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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 174, 22 August 1878, Page 2

A correspondent writing from Wellington to a northern contemporary says :— lt has been now definitely resolved on that the members of both Houses will leave Wellington for Christchurch by steamer, to be present at the railway opening on the evening of Friday fortnight, 6th September, returning so as to resume Parliamentary duties on Tuesday, the 17th instant. They will thus miss four working days, and will have the advantage of seeing a country, and cities, and boroughs which will be new to not a few. This is the programme as at present arranged. Some members, however, would like to see the work all hastened on with proper speed, and the opening of the line delayed for another fortnight, so that by diligence the session could be brought to an end, and then the pleasure trip and railway celebration may be enjoyed with the gusto of schoolboys, whose work is done, and whose long vacation has arrived. Of course, Ministers would like this ; and, such inconsiderable and merely formal trifles aa the Estimates being rapidly passed, they would be ready at a word to prorogue Parliament. Under the heading " Julius Redivivns/ the Wellington correspondent of the Auckland Herald writes as follows :— lt happened iu thia wise. Some one was indulging in Bellamy's the other day in rather keen criticism of Sir Julius Vogel and his acts and history, when a warm, impetuous friend said that it was too much, and he would live to see the day when Sir Julius Vogel would be brought out to New Zealand again, and once more placed at the head of affairs. At this moment in stalked, with stately tread, the Hon. William Eeynolds, who took up the conversation by saying, " And I'll give £500 towards a handsome fund for that purpose." "So will I," ejaculated Mr J. E. Brown (Ashley). " I'll give £100," quoth plucky Mr Shrimski. The story grew, and passed from mouth to mouth, until at last, as I am credibly informed, it is proposed to raise a fuud of from £15,000 to £20,000 to present to Sir Julius Vogel, and bring him out to New Zealand. It is said that the sums are in no case to be under £100, but as much more as the donor may be disposed to subscribe. It is expected that" in connection with the opening of the Otago and Canterbury line this subject will be mooted by Sir J. Vogel's friend, when some of the fruits of his railway policy are being reaped in the speedy passage by rail from the one great Southern city to the other and the celebrating banquets which will take place in both towns. By accounts from the Lyell district, there would appear to be a great scarcity of all kinds of provisions, and famine prices for many articles are obtained. Flour is said to be selling there at £70 per ton, cash. Emma Thursby declares that it is a mistake for a woman artist to marry, since either the profession or the husband must suffer. Mme. Bonaparte, the Bister-in-law of the " Little Corporal," who now lives in Baltimore, used to hold Gladstone iu her lap. She is 96, is worth 1,000,000, dola., and says she will not die until she has celebrated her centennial. The Economist boldly asserts that if the dead weight of the present war fever could only be lifted effectually, there would be a reponse from all parts of the world, and with a revival of business on the Stock Exchange such as has not been wituessed for years past. We firmly believe it. The public are eager to invest their money in something better than Three per Cents. Two of Bismarck's nieces, who quitted Germany in disgust on account of some little domestic difficulty, are governesses in a very aristocratic family in London. M. Joubert ha3 laid before the chamber at Versailles, aprojet de'loi for increasing the number of marriages. He demands that every Frenchman, who between 25 and 40, stili persists in remaining unmarried, shall be deprived of his rights as an elector.

