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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 67, 19 March 1879, Page 2

T" - ■ f A Dunedin telegram says :— The ship Benares, from London, arrived to-day. She has on board three 64 pounders and three 7-ton guns, for the defence of the Port of Dunedin, but no provision has yet been made for mounting them. The reception accorded Mr W. Ballinger, the champion rifle shot of the colony, on his arrivai on Saturday (says the N. Z. limes) was very complete, and passed off most satisfactorily. The Taiaroa arrived about 4 o'clock, by which time the wharf was thoroughly crammed with people, and as she drew alongside, the band played "See the conquering hero comes," the non-musical portion of the crowd giving vent to (heir feelings by repeated cheers. As soon as possible the deck of the vessel was rushed, and congratulations were showered upon the young champion, who was carried shoulder high by his comrades and placed in a carriage, accompanied by Mr. Holmes (his first drill instructor) and two of his comrades at Nelson. A procession was formed, consisting of the Artillery Corps, Rifle Corps (of which Mr. Ballinger is a member), the Ivaiv/arra Kifles, and two Cadet Corps, together with two or three bands, and the principal streets of the city were paraded The attendance of the general public was very large, and the occasion of the arrival of the champion Belt in Wellington for the tirsfc time will remain in the recollection of the towns-people for some years. In the evening Mr. Ballinger was presented with a i silver cup by the Georgia Minstrels, in the presence of a large audience. The Norwegians are about to increase the efficiency of their agricultural schools, so that every year 200 intelligent farmers will be turned out. In New Zealand we have not a BiDgle agricultural school,

The Chronicle publishes a letter from one of the competitors at the late firing in which the writer referring to the firing for the Belt, says : — Everybody was now waiting in suspense for- Paynter's turn to fire, but it did not take place until a considerable time after the two leading men had fired. When Paynter's name was called there must have been fully 1000 people standing behind him outside the ropes, and the Nelsouians were backing him heavily to win. On coming to the firing point, he, like those that preceded him, was completely lost and still more unfortunate, only scoring 9 at the 600yds range. He was certainly at some disadvan- j tage, both on account of his knowledge of what he had to make to win the Belt, and also owing to it being late in the afternoon j the sun was shining in his eyes, which, to ! say the least of it, must have gone against him. This event settled the Chamionship, ■ and on comparing notes it was found that our ' Wellington representative, Will Bnllinger, hud won it. I felt awfnlly sorry for Payuter, as all through he has fired splendidly, and has proved himself a good reliable shot and very hard to beat. He is a remarkably easy end steady-going fellow, and is well liked by all the Volunteers. He hns taken his thrashing in a true manly spirit, and was among the first to congratulate Ballinger. The holiday has been one of the most pleasant that I have ever spent, and the hospitality of the Nelson people has been simply grand. Everything has gone pretty smoothly in the camp, and any defects that were noticed will be remedied next year. The Colonies says : — "An evil fate is said to continue to preside over the Northern Territory, owing to the apathy of successive Governments, and the consequent absence of enlightened vigor in the administration of the affairs of the Territory. It is thought to be time, and more than time, that a special effort should be made to promote the beneficial colonisation of the Territory. An experimental plantation of the Government in the vicinity of Port Darwin is recommended. Mining interests are said to be looking better in the Northern Territory than they have done for years past. The alluvial fields are steadily increasing. The debt on the Northern Territory is about £300,000. It is said to be becoming quite a Chinese settlement. Harvesting was in full progress on the northern areas, and although in several individual instances red rust had affected the crops, accounts on the whole were satisfactory, and a large aggregate yield might be calculated on. Shearing was over, and the clip had been heavy and of exceedingly good quality and strength of staple. It was expected that there would be a surplus of wheat available for export of 250,000 tons. About 1,300,000 acres were under grain crop, and the average yield would be nine bushels per acre." A Rangoon telegram, dated January 28, in the Ceylon Observer, relates the following fatal balloon accident : — " Colonel Wyndham ascended in his balloon, made for the late King of Burmah, from the Bank of the Koyal Lake at 6 o'clock in the evening on Saturday last. After ascendiug 300ft. the balloon suddenly burst, and descended like a stone into the lake. Several boats hastened to the spot, and after ten minutes succeeded in getting Colonel Wyudhatn dragged from underneath the debris. He was quickly conveyed ashore, and received medical aid, but it was of no avail. Blood was issuing from his nose and mouth, and it was supposed that death was instantaneous. lie was buried next day. The balloon was composed of very inferior materials. A great crowd was present to witness the ascent, and saw the catastrophe." At the Canterbury County Court, in England, ou the 20th January, ejectment orders were applied ;for by two farmers. During the hearing a Mr Kimber, counsel for the defendant, stated that " he thought it right to say, in justice to his clients, that no fewer than 8000 persons had emigrated under the auspices of the union of which the defendants were members, and are now in a prosperous state in New Zealand." The Judge thought the information very important. An important advance has been made towards solving the problem of illumination at sea by an adaptation of what is known as the Holmes' distress signal, in the form of a shot, for illuminating purposes, to be fired from mortars at ranges varying from five hundred to two thousand five hundred yards. These signals possess the remarkable property of emitting a very powerful white light the moment they come into contact with the water, and when once ignited are absolutely inextinguishable by either wind or water, and burn with a persistency that is almost incredible, 30 or 40 minutes being an average duration. The shot containing this light is constructed so as to be buoyant upon the water, and, at the same time, with sufficient rigidity of form to withstand the concussion of the powder. Upon striking the water at the required range, the shot, floating up to the surface, immediately bursts into a brilliant flame, with great illuminating power. Half-a-dozen of these shots, fired from an ironclad or gun boat, would effectually surround her with an impassable cordon of light at any required range, and by such a device the enemy's movements of attack would become plainly discernible, and an attempt to break through the illuminated zone of light be at once detected, however dark the night. The writer of " Passing Notes " in the Otago Witness, referriug to the Holy Land as a rising rival to the colonies in the East, says :— " The railway from Alexandretta to the Persian Gulf will pass right through the old Garden of Eden, which we should not be a bit surprised to see tamed into a people's park, with building allotments all around it, and the adjacent plains of Bagdad cut up into deferred payment sections. Only fancy corner lots at Jerusalem and desirable suburban sections on the Mount of Olives ! What advertisements for the daily Press .' What chances for the desendants of the 'lost tribes !' What glowing imaginations ! What grand old historical associations about a nice little squatting property on Mount Tabor, or the hills of Gilboa, and 53 sections in the plains of Jezreel ! And this is what we are coming to." There died, at 24, Middle Arthur Place, Edinburgh, Margaret Anthony, at the advanced age of 101 years. The deceased was married early in her life to Mr Alexander Reid, Ingleston, and had twelve children, six of whom are still alive, the youngest being over 5u years of age. She lived to reckon her descendants to the fifth generation, most of the great and the great- great grandchildren being in New Zealand and America She enjoyed good health, and had a retentive memory and considerable power of observation up to within the last fortnight. From the time she was thus laid up till she breathed her last, she never complained of any pain. — Scotsman. Bishop Nevill. writing on New Year's Day to Archdeacon Edwards, intimates that it will be necessary for him to remain in England till April, when the grants by the S.P G. are made. He adds :— " I sincerely hope that the sad accounts of the position of the parishes and districts financially has been much overdrawn; at all events, it comes on me as a surprise. Ido not think I know of any instance of a stipend being in arrear at the time I left. If I get anything from the societies it will only be a proportion of what will be expected from the colony. At present they only talk of one-fifth, but I am pleading hard for more liberal terms." The costliest switch of hair ever made in Paris wbs sold there lately for 500dols. It was snow white, and a yard and a quarter long. j

