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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 73, 26 March 1879, Page 2

An infidel boasting ia a published letter that he had raised two acres of " Sunday corn " which he had intended to devote to the purchase of infidel books, added—" All the work done on it was done on Sunday and it will yield some 70 bushels to the acreso I don't see but that Nature, or Providence' has smiled upon my Sunday work, however the priests or the Bible may say that work dove on Sunday never prospers. My corn tells another Etory." To this the editor of an agricultural paper replies: " If the author of this shallow uonsense had read the Bible half as much as the works of its opponents he would have known that the Great Kuler of the universe does does not always square up his accounts with mankind in the month of October." The Committee of Management of the Brompton Hospital for Consumption have decided that a ward nhail be named after the late lamented Major Whyle-Melville, on account of his liberal contributions, amounting in the aggregate to £1600, and the great interest he always felt ia its welfare

Two hundred rioters were recently publicly flogged in St. Petersburg. On the first of January the debt of the United States, less cash in the Treasury, was £405,729,024. The Native inhabitants of Madras have subscribed 50,000 rupees (£5000) to be devoted to purchasing a crown of precious stoves for a popular idol, rejoicing in the euphonious name of " Perthasarthsy Paroon.ial.'' A telegram from Berne stales that a steamer moored on the Lake of Zurich has sunk from the weight of snow accumulated on it. A similar accident has occurred on the Lake of #ug. The following Sydney telegrams appear in the Past :— Foley received a great ovation on his return to Melbourne after the late prize fight. The defeated champion, Hicken, Was totally unrecognisable from the disfigurement cansed by the severe injuries he had received about the face. — Mr Kent, the owner of the race-horse Napper Tandy, has been fleeced to the extent of £5000 by the bookmakers in various swindles. — * The Chevalier, Brown and Burton Koyal 11 liisionisls have made a crushing exposure of "Dr." Slade, the so-called "spiritualist," and have challenged him to a public trial for stakes of 100 guineas a side, offering to stake down that sum.— Sir Henry Parkes has received by the San Francisco mail an eloquent letter from Mr Gladstone in acknowledgment of the resolutions of sympathy with his action in regard to European politics, passed at the public meeting in Sydney. An amusing case was recently heard in the Adelaide District Court, in which two theatrical personages were involved. It transpired J in evidence that a panorama was used for a years' representation of the Indian mutiny. After being somewhat filtered, it did duty recently as a representation of the RussoTurkish war, and proved unsuccessful in the provinces, where the audiences refused to accept the appearance of the Highlanders, elephants, and Sepoys as historically correct. The following memorandum, received by the Postmaster-General, South Australia, from the stationmaster at Kutherinc Waters, shows the difficulties and dangers that have to be encountered on the overland telegraph line during the rainy season :— "I have found the wire, which was brought down by snags and submerged in a flooded creek, a mile and a quarter wide. Swam across and got it clear, and as the waters are now falling, hope to reach the fault north of this (Katherine Waters) this afternoon." " The Loafer in the Street " writes in the Press :— Seeing a lot of correspondence in your columns about the New Standards, I have had a look at them. My impression from au unprejudiced point of view, my boy, is, they are slush. The framer seems to have worked on the oft-quoted axiom of Mr Phoebus in Lothair, that reading and writing are most unfavorable to the cause of educa° tion. The standards are a mass of absurd impossibilities. How can a country schoolmaster without a note in his voice by expected to teach a lot of children of all ages to sing a number of suitable songs (what are suitable songs, by the way ?) in correct time and tune. The rehearsals for such a performance would, in many iustances I could mention, be droll exceedingly, but scarcely profitable. Look ing down the list of subjects, I find a New Zealand schoolmaster must be in a positiou to teach — besides music, and what has hitherto been deemed sufficient for an ordinary education — drawing, physiology, physics, chemistry, mechanics, drill. I wonder how many are really qualified to do justice to such a list ? Oliver Goldsmith's master, of whom be wrote — " That still the wonder grew How one;smnll head could carryall he knew," would look aghast at such a curriculum. Assuming that we could get men to teach all these subjects, 1 get wondering sometimes how many of their pupils will ever learn one quarter of them, and how much good a smattering of any one or all of them will be to the majority of boys iv this or any other couutry. Anyone who feels qualified to set my enquiring mind at rest on this point cau forward me his answer to your care. The following altercation between Colonel Brett and the constable whom he so foolishly gave in charge is reported by a southern contemporary ; - From the inquiry instituted by Inspector Hickson it appears that Constable Bashford was attending a licensing meeting at Malvern when he was placed under arrest at the instance of Colonel Brett This is his account of the dialogue that preceded his arrest :— « Do you know me ? - No, sir. Don't you know that I am a J.P. ?— No, sir. You meau to say you don't know me ?— No, sir ; but I believe you are Colonel Brett. I dou't know." At this stage the Colonel raised his voice, and in a furious tone, which was heard more than fifteen yards outside the Court-house, " Then I'll make you know me. You passed me three times before, and would not salute me. I'll make you. I'll make you salute me. -If I knew you I would have saluted you, sir. I have never seen you acting as justice of the peace, or in any other official way, or I should have known you : neither have I been intro duced to you.— Do you think a J.P. is to be introduced to every constable; If you don't salute me J'll have you kicked out of the force ? — Then, sir, I decline to salute you. Your conduct is anything but that of an officer aud geutlemau, and I decline to salute you on these grounds. Then you won't salute me ?--No,sir. Your conduct is most unbecoming as a justice of the peace and gentleman; and I decline to salute.— You won't ?— No, sir. Then consider yourself a prisoner. I'll have you arrested. Sergeant, arrest that man." " That man " was arrested and detained in custody for eleven hours for "refusing to salute a justice of the peace." He has instituted an action for I false imprisonment against the hon. and gallant gentleman. Iv looking over "Adventures in New Zealand, by the late Mr Wakefiel.l, a copy of which has been kindly lent to us (Manawatu limes) by his widow, we notice amongst other thinks that it states that he was the first person who rode a horae up the West Coast from Wellington, and the wonder of the Maoris at the sight of the horse— the kurinni, or big dog, as they called it— is depicted in graphic language. Now nearly 40 years have passed since theD, and what a change ■ The noble savage has not only become reconciled to the kurinui, but is pretty well verged in all the mysteries of horseracing, book-making, hedging, &c, while in the polite accomplishments of billiards, or Yankee grab, he could pass with honor. A specimen of the Colorado beetle has, according to the Rangitikei Advocate, been discovered by Mr. Avery, a watchmaker, at Marton. We trust Mr Avery's entomology is a fault, and that the insect will turn out to be some less formidable visitant. It may be remembered that at the time of the reports reaching England of the fearful ravages inflicted by this destroyer in America, great alarm was caused by a statement that a genuine specimen of the insect had been discovered at Cardiff. The news was iustantly flashed all over England, and great consterna- ! tion prevailed until an eminent entomologist had pronounced the little visitor to be merely a harmless species of ladybird (coccinella), which the Colorado beetle very much resembles. We hope that the present is an equally false alarm, inasmuch as it would be a serious thing for New Zealand if this terrible little pest once found a footing on its smiling plains. A witness at the Lawrence R.M. Court, in the course of cross-examination, decied that he was drunk, but admitted that he was " powerfully refreshed."

