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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 229, 8 October 1879, Page 2

The Marlborough Times say 3 that a libel action for £1000 damages haa been commenced by Mr C. J. W. Griffiths, of Blenheim, against Mr Samuel Johnson, the printer and publisher of the Marlborough Express. The subject matter of the action is a letter which appeared in the columns of that journal on September 24th, under the heading " Glass House Occupants should not throw stones," and signed "Disgusted." The innuendoes on which the plaintiff relies are that the following constructions may be put upon the letter— (l) That the plaintiff has caused the fire by which the Government Buil.iings were burnt ; (2) That the sum of I £3,700, stolen from the Bank of New Zealaud in 1864, is still the subject matter of a reward-aud that D. 11. Murdoch, accused of stealing the same, was a scapegoat for the plaintiff ; (3) That the plaintiff stole the £3700, and (4) That sufficient evidence to convict the plaintiff of both offences is known to exist and is obtainable. Mr Rogers is solicitor for the plaintiff, and, we understand, that Mr E. T. Conolly has already been retained on his behalf. The death is announced of Mr John Henderson, CE., the representative in this colony of Messrs Brogden and Son's wellknown contracting firm. Mr Henderson had been iv the colony about seven years, aud was much respected by those who knew him. He leaves a widow (a daughter of Mr Carrington, late M.H.R.) and a family. Mr Henderson was about 58 year of age." The Wellington correspondent of ths Marlborough Times writes : — A queer story is going the rounds of the lobby. The Hon. the Native Minister went South a few weeks ago iv the Hinemoa. It was noticed at the time that he was accompanied by a Maori lady, but no particular notice was taken of the circumstance. A few days ago the lady presented herself at the Treasury, armed with a Government voucher for £200. The Department had some doubt on the point, and the document was referred back to the Government. The explanation given was that the claim was for reimbursement of expenses incurred by the lady for the trip South. After further explanations had been given the Premier is reported to have delivered judgment in the following form : — "It may be just as well to allow it. She is the daughter of a powerful cbief, and her trip South will enable her to tell the sons and daughters of ber tribe of the wonderful things she saw during her trip, and by that means iuspire their minds with feelings of respect and awe for the greatness of the Europeans." The amount was paid, but it is known tbat the Auditor-General will have something to say on tbe subject. Holders of tickets in Bridges' Ballarat Union will be interested to learn that a meeting of ticket holders was held lately in Ballarat, at which it was decided that a further period of six weeks should be allowed to Mr Bridges- to dispose of the remainder of the tickets. The time for the drawing has definitely fixed for the 29th of the present month. A young man named Milner, who has lately been employed at the Lion and Phoenix Foundries in Wellington as a riveter and boiler maker, received intelligence by the last English mail that he had come into a fortune of £70,000. One of the members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly has caused a thrill of horror to run through the veius of his fellowcolonists, the Chinese. In a letter to the Telegraph of Brisbaue he complacently says : — " With regard to my emotions towards the Chiuese, I have to say that I wonld cheerfully shoot every Chinaman in Queensland, and not feel the slightest pang to remorse. Now, this is the right man to satisfactorily solve the Chinese question; but he must start early. There are about 15,000 Chinamen in our sister colony, and, counting the 300 working days in each year, he muse pop off five a day to get through the work in ten yeara. Captaiu Bobadii himself was, even in words, but a weakling when compared with this modem would-be wholesale slaughterer. J.ord Hurtington, presiding at the annual dinner of the llailway Benevolent Institution, London, on May 14, remarked that in the railway iuterest was iuvested £673,000,000, represeuiing 17,000 miles of railway, over which 551,000,000 passengers had been conveyed last year, while the trafie receipts amounted to £60,000,0)0. The wonder was he said, that these vast operations should be atteuded with so few accidents. An American, writing from Spain, urges the shipment of labor-saving implements there. Spainish farmers plough with tbe end of a piece of wood about five inches thick, as was done in the mid lie ages; sowing and reaping machines are unknown, and grain is uot threshed. Oxen tread it out, and it is winnowd by women, who t033 it into the air to scatter the chaff. In Central Africa a large number of Jewish negroes have been discovered. Nearly every family possesses the law of Moses on purcbuieut. They trace their origin to the first captivity, when some of the Hebrews fled to the desert, and intermarried with the natives. No fewer than 3,979,409 rabbit skins were exported last year from New Zealand, the estimated value being £3..,460. Once this industry is fouud profitable, it ought to have a niaterial effect in diminishing the " furry pest." 9

