Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 61, 12 March 1879, Page 2

The privileges of the Wanganui Race Meeting realised £672. A Parliamentary return shows that 144, 478 tons of coal, valued £244,412 were imported to New Zealand from Newcastle during the last financial year. The Hon John Martin has arranged with Mr Climie, C.E,, to provide sections and estimates for a proposed line of railway to connect his property, lately in the occupation of the Hon. Mr Waterhouse, with the main line. The Presa says :— •» A paddock on the North-road, rather under 10 acres, the property of Mr Tombs, has yielded 740 bushels. The wheat was Hunter's white. Another magnificent yield of a different crop, was obtained by Mr W. Morriss of Waiuku, who, in spite of the dryness of the season, has harvested from 4 acres 275 bushela of beans, equal to 71 $ bushels per acre." The Pott has the following special Sydney telegrams :— There is a split in the miners' union at Newcastle, owing to the recent decision against the men.— The coopers of Sydney have struck, owing to the introduction of machinery by the masters.— The exGovernor'g coaching atud has been sold, and realised good prices.— The Anti-Chinese Bill has been passed by Parliament. A meeting of the Cricketers' Association was held last night to select a representative team to play against Nelson during the present month. Some little difficulty arose owing to the Wellington Club having refused to have anything to do with previous Association matches. Messrs Dixon and Mason expressed an opinion that a properly representative eleven could not be found without includiag some members of the Wellington Club. The Secretary of the Association, on the other band, expressed a contrary opinion, and said that Mr Kennedy was the only really good player in the Wellington Club — Post, At the Police Court, Port Chalmers, David Evans, master of the barque Easterhill, will be called upon to-day to answer to a charge preferred by the Crown Prosecutor, for that he did, on or about the 9th January, while the said ship or barque was on the high seas, and in the course of a voyage from London to Port Chalmers, wilfully omit and neglect to do any act or thing for saving the life of William Taylor, apprentice on board the said barque, who, on the said day, with the knowledge of the said David Evans, fell overboard into the sea, and was drownedwhereas, had the said David Evans, (as said master, hore his ship or barque to, and lowered a boat, and with a crew on board endeavored to save the said William Taylor, or recovered his body, as the aaid David Evans ought to and should have done, the said William Taylor might not have been lost and drowned— contrary to the terms of the said Act in such case made and provided. At the Bluff on Saturday a seaman named John Williams, belonging to the brigantine Sarah and Mary, was found drowned at the vessel's stern.. While in a drunken state he lay on the wharf the night before. The hat of deceased was found lying on deck close to the main hatch, and from this fact,and that of the body having been found some thirty feet from the place where the man was left lying, the mate was of opinion that the deceased had been roused from his sleep by the rain, and coming aboard had walked aft, and toppled ovar the port quarter. Deceased was drunk when found asleep on the wharf, and seemed incapabie of helping himself A verdict of" Found drowned" waa returned. — Danedid Star.

