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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 38, 13 February 1879, Page 2

The Thames Star relates the following anecdote : — " Keligious fervor does not always conduce to domestic quiet. 'The Man at the Corner' relates that recently a staid Presbyterian was converted to the belief of a select coterie who believe iu immersion. A few nights ago he went, accompanied by several brothers and sisters, to a secluded spot in the Kauaeranga to be dipped. His wife heard of it, and on the next meeting night she posted herself outside the place of worship, and when the worshippers came out she launched forth a torrent of abuse against the females for seducing her husband from the faith he bad been brought up in, and going ' bathing ' with him in the Kauaeranga river late at night ! " The Evening Echo (Ashburtou) says :— ln the nineteenth century, when we are all engaged iu the insidious pursuit of the almighty dollar, a case of commercial liberality commends itself to our senses, not alone for its munificence but also for its sweet rarity. One of our landed aristocracy (as I wish to do him unqualified honor I may perhaps reveal his name— Allen McLean) has, in consideration of the poor season, reduced the rents of bis tenants from 50s. to 15s. per acre. Mr Me Lean has taken the initiative in a course which will be highly appreciated by those directly benefited, and which I hope to see largely imitated by wealthy landlords occupying similar positions. A Xapier telegram of Monday says.— John Hare, formerly Registrar of the Supreme Court at Napier, and subsepuently at Wanganui, was arrested yesterday on a charge of larceny of liquor from White's Hotel in Parndon The landlord for several days missed bottles of brandy from his storeroom, and suspecting the servants, he watched on Saturday evening, and saw Hare open the storeroom with a key and enter. The landlord followed, and found Hare in possession of three bottles of brandy. A skeleton key was found on him. When the police went to arrest hiui Hare fell into a fit, and it was found impossible remove him, he being suffering from delirium tremens. A Hong Kong telegram to the Press Agency, dated December 28th, gives the following account of the destructive fire that recently raged in that city .— When the great fire on Christmas Day broke out no one supposed it would be very serious, or get beyond control, but owing to the quantity of inflammable material met with, and thehigh wind, the fire made such rapid destructive progress that it' was soon seen, unless streuuous exertions were at ouce made, a large portion of the city would be in flames. Finding that the efforts of the fire brigade and the supply of water were perfectly incapable of checking the flames, the use of gunpowder was resorted to, and the work of blowing up bouses commenced in earnest ; pulling down which was previously tried, bad proved altogether too slow. Had the plan of blowing up been tried sooner the destruction might probably have been confined to a comparatively few houses. Immense throDgs of Chinese of both sexes were driven out by the fire, and had to camp that night in the Pravn, rolled in their rugs, and snrrounded by what things they had saved. The Governor, Commodore, and naval and military officers were on the scene with detachments of men to preserve order. It was only by the most strenuous and prolonged exertions that the City Hospital was saved, though portions of it bad been blown down, It was on fire several times, while the conflagration lasted. The scene altogether was so vivid and exciting as to baffle description. The whole city seemed to be on fire, so great was the brilliancy of the flames. The main thoroughfares were blocked with the frightened and excited crowds of Chinese, laden with their household goods, while numbers of others were actively engaged in looting, a goodly number of whom were afterwards arrested and sentenced to from six days to six months in gaol. The loss is roughly estimated at 900,000 dollars, 140,000 of which fall upon Hongkong and 70,000 upon China Fire Insurance Companies. The German Insurance Companies lose heavily ; and some British offices lose, though to a much less extent. The lioman Catholic Church had a very narrow escape, the fire having got hold of it, but not firmly. On the second day the voluuteers had to be called out to relieve the military and police. A striking feature of the fire was that nothing seemed to be left i unconsumed but the party walls which divided the houses. Except in very rare cases not a vestige of the contents of the houses was to be seen. So great was the danger from falling walls that in many places ropes had to be stretched across, and traffic diverted or stopped altogether by guards placed for that purpose. There is no positive kuowlcdge of any fatalities during the fire, though it is reported that a soldier with his rifle and ten rounds of ammunition is missing. It is believed, and with some show of reason, that the fire was assisted by incendiarism. One Chinaman is said to have been seen cutting the hose, but managed to escape. It is also said that the floor of one of the houses was found covered with kerosene oil, in order to feed the flre apparently. A good deal of bullion and other property locked up in. safes waa subsequently dug out of the ruins.

