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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 8, 9 January 1879, Page 2

The following items are from the Bulhr News of Monday •. — A nugget of gold, estimated to be worth £10, was picked up by Conn and party two days before Christmas in their workings up the Waimangaroa. After workiog for a long period, inspirited by^finds of nuggets every now and again, we understand th is party are at last close upon a reef, and we hope a rich one. — The steamer Result returned from theKaramea on Saturday. She brought a number of passengers, settlers and their families who seek a better livelihood than, the Kararaea affords. She also brought a number of pigs. We understand that many of the settlers are anxious to get work at the new cutting above Snag Falls, and should they be able, there will be few left at the Karainea, where there is little to do with ths crops but feed the pigs on them. — It is whispered that some good news is likely to be told shortly, being nothing less thau a good find of gold in a place large enough to afford ground for 1000 men for the summer working. May it prove more than 'moonshine.' — A singular phenomenon of the heavens was noted about 8 o'clock on Thursday, by Mr Labatt. He states that while mooring the punts, which, under hia supervision are now being used removing snags, he noticed a streak of fire come away, apparently, from the moon. Although a nautical man of world wide experience he says he never saw the like before. We learn from another source that tbe same phenomenon was noticed the previous evening, at about nine o'clock. Temperance principles (says the Melbourne Leader) right enough though they arc themselves, would gain few adherents perhaps were it not for the zeal exhibited in their propagation. The progress of the movement is one of fits and starts more than of steady advance. Occasionally there arises some speaker of exceptional power, who wins his way into the hearts of thousands, and reclaims by the force of his enthusiasm those whom no amount of mere reasoning would affect. Such a man is Mr Mathew Burnett, who is doing such excellent work in the suburbs of Melbourne at the present time. There can be no doubt about his usefulness, for he proves it by facts and figures. In ColHngwood 3000 persons signed the pledge at his inritatioa, in Emerald Hiil 3250, and in Sandridge, where he is still occupied, he has obtained 2226 solemn promises of total abstinence. Of course these figures are open to some question. Possibly the same person sometimes signs twice over, aud of the rest a certain percentage will probably relapse sooner or later into their former practices. Making all deductions, however, it is plain that some thousands in this city will be benefitted by the exertions of this one man, many permanently and others temporarily, but all benefitted without doubt. The testimony of the police in the various localities proves the actuality of the reformation. In Stawell it is said that drunkenness has been almost effaced. In Colling wood the convictions for this offence have been reduced one half, and in Emerald Hill the weekly average is lowered from fifty to eighteen. There is no escaping such evidences as these of the practical* effect of Mr Burnett's preaching, ft is superior to the ordinary temperance efforts, because it reaches exactly the class of people who must need the inculcation of sobriety, who are often the most susceptible to appeal , and whose improvement is otherwise most difficult of achievement; and for his great labors and success Mr Burnett deserves the thanks of all who have the interests and the welfare of the community at heart. Strategy is a thing to be admired when it is employed for the circumvention of rogues. While the French were in Mexico, stage - robberies on the Monterey road became very f requent. The French commander resolved to put a stop to them; and this is how he did it. He dressed up half a dozen Zouaves in ladies' attire, aud sent them on in the next stage, their faces hidden by veils, their carbines hidden by their petticoats. The stage was stopped; the ladies, without waiting to be invited, left the vehicle and fell into line with the rest of the passengers. Suddenly a series of reports came from that line, and some dozen robbers lay dead; the rest discreetly disappeared. For a long while afterwards it was only requisite to display a shawl and bonnet conspicuously to secure & free passage for a, stage on that route.

