The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 1873.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 154, 27 June 1878, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 1873.

The Government are very much in earnest in their endeavour to shake off all responsibility in connection with charitable aid, and evidently do not mean to take So for an answer from those bodies to whom they are desirous of handing it over, if they can possibly help it, We yesterday published a telegram on this subject from Col. Whitmore to the Mayor, and the reply of the latter thereto. To-day another message has been received from the Colonial Secretary, which runs as fellows:—" Re your telegram of today. Government hopes that a Benevolent Society will undertake the duty of distributing local charitable aid if the municipality declines to do it. At present the total amount expended is deducted from subsidies, therefore in reality the district pays the whole. The Government offer was to cease stoppages and to pay half of the entire cost. It seems so evidently advantageous to the locality and so evident that local relief would be more satisfactorily conducted by local people that the Government hoped for co-operation. This system is in force at Hokitika and all other West Coast centres and succeeds." To this the Mayor has sent the following reply:— "Have seen Secretary Aid Society who has called meeting for tomorrow, and the result will be communicated to you. I am aware total amount of expendi ture on charitable aid is deducted from subsidies, but am advised such deduction is illegal under "Financial Arrangements Act, 1877." Government appears to overlook the fact that the subsidies cease at the end of three years, no guarantee being given that Government will provide funds at end of that time. The real question is not so much of distribution as of findiDg funds to distribute, although I cannot see that any local body could satisfactorily undertake distribution until proper Act passed by General Assembly." The Provincial Hall was crowded in every part last night on the occasion of the second eutertainment in aid of the Institute funds, and of the large number who were present we will undertake to say that there was not one who was not thoroughly well pleased. The chair was taken by Mr Henry Adams the President of the Institute, and punctually at 8 o'clock Mr Dowling, who was greeted with loud applause, stepped on to the platform and after a short introduction commenced the recitation of Macaulay's thrilling and pathetic poem "Virginia." Very soon the reciter had completely absorbed the attention of his large audience and not a sound was to be heard excepting his voice, as in clear tones, and with intense feeling he narrated in the poet's noble words the sad story of the little Virginia. The father's farewell address to his " darling " prior to his striking the fatal blow, which he preferred to administer rather than she should live to be dishonored wa3 given with such pathos that tears were to be seen in many eyes not only of the weaker but of the sterner sex, a far higher testimony to Mr Dowling's dramatic powers than even the genuine burst of applause by which his hearers expressed their approbation on his concluding the piece. By a bad arrangement of the programme " Virginia " was followed immediately by a comic song called " Uncle Jack," a good song and well sung but altogether out of place, for it was too much to ask the audience to weep and laugh in the same minute. Mr Dowling altogether gave six recitations, including two of Tom Hood's " Ealse Nelly Gray," and " The Bridge of Sighs," all of which were remarkably well done, although we liked him better in a pathetic than in a comic mood. Several well known members of the Harmonic Society who are always heartily welcomed when they appear on the platform, sang at intervals during the evening and received the applause they so well deserved. At the conclusion, Mr Adams, in the name of the Institute and of the audience, thanked the ladies and Mr Dowling and the other gentlemen who had assisted, for the aid they had given to the Institute and for the very pleasant evening they had afforded to those present. Just as the people were dispersiog after the entertainment last night, they were startled by loud screams coming apparently from the shrubbery on the eastern side of the buildings. Of course there was an immediate rush to the spot, and after some delay, occasioned by the darkness of the night, the cause of the alarm was ascertained. Within a yard or two of the outer wall of the buildings, is a small well between four and five feet deep, used as a temporary receptacle for ashes, &c., and in this, with their heads just showing above the surface, two ladies were, by the friendly aid of lighted matches, discovered. How they came into that particularly unpleasant position was speedily explained. They had left the hall by the southern door of the eastern corridor, and turning sharp round to the left, had stepped into the well. It was a weird scene, ihe unfortunate ladies, worse off even than

tf wW f UrT 4 ey d *™ ' ing, who had only both his. legs in the crave wfere completely buried witli the exception of their necks and heads, while in the darkness ot the night, intensified as it was by the surrounding shrubs of sombre hue, there stood around the grave a group of gentlemen who had rushed to the rescue, the whole scene being revealed to view by the. flicker! ngMt $• fr° *** *ateti'e&. having ascertained that no injuries had been sustained by the uufortuuate ladies, the gravity of their rescuers was not proof against the ludicrousness of the sit u -; on> and ffom the . ,rnence agonising screams so lately issued, there now came peals of laughter loud and long, in which thosts below the surface heartily joined with those above. Preparations having be.en iiiade, for .their, resurrection, the ladi.es ,>yeye taken oiit tehderly, lifted wish ( care, and bhce more landed on terra firina, when they registered a solemn vow that never again would they go cruising about the Government grounds on a dark night without. either a guide or a. lantern. There was a. good mils' ter. at the coursing meeting hbl'd lit Hop j^tei-diij; b'iit fite hares were, unfortunately, less numerous than the sportsmen, so that all the events did not come off. The results of what did take place were as follows:— In running off the Puppy tie, Mr Trask's Un> was beaten by Mr Harkness' Flora. For the Derby Stakes, Mr D,imaiock> Shy lock beat. Mr Little's Count Jerome- Mi- 3. Harley's Spark beat Mr Tovey's Derby; Dr. Waring's Scandal beat Mr Barnett's Wizard. In running off Mr Dimmock's Shylock beat Mr J. Harley's Spark, and the prize now lies between Shylock and Seand.il, who will ruii off on a future day when the Waimea Stakes will also be run for. The Suez mail is being brought up the coast by the Taranakij aud should arrive here to-niorroW. Ai,Eb'ttmic,,ihe subject of which is to be "Uncle torn," will be given by the Key. J. Beckenham in the Provincial Hall, on Tuesday night, in aid of the widow and family of John Barrer, who died suddenly the other day; , A JtRF.TircG of the Tradesmen's Athletic Club will be hold at the Masonic Hotel this eveniug at 8 o'clock. The members of the Loyal Marine Lodge of Good Templars will give an entertainment at the Port Eire Brigade Hall, this evening, at 8 o'clock. Admission free. Enquiries have been made lately as to the whereabouts of one William Morgan Harris, a native of Pembrokeshire, Wales, who has, it is said, come into a fortune of upwards of £30,000. The matter was recently placed in the hands of a solicitor in 'Wellington, and a reward of i,500, was offered for the discovery . of the heir. He has at length been found ! says the N; Z. Times working as a bullock ; driver at Mr Booth's mill, ne.-ir Carterton, ! where he was known as "Black George," being a man of dark comploxion. He is now in town, and we hear will shortly proceed to the Home country, where, on satisfactory proof being given of his identity he will come into possession, as report has it, of the very handsome fortune. [The Harris alluded to above was a passenger from London to Nelson in the ship Maori in the year 1851. He married the daughter of a settler in the Waimea, whose name we cannot now call to miud, and by her had three or four children. He was then left aJwidower. For two or three years he was the landlord of the Star and Garter Hotel at RichmondJ. .Tkemendocs failures, involving the loss of ' millions often occur in the financial world. Far more deplorable failures often happen in the domain of medicine, patients being sometimes made the victims of mistaken treatment. But the record of the past does not disclose a single instance of failure to cure on the parts of that supremely efficient remedy for kidney aud bladder ailment, dyspepsia, undue nerve excitement, and general strength TJooLnio Wolfk's Schiki>am Akomaxio Sciinai'ps.— Advt.