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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 166, 14 July 1879, Page 2

The Rev M. Sauppe, a great bee-master, in Luckendorf, makes the following calculations, intending to prove the eminent agricultural and economical imporlance of the reariug of bees:— Of each of 17,000 hives to be met with in Saxony, 10,000 bees fly out per diem — equal 'to 170 millions— each bee four times, equal to 680 milions, or in a hundred days equal to 68,000 millions. Each bee, before flying homewards, visits fifty flowersj therefore the whole assemblage has visited 3,400,000 millions of flowers If out of the ten only one flower has become fertilised, 340,000 millions of fertilised flowers would be the result. Supposing the reward for the fertilisation of 5000 flowers to be one German pfeunig, the united bees of Saxony have obtained per annum a sum of 68,000,000 pfennige— 680,000 marks (£34,000 sterling). Each hive represents in this way a value of £2 sterling This may interest colonial swelldom. The " Master Tailors " of Paris hold two congresses each year— one in February, to decide the summer fashions for their clients; the other iu September to settle the fashions for the winter. They have lately held their meetings for spring, and laid down the law for the habiting of the inferior sex as follows: —Only black coats are to be worn, they will have short tails, will be nearly closed in front, and will be made of plain shiny cloth. Jackets and overcoats, very long, of nonshiny figured cloths. All trousers are to be fancy, with small patterns, checks, ja9pe, specks, serges ; no plain tfoilsers being permitted unless in a " costume," that is to say, of the same cloth as the coat, Hats are to show very narrow rolled brims. Button-hole flowers are to be cyclamens— three or four cyclams, with their own leaves. It is reported that Mr Albert Grant is going to seek a second fortune in Ameria. It can hardly be aaid that the great speculator has been reduced to a state of penury by the misfortunes which have fallen upon him. Many years ago he settled on his wife £250,000, and it is currently reported that Mrs Grant enjoys a private of £40,000 per annum. Writing of the difficulties'to be overcome in the Zulu campaign, a correspondent of the Cape Argus says :— Fancy only the immense train required for all the infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineers, and campfolloweas of the regular army ! Picture to yourself the winter months, commencing with April, when every blade of grass will have been burnt throughout Zululand 1 Let any sane man tell us, how an army of 14,000 foot, 2000 English cavalry, 1000 artillery and engineers, 2000 volunteers, 4000 native auxiliaries, and about 5000 horses, requiring, at a very low calculation, 3000 waggons, with 5000 transport oxen, 3000 leaders, and 3000 drivers, to say nothing of conductors and camp-followers, can maintain themselves daring wiuter in Zululand ? Mr Charles Bradlaugh, the notorious freethinking, free-speaking, brazen-faced reformer of mankind, and chief herald of the milleniura (says the London correspondent of the limaru Herald) is going to stand for Northampton in the Liberal interest, on the very first opportunity. Mr Bradlaugh is such a perfect gentleman in all his ways, that he will be sure of a more than patieut hearing in the House of Commons, whatever subject he may choose to illuminate. Under his auspices, it is hoped by the people of Northampton, the Bible will be expelled from our national board-schools, as an Immodest, misleading, and unscientific work, and will be replaced by the beautiful little treatises of the American, Dr Knowlton, entitled " Fruits of Philosophy." The hitherto laborious efforts of statesmanship in the matters of sanitary reform, to meet the growing dangers and diseases of an overcrowded population will then be relaxed ; and instead of wearying ourselves and exhausting the public purse to keep babies alive, we shall — with Mr Bradlaugh in the House, and Mrs Besant on the highways giving utterance to our burning hope — instruct mankind how to abolish babies altogether. That will be a proud day for the electors of Northampton. Quite a sensation wag caused in Feilding on Friday morning (says the local paper) by a report that a child had been mangled in Warwick-street by dogs t The report was in a measure quite correct, although the injuries received by the child were not so serious as at first anticipated. From what we have been able to gather of the occurrence, it appears that a little boy, a son of Mr S. Evans, of Warwick- street, bad been sent oii an errand by his mother, and when nearly opposite Mr Klink's boarding-house was attacked by a dog belonging to one of the boarders residing there. Three other dogs came on to the rescue, and began to fight over the child. A gentleman who was fortunately passing at the time noticed the dogs and thought they were fighting over a piece of rag, but on closer investigation found to his horror that it was a child. He managed ro get the dogs off and rescue the little fellow. He was at once taken to his home, and Dr. Johnston sent for. He found that the child had been badly bitten on both sides, under his arm, and