Stafford's departure from the colony, the! Australasian, says:— The resignation by Mr Stafford of his seat in the New Zealand House of Representatives is a noticeable event. It was not, indeed, unexpected, as it has been known for some time that Mr Stafford waa about to take a trip to England. But at the presant juncture, when the political life of the colony is exposed to one of its severest trials, the loss from the deliberations of Parliament of a politician of the experience and ability of Mr Stafford, whose influence has been used on the side of moderation, is a serious loss indeed. There have of late boen many things which have tended to make parliamentary life in New Zealand distasteful to those who have known it in better days and under bet fer conditions During the last couple of years there has been in the proceedings of Parliament a strain of virulence, reckless aspirations, and class prejudice that might well operate to make a self-respecting politician, not bound by any party responsibility, desire to quit so uncongenial a sphere of labour. This is the most dangerous effect of the rampant demagogui3m which has lately.been introduced in New Zealand politics. Men of respectable character are willing to take their fair share of the victories and defeats of political conflict. But they shrink from a contest in which, if not defeated, they are sure to be befouled and disgusted. And hence the danger that just that class of men who can least be spared— men with a sense of self-respect, a feeling of honour, and a care for reputation —will he driven by sheer disgust to abandon the field to unscrupulous demagogues and adventurers. An experienced New Zealand politician has declared that a great change for the worse has during the present Parliament been noticed in the tone of the debates. The siumping process so assiduously pursued by the Premier, as an appeal from Parliament to the mob, is likely to tend to a further demoralisation of public affairs. We in this colony can better than any appreciate the disastrous effect of men of high character holding themselves aloof from public life, and leaving politics to become a gambling game at which sharpers live and thrive and honest men go to the wall. We hope a better destiny for New Zealand while recognising that, at the present moment, it stands in peril of a similar one. ' It is very curious,' said an old gentleman to his friend,' that a watch should be perfectly dry, when it has a running spring inside,'

The Timaru Herald publishes the following extract from a letter written to a friend by the Hon. Mr Stafford before his departure for Dugland t— " As the hour of leaving approaches I feel much depressed. Though only proposiug to be absent for some two years, the fact of resigning my seat seems to me like breaking my connection, both politically and socially, with the land I have so long been bound up with and interested iff. There the be3t years of my life have been passed, all my aspirations formed, and my children born. In short, there every tie existed which binds a man to a country. I can never again form such ties, and what appears to be a rupture of them, even if bufc temporary, is a cause of sadness to me."Messrs Woods, Crosbie & Co (says the Past) have gone in for " a big thing, " They have entered into a contract to supply meat, water, milk, fish, wood, and everything required by Messrs. Coopec & Bailey's menagerie and ferocious animals thereof. A private letter from London, dated 15th February, 1878, gives certain particulars which appear to indicate an excessive depression in the iron and coal markets. For instance, sales of steel rails were effected j lately at £15 19s. per ton, the prices at a comparatively recent date being £17. Bar iron was sold at £5 per ton, the price a short time previously being £12. Coals now are bringing ss. 3d. per ton at Home, as compared with 15s. formerly. A visitor to Clerkenwell House of Correction say 3 that he saw those interesting personages, ex-detectives Messrs Meiklejohn, Druscovitch, Palmer, aud Froggatt. They looked healthy. Meiklejobn has a charge over the matmakers, Druscovitch over the tailors, Froggatt over the bookbinders, and Palmer is also comfortably provided with some sort of superintendence. A little girl has died in Wellington from inflammation of the bowels caused by eating some of the rind of a pineapple. A telegram from Capetowu, dated January 22, says: —The eastern districts of the colony are suffering from a severe and protracted drought. Transport is very high, and some districts are running short of supplies. Cattle and sheep are reported to be dying in large numbers, and the Kaffirs at present in ' rebellion against the Colonial Government have entirely neglected agricultural operations, consequently grain is likely to be scarce and dear. The Imperial and Colonial forces have been rigorously operating against the rebellious. Kaffirs during the past week. Large captures of cattle have been made, and many of the enemy killed. Volunteers are flocking in from every portion, of the colony . to the frontier. Mr Oscanyan, in the book " The Sultan and his People," tells the following anecdote of a Turkish physician :— A person exceedingly ill of typhus fever called in one of these medical gentlemen, who, although he considered the case 'quite hopeless, prescribed for the patien}; and took his leave. The next day, in passing "by, he inquired of a servant at the door if his ;"master was not dead. " Dead 1 No ; he is much better." Whereupon the doctor proceeded upstairs to obtain a solution of this miracle. " Why," said the convalescent, " I was consumed with thirst, aud I drank a pailful of the juice of pickled cabbage." "Wouderfut I" quoth the doctor. And out came the tablets, on which the physician made this inscription: "Cured of typhus fever, Mehemed Agha, an upholsterer, by drinking a pailful of pickled cabbage juice." Soon after the doctor was called to see another patient, a yaghtfkgee, or dealer in embroidered handkerchiefs, suffering from the same malady. He forthwith prescribed " a pailful of pickled cabbage juice." On calling, the next day to congratulate his patient on Ms recovery, he was astonished to be told the man was dead. The Oriental JEsculapius, in his bewilderment at these phenomena, came to the conclusion, and duly noted it in his memoranda, that '• although in cases of typhoid fever pickled cabbage juice is an efficient remedy, it is not, however, to be used unless the patient be by profession an up~ kolsterer."— Pharmacist. The Argus of the 19th instant says:— " Melbourne yesterday was -waterless. The Preston reservoir ran out at ?6 o'clock ; the mains were exhausted in most localities by midday, and in the afternoon the city and suburbs were absolutely destitute, nor is there any prospect of relief until the communication with the Van Yean is restored. Large numbers of citizens at the first alarm stored what water they could, but thousands of houses have been unprovided for, and already distressing scenes are occurring. ■ Water is begged for from house to house, and the fire-plugs are besieged in the hope of getting a drop from the mains. The department holds out the hope that there will be water on Wednesday morning ; but this is long to wait, and much suffering must ensue in the meantime. A pump has been erected on the Yarra near Edwards' boathonse, and the muddy water thus obtained is at the public disposal ; but the difficulty is how to distribute it. The extremity which has OC' curred is a very great one.