The following is the fall text of the notice which appeared In the Government Gazette at Melbourne on the 20th ult. -—"NoticeIn consequence of the fabrication by and the publication In the Argui journal of false news, purporting to be genuine and authoritative concerning the proceedings and discussions of the Cabinet, being continuously persevered in for several weeks last past, the public are hereby cautioned against giving any cr^encfi ot news for future {a that j^ . T|je argm jottnal hto fata rfefctod any official information of the kind by the Acting-Chief Secretary; who feels justified in taking this course, so that journal has for several nVonths USpatnotically attempted to deprecate the financial credit of Victoria.— (Signed) Bryan O'Logulkn, Acting-Chief Secretary." In reply, the Arqua of the 22nd has an article, from which we extract the following :— '• Not a sentence; nor a line, nor a word of fdlse or manufactured intelligence has appeared in \ the Argus, and with our knowledge not a sentence, Hoe, or word will ever appear. The Argus has a character to maintain, and it proposes to maintain it, and the public may rely that in the future, as in the past, no n6\vs, political or otherwise, will be published in our columns that is not properly autenticated with all the care that can be bestowed by a daily journal. Sir Bryan O'Loghlen's official organ has certainly from time totinle ventured to contradict certain statements which we have made ; but the public — as in the instance' of , the bank advances to the Government— has been able to judge by events of the correctness of our intelligence." An act of bravery, which (the Melbourne Telegraph aays) is certainly worthy of notice, is reported as having occurred at a fire which took place at Templestowe. A Mr Shivers, who was on the scene, was informed that a child was In a room" in 1 the brirning building. Mr Shivers at once prepared to rescue the child, and, after making several unsuccessful attempts, he ultimately succeeded in climbing up one of the verandah posts, on to the balcony, whefl, at the risk of his life, he rushed into the building, dnd rescued the child. By this time the fire was raging fiercely/ and every moment it was expected that the fflan would perish in the flames. He, however, rushed through the fire with the child in his arms, and reached the landing at the top of the stairs, which he found had been so much undermiued by the fire as to make it unsafe. As the flames were gaining rapidly, and no time could be lost, Mr .Shivers jumped from the landing down into the hall with the child in his arms, and from thence escaped into the road. The child was unharmed, but Mr Shivers had his hair and whiskers burned off. ChriatchurcH miist be s little El Dorado for bailiffs, sheriffs, and all of that ilk. We findit telegraphed that 1000 summonses issued in one day is nothing unusual there. The inhabitants seem proud of the magnitude of their business in this way, and hasten to inform the rest of the Coiony of their preeminence, just as they exult over the amount of wool and grain they raise. Perhaps that is the secret of Canterbury's large contribution to the revenue, for it is evident that a thousand summonses occasionally, at an average of ioa each, must amount to a respectable sum in the course of a year. The mind is lost in amazement when trying to calculate the number of officers necessary to issue and serve 1000 warrants a day. But in such an enterprising town, it is probable they bring the resources of science to bear on the matter) aud do it by machinery. A solution has been found for the problem '• Where do all the railway trucks reported from time to time to be manufactured in the railway workshops, Christchurch, go to V Many do not go anywhere. Being made (says an Oamaru conteaipory) of very fragile material, they are not the rolling stock likely to be of service for the transport of produce. They are created by the Christchurch newspaper reporters for the purpose of creating a little sensation. " Fifty trucks are to be manufactured within the railway workshops" is announced in the Christchurch papers, to the disgust of those in difficulties for want of conveniences of transport, who wonder whether even one oat of the fifty will ever gladden their eyes. The reporters are equal to the occasion. They, though unwittingly perhaps, allay the irritation by ringing the changes on these fifty trucks until they are at length multiplied into a satisfactory number. But all beyond the fifty are nevertheless too fragile for purposes of transport. They are paper trucks. It is estimated by the Wairarapa Daily that within the last two years £20,000 worth of property has been destroyed by fire in the Borough of Masterton. It h evident, says our contemporary, that Masterton has of late been a bad debt, and a big bad debt in the profit and loss account of the Insurance Companies, and they are now proposing to raise the Insurance rates in the borough on all buildings which are in close contact with one another. It is said that £3 in the hundred will be the rate for the future on all buildings in blocks. The real meaning of such a high rate is an indirect pressure put upon the public to erect buildings which will be in a measure fire-proof. The block burnt on Monday last was very much like a row of packing cases, and almost as dangerous as a bundle of match boxes. With no wind the effect of a fire in one building was the destruction of the lot . The insurance offices were foolish to have accepted premiums on such properties, except at extra hazardous rates. The remedy suggested by the Daily is that in future buildings of a more durable character should be erected. The following good story is told by the Bay of Plenty Times:— "They Bhall spoil the Egyptians" was written long enough ago about the Hebrew race, but Egyptians are not Maoris, and to judge from the following story are only about half as smart as Maoris, or the prophet's speech would have been turned upside down. A few days ago an aboriginal brother met an Israelite to whom he owed a small account of some £4 or £5. Having been duly bailed up by thedescendanfc of the two tribes, •• who were not lost," the aboriginal, who is really well off, requested his creditor to write out a cheque for the amount, to which he would attach his autograph. This was duly accomplished, the cheque signed, and transferred to ;the representative of the chosen people, who duly "shouted," and each went their way. A short time afterwards, happening to meet a pakeha-Maori friend, he told him that he had got his money from his dusky brother, and triumphantly produced his cheque in evidence, when it was discovered that the name at the bottom was represented by the two words "kapai tenei" (Anglice, this is good.) The joke was good, and the effect on the recipient indescribable. There is au impecunious lot somewhere in Canterbury. The Press states that at an upcountry school committee meeting the other day it was found that the Bank balance would not allow of the payment of an item 2s for carriage 'of ink. One member suggested that, as he had a threepenny piece, the others should contribute an equal amount towards liquidating the debt. A second member ventured lo surmise that member No. 1 must have had a good harvest. We learn from Messrs R. Goldsbrough and Co. s monthly circular that during the year 1878 the amount of wool received in London from New Zealand was 178,091 bales. Victoria exported nearly 300,000 bales, and New South Wales and Queensland 175,249 bales, so that among the colonial exporters New Zealand occupies the second position. The total number of bales sent from theae colonies to London was 785,950,

We city the following itota the N. Z. Times of Saturday :-^-The great Luckie difficulty hating been got over,- as . we have shown, fate has maliciously provided another apple df dlaCord for Ministers, and rolled it down the Cabinet table with, we may Imagine, the legend inscribed, not in Greek, but in the vernacular, " let the old 'un take it," The difficulty has arisen in deciding which old 'un is to be favored. The prize is the Speakership of the Legislative Council; the Aspirants are Sir William Fitzherberl and the ftohofabfe Mafcr Richmond. Jt is gratifying to learn, as we do upon " authority," that on' this important point the Cabinet is at present only equally divided, and that the odds are not, as usual, against " the brave old man," whom the Wairarapa Standard loves to honor and applaud. The struggle is between a sentiment of gratitude and a sentiment of the fitness of things. Major Richmond was among the first nominees, and is one of the oldest and most respected Members of the Legislative Coun- j cil. He has been regularly elected as sessional Chairman of the Committees of the Council for many years, and bis elevation to the dignity of the Speakership would be acceptable to the whole of the members. On the other hand the present Government is absolutely and unquestionably indebted to Sir William tfitzherbert for the opportunity which has been afforded them to exhibit their talents for jobbery, and their ridioulous incapacity to conduct the public business of the colony successfully. The magic * Number 3," as Major Atkinson's non-confidence motion, which never could be " got at," waa nicknamed— must be engraved on the hearts of the Premier and Mr Sheehan, and we can have no doubt that the Speakership of the Legislative Council will be jobbed away "on principle," and tbat the honorable member for the Hutt probably will, with Mr Wood, and Mr Dignan, and Mr Taiaroa, and the rest, be " shot " into the Legislative Council in due course. " Dis-cord will kill me," as the musical African remarked on the gallows. A parting glass — The maiden's final look in the mirror at her new hat.