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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 89, 15 April 1879, Page 2

Rats are dying by thousands in the Manawatu district. The liangitikei Advocate suggests that this mortality is due to the hard times consequent on the pressure put on by the Banks. J The Otago sheep reports show about 3,500,000 sheep in the whole of that Provincial district, being a decrease of nearly .350,000 on last year, accounted for by losses mainly attributable to the snow storms of last winter. The meat preserving establishments consumed 24,500 during the year. Signs of the times are beginning to obtrude themselves on public notice. We ( Wairarana Standard) notice men sitting on fences swinging their legs in secluded uooks Business men are to be seen congregated in groups discussing perhaps the solvency of some debtor. And last, but most terrible of all to the poor fellows concerned, three riderless horses were hung up outside one of the oanks after three o'clock, and the riders were no doubt on the monetary rack in the " strong room " of the manager. A recent Auckland telegram says : A great tangi took place at the falls just above Alexandra on the arrival of Major Te Wheoro, whose daughter died lately in Auckland. Tawbiao, with his family, and all the Ilikurangi people, 800 in number came down, and the Ngatituaniopoto. The usual speeches and ceremonies on such oc-casions-were gone through, and two bullocks a number of pigs, some tous of flour, with a quantity of shark, eel, and other kinds of dried fish, were distributed to visitors lawhiao made the longest speech he his been known to make for years, but, as usual, it was so figurative that it was hard for e*en many of the natives to guess the meaning. He spoke of natives "not having only to mourn for their child (Te Wheoro's daughter) but for the land that was being killed, for the cloud OTer the land, for the threatened storms of lightning and thunder, of fires and earthquakes." Evidently his Majesty does not look upon thingg i a general as wearing a pleasant aspect,

