The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1879.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 110, 9 May 1879, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1879.

It is with great pleasure that we publish the following telegram regarding the opening of the wool sales. Although no actual advance in prices is reported, the statement that the attendance was large and the competition keen may be regarded as very satisfactory, and we shall probably hear soon of a rise. An improvement in the wool market at the present time, when commercial depression reigns throughout New Zealand would indeed be a godsend. The following is the telegram :-« London, May 6. Wool sales opened to-day. 7883 bales are catalogued, Port Phillip predominating. Attendance large. Competition keen. Prices range about the same as last aeries. Concluding rates for crossbreds very firm." The Commissioner of Crown Lands, who has just returned overland from Greymouth, reports that the worst and only really bad piece of road between Nelson and Greymouth is from the Clark Valley over the Hope Saddle to the foot of the hills in the Hope Valley. The Commissioner passed over the road in January last, and it was then in good repair, and he attributes its present wretched state, not to the traffic only, but to the want of proper culverts or water tables, the water being allowed to remain on the road until large holes are made by the dray wheels. We understand the County Couucil have called for tenders for repairing this portion of the road, and we would urge upon them the desirability of speedily completing the work, as the road is at present quite unsafe for coaches or light vehicles, and should there be much rain it will soon be impassable for drays, while the cost of repairing will be considerably increased. A man named John Ingram ia reported from the Owen to be missing. He waa driving a small mob of sheep from Nelson to the Lyell, and on Sunday arrived at Oxnam's accommodation house apparently suffering from delirium tremena. A watch was kept on him, but he was left in the front room for a few minutes while Oxnam and his wife were in the kitchen preparing the breakfast, and on their return he was not to be found. A search was made for him, and a message was despatched to the Lyell for assistance, and a constable was sent up from there, but up to Tuesday last he had not been found. Traces of a man's footsteps were discovered leading to the brink of a deep hole in the Buller river, but there was no sign of their returning, and it is feared that he had jumped in. The _ members of the Nelson Amateur Dramatic Society purpose giving an entertainment for the benefit of the inmates of the Lunatic Asylum at the Asylum od Monday next, at half-past seven, the piece selected being "Nan the good for nothing " Admission will be by ticket, to be had at the doors on the evening of the entertainment. No charge will be made, but visitors will be invited to contribute a small sum towards the Recreation Fund. A telegram which appears in a contemporary, gives the following list of insurances upon the Belfast Meat Preserving Works in Canterbury, which was recently destroyed by fire. It will be seen that they are much larger thau was stated in our telegram, being as follows:— Victorian, £1000; Transatlantic, £1000; New Zealand, £2000; South British £2,000; Standard, £100; Imperial, £1000;' National, £670. In the building destroyed were 40,000 tins of meat, and a large quantity of tallow, soap, and material used for preserving purposes. New Zealand and its Prosperity.— lt has long been a matter of congratulation that the investment of money in New Zealand both by actual settlers, and by the many different agencies which assist our farmers in financial matters shows such good results. We always welcome heartily new undertakings of a similar character. The latest born of these societies, the New Zealand Agricultural Company, Limited, we are glad to hear, has been taken up well, in spite of a very one-sided attack made by the City Editor of the Times newspaper of London. The time when this paper could make or mar an undertaking has gone by for ever, and whatever may be the personal feelings of its writers, a bona fide company will firmly establish itself, and be supported by a public not to be thrown off the scent by clever but superficial writing. The objects of the undertaking are, we believe, well known to our readers, and it has already commenced the issue of debentures, and made arrangements to further the emigration of men with moderate capital with a view to the settlement on the lands belonging to the Company — Advt.