Governor Hennessy has received from Mr Bolilios, a director of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, the sum of .£IOOO for the erection of a statue to the Earl of Beaconsfield at Hong Kong. i " Atticus," writing in the Leader, says :— j Ladies are hot proverbially charitable towiirds the little foibles of their erring sisters. This in the majority of instances is not perhaps surprising. Last Sunday I visited a fashionable church. In the course of the service ray devotional fervor was somewhat dashed by the entrance of a lady of pronounced figure, who amidst the blaze of a cart-load of jewellery, the luscious rustle of silks and the perfume of a dozen spice islands, marched in imperial fashion up the aisle to a conspicuous seat near the pulpit. " Such execrable taste," observed sotto voce my lady companion across the prayer-book which we divided. "She ought to know better," was murmured. I could not resist inquirig why from my fair interlocutor. " She's a milliner and dressmaker," was the answer. " Successful in business ?" I re- ' joined interrogatively. " No ; caught a digger." There are still some Becky Sharpes about Henry CJay used to say that there were thtee classes of people whom it was never safe lo quarrel with " First, ministers, for the reason they could denounce me from the pulpit, and I had none through which to reply. Second, editors, for they had the most powerful engine from which they could every day hurl wrath and fury upon me, and I had none through which to reply. And finally, with women, for they would have the last word anyhow," A new beauty has begun to reign in London, a Miss Graham, who, it is said, was " discovered" in India. There have been rumors, too, of an American belle who was supposed to be coming to England to dispute the golden apple with Mrs Langtry and Mrs Webster. Americans are charmingly pretty when they are pretty at all, and are generally as fascinating a3 they are beautiful, so, if this lady be not apocryphal, and the product of the brains of those who wish to alarm the reigning beauties, we may sec some pretty rivalry ere long, A curious case of blood poisoning has recently occurred, that should be made public, as it shows how careful persons should bu when they are not in good health, and when their avocations compel them to handle wool. Mr G. Davies, of Mr Douglas McLean's station, Maraekakaho, last shearing, while assisting at the wool pressing, pricked his finger with a thistle spear. JS T o notice was taken of the accident for some time, till the intensity of the pain and the swelling that arose necessitated a doctor being consulted iv town. The thistle point was then extracted, when it waa discovered that it had carried with it into the finger a fibre of woo!. Notwithstanding the extraction of the extraneous substances the finger continued to gather, and gradually became corrupted. Mr Davies had again to come into town, and after Dr Spencer and Dr De Lisle had made an examination, amputation was determined upon —A. Z. Herabt. When their daughters are infants, mothers are anxious to keep matches out of their reach; to put matches within their reach is their great anxiety when their daughters are older. At a prayer mcetting in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Mr Spurgeon taking his text from sth and Cth verses of the 13th chapter of the First Epistle to the Hebrews, dwelt on the prevalence of covetousnoss at the present day. His text, he said, told them that they were not to be covetous, that their conversation ought not to be covetous, that conversation included the whole of their lives. It was not the part of a Christian to be on the side of those who grabbed and ground down the poor or to take part with the illiberal, or in the sharp transactions and clever things done in the way of business or trade nowadays. There were those who, while not doing an act themselves, still gave their consent to it, and there were others who, being, as it was called, clever men of business, considered the deserved praise as such. The true Christian's feelings should be those of generosity, of kindness, of unselfishness. Astonishment has sometimes been expressed at the rapid recovery of France from the disastrous effects of the German war; but it is evident from the following passage,' extracted from Samuel Bogers' "Jttecollec'tions," that Edmund Burke would hiive been prepared for what has occurred: " England," he said, [" is at all times a moon shone upon by Fiance. France contains all within herself. She has natural advantages; she can rise soon after severe blows. England is an artificial country; take away her commerce, what has she?" The harmony of the closing day of the Exhibition at Paris was marred by two disputes, which one might wish to have seen avoided. French public opinion is a little wounded at the reply given by the English Government that English exhibitors will not be allowed to wear the ribbon of the Legion of Honor, with which they have been decorated, at Court ceremonies in England. In the second place, there is considerable complaint as to the principle upon which prizes have been awarded. Exhibitors declared that, in many instances, juries have been composed of men without any special knowledge, and animated by a spirit of jealousy of the exhibitors. Nor has the expedient of distributing medals among those who have gained no prizes been successful in allaying this discontent. There seems, undoubtedly, to have been much carelessness in the matter of awards. We are told of a maker of champagne, who did not exhibit, and wno yet had a silver medal; and of another person who bought and exhibited a number of bottles of champagne made by a well-known firm, who has had a gold medal , awarded to him, the firm in question only gaining a bronze medal.