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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 196, 17 September 1878, Page 4

Something to be thankful for. " Steam is a great thing," remarked a traveller in a railroad car to his vis avis. "So it IB," was the reply. "I owe ray fortune to k it," " Monsieur ia manager of a company?" "No." "An engineer perhaps?" "No; I have lost a number of relatives by railloadfaccideots." The British Columbians seem considerably more energetic in the development of their coal depoßilß than their fellow colonists in New Zealand. A San Francisco papar aay§ :— Victoria appears to be crowding our own coal miners and shippers to this port to a great extent. Some of the coal mines on this side of the line have closed working because the proprietors and Bhippers any they cannot afford to carry on the buainesa, it having been done at a loss for eomejtime. But the Victorian shipments have increased immensely. From that port, during the six months last past, the shipments to San Francisco have been sixty-seven thousand six hundred and nineteen tons as against thirty-four thousand one hundred and eighty-five tons shipped durine the first aix months of 1877. The Vancouver Company has sold forty-eight thousand tons, and the Wellington Company over forty-four thousand. It appears that the shipment of coal has jast about doubled within the year past, As our wood supplies grow less and less, dearer and dearer, because the regions of supply are gradually receding from us, this trade ia coal from the north mast necesa&rily increase. Are our northern neighbors to run our people gad cost oat of the raorket ?

In Virginia city, Nev&fo, according to the local paper, wives look sharply after the dutside conduct of their husbands, and bring a strong co-npera-tive force (0 bear upon their morals. j The paper in question says:— %< It is beginning to be suspected that a sort of vigilance committee exists amoug the married ladies of this city, the object of which is (o keep husbands awoy from the gambling games. Night be--1 fore last one of them walked into saloon [ a/ter saloon along C. sfreef, looked about for a time, and without saying a word, went out. She was probably n skirmisker from the train body. The masculine vigilanca committee of our town is known as " 601," the feminine is therefore most likely " 106." When a husband is spotted he is quietly marched away, and taken before the grand tribunal in lha secret hail of the committee, where be is hauled over the coals. A man who was thus marched away the other night s»ys he is not at liberty to tell all that happeued to him, but relates that while on the march ha was sudenly blindfolded, and presently, when the bondage was removed from his eyes, found himself in a large hall filled with masked women. There be saw and beard things ao /earful that ho wiil not forget them till his dying day.'* The Centennial Harvester (says a San Francisco paper) now brought to a greater state of perfection, is operating in the San Joaquin Valley with remarkable success. It consists of a header and thresher combined. The wheat is taken from the stalk, separated from the husk, and delivered in sacks ready for market in one operation. The machine is propelled by sixteen mules, the pulling gear being in the rear, as is the case with the header. There are two of these machines in operation on the ranch of Mr Huffman, Merced County, and they are taking off fifty acres per day, averaging 025 bushels of clean wheat to each one. We welcome every improvement calculated to reduce the cost of production of our great staple, as it lessens the price of bread and benefits the working people everywhere. The steepest gradient in Victorian railways is 1 iv 40; in New Zealand, the steepest is 1 in 15. On Wednesday next Dr Hodgkinson is to move, " That, in the opinion of this House, the rate of postage for sealed letters should be reduced from twopence to one penny, and for post-cards from one penny to one halfpenny, for all places within the colony." The Itev L. H. Boyle, of Indianapolis, Ind., recently shot himself because he could not face his appetite for liquor. As many as 7000 salmon are often taken at one haul of the seine in Alaska, some of them weighing from forty -five to one hundred pounds each. Juan Gonzales, a Mexican living near Fort Concbo, Texas is said to the best lasso thrower in the world. He throws a lasso 225 ft. in length almost as accurately as a good marksman could shoot with a rifle. A Peruvian chemist, Dr. Arosemano (reports Nature) has succeeded in obtaining a magnificent dye from the violet or maroon or "Welsh corn of Peru, and this dye is said to impart the colour, odour, and taste of claret to all light white wines to 9uch a degree that it i 3 impossible to distinguish the coloured wine from real claret, without its being in the least injurious to the health of the consumer. The stage from Fort Worth, Texas, to Yunia, Arizona, 15C0 miles long, is the longest in the world. There are 80,000 Jews in New York, ov more than ten times as many as in Jerusalem, and their wealth, is estimated at £4,01)0,000. During 1877 no less than 1227 persons were killed on railways in the United Kingdom, the injured being nearly five times that number. Picton land is looking up in the market, as we hear of a plot of land that has been just sold by Messrs Leary and Campbell at the rate of £3200 per acre, Mr G. James, late of Napier, being the purchaser. Mr James we are told, is going to build an hotel that will be a credit to any town in New Zealand. The plans are prepared, and the building will be commenced immediately. Quite a little trade is going on between Canada and the United States in the novel exportation of frogs for food, says the Campbellford Herald. One of a number of places engaged in this traffic is down ab Chisholm Rapids, and extends along the Trent to Percy Boom, five miles from here. The frogs at these places are very numerous, as is evinced by their never-ceasing nightly concerts, every throat giving forth a part in the orchestral strain as loud as the low bellowing of a bull ; and to the midnight traveller it is almost hideous. These creatures inhabit the low, marshy localities about the river, and grow to an extraordinary size, some of them, known as the gosling frog, so named from their attributed power to kill a gosling, being as large as ten or a dozen of the ordinary-sized one 3. Only the hind quarters of this amphibious race are eaten, and they are said to be possessed of the flavor of a chicken. They are caught by means of small nets, which the catchers manipulate with considerable dexterity, and sometime capture a large number at one " haul." They are shipped and sold at the rate of one cent apiece, and though the price seems small, yet a very profitable business is done. One man at Cbi3holm Kapids lately captured, we are told, eleven hundred in one day. Others again, they tell us, catch from two to four hundred per day. The proceedings in the House yesterday (says the JV. Z. Times of Friday) were of a character which the Yankees would describe as being " considerably mixed." A motion was brought forward by Mr Green in reference to the building of a bridge. The Government opposed it, on the general principle that local works must be performed by local bodies, and this created a discussion on the broad question involved iv that declaration. Mr Gisborne then alluded to the conduct of the late Government in reference to provincial liabilities; this drew out Messrs Richardson, Onnondj McLean, and Atkinson. The ground of discussion was further widened by Sir George Grey, who burst into a most extraordinary speech, in which the Canterbury runholders and others, his Excellency the Governor, and English statesmen came in for the usual criticism. He was proceeding to get even further away from the question, when the Speaker called him to order, and a desultory discussion arose on this, the result being that Sir George said the hon. members opposite had broken the thread of his argument and he could not proceed further. Subsequently several hon. members were called to order for travelling out of the record, but the Speaker said he could not attempt to restrain the discussion further, it had got far beyond his control. As Mr Hursthouse said, the afternoon's proceedings wore discreditable to the House.