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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 23, 27 January 1879, Page 4

The "Washington correspondent of the Philadelphia Times says that a constant attendant on a session of the House of Representatives, if he is observant, will see members roaring drunk once in a while, he will see dozens of members squirting tobacco juice over carpets that cost §6 a yard; he will see scores of members smoking in the chamber during the sitting ; he will ccc members stretched out on the sofas asleep, and he will bear tbem snore ; he will see members with botb feet on their desks, sitting on tbeir backbone ; he will see members munching apples while attending to the public business ; be will see ocasionally a member with hia boot off, easing his corns; and he will see much else. A fow years ago a member from one of the 'Southern States, now happily out of public life, was in the habit during the sittings of the House, of taking out his false teeth ancl wiping them on his coat-sleeves and picking them with his finger-nail. Another member was in the habit of combing his hair with a fine-tooth comb while listening to speeches He was very tidy about ifc, and always spread a newspaper on his desk to prevent soiling it with the result of bis labors. A member of the House from Kentucky at the close of last session went into the Committee room of Appropriations and, taking off his boots aud stockings, perched himself on the back of a chair and proceeded to wash bis feet in the marble wash-basin. One tbing may be said of him, however, he was a member of tbe Committee ! Tbis member was beaten for re-election. A dreadful crime was committed a short time hack, in tbe Rue Letellier, Paris. The porter of the house No 41, a man named Ledoux, left about noon to attend to a small garden wbich he possessed in the neighbourhood, and was followed by his wife then drunk, and who abused him in the vilest manner. As he was stooping down, she picked up a large stone and struck him on the back of the neck, knocking him down insensible. She then sprang upon him and battered him with the same weapon till he was dead, and then tore his face with her [ nails. She afterwards dragged the body 1 into a shed where it was not discovered till some hours afterwards. The woman was then arrested. She is 55 years of age, and notoriously addicted to drink, while her husband was a very well-conducted man much repected in the quarter. When before the commissary of police, the prisoner made a full avowal of her crime. A San Francisco paper gives the following full text of the Bill introduced into the American Senate to regulate the employment of labor on public work in the United States: —Be it enacted, etc., that in the construction and repairs of all forts and fortifications, canals and locks, and all improvements of rivers and harbors, and all other public works of the Uuited States, no person shall be employed in the labor thereon who shall not at the time of his employment be a citizen of tbe United States, or who shall not have declared his intention to become a citizen thereof ; and in case any contractor or officer engaged in the construction or repair of any such works or improvement* shall employ any labor not authorized by this Act, he shall forfeit to the United States all moneys paid or contracted to be paid for such labor, and the amount thereof shall be withheld by the proper accounting officer from any sum due or payable on account of such public works. Writing on the subject of the alleged poverty amongst English agricultural laborers, "A Small Farmer " in the Times says: — " Eight shiiiings an acre has been paid for mowing grass, being nearly double the old price; 20s an acre has been asked for reaping wheat; 19s a week has been refused by a laborer; two single young men have lost their places of 17s and ISs a week, one because be wanted more, the other because he did very littie work and that very badly." If these prices be correct, there must have been a great increase lately in the rates of wages. A miner out of work has died of starvation near Gateshead; and another workman, also unemployed, has hanged himself in that town.