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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 131, 3 June 1878, Page 2

At Maryborough, Viotoriaj the other day, HingFat and Ah itay, father ilnd soh, attempted suicide by cutting their throats. One was taken to the gaol and the other to the hospital. Iu the case of a man named John Glass, convicted of rape in New South Wales, the Executive have decided that the penalty of death shall be enforced. Twenty-five tons of quartz from a newly discovered reef at Upper Biujira, N.8.W., yielded 283 ounces of gold. Owing to the accident to his hand Trickett, the champion rower, will be unable to compete iu any contest for twelve months. Over 3000 people visited the Syduey Museum on a recent Sunday. The Adelaide Jockey Club have disqualified William Hocking, a trainer, from acting as trainer and jockey for the next six months, he having left his service without giring notice, aud sought employment elsewhere. A northern contemporary says that : — " There is considerable difference in the estimates made as to the amount of land on the left banks of the Waipa aud Waikato rivers which Sir George Grey has promised to return to Tawhiao. The estimates range (says the Auckland Herald) from 60,000 acres to 100,000 acres, the latter. figure being probably nearest the mark. Taking the value of this at 10s per acre, the money's worth is £50,000. » Civil Service examinations do not always pass off smoothly. At one of these, a young gentleman was mildly reproved for the irregularity of his attendance. His Celtic blood was inflamed, and, turnip-? upon his rebukers he angrily told them, " Surt if it wasn't for the trifle of salary ye give, the divil a bit o' me would come here at all I" " Dear me, you must have an enormous army in this country !" was the exclamation of Sir William Jervois when he was interviewed by shoals of ex-military swells, in Melbourne. What would Sir William say if be visited New Zealand ! In referring to the retirement of Sir Hercules Kobinson from the Australian turf, the Au-trulasiati says :— lt wonld be rather a oue-sided compliment to His Excellency to say that his horses always ran straight, but in these crooked times we may be excused for making the remark. Under other circumstances it would be an insult to an honorable sportsman and a gentleman to insinuate such a contingency as the reverse, but when we daily see so many of those who claim to bo such running their horses solely to suit their pockets, it ii some consolation io know that in the Governor of New South Wales an example has been held up to tho racing world of Australia which is calculated to do much good. His policy on the turf has been that of thß good old British school of turfites, as illustrated in the careers of such as the late Lords Derby, Glasgow, aud Eglinton, a school fast passiug away- of men who raced for sport ana pleasure, not money. What Lord Falmouth is to the old country, Sir Hercules Kobiuson has been to this, and his name will be cherished in the annals of the Australian turf for mauy a long year to come. The latest form of adulteration is said to be the oiling of wheat. It has been found that by the additiou of about four pennyworth of rape oil a profit of something like a pound to twenty-five shillings per ton can be secured. Hamburgh, that grand emporium of .adulteration, claims the honor of making this last discovery in this »ge of high commercial morality. This same city has contributed to the free tra le of the world already Ha vauna cigars made from an unknown leaf,f|sherrics guileless of connection with the grape, aud champagne extracted from petroleum and gas tar.

Great dissatisfaction is expressed by many members of the various Volunteer corps at the non-compliance of the Government with their request for a free pass to an intended encampment, at the totally inadequate supply of ammunition, and at various oilier matters. It is intended — so soon as the Parliament has assembled — to entsr a general protest in connection with these grievances, and it has been suggested that if no redress is forthcoming, the Volunteers should resign in a body, upon the ground that it would be utterly useless for them to continue to meet, at a large expenditure of time and money, in the face of what amounts to a steady opposition on the part of the Government.—Ly'(elton Times. The Victorian Attorney-General, says "iEgles," intends putting down the gambling art-unions which have for so long a time without check or license disgraced the colony. So audacious have these traders on public credulity 'become that in sonic cases they do not trouble themselves to stale any limit (o the number of tickets to be disposed of, and I firmly believe that chalices are in some cases sold so long as they can be forced on the market, quite irrespective of the so-called prizes. Sir Byran O'Loughlen, by purging the colony of a form of gaming as pernicious as it is specious, will accomplish a good work. More than one predecessor has by inaction connived at the abuse, and has, like the Levite, passed calmly by on the other side of the way, declining to see the plundered. The Melbourne assurance companies, says ' Outis " in the Lcadtr, have adopted a plan of communicating to each other opinions formed on the characters of applicants for fire policias. The idea is clever, because in these libel-loving days the chance of an action for defamation is reduced to a minimum. When a man has had afire, offices, as a rule, make enquiries before granting a second policy; if the case is suspicious, a plain visiting-card, with a mourning border, is returned, upon which the secretary of the company, or manager to whom the enquiry is addressed places his initials. A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse, and the applicant for the policy is politely informed that his request for insurance connot be entertained. The Dunedin Star say3 : — By a gentleman who has been victimised we have been shown a coin he took for a sovereign. The resemblance is sufficiently close to deceive, and the reverse s : de bears the the suitable advice, " Keep your temper"— a difficulty under such circumstances Persons dealing with gold should take warning that such coin is in circulation. Under the heading "A new Minister of Public Works," the N. Z. Times publishes the following telegram from Gisborne, dated May 23rdi — "There ia great excitement here over the utterances of that eminent barrister, W. L. IRees. He has publicly announced that if the report of Sir John Coode is favorable for a breakwater, and the cost does not exceed £20,000, he will have it constructed within six months; he has also assured the public that he will have a railway from the breakwater up the north side of the river through to bpotiki. 1 ,