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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 174, 20 July 1878, Page 2

She was a very modest girl, although used to "Government House" ways, and when Dr Hector said, " Take a glance through the telescope, Miss -, and you'll see Venus in all her glory," she frigidly drew back, and replied, " No thank you sir ; I have no desire to look at any member of my sex who dresses as she is represented to be." — Star. A proof copy of the new book of Volunteer regulations is now lyiug at the War Office ; but its issue is deferred pending the results of the deliberatious of the Departmeuta! Committee now sitting on the Volunteer force generally. With the view of attracting a proper class of officer it is proposed to give each officer commanding a Volunteer battalion the patronage of an officer's commission in the regular army. Among other chauges, the force is to be armed with the MartiniHenry rifle as soon as all the regiments of the regular army in India have been supplied with it. There is also a probability that the clothing of corps on first formation will be defrayed entirely at the Government expense. . This is what the curves do, says the Rangitikei Advocate, the locomotives have had the flanges of their wheels turned afresh four times since they commenced to sun. Every application of the lathe reduces their diameter by so much. Eventally, we presume, the axles will be all that is left of them. This is what is meant by wear and tear of rolling stock. What do the sapient constructing engineers think of their handiwork now ?

The "Disciples of Christ," Greymoiith are publishing, in the form of advertisement, stirring appeals to the unconverted. There are one hundred a ! nd forty cases on the London Divorce Court list for the Easter sitting just begun, and a small balance of sixty-eight standing over since Sir James last donned his wig. No wonder there is a block in the law-courts, Mr Gladstone has announced his intention of accepting the invitation of the Liberals of Edinburgh, and contesting that city, in conjunction with Mr Duncau McLaren, at the ne±t election. Apropos of the late dastardly attempt upon the life of the aged German Emperor, 1 learn that there are no less than seventy-five t ociaiistic publications in Germany, with an aggregate subscription list of one huudred and thirty-five thousand. Within the past year, the niirtiber of these publications has risen from fifty-seV6ii i© it is now. 11l grow apace,— Truth. TheM"arlborough Express says:— A person 1 was pointed out to us a day or two since to whom fortune Las been unusually kind. He was working out on one of the up-country sheep jting when it was discovered that some j had left him £f 2,000, with 1 &t» annual income lof .i&'OQO'. We hope He will live long to enjoy his prosperity.' ... . The f ol lowing corhmttniciition from' Wood's Point, in Victoria, shows that the f ec'en'S cpftl " snap" has not been confined to New Zealand alone :— An extraordinary heavy snow storm commenced last Wednesday. Over a foot fell in the main streets last night. It is still .continuing,- with no appearanca of clearing up. ■ I £her§, tiffs been] no such fall within \ the recollection of tfcs bTcfest residents, It is one mass of snow for miles foetid,- Varying i from I ft. to 10ft. in depth. The tiidiis from ! Melbourne, via Yarra track, are not to hand, and the mails from here by the same route cannot be despatched owing to the road being blocked by snow, there being over 6ft. on the track. The tetegraph lines are completely wrecked^ and c'onitdunication is obtained only at intervals. The snow storm is likely to cause imtnebse floods in the lower country, especially shottld # tnajv suddenly set in. The i'onerttf Bay tit t Hid .j3 of Opinion that the aboriginal of Kew Zealand at the present day is about as well looked after and carefully tended by a paternal Government as anyone we know. If he openly rebels against the laws of his Queen and the land he lives in, he is provided with an annual income , a large house is built for him, and he is offered the pick of the best sections in the town. If he sells land honorably to a European and is fairly paid for it, he is indirectly assisted by the Government to get back his land, and an opportunity is afforded him to sell it over again, he at the same time sticking to the original purchase money. If he gets into debt he is equally as well protected from any of those petty annoyances European debtors ate subject to. The Auckland Star describes as follows another " Waterloo veteran," who has been unearthed there:— "Thomas Hill, the object of the visit, was croning oter the fire, apparently deeply interested in an iron pot, which simmered gently on the embers. He is a very old man, of middle height, with a long and deeply wrinkled but hairless face, and a rather narrow head which is bald, save for a few straggling white hairs. The Government, it seems, finds him food and shelter, and he also earns a little money occasionally in the respectable, if not very lucrative, business known as the rag and bottle trade. According to his own account he was 100 years old on his last birthday, the 23rd December, but this statement mnst be taken cvm grano salts, though no doubt he is a great age. The veteran's fellow-lodgers state that his memory is failing fast, and certainly such appeared to be the case ; bnt neverthelsss some facts are plainly stamped on his mind, and after talking a little he seemed to call to mind others. They were mostly, however disconnected ; in fact, no connected narra> ive could be got from him." Authorship, to Thomas Carlyle, is toil. He composes slowly, and no mode of expression pleases him. The manuscript is, when finished, very neat; and a page holds a large amount of his small, upright writing. But his proof-sheets are the terror of the printers. His fastidiousness as to his plainest thoughts causes him to correct and recast until the print of the proof-sheets is surrounded by a mass of manuscript. Once when he was getting out a book he was annoyed at the slowness of the printer, and urged him to greater diligence. " Why, sir," protested the man, " you really are so very hard upon us with your corrections ! They take so much time you see !" Carlyle, observing that he was used to that sort of talk, said, " I have had works printed in Scotiaud, and-" { " Yes, indeed, sir," interrupted the printer, •• we are aware of that. We have a man here from Edinburgh; and when he took a bit of your copy he dropped it as if he had burnt his fingers, and cried out — "Mercy on us ! have you got that man to print for ? Nobody can ever tell when we shall get done — with all his corrections !' " Carlyle could not reply for laughing, and he left the office.