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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 84, 8 April 1879, Page 2

A storekeeper in one of the Wairarapa townships (says the Standard) sold a box of collars for cash a day or two ago. All the other storekeepers in the town were savage with him for taking all the ready money in the place. The Union Bank (says the G. It. Argus) refused to cash the cheque of the Hokitika Fire Brigade for £3 for insurance, We should think the Brigade will fight mighty hard for that Bank if it should happen to take fire. It has been decided at Christchurch that an auctioneer is not entitled to receive commission on property withdrawn from sale. The following paragraph is going the round of the papers .—Blenheim must be a nice place to live in. A gentleman, upon inquiring of a Blenheim friend how it happened the houses were built so far apart, received for answer, « Well, you see, we are obliged to build this way, as you can't tell what moment your neighbour may take it into his head to set fire to your premises," adding " It's a mere matter of insurance." ' A Dunedin paper says :— The Borongh Council of Caveraham " has no objection " to Parliament sitting in Christchurch ! So the Council, at the instance of their rather facetious Mayor, agreed last evening to reply to the telegram of the Mayor of Christchurch.

The onlcial meteorlogical report for December, which is just published, exhibits some extraordinary contrasts between the rainfalls registered in different parts of the v?," 7 ;,. At Naoier only °' 22 of a " inch fell, while the fall at Hokitika waa 22-45 inches, or more than 100 times greater; and at Bealey 2119 inches, nearly 100 times that of ■Napier Ihe greatest temperature in the shade was at Christchurch, viz., 878 degrees, being nearly a degree higher than at Mougouui. Napier, and Wanganui, which came next with 870, the maxima at Auckiaud, Taranaki, and Wellington being only 71.0, 770 and 79-7 respectively. Christchurch also had the maximum solar radiation, the solar thermometer registering 159 2 degrees; Southland came next with 1520 degrees. These figures illustrate some peculiar features in New Zealand climatology. Post. 1L Th c C/irowc/e, in concluding an article on the Waimate Plains difficulty says :— lt appears from all this that T. 6 Whiti has -lineno ueeu •• Wancing " and talking a lot of rubbisi about the dead rising, and the day of salvation coming for the Maori people. All this romancing was simply part of a game to imbue his people with the idea that he (Te Wijiti) was all powerful, and that if bis people obeyed hiai he could secure for them the confiscated land in the Wairoate Plains. Now he perceives that this little scheme will not work so he says plaiuly :— " I want to know how much I and my people are to get injthe shape of compensation and reserves ?" As the Government all along have intended to grant liberal reserves to the natives out of the confiscated blocks north of the Waingongoro River, it appears that the matter readily admits of an amicable adjustment. In any case, the prospect of hostilities taking place appears to be almost at an end. To enable a raan to become a bankrupt in a scientific and business-like manner it is necessary that he should hail from Wanganui. An old Wanganui man, Mr Henry Revell, has been giving the good people of New Plymouth an experience of his business capabilities. The statement of accounts filed with his declaration of insolvency shews unsecured liabilities £2076, secured £625, total £3701. Available assets £802. Fora bankruptcy on a small scale, this is bleeding craditors pretty freely. A Dunedin telegram of Friday says :— Intense dissatisfaction exists amongst tele graphists here owing to an attempt to bring into force a new rule, under which operators are to work eight hours a day at a stretch. If the rule is persisted in, a strike is sure to take place, and most of the best men will leave. Owing to the want of a system in fixing salaries of officers, and the glaring injustice of payiug inefficient Jinen higher salaries than expert officers, this branch of the public service is becoming very unpopular. AH the policemen in the Middle Island (says the New Zealattder) were recently invited by circular, to subscribe to the Kaitangata Relief Fund, and notwithstanding the.nieagreness of their daily pay they, almost to a man, subscribed half a sovereign each — an example to others who, well affording more, have given much less. In one of the North Canterbury townships (writes the " Loafer,") an innocent and unassuming Maori (it seems rather anomalous, but such is my informant's description of the gentleman) had been for some time iv the habit of dealing with the local storekeeper. The aboriginal got an impression that be was being had, and purchased a Ready Reckoner. Thus on the occasion of hig next squaring up with the storekeeper he was triumphantly enabled, as he thought, to point out several errors in the account. " Oh," said the astute tradesman, who knew there was not the slightest use in arguing with his dusky customer, "You've made a mistake, Jimmy, that's last year's Heady Reckoner." The < Maori, admitting the justice of the argument, left sadly. A Christchurch telegram says :— On the stubbles this year the sparrows appear to be as numerous as ever. The societies starting " for the propagation of insects" are about to commence wholesale poisoning of these birds. Says the Patea Mail :— Mr Graham Berry is the Victorian Sir Julius Vbgel. Both these conspicuous men began life withoutthe silver spoon, and worked their way to the head of a dominant party. Both believe in borrowing largely. Both have made a trip home on colonial business, and both have floated a large loan with unexpected success. Both were mercilessly ridiculed on their departure, and both succeeded beyond the hopes of their friends. It now remains to be seen whether Mr Berry will be so much the Spartan in his mode of life as to keep within the £5000 voted for the expenses of himself and his colleague. If he does not, it is certaia that there will be an opposition to ventilate the matter t and remind him of the days when £5000 would have heen a fortune for him, and thus the parallel will be carried further No doubt he will meet Sir Julius and compare notes, and the two will agree that a trip to England is both pleasant and useful. The coach from Hurunui to Amberlev met with a serious accident last Wednesday at the Waipara cutting. The horses 'took fright at some tents, and shied off towards the precipice. Sir Cracroft /Vilson and Mr H. P. Lance, who were ou the box, sprang off, and escuped unhurt. The driver also get off. "Inside were four passengers, including three females. The leaders of the team of horses got free, but the wheelers, with the coach, went over the bank and down some fourteen feet, ;makiug a complete wreck of the coach and injuring the passengers — one of them, a female, it is feared seriously. Air Lance rode into Amberley for medical aid, and also brought back a conveyance, by which the passengers were conveyed to their destination. Recently a popular resident of Moutoa, having concluded his haymaking (says the Manawatu Herald), gave a " harvest home," a number of bi3 Maori friends being present. Amongst the delights of the party the flowing bowl was not forgotten, and "Bacchus, ever young and fair," was duly honored. But the hospitable pakeha found, a few days afterwards, that the Native Committee had sat and fined him £2 for supplying the liquor to the Maoris. His protests were in vaiu, and a mild threat of clause 16 being brought into operation, and a summons issued for the money, caused him to hand over the amount of the fine. But the committee went further, and fined the people who got drunk 30s each, the amounts being duly paid We also hear that a case comes on to-morrow at the Police Court, under the Act, when a Maori named Heta will be summoned by Renata, the Motuiti chief, for keeping a grog shop at the pah. One half of the fines recovered under the Act go to the Government ; the other half go to the chief of the tribe. Probably his half is spent in whisky " on the quiet." The Pall Mall Budget says with reference to the Kelly gang :— lt certainly seems a discredit to the colony that four such daring Bcoundreis should remain at large when the whole country is interested in tjikiug them. Clearly, they must get food and supplies somewhere; indeed, it is known that a Chinaman was for some time forced to find them in provisions. We can only wish Victoria well rid of the whole gang; for, apart from the danger of having such murderous ruffians at large, there is nothing more certain than that bushranging is a most infectious disorder, and if the Kellys remain much longer at large others will spring up to emulate their notoriety, which has a strange sort of attraction for some of those loose spirits who always hang upon the skirts of an' English colony. The rising young horse-stealer develops into a full-blown bushranger with very little encouragement.

