Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 196, 17 September 1878, Page 2

No one who knows Mr William Rowe, M.H.R., would accuse him of making a puu whilst addressing the House in that tubthumping melodramatic style of which he is so complete a master. Yet last night he unconsciously raised a snigger on the countenance of every man in the House when he spoke in sadly solemn tones of "haltering the Constitution.'-' It is surely bad enough for an honourable member to go on for half-an-hour deliberately murdering the Queen's English, without attempting to put a halter round the neck of the unfortunate Constitution.— Chropii le. The Wairarapa Standard tells the following anecdote as an instance of Maori superstition :— A short time ago a Maori at Whakataki, Castle Point, was accidentally shot in the groin while out pig hunting. Dr Henry Spratfc was instructed by the Government to attend the sufferer, but after a long day's journey found that his visit was fruitless. A native priest had undertaken the cure, a God had taken up his abode in the wounded man's stomach, and the bullet was not allowed to be extaacted. The movement against the use of agricultural machinery is reaching such proportions in Ohio and Indiana as to seriously alarm farmers. Scores of reapiDg machines have already been destroyed, and every day brings reports of fresh depredations. In India we have at present but three great sources of revenue— land, opium, and salt — pjoducing relatively by the la3t financial returns :— Land, £21.503 742 • opium, £8,471,426; salt, £6,244,415; the total revenue in each of financial years ending March 13, 1875 and 1876, being, for 1875 £50,570,171, and for 1876, £51,310,063, The present Czar, who completed his sixtieth year on April 29 last, is the only Russian sovereign, during over two centuries and a half, who attained the age said to be so fatal to his race. Of 16 Russian sovereigns' from 1613 to 1878, only one, tte present Czar' may be said to have reached the age of 6o' Catherine of Russia, who lived seven years longer, was a German, without one drop of Russian blood in her veins. Indian troops iv ordinary times have a hospital than Europeans. There is littl* drunkenness or immorality among them. "

Mr Cooper ha 3 arranged that a Maori haka, or Maori war dance, shall take place at the Imperial Opera House in Wellington on Wednesday night, for the benefit of the Benevolent Institute. Between forty and fifty of the Poverty Bay natives are to take part Jn the performance. A number of amateur performers will also lend their services. — Chronicle. The cultivation of oysteis is becoming an important branch of trade in Holland, for while the home consumption averages about 14,500,000 oysters per annum, almost as many are exported, Prance alone taking more than .'3,000,000; The Paris great balloon is in place, and capable of taking up fifty people at a time to a height of 500 feet, quite enough of an altitude to satisfy the asrial yearnings. It appears the present Provost of Glasgow is a teetotaller of a very objectionable type. On a recent occasion he asked the officers oi \ her Majesty's 79th Highhinders to dine with : him, aud absolutely gave them nothing to dring but cold water, with the alternative of ( gingerade. The jointed gun submitted for experiment by Sir William Armstrong has completed its course of firing at the proof butts in the Government marshes adjoining the Rojal Arsenal, Woolwich, and been handed over to the Pack Saddle committee to arrange for its carriage by mules over mountains and across irregular country. The gun unscrews into three parts, each of which is light enough for a mule's harden, but when screwed together it forms a powerful long range cannon, almost as serviceable as an ordinary field piece, and said to be perfectly gas tight at the joints. The light 7 -pounders which constituted the artillery of the Abyssinian campaign, and the expedition to Coomassie have, with a few small howitzers, been the only guns of the mountain train ; but the invention of Sir William Armstrong is regarded as having opened a way for greatly augmenting the power of that branch of the service. A monument erected on the hill of Tomachastel, Scotland, in 1832, to [the memory of Sir David Baird, the hero; of Seriugapatam, has been almost totally destroyed by lightning. The obelisk, which was composed of granite, and 80 feet iv height, was an exact copy of the Cleopatra Needle without the hiereglypHcs. »*-The Saturday Advertiser says: — Among the police at Christchurch the low wages and new regulations have not led so much to discontent as to v spirit of resignation. Among the members of the force, it is said resignation is prevalent, and likely to increase.