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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 75, 28 March 1879, Page 2

Sir Hercules Robinson's four-in-hand team and equipment were sold at Sydney by auction, and realised £400. Mr Moffiitt, a bank clerk at Albury, has died from lock-jaw, the result of a wound sustained whilst be was practising how to receive tbe Kellys. The Byd i.ey Herald has offered a prize of a hundred for the best poem on the opening of the Exhibition. Instructions have been giveu to the Public Woiks Department (says the West Coast Times) to prepare the first section of the Amberley and Brunnerton railway, from Brurinerutn at once, and tenders will be called for within two months, to the extent of £15.000. It is expected the amount will be sufficient to carry the line as far as the Arnold. A Wanganui firm of contractors bave been the successful tenderers for the first section of the Hokitika and Grey railway. The Poverty Bay Standard records a reading by a local Resident Magistrate, relative to the retailing of beer and spirits. The R. M. says:— Beer supplied by licensed persons may be recovered if booked, providing the persou receiving it be not intoxicated Payment for spirits supplied retail cannot be obtained by process of law. Says the Inangahua Herald :— The halcyon days for small land holders are drawing to a close. Crown Rangers have been appointed and the system which bas hitherto obtained of cattle being allowed to run on the Waste Lands of the Crown will no longer be permitted. The result will not be to encourage settlement or lessen the price of butcher's meat. The settlers and public in the Grey Valley are, we understand, petitioning against the proposed restrictions, and we believe that a similar course will be adopted here. The Lyell Argun appears to be at loggerbeads with the Buller County Council. It says : — The members of the Board have given their time, brains and money, to protect and further the interests of the district, and in return have received insult and wrong from the people of Westport through the Council; But the hour of retribution is nigh, Nelson already commands the trade to tbe very doors of Lyell, a few months short and Nelson drays will take the place of the Westport teams, and then follows separation from Westport : which signifies to Westport more empty houses in rotten row. An old lady from the South said she never could imagine where all the Smiths came from until she saw in a New Zealand town a large sign : " Smith Manufacturing Company." A young lady of Richland, S.C., exhibited at a fair recently a suit of clothes of her own make. She sheared the wool, spun the yarn, woven and dyed the cloth, cut and fitted the clothes to fit her brother and sewed them (with a needle— not with a seeing machine), making a handsome outfit

The Wagga Wagga AdctHistr of March ly i 3 responsible lot the following story:— ,r A few days ago a smart-looking perso_ was charged at the Court with theft,, and, m' order' to shew the Bench that he was of re_ipe<S_a(bfe( caste, in reply as to who knew him, and conltf testify as to bis character, he named tbe Inspector of Police. This functionary, on being called, declared he had never to his knowledge Seen the prisoner before, when the prisoner remarked that he had made a slight mistake— he intended to have named t__G Sergeant of police.- This officer being called, tie also declared 1 he h_d no knowledge of. the prisoner. ..The prisoner,- scratching his head as if calling forth fresh facts, said, 'Your honour, it ipust be tbe senior constable of this district I meant.-' Tna senior Constable being called, answered in tbe same way as his superior officers. This appears to have been the prisoner's point, for he stated as follows :— 'Your Worship, have I not given you proof sufficient to show that, as I am known to the police, my character must be unquestionable ?' " Iv reporting the recent disastrous fire at Greymouth, the Argus atLf* s — Shortly after one o'clock this morning, the loud alarms tung by the two fire bells indicated that a serious lire had broken out in tbe centre of the town, and it was 1 ascertained that the premises of the Union Bank Were in flames. After the lapse of some ten minutes, daring whifc'h volunteer bucket lines had been formed, the Ffre Brigade made an appearance, and, although What seemed to have been a strange delay had occurred in bringing up the engines, the Brigade set to work in earnest, and would, have been able to do much more in the salvation of property if they had received loyal assistance from amongst the large number of spectator* assembled on the wharf. It is a shame and dishonour, but not the less true, to say that scores of ablebodied persons, whose help might have been of use in staying the fire, refused to respond to the frequent appeals made to them, and stood gaping at the fire as if it were a spectacle at a theatre. * * * * There were five safes in the building, supposed to be fireproof, all of the same make (Tanns), and each of them, by the appearance of its contents when opened, showed how little reliance is to be placed on safes of this class. It may, however, b 6 mentioned tbat one of the safes had gone through the purgatory of fire on the occasion of the great fire in 1869. The notes of other banks, which had not been exchanged, were saved, they being in the teller's safe, which suffered the least ; but all the bank's own notes in hand are destroyed ; but this will not entail any loss of moment to the bank. The gold and silver coin left in the safes of course bear marks of the action of fire, but it is not supposed there will be any loss in this regard. * * * While the fire was raging in the Union Bmk premises, occasional reports were heard which it has been ascertained were occasioned by the explosion of several loaded revolvers kept on the premises. What became of the bullets is unknown ; it is pleasant to know, however, that they hit nobody. " You must stay away from my house," said Susie's papa to John Henry Augustus, whose attentions to Susie displeased him. "I'm going to borrow a bull-dog," he continued, " and put him in my yard. I'll bet you'll stay from here then 1" John Henry Augustus meandered slowly away in a homeward direction. Arrived there, he penned a letter to Susie, telling her what had occurred, and despatched it to her by the house-boy. That individual soon replied—" Will you let such a trifle separate two loving hearts ? Just come round by the back way." J.H.A. pranced wildly around the room, exclaiming, " What do I care for his bull-dog— for fifty —ay, for a thousand bull-dog 3 ? I'll see her this night if I have to wade through bulldogs, climb over bull-dogs— yea, if I have to ride on a bull-dog to get there 2" But when J.H.A. went around that night, mounted the back fence, peered through the gloom, and saw the cow standing under the porch, he slid hastily back to terra firma on the street side of the fence, aud walked away, exclaiming, " Gee whlllikins, what a bull-dog 1 Why, he's as big as our cow 1" And Susie sits and wonders why her lover comes not. Bitter, but True.— That bitterest of all satirists, Talleyrand, being told that a certain public functionary was talking against him, exclaimed, " That surprises me. I bave never done him a favour at any time !" The Government bave decided that a graud review of the whole of the naval and military forces of Victoria shall take place at Easter. The scene of operations will be The "Shade that Follows Wealth or Fame," — *• Where are you goiug ?" said George Selwyn to an acquaintance. "To see a friend," was the reply. " Well, I'll go with you," said Selwyn, "for I never saw one yet." It is strongly rumoured in Russian official circles that one of the groups in Polynesia will shortly he occupied by Russia as a crusier station for the Pacific.