The « Loafer in the Street " tells the following story : — " A gentleman was brought up recently before the Foxton Resident Magistrate on a charge of horse stealing. He put in a testimonial to character, to the effect that he had been for nine years a member of a church choir ; that he possessed a very fair tenor voice 9 and that he would be an acquisition to any church choir. He waa acquitted, and the Manawatu Herald, in alluding to the fact, is certainly quite right in saying that it would have been quite a pity to sea a young man with a fine tenor voice wasting his sweetness upon an audience of gaol birds. So it would. When a man gets off for horse-stealing, I do like to see such really good extenuating circumstances." The Dunedin Age is threatened with another libel action, the manager hating received the following letter from Messrs Stewart and Denniston, solicitors.— "Sir, — Mr Crawford, of the Glen, has called on us in reference to the following advertisement, which appeared in your issue of the 21st March: * Wanted known, Grace Crawford will sing, "Fickle John, do marry me," and " The Daughter," at the Morniogton Hall to - night, for the benefit of the Kaitangata Relief Fund.' As the paragraph in question in a gross libel on Miss Crawford his daughter, we have to request you to favor us without delay, with the names of the persons, who inserted the advertisement, and with the original manuscript of the same. Failing compliance with this request, Mr Crawford will have no alternative but to hold the proprietors of the paper liable for the publication of the slander." Scotland of all other places 'perhaps feels the present distress most keenly, yet in Greenock on New Year's Day at a free dinner of roast beef and sandwiches, some of the distressed objected to eat the bread because it had not been buttered.