CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 110, 9 May 1878, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor op the 'Evening Mail.' Sib— l have noticed in your paper the answer of Sir George Grey to the Blenheim railway deputation, stating that "he hoped to live long enough to see a railway from Blenheim through the Wairau Valley to the We9t Coast." lam surprised to see that no notice of this has been taken by anyone, yet I think that speech is very omnious as far as Nelson is^ concerned. In my humble opinion it is quite time the Nelson people asserted their rights and insisted upon the Government completing the railway from Nelson to West Coaat. I know the country well; the route that ought to be chosen is from Foxhill through Pretty Bridge Valley to Stanley Brook, cross it and the Motueka Valley, up the iadmor and down the Owen to the Buller, again up the Inangahua to Eeef ton, and from thence to Greymouth. lam well assured that ifc i 3 the cheapest and most ftYftUaWeHsweUas the b. eß t payable rout©

that cah.be found for the tfolsofc and Wefifc Cpjlsj; failwayi I hope 1 some of ydur readers will be k:nd enough to ask his Worship the Mayor to ball a public faceting to discuss the Watteri and appoint a Committee to devise the best means of carrying out the object in view. I hope the inhabitants of the different cebtres of population along tbe proposed I route will hold similar meetings and form' Committees to carry out the above object. I am, &c, Locomotive.

To the Editor of the 'Evening Mail.' Sir—We very frequently hear complaints of the meahtiess or indifference of the Government to the Wants of the public as regards roada^ and it appears in some instances unjustly so, for when money is granted, through the negligence dr idleness bf Rottd Board officials it is allowed to lapse. There is one very flagrant case oil the Pigeon Valley Road. Two or three times, I believe, money has been voted for that moat important outiet, but yearly it has been allowed to lapse from neglect of application. If the officials of the Board are so overworked that they cannot find timo 10 lay out a line, they 3hould have more help given them; if they are not ao overworked, and it's through ueglect, it is quite time that better men were put in their places; if it is not their fault, and it rests with the Board, it is high time the public took the matter in hand and put better men in their places, It is a great neglect if it rests with tbe officials} a great betrayal of public trust if it rests with the Board. The Motueka Valley Eoad Board will very soon have their half completed, and had the Waimea lior.d Board done their duty the road would be open to the public and the many letllers at each end of the road who are continually using it. I am, &c, Whip. Stanley Brook, May 8.

The native population in the South and Stewart Islands at the end of last year was 2608, viz., Nelscm, 440; Marlborough, Westland, 96 ; Canterbury, 558 ; Otago, Southland, and Stewart Island, 1062. One hundred and sixty-two snakes were despatched in three days by two young men working in a gaddock at Oakdale, near Belfast, Victoria. The plan of turning (he tops of houses in cities into gardens has been carried out at the Palmer House in Chicago, aud a portion of the roof of that hotel is now covered with a large conservatory. The structure is entirely of glass and iron. It is open to guests of the hotel, and f urnirhes a delightful resort. The following is the latest budget of local news given by tbat prince of newspapers, the redoubtable Lyell Aiyus :— "Stern determination of our butcher to starve tho3e who don't pay and slap it on those who do. — A Lyell " gent" trying to pluck pigeons at Hampden, but found he had to shoot them first.— Great increase of babies, and aome that are not babies. Great excitement among the young ladies regarding who is likely to be the belle at Mr Eibet's races. — Consternation, confusion, distraction, and dismay at the long bills sent out by our storekeepers.— l he miners unable to eat, drink, or look at their old shanties. — Greatjdetnand for marriageable young women ; not ladies —Great scarcity of small change, and big change is just like it.— Great demand for the Lyell Argus. — No need of a constable this week. Few drunks, and no fights." An American paper says: — There is really no cheap insurance, for when policies ar* peddled round town until the price is placed at a certain rate, then the insurance part of the contract fails, and the man only has a policy which he thinks is cheap, but when a fire cornea he will, as many have done, find that the policy was a dear one, as the same paper could have been purchased for less money. Cheapness has too ofteu the double meaning of low in price and poor in quality, even though low in price. Poor in quality is not mentioned among (he Christian virtues, and when applied to insurance ls^iore provocative of curses than blessings." But there are people who buy, and companies who sell the poor-in-quality kind of fire insurance. Lawsuits follow cheap insurance as the shadow doe 3 the substance. Delays in settlement, harass and worry by the agent when a loss occurs, to cause the insured to take a less amount than he is fairly entitled to : the demand for a number of intricate forms to be made up and verified, until the wily agent has wearied the insured, who at last agrees to take less than he feels he ought to get to obtain a settlement. He thus lose 3 possibly fifty times more in the settlement than the amount he saved when he got cheap insurance, instead of locking ahead, and to the character of the age n land office iv icgard to the settlement of claims. First-class insurance can only be obtained at the cost price of insurance, with a reasonable profit to the insurer added aiter paying losses and expences, and leaving a surplus in good years to be carefully husbanded against the bad years, which surely come in insurance business. This is the best class of insurance ; seek it, and leave the other kind tothatciass who ma ice up the proverb of the "fool and his money are soon parted." An English exchange has the following remarks on the subject of Russian privateers in the Pacific : — lt is sufficiently remarkable that, whenever any serious misunderstanding arises with Russia, we hear that all preparations have been made to prey upon our commerce in the Pacific, that arrangements have been entered into for the equipment of privateers in American ports and so forth. So persistent are these announcements that we incline to look upon them as a part of the systematic game, of political " poker " which Russia has so successfully played for two years past at our expense. But for that very reason we ought neither to be deluded nor allow ourselves to be injured when we are thus forewarned. There can be no doubt that if war does occur we could be considerably damaged in the Pacific Ocean by Russian cruisers, if their commanders chose to run such risks as no English captain would shrink from when he saw a good chance of injuring the enemy. At present, we are not strong enough in the Pacific for the interests we have to protect. Nor must it be forgotten that there exist between Russia aud Japan certain stringent engagements which, at the commencement of a struggle, would very possibly tell against us. Thesß are points altogether trifling as regards our main policy, bnt they should not be overlooked in a general survey of the situation. The heavy expenditure incurred at Petropaulovsk, and the obvious wish to stand well with China and Japan ought to convince us that, so far as adequate preparation for cjntingencies can secure her interests, Russia at any rate does not intend to be taken at a disadvantage. The threat of fitting out privateers in America is interesting, as showitig the amount of importance which Russian journalists and diplomatists attach to the Declaration of Parii. Indeed, as the Russians now contend that the Treaty of Paris is torn up, it is difficult to see what remains from their point of view of the Declaration itself, which is merely an informal document attached to the Treaty. They are well aware, however, that two can play at the game of privateering, and that the first '• privateer " which issued from an American port would be the signal for such reprisals as would daunt the courage of any European Power whose alliance Eussia may be bargaining for at the present time, j