Mr Fraser's hotel, at the Hutfc, is now lighted by means of a gas-making machine. The gas is manufactured on the premises. On the Wainono estate, the property of Mr Studholme, which is situated near the Waimate Junction, there lias (says the Wainiate paper) been cropped this season no less than 2000 acres of wheat and 1000 acres of oats, the thrashing mills returns giving au average of 35 bushels to the acre of saleable wheat and 45 bushels of oats, although the high winds v few weeks since shook the crops a great deal. The big guns for harbor defence, brought by the X.orraine (says the New Zeatander) are being removed from the Wharf to the reclaimed land near the railway station, pending Colonel Scratchley's decision as to their permanent position. There is great difficulty in moving this huge ordnance, even on level ground and with the best appliances, and the que3tiou arise 3, should the battery for their reception be built on a considerable eminence — Mount Victoria for instance — how are they to be got there? Of course, we shall not be in the same unfortunate position as Uobiuson Crusoe with his canoe — after getting the guns being unable to put them where they would be of greatest use. But an enormous cost will be involved in raising the artillery to a good altitude. Seventon uiaase3 of iron are by no means easilyhandled objects. The guns for the three other large ports, Lytteltou, Port Chalmers, and Auckland, have all now arrived at those places, and, of course, are being stored until Colonel Scratchley's arrival. In the late great French Lottery the winner of the grand prize of 125,000 f. is a journeyman currier named Aubriot, a native of Toul, and the occupant of two rooms on a fifth floor in the Rue Cardinal Lemoine. He is 45 years of age, is a steady workman, and learnt his good fortune from a newspaper one Sunday evening. He held eight tickets. His master took him to the Trocadero to establish his claim. The second and third prizes are still unclaimed, but the fourth of 50,u00£. has fallen to an insurance company's clerk. A number of people had a brief dream of happiness who faucied that they had won prizes, not noticing that, though their number was the same, it belonged to another of the twelve series. The following extraordinary story is from the Bay of Plemy Times of a late date :— Constable M. Marsh, of Whakatane, arrived at Opotiki lately, having in charge a European boy named William Floyd, who has been living with the Maoris during the past three years. He is apparently about ten years of age, and seems quick and intelligent. According to the account given by the natives, he was sold to them at Napier by his mother for 2s 6d and a kit of kumaras, and has since been living quite contentedly amongst them He states" that his father aiid mother are still living at Napier, and that bis father is employed as a carter there. A telegram from' Home in the London Standard says the Pope has stated that the action of England in the present crisis will be the means of saving Europe from Russian barbarism. The Vatican will favor any alliance of Latin Europe with England as a barrier against Russian Slavism. A movement is. now on foot in Berlin for building a church to be called a "Church of Thanks," in grateful memory of Emperor Willliam's happy escape from two assassins' hands. A voluntary subscription is now being made, and the amount subscribed up to the present time is about 78.000 marks— that is about £3,9oo— the church is expected to cost £15,000, or more. la the year 1G94 it was discovered by actual experiment at Florence, that a diamond would burn. Comos 111. had one fixed in the focus of a burning glass, and after some exposure to the rays of the sun it cracked, corruscated, and finally disappeared like a ghost, leaving no trace behind.