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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 105, 3 May 1878, Page 2

The following telegram appears in a San Fraucisco paper :— "St. Petersburgh, March sth.— The Sultan has sent the following telegram to the Emperor : < Constantinople March 3rd. —On the occasion of the anniversary of Your Majesty's accession to the throne I offer my congratulations, with the desire of renewing our friendly relations. ' The Emperor, in reply, telegraphed as follows:'! thank Your Majesty for your congratulations, which I received simultaneously with the news of the signature of peace. I perceive in this coincidence a presage of good and lasting relations between us.

At one of the performances of the Folcy Troupe, recently given atCoolah,Ncw South Wales, in which Miss Kate Foley walked, a la Blondin, on a half-inch wire rope, 300 ft long and 30ft. high, an awkward fix occurred which, while, daugerous to. the life of this talented aud intrepid young lady, had also a ludicrous side to it. She had jiut commenced walking the wire (reports the Mudgee Independent) when a storm of windandraincameon of unusual strength, the lightning playing along the wire. Return she could not, and her only safety lay in going' ahead, which she did with wouderful nerve aud coolness. When she reached about the middle of the wire, two pet magpies flew around her, chattering wildly. One perched on her shoulders and the other on the end of her balance-pole, which she could not get rid of without running a serious risk of losing her balance. The rain now fell iv torrents, and the lightning became more vividly intense ; and to add to her terror the magpie crouched on her shoulders groaned out, a la raven, " Lord have mercy on us, I .' whilst its mate on the end of the pole devoutly responded " Amen. Ha-ha-ha 1" Miss Foley crossed safely, and received the enthusastic plaudits of (he crowd. :

A fearful accident occcurred last week, at Messrs Godsiffi and Newton's saw-mills, Clova Bay, Peloras Sound, by which a youth named John Henn, aged 17 years, lost his life in a most appalling way. One of the huge circular saws is driven by a belt from a drum, propelled by a shaft from' the main steam engine, and when required to be stopped, is thrown out of gear by slipping the belt off this drum, which is below the level of the floor. Henn was sent to atop the machinery, and instead of carefully slippiug of the belt in the proper way, gave it a careless kick.. His foot instantly was caught by the belt, and he was curried round with terrific velocity, striking one of the flooring boards— a stout plank, an inch and a half in thickness— with such violence as to break it in two places. Hl3 feNow workmen rushed at once to the rescue, stopped the machinery as quickly as possible, and extracted the unfortunate youth from its fatal embrace. It is needless to say that life was totally extinct, the corpse being mutilated in a most horrible manner, in fact, torn and battered out of all semblance of humanity, while the blood, brains, bits of skin and flesh, and fragments of clothing were sprinkled all around. The mangled remnants of what only a minute before was a living, breathing, human being, were gathered reverently together, and, being placed in an impromptu coffin, were sent to Pieton by one of the coasting vessels for interment. This dreadful occurrence has cast a deep giooin over the neighborhood.

An extraordinary fish was caught in Wellington harbor the other day. It consisted of (t bag about 6 inches Jong by 2f inches wide at the broadest part. Inside this bag, and attached to one side of the neck, was a long, round, and bony body. The head was very large, and was very savage in expression. The eyes woro large out of all proportion to the fish, and from the snout of the strange thing depended four long aud soft feelers. It was taken to Dr. Hector, who at once identified it as a species of cuttle-fish rery.raro in tho Now Zealand waters.

The " l<rji rimoH " aays:— "It is announced that his Excellency the Governor, ' Sir Arthur Gordon, is ultout la proceed to Europe on leave of absence fora, poriocl of six months. This rather modifies Mio impression which was abroad that tho Governorship of New Zealund had been accepted by his Excellency. Mr. ' Des ' Vocux, Liouteniint-Governor of Trinidad, formerly Stipendiary Magistrate at Demeraraj is announced as Acting-Go-vernor."

In the City of London (writes the correspondent of the Auckland Star) tiro to bo seen exhibited two early autographs of our present Premier, Lord Beaconsficld. . A firm . of solicitors, near Bedford Kow, possess and.aro proud of a deed, on which, as a witnessing signutory, appears the immc : of "Benjamin D'tsraeli, Clerk to Messrs Maples & Co, Solicitors, Old Jewry." The other autograph is to be found in the title-deeds of a house in Barge Yard, which, so far back; as 1824, was sold by order of the Court, of Chancery and knocked down to " Benjamin Disraeli, Agent for. Isaac D'lsraeli, of Btoonisbury Square." Perhaps the modest signatures of the then little-known young clerk may some day be bought by admiring autograph collectors for many pounds. At the Wellington Resident Magistrate's Court, a few days ago, the bailiff, seeing a wideawake amongst the people in Court, called out, « Take off that hat 1" and the order not being obeyed, made a rush at the place. He collapsed when he found that the wearer of the offending chapeau was a lady. '.

The " Automaton Smoking Man " is the latest novelty in tobaccouists' furniture iv Dunedin. The figare is that oJ a British " swell, " la the interior of the automaton is some clock-wor'c, by which one of the arms is set in motion, and a small bellows kept going, the use of the bellows being to force a jet of smoke from a lighted pipe in the iosic'e through the lips of the figure. „ The automaton|consumes about half-an-ounce of tobacco per day, ]

Mr J. S. Macfarlane, M.H.R. (says the Auckland Herald) ha 3 again devoted his honorarium to the purchase of books, six hundred volumes of which in all he has added to the various district libraries, besides presentations to the Fire Brigade and Working Men's Club. He has now given an order for a number of the excellent publications of the Scottish Tempeiance League, desired by some of the residents in the Waitemata.

Hard times.— People often complain of bard times from a mere natural tendency to growl, but a Rome (Ga.) darkey, the other day, said, " Nebber seed sich times since I been born. Work all day and steal all night and blest if I can hardly make a livin'. "

They understand the art of advertising in Omaha. In that enterprising town of the Far West, as we learn from an American paper, an individual is printing an edition of the Prayer Book, which he gives away to every attendant at church. The right-hand page contains the usual prayers ; the lefthaud is allotted to advertisements ! Another person was endeavouring to purchase the privilege of using the outsides of the pulpits for posting the merits of a patent baby jumper. The same journal is responsible for the statement that iv Chicago the backs of the policemen are let to advertisers by the Town Council.