A Boston girl, twenty-one years old, named Mary E. Russell, made her twelfth attempt to commit suicide in a New York station house. The a.s. Maori tnok away a good many old Coast residents on Saturday night, bound for more promising locations than are to he presently found on the Coast. Among the pnssengcrs were some Chinamen who have, by dint of hard work, made their little piles on the Coast, and are bound for the Flowery Land. " Show mn the fashion plate of any age," said Talttiagc, "and I will tell you the type of morals or immor.ils of that age or that year." All ri<?ht, brother Talmage, we suggest the n;?? of Adam and Eve. We haven't the plates handy, but doubtless you recollect them.— Boston Post. Abundant evidence of the success of fish acclimatisatjon in Tasmanian waters is afforded from lime to time. About this time last year Mr E. M. James, of Melbourne, caught in the Derwent a magnificent female trout, weighing 16lb. A few days since, id the same putt of the river, he secured a companion fish. Its length was 2ft. Biin., its girth, in-- and its weight lClb. Mr James the night before caught four young salmon weighing in all ll. Jib. He is convinced that they are the real salmon. During the quarter efidJng 3 1 st iVecember, 1878, :>6-i,020 telegrams were transmitted in New Zealand, as compared with 302,804 in the corresponding quarter of 1877, the increase being G1,'216. The revenue received was £20,9015, the increase being £3159 Professor Tidy, of the London Hospital, in a letter tc the Tiviev, says : — I have made a point of remaining in the neighborhood of the electric light for at least three hours, in order to observe its effects upon me after being exposed to its action for some time. For a time nothing struck me except the intensity of the illumination and the darkness beyond. But before long my eyes became entirely blinded to all rays except the blue ; and as a result everybody and everything appeared of a ghastly blue tint. For hours after I returned home the blue rays haunted me ; but what was worse still, I suffered from what I was rarely a suilieror from — an intense headache, especialiy seated about the region of the eyes. As a medical man I am convinced that whatever may be the advantage of the electric lis;ht as an illuminant of large outdoor spaces, it can never be used as a room illuminant, or even as a general street illuminant with advantage, save to the medical profession generally and to ophthalmic surgeons in particular. We (G.li. Aryns) are glad to learn that the trout fry, which were placed in the Little Grey, have thriven wonderfully. A gentleman, who was at Johnston's farm last week, was taken to see the fish, and he assures us that there are thousands of them, the original fish placed there, some of which are now of a great size, having spawned, the young fry are now filling all the creeks in the district which flow into the Little Crey. The financial affairs of the Westland County Couucil are in so unsatisfactory a position that Mr Sandle has given notice of motion to the effect that Mr J. R. Seddon be requested to proceed to Wellington to interview the Government on the subject. It appears that the whole of the County's receipts for the month of January are a little over £100, the Government having stopped all the goldfields reveuue and gold duty for the month to hand over to the Ross Borough, for arrears of gold duty, said to be due to the Borough Council of Ross. la the meantime, owing to the recent floods, very heavy payments for work done in various parts of the County have to be made, while the bank overdraft is nearly £2000. The West Coast Times understands that some of the Connty Councillors are inclined to bring matters to a definite issue, if a satisfactory understanding is not arrived at. A Westport resident has shown us (Tunes) a San Francisco show bill advertising the " Extraordinary exhibition of the Phenomenon, the Colossal Young Lady of Dauphine, born at Saint Albin de Vaullsere, (Isere), acconipauied by her parents. Thi3 young lady ig only 19 years of age, and weighs 400 pounds. To give the public an opinion of the proportions of this phenomenon it is only necessary to say that her ankle is 25 inches in circumference, and her leg, above the knee, 1 yard 4 inches— measures taken decently." The phenomenon is described as possessing all the beauty, grace, and agility of young ladies of her age. TheLyell Argus says :— We are glad to be able to report tbat the prospect of our district becoming a permanent quartz mining district has now been established beyond a doubt. The Alpine Company has a well defined main reef 6 feet wide, which will keep the battery going for the next 5 years, and will pay regular dividends, whilst the same reef has been struck at New Creek, two miles away, the reef being well defined aud carrying more than payable gold. There cannot be the shadow of a doubt but that eventually the Alpine reef will be worked through from the Alpine Hill to New Creek. At present we are merely in our infancy in quartz mining, but we have cut our wisdom teeth, and no doubt will manage future companies more wisely than they have hitherto been managed. Much sympathy (says the Riverine Herald) was felt amongst the numerous friends of Miss Rosinia Carandini during her professional visit to this city last week, when they learned that two of her children were seriously ill in Melbourne. We regret uow to learn that both children have succumbed to the illness under which they were suffering. The most eminent physicians iu New York make from £8,000 to £12.000 a year.