The hfew suite of offices about to be erected in Wellirigtoti for the city officials are to Cost £5760. The 1 building will include some 1 ten rooms in all, with a Oouticil Chamber 36ft 6.'n by 20ft 6in. A Good Templars' banquet is father g novelty; but. such was the f orm of entertainment in which thfe Good Templarsof Wauganiii the other night showed their appreciation of the Hdn. Air. I'ox'a consistent and unceasing advocacy oi! thtJ temperance cause. Tbe Registrar-General baa been instructed to prepare a voluminous return, showing the total number of buildings in the colony. It will not contain the names of each landowner, but will show the number of holdings of less than one acre, from one to five acres, from five to ten acres, and so on. Such a retutu will be most instructive, and at the present day, when the question of the taxation of land is so prominently before us, cannot fail to be of the greatest Utility.The celebrated performing elephant tania, belonging to Messrs Cooper and Ba 1 " ley's show, departed this life on board the ship Golden Sea on Saturday night, it is believed from the effects of eating a box of wax vesta 9, and a quantity of pills, which it obtained from the coat of one of the keepers, that had been hanging near the animal. The loss will be a severe one to the owners. The carcase was taken away by the ship yesterday, and will be thrown overboard when the vessel get* clear away from land. — Auckland Star. The Wanganui Herald of April 24 aays: — A cattle dealer coming down from Waveriej a few days ago with a large mob of cattle found some hundred of more natives occupying the Waitotara Bridge and road adjacent. Neither entreaties nor threats were of avail in getting these Maoris to vacate their position, and after some parley, when the dealer ender.vorcd to force the beasts through the crowd, the natives rose, and by yells and gesticulations so frightened the cattle that they scattered in all dheetions, causing a delay of over three hours iv reassembling them. Eventually the drivers were forced to swim five of the mob through the river ■ »ne fine animal was so frightened that it rushed over a precipice, and sustained so much injury that its recovery is doubtful. If this sort of thing, of which this is not the first complaint that has reached us, is prevalent in native districts, there must be a screw loose somewhere in the police arrangements. About half -past three o'clock in the afternoon of Saturday last (says the Auckland Star of Monday) the effects of a severe whirlwind were felt in the districts of Remuera and Ellerslie. The wind whirled in a spiral direction through Remuera with a violent motion of the air, catching the new verandah just completed in the front of Mr Whewell's house, casting it to a considerable distance. It |then rushed to the premises of Mr Jackson, lifted a 500-gallou water bath frotn its stand, and hurled it against the stable, beating in the weatherboards, and blowing over a milch cow. In its f nrther progress it nearly capsized Constable Bullen's horse, and literally lifted the Constable from the saddle, and rooted up a gum tree of large size, near the Harp o! Erin. It then rushed down towards E.lerslie, and turned over the shed near the Grandstand, belonging to the Agricultural anil Pastoral Associatien. Here the whirlwind seems to have spent its fury, and was followed by a heavy shower of rain, which iell in torrents. We have not been able to ascertain the amount of damage done in the localities referred to, but it must have been very considerable. A writer in the Timaru Herald, referring to Mr Hugh Carleton, who has left New Zealand, says: — He was mainly known in Parliament by two things. One was that bis political ideas and aspirations were so far in advance of the times that they were regarded rather as oracular than practical; rather to be looked forward to with confidence in the distant future than to be paid attention to in the immediate present. The other was that he spoke so many languages fluently that he muddled them up together, and thus rendered himself not unfrequently quite unintelligible to his audience. Greek, Latin, Maori, Hebrew, French, Italian, Gaelic, German, Basque, Spanish, Romany— it was all the same to him which came into hia head, in order to point a moral, adorn a tale, or illustrate an observation. The House of Representatives used to watch him in openmouthed astonishment while he stood stiff and bolt upright, gazing into space, and emitting volumes of polyglot in guttural tones from the depths of his cavernous chest.