The Lady Hope Coffee Rooms at Dunedin for working men are becoming quite a popular institution, and were patronised by 150 persons on Saturday last. The Dunedin Ihtald reviews at considerable length the recent debate between the Rev. M. W. Green and Mr Charles Bright the free-thought lecturer, oh " The divine origin of Christianity." It describes Mr Charles Bright as "a capable speaker of average ability, not ill-read in the current literature of scepticism." The palm of " literary form " is given to Mr Bright, but of " logical acumen " to his opponent. Our contemporary remarks ( — " Perhaps on the whole, Mr Green's mental characteristics gave hint a slight advap(age with a Dunedin audience— rather hdrd-headed than richly cultured ; for, though some of Mr Bright-'*' lectures showed a happy gift of making point.-? and tlelivet-inj* frequent lifts at his inaudible opponents, his right hand seerus to have lost its cunning in the presence of a visible opponent and a not always favorable audience." Kemnrkhig at the outset that "the subject of debate was ill-choaeu uud worse defined," the Herald suhir up by pronouncing that Mr Green " has an immense advantage in the fact that he doe? know what he does believe," adding, " his convictions are clear-cut, pronounced; and intelligible. We cannot say as much of Mr Bright. His avowals in this debate do not read consistently with what has been reported in his lectures and asserted in his letters. This must not be ascribed to his insincerity, but haziuess. The light plays about his opinions, but they are mostly mists. The process of evolution has been arrested in his mind, and his opinions have been left in chaotic condition, ' without form, and void.' Thi3 vagueness of belief places him at a terrible disadvautage in debate. Few can mistake Mr Green's meaning ; few can comprehend Mr Bright's." In sentencing the lad Bacon who stole the money from the Anchor Line office in Wellington, Judge Richmond said:— -It i 3 not my business, Bacon, to give you any moral admonition — I am not here to preach sermons to prisoners — but I just wish to say a word or two to you. lam going to deal with you very leniently— in fact, if proper securities are forthcoming, I iutend to" allow you to go free for the present. I wish to tell you that you are not an object of pity ; you have done a very wicked deed ; you have taken the first step downward, and will find it very difficult to recover- God forbid that you should find it impossible — and you stand there a wicked boy, deserving of heavy punishment. However, those who prosecute you are desirous that the Court shall deal with you in the most lenient way, and I think that in the interests of the public I should not send you to a place which I can only describe as a source of contamination, and a school of crime, which would inevitably make you worse than you are. I think in the public interest that you should have a chance to become better, and shall take upon myself to discharge you at the present time, upon bonds being entered into by your father and Mr ( heeseman, who has kindly come forward on your behalf ; but I must not relax the hold the criminal law now has on you, and if you do not conduct yourself properly you will be liable to be called upon for sentence at some future time. These bonds will be m the amount of £200 each, and will guarantee that you will surrender yourself for sentence if you are in the fnture called upon to do so. The public interest is paramount here, and if I thought that a severe punishment would be more to the public interest, however contrary it might be to my own feelings, I should feel bound to inflict tbat punishment, bnt I repeat that I think I am consulting the public interest in doing as I have done. A correspondent of the Port Augusta Dispatch (South Australia), writing on the 10th inst., relates the following eensationa incident :— " An engine drawing eight waggons containing railway materials, &c. left our local station at 4 o'clock on Monday morning for the Fifteen-mile Camp. Several persons on the train were admiring the beatiful effect produced by the sparks from the engine, when, just after entering the hills this side of Saltia, their admiration was turned to dismay as the guard from the end truck was seen leaping from one truck to another in an excited manner exclaiming ' A fire in the powder truck." Of course the driver stopped the engine at once. The truck in which the fire was contained besides tools for workmen, 12 kegs of gunpowder, each containing swll>. Tbe guard before leaving the end trucks uucoupled the last three under the impression that there whs no other chance of escaping destruction than by leaving such dangerous company behind as soon as full speed could do it Mr Harrison, an overseer on the line, was a passenger. He took a bucket, filled it from the tender, and rushed to the sixth truck containing the powder, and after using four buckets of water the fire was extinguished, the other passengers leaving the train aud running in various directions. The only covering over the powder was two bags, one of which was totally destroyed, aud the other partially. The end of oue keg containing powder was charred almost through, a second one being also slightly damaged. A more miraculous escape can hardly be imagined. The Marquis of Normanby, our late Governor, is visiting the country districts of Victoria and making himself acquainted with the colony. He visited Ballarat on March 1 lth, and received a most enthusiastic welcome. Speaking at the banquet, he said : — " I must acknowledge that this welcome is most gratifying to me, because I ascribe it to the feeliug of loyalty which animates your hearts, and which induces you to receive with the warmest demonstrations anyone who comes among you as the representative of her Majesty. This is a feeling which I have often witnessed in other colonies, but it is one which with me never palls or tires, because I rejoice to see in all her Majesty's colonial dominions that the love of her Majesty herself, of the Constitution of England, and of the old country itself, is warm in the hearts of all the colonists. (Continued cheers.) That is a feelkig which I rejoice to see exists, and one which I hope may long continue, because I believe that the connection between England and her colonies is equally beneficial of both. (Cheers.) England had adopted a course towards her colonial possessions which has never been adopted by any other country in the world. She gives you the prestige of her name ; she offers you protection from any external aggression, and at the same time she leaves to you entirely the management of your own affairs. (Loud cheers.) Well, at any rate, I don't think the colonies get the worst part of that bargain— (cheers and laughter)— but I may add I always esteem highly and value much the prestige which the possession of such vast dominions as the British colonies must give to the mother country. Having so recently arrived among you, it would be presumptuous iv me to offer any remarks upou your institutions, your productions, requirements, or resources. There is one thing, however, I thiuk I may refer to, short as has been my stay amongst you, and that is that everything you do you always seem determined to do upon a very large scale. (Cheers and laughter.) Whether it be in building your towns, receivingyour Governor, or building your Government House— (great laughter) - you appear determined to do it upon the largest scale possible. (Laughter.) I sincerely trust that your prosperity and success may fully equal your ideas in these matters, and if it does I am sure even you yourselves cannot wish for greater prosperity (Cheers aua teughterO"

As evidencing the entire absence of any uniformity In wages or fixed value for manual labor on the West Coast, we may instance that a few days ago tenders were invited by the Hokitika Harbor Board for some pohtodh work. The highest tender \ was £82, and the lowest £17.