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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 19, 22 January 1879, Page 2

The A*. Z. 7 'imes hears that a private letter received from England by the last mail states tbat the Caledoniau Bank will have to be wound up simply through owning four shares in the City of Glasgow Bank, which is due, of course, to the unlimited liability of shareholders. The distress in Glasgow is very general and very great. The ft .mil 01 Spectator relates that one effect of the Kelly scare is that " by Thursday's traiu three bank managers, on of whom was from Portland and two from Hamilton, left for Melbourne in charge of treasure belonging to their respective banks. The managers took with them about £25,000. It is not so much from fear of the Kelly gang that the banks are organising an escort system of their own, but rather from an apprehension that in the present lawless state of the colony the immunity enjoyed by the Mansfield gang will cause a bad example to be imitated by others." Envelopes were first used in 1839. The first air pump was made in 1G5.. The first steel peu was made iu 1830. The first balloon ascent was made in 1783. The first lucifcr match was made in 1783. Speaking of three imbecile patients in the Wellington Asylum on whom he had formerly reported, Dr. Skae says, one has been discharged greatly improved, a second has been " happily released by death from a life of paio, and the third, a cheerful little boy, is learning gardening and^-bad language under the mingled good and evil influences to which he 13 exposed ! " It is stated (says the Post) that a wellknown and wealthy Hawke's Bay merchant lost £90,000 by the failure of the Glasgow Bank. So large are his resources, however, that this heavy loss did not even temporarily embarrass him. Some idea of the extent and present popularity of Mudie's library may he gathered from the fact that the catalogue comprises 2500 copies of Mr Martin's " Life of the Prince Consort," 2000 copies of Captain Burnaby's "Ride through Asia Mmor," 1500 copies of Stanley's " Through the Dark Continent," and 2500 copies of Mrs Brassy's " Voyage in the Sunbeam." The following evidence of the near approach of the Christmas holiday season was received at the Mayor's office in Baltimore : dear mr m-iyor i am a little hellen I want a little dolly for cristmas and I ant got no papy to buy me any and mamma aut got no money to buy it ei her so I think I will not have no fun at cristmas so I think you have got lots of money so you will please buy me a little dolly for cristmas you can get a pretty one for ten cents for little Hellen. One of the most deplorable effects of a banking catastrophe is that it shakes the confidence of the poorer classes in all such establishments. In a case of robbery at the Birkenhead Police-court recently, it was stated that the prosecutor, a labourer, was so frightened by the failure at Glasgow that he withdrew £60 he bad placed in a bank at Birkenhead. The poor fellow was at a loss to know where to keep his money in safety, aud hia wife carried it about with her in her bosom , wrapped up in a handkerchief enclosed in a bag which she hung about her neck. Two women were charged with stealing the money, and remanded in order to see it it could be found. In digging the foundations for a new shaft at the rear of premises ia the occupation of Messrs Morgan and Co., in Long Acre, London, in October last, some workmen came upon the chest containing a large number of gold and silver coins of the reign of Henry VIII. iu a high stale of preservation. Besides a quantity of miscellaneous articles, the box contained about 20 pieces of church plate and ornaments. An improvement in the manufacture of horse collars has just beed devised by a Philadelphia mechanic. The collar, being stuffed with elastic cork, is light in weight, aud adapts itself to the shape of the animal as readily as if it were moulded. It is highly elastic, does not chafe or gall the neck, and the cork being a non conductor, injury from heat is prevented. Lands are made to increase yearly in fertility, mainly in three ways— by buying commercial fertilisers, by ploughing uuder clover, hy buying rich food for animals and saving all their drbppiugs. That farmer understands his business who knows which mode is best for him. The most successful farmers practice aIM-Tee* \ ■-• Au American paper states that 360,000 acres of wbite oak timber and mineral laud in Western Virginia were sold in New York in large lots for about a half penuy an acre— probably the cheapest sale of land on record. One of the new Russian steam cruisers j huilt at Philadelphia was launched on Oct. 21 She is of 1000 tons -burden, and is expected to make a speed of 1 4£ knots at sea. Over 20 persons have been drowned in the Northern Wairoa River, Auckland, within 12 months.

Paris has 65,000 bouses, London, 460,000, being more than Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and New York cafebined.