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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 15, 17 January 1879, Page 2

A recent Dunedin telegram says : — The immigrants per Oamaru, all met with ready engagements. Harvest men with board, £19 to £20 for three months; farm laborers, £1 to £1 4s per week; shepherds and ploughmen, £60 per annum. The single girls, though not opeu for engagement until to-morrow, all found work, and the supply is not nearly equal to the demand. The salary of the Mayor of Duuedin hr . been fixed at £500 a year. During the month of December 5053 quarts of milk were used at the Christchurch Hospital. At a meeting of the Hospital Board it was mentioned that the expenses of a woman, who had been admitted to Akaroa Hospital, were £20, of which £15 was for brandy supplied to her. A Christchurch telegram of the 1 lth inst., says : — The maximum heat on Thursday was 152 ; Friday, 152 ; Saturday, 155. The maximum in the shade was respectively 76, 82, and 89. Last night it began to rain, and a few drops have fallen throughout the day. The New Zeatander of Wednesday says :— We bave a prospectus before us ofthe Nelson Jam and Fruit Preserving Company, proposed to be registered under the Joint Stock Company's Act, 1860. The proposed capital is £5000. Mr Henry Budden is the Secretary, who is now in Wellington, and will receive applications for shares. The following Christchurch telegram dated Tuesday last throws some little light on a message we published on Wednesday: — A sensational story comes from Rangiora. A well-known resident tbere filed some daya ago, and then offered bis creditors 5s iu the £, tbe reason assigned for his bankruptcy being that he had lost at one of the Dunedin races £2400, which he said were stolen from his person. The creditors did not believe the story, and set detectives to work, and yesterday they succeeded in finding, it is said, £1000, sewn in an article of dress belonging to the debtor's wife. As a cautiou to larrikins, the Rangitikei Advocate notes that Robert A. Heath, for indulging in wanton damage to property on New Year's Eve by breaking a window in the Band of Australasia, was fined £5 and ordered to pay £4 10s damages, aud costs of the case, or suffer 14 days' imprisonment. There was a second charge against the same person for breaking two windown at the Post Office, damage £2 10s. Fined £5, damages, £2 4s, and costs. The Post of Tuesday in reporting the effects of the gale on the previous night and morning says: — About 7 a.m. a large sheet of corrugated iron was torn off Mr E. H. Hunt's new brick store on Lambton Quay and hurled with terrific force along the street, fairly •' taking possession " of the thoroughfare, and compelling everyone within reach to make a hasty retreat. One or two persons, indeed, were narrowly missed by the iron sheet, which probably would have beheaded anybody with whom it came [ into collision. The number of hats blown off utterly surpasses computation. In one instance a gentleman was severely hurt and I bruised about the face by a violent blow received from a hat which had been whisked I from the head of another person fully 100 j yards away. A Dunedin telegram to the Chronicle says: — An interesting breach of promise of marriage case, in which the son of Mr Carruthers, formerly Engineer-in-Chief, is defendant, is to be heard by a common jury at the Supreme Court on Monday next. Some startling and painful revelations are anticipated. To illustrate the grand scale on which some of the English estates are laid out, it may be mentioned that the Chatsworth estate of the Duke of Devonshire contains 2000 acres which he retains for his private park and flower garden, besides thousands more that are rented for farming. His park is bounded on all sides by hills, which cut Jit off from the rest of the world, and no other house than bis own cau be seen from the windows of his grand mansion. His flower garden alone comprises 102 acres, wherein 60 laborers are constantly employed to keep it in order. The remaider of the 2000 acres is all in grass and woodland, and stocked with deer. A forester has charge of the estate, and the understanding with him is that he shall have at his disposal all the produce from the deer — venison, pel's, horns, etc. — on condition that he shall keep at least 2000 head constantly in the herd. The Wairarapa Standard says : — ln a paddock of five acres at Waihakoke the caterpillars are so numerous that they have almost destroyed the crop, which consisted of wheat, aud they threaten to destroy another of thirty acres should they happen to cross the road which lies between the two. The Marlborough Express of the 10th inst. says :— " Affairs still continue to look well' at Golden Point, and we learn that Mr J. F. E. Wright and several others recently paid a visit to the Golden Point mine, and took back with them to Wellington several bags of stone taken from different parts of the mine. Some very indifferent looking stone,- which did not show a speck of gold, and which was found in a break in one of the reefs, and thrown away in the mullock by the miners, shows the astonishing result of 36 ozs. of gold to the ton, and this with a rough test of crushing and washing. Another sample taken from the reef at the. foot of the 40ft. shaft, gave an average of about 6oza, to;the ton, when roughly tested."

The carelessness displayed with respect to the transit by steamer of valuable stock is very great. The Otago D~tily Times says : —A distressing instance of this kind occurred on the last voyage of the Tararua from Melbourne to the Bluff. Out of nine strong, well-conditioned, draught horses shipped, all but one were done to death in a short voyage of about three days and a half. Were this the only instance in a twelvemonth, it is quite enough to show that some action should be taken. If common humanity and self interest are not weighty enough considerations, the strong arm of the law should certainly take the abuse in hand. Wellington pork must he wholesome food. The Inspector of .Nuisances read to the Couucil on Thursday night, a report of his inspection .of the slanghter-houses, from which that city is supplied. This report contains some startling revelations, ond graphic descriptions from wh'ch we extract as follows .-—The objectionable feature in the establishment referred to is the manner in which the pigs (of which there were from 100 to 200) are allowed to roam over the whole of the place; and the food they get. Some of these pigs were wallowing in the creek close to the buidings, others greedily devouring the blood, &c, as ifc came to the mouth of the drain and into the filthy creeks-, others were lying a little further away in dirty waterholes, while another lot were to be seen almost upsetting a lad who was wheeling a barrowfal of offal to a little distance from the slaughter-house, say twenty yards, in their intense eagerness to get at the contents of tbe barrow. When this was upset amongst them the brutes struggled, screamed, and jostled one another tremendously in their efforts to secure a share of the choice morsels . Their food ia principally raw offal, blood, &c, with some meal added occasionally. While in the beefshed I observed some of them coming in at the door and carrying away some liver in triumph. About twenty or thirty yards away are the sleeping sheds, in one of which I saw the putrif jing carcase of a pig, and near these sheds also were the remains of several dead fowls. Although the place is very large and is no doubt very expensive to maintain properly, yet I think a vast improvement might be effected if the pigs were kept at some distance in properly secured yards and not allowed to roam where they liked about the grounds.