It is high time (says the Volunteer Service Gazette) Government should either arm the Volunteers completely or disband those corps which are still insufficiently armed. New offers of service have lately been declined because of the scarcity of rifles and carbines. But some corps have many members who hive no arms. An officer complains to us that he Ins over 100 enrolled men who divide only 7.5 rifles between them. Now, in this matter we have two suggest ious to make to them, viz:— Firstly, that the 10,445, Eufields now in store at Wellington be at once sent Home and converted into Sniders, for in these days muzzle-loaders are no better than toys; and, secondly, that instead of a company sixty strong having to go through the formalities of " requisitioning " an extra rifle when the sixty-first member is added to the roll, every company receive into keeping the full number of rifles necessary for its maximum establishment of 100 oE all ranks. The Telegraph Department officials throughout the colony have subscribed £60 to the Ka'tangata Relief Fund. The London Times says : — " Salmon acclimatisation in Tasmania is undoubtedly a thorough success. Several English salmon have been taken in the Derwent during the month. His Excellency the Governor succeeded in hooking a fine specimen at New Norfolk. It weighed 6lbs., and measured 26in. in length and 6ln. in breadth. Another fish of the same genus was caught at Ealph Bay. It was remarkably plump, and though 2in. less in length than the other, measured 7iu. in breadth, and weighed close on 61b. The largest fish of the season, however, was one caught at New NorfoJk by Mr.T. Ifaynor. It weighed upwards of 201b., and was 3ft. in length. Besides this, some salmou smelts came down the trough leading from the River Plenty to the salmon ponds. This is the fourth season that smelts have come from the river through the same troughing, and the fact is particularly interesting, as it 'proves that the parent fish must go up the River Plenty (in which river salmon were first liberated) to deposit their ova." A Press Agency telegram from the Cape says :— The Cape of Good Hope Bank has been robbed of £2,500. The clerk entrusted with the filling of the box containing 2,500 sovereigns filled it with bars of lead, wrapped iu a bank towel, and decamped with the money by the ' German.' An officer left about Tuesday by the mail steamer Pretona, but it is feared he will not catch the offender, as he got a fortnight's start. He is a native of Scotland, and passes under the name of Roberts but his right name is Russell. The Post Office in England continues to be used as a means of transmitting articles of almost every variety from one part of the country to the other. The following articles, among others, were observed during the year 1878 : — A dormouse, four white mice, two goldfinches, a lizard, and a blind worm, all alive ; cutlery, medicine, varnish, ointments, perfumery, articles of dress, a stoat, a squirrel, fish, leeches, frogs, beetles, caterpillars, and vegetables. Many of these being prohibited articles, were sent to the Returned Letter Office. A snake, about a yard in length, which had been committed to the post for transmission in a box, was observed to be at large on the floor of one of the night mail sorting carriages in the London and North- Western Railway. After a good deal of contusion and interruption to the work it was killed. A small box which reached the Returned Letter Office in Liverpool was found, on being opened, to contain eight living snakes. A manufactory of paper bricks has been opened somewhere in Wisconsin. The bricks are said to be exceedingly durable and moisture-proof. They are also larger than the clay article. Paper is now also used for making barrels. Straw pulp is run into a mould made in the shape of a halfbarrel, cut vertically. The ends are of paper, but are protected by wood. The barrels are lighter and two-thirds cheaper than those of wood, and flour will not sift out of them while in transit. The staves are tbree-eighths of an inch thick.