on one of his legs. His wound was dressed, and by the evening he had considerably recovered from his fright, although at the time he was picked up he was quite insensible. Had it not been for the prompt measures taken by the gentleman mentioned above, it is not unlikely that the poor little fellow would have been torn to pieces by the savage brutes. The Rev George Sanger, vicar of Carlton-in-Cleveland, who is said to be an able preacher, has (according to a North Country paper) issued a circular to his parishioners, in which he says:— "l feel sorry for the necessity of a letter to vindicate my conduct in rebuilding the parish church, which became so dangerous after last August gales that service could no longer be safely conducted under its roof. If I had not taken upon myself the rebuilding, the burden would have fallen upon the parish. You must all be aware that I have worked as few clergymen ever yet worked to rebuild the church. I worked as a bookbinder to get the moneyj for two years; obtained the subscriptions' writing upwards of 200 letters; designed the building, acted as clerk of works and contractor, carved all the wood and stone, and worked with the men employed, and I ought to be allowed to complete the work in peace not be publicly insulted for the benefit I have conferred upon the parish in building a church which, for elegance, is second to none in this locality." We do not know (writes the Builder') the circumstances which called forth this "vindication;" but the writer would seem to be a remarkably energetic man, although, peahaps, somewhat oversanguine as to his ability as an architect. A meeting has been held at Feilding, presided over by Mr Halcombe, to protest against the granting of additional licenses for public houses in Feilding and neighborhood. Sir William Fox was one of the speakers, and spoke strongly in favor of total abstinence. Someone in the meeting asked—" Did you ever hear of a publican asking a man to go into his house ? " to which Sir William rejoined, " Did you ever kuow a spider to ask a fly to walk into his web ? " A roar of laughter followed this reply. The Sydney Evening News states that Sarah Gale, the paramour of the murdered Greenacre, who, many years ago was executed in England for a revolting murder of a woman, has just died. She was transported to Sydney, married, and became eminently respectable. Many shops were shut as a mark of respect on her death.

Fecundity is becoming a distinguishing characteristic of nobler animals than colonial hares. Recently the wife of a venerable civil servant in Dunedin astonished and alarmed her husband with triplets, and now we learn that a lady named Eichards, at Matakuna, has followed the example. Accidents of this kind should have due weight when the question of immigration again comes under the attention of Parliament. The Rock gives the following statement respecting the incomes of several societies for the last financial year, and for that of ten years siuce, the latter being represented by the figures in brackets :— Church Missionary Society, £202,629 [£152,388]; British and ForeigH Bible Society— Free Income, £107,386 [£93,798], Sales, £104,141 [£85,819]; Irish Church Mission, £21,3C0 [£24,443]; Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, £145,242 [£203,132]; Society for Promoting the Employment of Additional Curates, £74,320 [£55.123]; Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, £35,480 [£36,029]; Church Pastoral Aid Society, £50,496 [£47,019]. Speaking of the influence at work among the Maori " ploughmen," the Mew Zealand Herald remarks:—" The whole affair shows what a power fanaticism has over the Maori mind, and how the native character is compounded of keen shrewdness and a tendency to the most absurd delusions. Here are a number of men doing what they mnat consider a very dangerous service at the bidding of one who makes pretensions to be a god, and to have miraculous power, and who supports his pretensions by arguments drawn from Scripture. It is melancholy to think that the Christian teaching of the natives has come to this, and that the Bible should be the means of uniting them in a fanatical belief. The natives always were subject, even before they adopted Christianity, to gusts of semi-madness caused by some superstitious beliefs, but the influence of these was mostly local and restricted. Now, however, the circumstances are different. The common position of the race in resisting the of European progress, and their common know- j ledge of the Bible, render it possible for ! fanatical teachings to obtain influence over a large number. A better example of how fanaticism affects the Maori mind could not be furnished than that given by the Kev Mr Buddie in a speech delivered by him on his return from Kopua. He had there seen Wahanui, one of the most powerful men amongst the Kingites, who was even keen and clever in argument, as was shown at that meeting. Wahanui had been a student at the Wesleyan Institution at the Three Kings, and Mr Buddie described how shocked and grieved he was to heaj him aay, ' I am more than a chief now. lam a god. lam a deity.' Europeans can hardly realise this mental state; but Wahanui givea a typical illustration of .the Maori character."