One of our native f nends, Takerei te Putu, has put a tapu on the fish in the Hauraki waters, in consequence of the drowning of the three men from the Colombo yacht. The Other day, in Shortland, Takerei saw a native with a bundle of eels, and immediately put the tapu on them, but we believe the possessor of the eels, though feigning a compliance with order from his chief to throw them away, ultimately put them into the pot. The European fishermen who are so strongly entreated by Takerei not to take fish from the sea until he removes the prohibition, will probably regard his injunction as lightly as did the Maori with the eels. — Thames Star. Charles Reado has made up his mind to hereafter instruct rather than amuse the public. Ho announces that he will '• tear the masks off wrongs, errors, and corruptions, and set them bleeding until they are healed." The Russian ladies have a mania for jewels and ornaments. They interlace the plaits of their hair with precious stones Tlv ir necklaces consist of innumerable of gems, and one lady will wear as many as twenty bracelets at a time. j There has been a remarkable case of constancy in England. A man who separated from his wife thirty-five years ago, has just returnedand offered " to kiss and make it i up." A few days prior to the offer the wife had inherited a large estate. A certain railway company suspected that they were defrauded by passengers travelling without tickets. On application to Scotland Yard, a detective was sent to travel continually in the trains. One day, he heard a passenger remark that it was very easy to go from Broad-street to Dalston Junction without taking a ticket. The detective watched him and alighted with him; but to his surprise, saw that he duly gave up a proper ticket at the barrier The detective entered into conversation with him, and said, " I should like to know your plan for travelling without a ticket, as I am a frequent traveller, and I don't mind giving youhalf-a---crown for the tip." " Done," said the man and after pocketing the half-a-crown he remarked, quietly, " When I want to travel without a ticket, I walk the whole way." The following decision given by the Master of the Rolls in the Court of Appeal, London^ recently, will be of interest to sporting men. The question was, whether money lent to pay a debt for an illegal consideration was recoverable. The decision concluded as follows :—" If a number of men were round a gaming table, and one asked another to lend him money to game with, and he lent it, that would be money lent for gaming. And so, too too, in the case of betting. But in the present case this had not been carried out. The money was advanced to enable the mau to pay his debt of honor which was quite a different thing. The law, therefore, resolves itself into this : that money lent to make a bet is not recoverable, but that money lent to pay a bet which has been made i3." Light, a new London newspaper, says : — " Lawyers are remarkably fond of the opera: probably because it is a relief to escape, for ' a while, from the subtleties of their craft, and listen to something which does not compel them to prepare for cross-examination. A Conservative peer was expressing to Lord Beaconsfield the anxiety with which he looked forward to the Premier's prolonged absence from England. "It won't be a long badness," was the reassuring reply; and, after a pause, Lord Beacousfield added, " We mean to carry the position by a /too dimzng " (coup de main). The peer in question moved away, muttering as he went, "They may say what they like about his being a foreigner, and about his character being uu-English; but, at any rate, there is one thing that is unmistakeably British, and that is— his French-" Remark by Viclor Hugo -" There is every danger when the best men in the country do not strive to take their'proper place in the direction of affairs." A correspondent writes to the Colonies and India : — lf the Colonial Governments would start schools and Colleges to which English parents of the middle class could send their sons to prepare for colonial life, it would be a great desideratum to man. If land could he purchased, prepared, and sold or rented to these lads on leaving the schools, it would be a great boon. [ had a family of orphan lads thrown on my hands with a little fortune of £1500 each, and should have been most thankful could I have known any person to whom I could have sent them with a chance of their being taught farming, or to prepare them to invest this sum wisely in agricultural pursuits. Now I have had to put them in city warehouses, where they will probably merely make two ends meet as long as they live. I am sure that some clever practical person could organise a system of emigration that would be an immense relief to the tried middle classes, and be an advantage also to the colonies. It is marvellous emigration is left so much to chance and to individuals, and that there is no scheme, no organised plan, no safe method by which parents can send out their boys to enter upon colonial life with a fair prospect. The American legislature has prohibited the employment of girls as barmaids. The hotel keepers are not, however, to be outdone, and th»y now post young ladies in front of the bars calling them "conversationists." Their only duty is to walk up to male customers with a bright smile and copious flow of small talk, pour out their tea and coffee, or sit down for a few minutes beside them s and chatter on the topics of the hour. Rabbits are committing such depredations on the Hon. Neil Black's estate in Victoria, that he is going to erect thirteen miles of rabbit proof fencing. Mr Black spends .£3OOO a year in his war against the rabbits.