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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue XIII, 21 August 1878, Page 2

The following parapraph from the Wellington Chronicle may prove of interest to our musical amateurs : — A grand musical festival in which twenty or thirty of the leading amateur vocalists and instrumentalists of Otago, Canterbury, Wellington, and Auckland, will take part, is now being arranged for, and will be held in the Imperial Opera House, Wellington. The festival will last a week. At a receut meeting of farmers, merchants, and others held at Oamaru, the following resolution was passed and ordered to be. telegraphed to members representing the district in Parliament.— That this meeting, while approving of the principles of free trade, would like to see it carried out throughout the Australian colonies, and is of opinion that as long as an import duty is imposed by any other colony upon New Zealand grain or flour it is necessary in selfdefence to impose a duty on articles imported from such colony. Some of the crew of the s.s. Durham while at anchor in the vicinity of the North Cape, noticed on the Beach several large iron plates in a state of good preservation. These were carried on to Helensville, and found to belong to the s.a William Denny, which was wrecked near to the North Cape over 20 years ago, while on a voyage from this port to Sydney. They are to be brought on to Auckland aud presented to the Museum.— Auckland Herald. The Wellington correspondent of the Auckland Herald writes :—Mr Macandrew, the Minister for Public Works, has been pestered — I suppose that's the proper word — by deputations from all quarters, aikingbitn for various public works, roads, bridges, railways, &c. To do what he is solicited to perform, would require a trifle in excess of nine millions sterling. You can imagine the position of a Minister with a restricted exchequer, having to send away all those exigent deputations sweetly, without sacrificing that political principle which, opposes too lavish promises that prudence cannot possibly fulfil. Under the heading "Parliamentary Personalities " the N. Z. Times gives occasional sketches of some of the more prominent of our legislators. From the last of these we extract the following relating to a gentleman well known in Nelson:— A very different style of man is Mr Saunders. Trained in a course of. provincialism, years of proof that its abolition has not ruined either the country or the constitution have failed to convince him that the past is irrevocable. The shade of his buried love haunt 3 him still, and even this session he intends to pray for a resurrection. A clear, deliberate enunciation, each word falling with precision, betrays the twenty years practice as a debater that Mr Saunders often boasts of. The crushing fire of this heavy artillery, directed against the light field battery of Mr Barton, was painfully effective. Even were we to deny the correctness of Mr Saunders' argument that because the Speaker's chair could be well filled without a salary therefore none was required, yet we must admire how he solemnly assured the House that the learned (Mr Barton) who had worn all the hair off the top of his skull with his study of the law, displayed phrenologically a great development of the bump of combativeness; that it was no difficult matter to excite the legal gentleman— a red rag, or a policeman, or a judge, was sufficient, aud he (Mr Saunders) appeared also to excite his pugnacity. He hoped that in future he might be allowed a little peace, as he had no desire to be constantly baited by the.hon member for Wellington City. Yellow fever is an epidemic at Rio Janiero. Sixty to seventy deaths have been occurring daily among the shipping, and from 200 to 300 on shore.

Mf B. 0. Jones, of Dunedin, has, we notice, rfoanufactared a microphone there, which has worked adtolrabiy. The Star says ifc is a tiiafvej of simplicity and costs but a trifle, while it etiOfmotisly magnifies the sound on the telephone. Of a ptlblfe trial of Mr Jones' instrument on 1 * contamporafy Sa^s?—" Speak-s iiig into it ft distance of several feet from' the telephone, thtf eotiversatiofl Was teptd-' duced to the listener at thd other end with astonishing distinctness. Tuii&j whistled into it very faintly were perfectlj r audible, but the most astonishing surprise of all was that a whisper in the microphone, as soft as a lover's whisper, which could not be heard by those £ foot Sfray from Mr Jones, was aUdible to the gentlemen sit t&e other end, of the telephone. En pas<avt we niay mention 1 that that the latest improvement to the telephone is the substitution of galvanised electricity for induced currents, and that the change has been followed by astonishing resulta. It is feared that the microphone is too sensitive for ordinary use, as it catche3 up evfiry, Sound, and Is capable of changing the Quietness of a room into a miniature ikbei. I'd" make audible ' the beating of a pulse, the ticKing of & watcb, of the tramp of a fly' are extraordinary things / but we are assured that the microphone is capable of doing all these." The Wellington correspondent of the Christchurch Press writes hi 3 impression of the political situation on the 6th instant in the following teiffls i— ln polities very little has as yet been done\ Tne Gtove^ntttent have put on a bold front, while those tfti tbei exposition benches have been quietand resetted 1 . This silence is somewhat ominous. There is little doubt that the present is a time of armed ; neutrality. Those who are popularly conj sidered to be possessed of a reasonable share j of foresight pretend to discover already signs of wavering fidelity in the Ministerial ranks. Indeed it is plain and palpable that the present Government is composed of sttangely discordant materials. Of this fact we have sufficient evidence in theif pfe*se3sional utterances'. The personal prestige and influence of Sir George Gre£ is ttte sole bond by which they are united. If, as ttidf not be altogether improbable, the Premier should be coiflpeftea*, through ill-health, to retire or resign, there is no member of the present Ministry who could be considered in any way fit to assume the reins of Government. And even if Sir George recovers his full health, and is able physically to retain the leadership, I cannot but think that the foundations of the Ministerial constitution are likely to be undermined in another quarter. During the last year or two a considerable number of new arrivals have entered and settled in this colony. These, being altogether without any knowledge of the politics of the country, and of the previous life and character of the present Premier, have, on listening to his repeated promises of every good, decided to give him an opportunity of redeeming his pledges, and in a certain manner to put him on his trial. Those that know Sir George will be aware of the vanity of their hopes, and the emptiness of their expectations. The denouement must dome, and then will be displayed the full meaning of the play. It is merely a question of time. A telegram from Sydney recently announced the death of the Eev. Dr Lang. As very few readers appear to know who Dr. Lang was, we reprint the following from the New Zealand Herald:~J)r Lang was born at Largs, Ayrshire, at the commencement of the present century. He became a minister in the Presbyterian Church, and arrived in Sydney in 182.3, just 55 years ago. He was surprised and indignant to find himself unrecognised by the Colonial Government, and when the Governor fcpoke of toleration, he repudiated the idea of being under the ' obligation of receiving it. Dr Lang was prominent in eveey political strife in the early days oi Australia, and was one of the most determined advocates for the separation of Victoria from New S 'uth Wales. He was mainly the means of inducing British emigrants to go forth to the rich lands of Queensland. Dr. Lang several times visited England in connection with political business in Australit!. and. he even wrote a book about New Zealand, which caused considerable controversy. He is the author of a " History of New South Wales — both as a Penal Settlement and as a British Colony," published in 1834. He is also the author of a number of other works and pamphlets. The rates for the conveyance of certain materials by railway have been amended as follows, the change to take effect from the Mth instant :— " Road metal (or stone to be converted into road metal), sand, ear th , gravel , and shingle, required for the construction and maintenance of streets, and roads, to be carried at one penny (Id) per ton per mile,, with a minimum charge of five shillings (ss) per truck of five tons load."