A modest question. The Dunedin Tribune says:—" Mr J. Winton asked Mr Driver at his meeting, whether he would be in favor of borrowing £10,000,000, at 4£ per cent., with a view of advancing to the different boroughs money for the municipal works at 6 per cent., which would show a profit of 1£ per cent to the Government, and would prove a great boon to the municipalities. Mr Driver said he would not be in favor of it, as the Government had all it could do to borrow money for themselves.' The adjourned debate in the House of Commons on the Zulu War Vote was tame indeed, and those who looked for another bitter party fight were doomed to disappointment. Mrßylands gained nothing by his motion, which was negatived with provoking facility. One important result of the short skirmish was the emphatic declaration of Sir M. Hicks-Beach that now and henceforth, the Colonies shall— each in proportion to revenue— contribute to the cost of their defence by the Imperial troops.— Truth. It is a praiseworthy enough trait in the young colonial (says the Press) that in the matter of trading he is not apt to lose sight of his own interest in a transaction, but the kind of smartness displayed by a juvenile who was disposing of oranges to some " new chum " .yesterday, just ashore from the ship Waitangi, scarcely comes within the meaning of legitimate business practice. In giving change of sixpence, after taking for one orange at threepence, this enterprising young fruit pedlar returned two coppers, large sized tokens, telling his customer that two of those would be right change, as they counted for three halfpence each. The new arrival was met soon after enquiring for that boy's address. A British cavalryman suggests that the art of swimming on horseback be regularly Dractised, wheuever possible, by the British cavalry, and urges as a reason the recent "loss of an entire squadron of the Tenth Huzaars while attempting to ford the River Cabul. He mentions that last snmmer he saw a French cavalry regiment practise «• mounted swimming " in the Seine. If either men or horses exhibited signs of nervousness, the practice was repeated until confidence had been obtained. Cartoons played an important part in the late general elections. At the Ashley contest one represented Mr Moorhouse as a lady lookiDg in a looking-glass, and remarking, "I am afraid I'm getting a little ' Grey,' " aud Mr Kendall, who appears also in a lady's attire, agreeing with the remark, recommends a " false front." St. Petersburg papers announce that Prince Galizyu died at Odessa on March 1, of starvation, while living iv a dark, damp room, in a basemeut so small that there was not room enough for the coffin. Meanwhile his mother lives in the grandest style at Moscow. - The amusing hoax as to the power of Signor Rotura to suspend life, which appeared in the Queenstander, some months ago, and which was gravely copied by the London limes, has of course exploded. But the savans, not to be done out of such a pseudo scientific titbit, have been gravely discussing the possibility of such experiments as those narrated being affected. The Leeds Mercury, however, goes in for a joke of its own on the subject. It relates tbat a medical gentleman at Sudbury, near Derby, gives his pigs chloroform when he runs short of food for them, and the pigs remain unconscious for periods ranging from a week to ten days; and, strange to say, so far from losing flesh, exhibit a market improvement when they recover from the effects of the antithetic. A correspondent of the Lyttelton Times writes from Sydney :— As is generally the case in Exhibition times, the rate of living at hotels and boarding-houses has been raised from 20 to 25 per cent during the past month, and still higher prices are said to be under contemplation. This rise in living comes rather hard on the Government clerks and others, who have generally been in one establishment for months perhaps, and suddenly are informed that their board will be raised from 25s to 30s and 35s per week. The cause of the rise in the price of board has been directly through the action of the laudlords, who have raised the rents of the houses quite 30 per cent owing to the demand. The hotel-keepers are also intending to charge £1 per day, and the ordiuary boarding-house £4 4s per week, the accommodation in either place being not so good as is obtained in Christchurch for 30s per week. Ido not admire the Sydney hotels, bit prefer our Christchurch ones in more senses than one. To give an idea how eagerly good residences are sought after, one Melbourne gentleman has given £1000 for six months residence in Macquarie street. The Japanese Ambassadors are also, I am told, paying £100 a month for house accommodation in the same street. A good reporter (says the New York Herald) is always first cousin to a necromancer, and can introduce himself to you in such a genial way that for the time being he seems like a long-lost brother, who is anxious to show you the strawberry mark on bis left arm in proof of his identity. You talk with him about the inner secrets of your life in a profuse sort of way, give him your opinions about the resumption of specie payment, and as the conversation flows, freely unfold yourself on various other matters. He sits a silent and admiring listener encouraging you by a nod when you are hunting for the right word, or possibly supplying it himself, and gives you the impression that he wouldn't disclose what you have told him —no, not for worlds on worlds. The next day you take up the paper, and while carelessly looking over its columns see your name iv capitals which seen to your astonished ga^e as long as Bunker Hill monument. Every word you have said is there. That man with the strawberry mark on his left arm was the small end of a 9peaking-trumpet through which you unconsciously told the whole world about yourself He had no pencil nor paper, and did not evince acy desire to write in shorthand. Oh, no; that is the clumsy way in which beginners work. His skill is not in his finger-tips, but in his memory He memorised every word you said, and reproduced it with perfect accuracy. The accomplished reporter is as nearly übiquitous as a merely humau beiug ever becomes, andis beginning to be regarded as a moral restraint iv many respects superior to the Decalogue. A man in the olden time might possibly break the Decalogue and hide the pieces, but nowa days the moment a law is broken the quick ears of the reporter catch the sound, aud his persuasive lips compel you to tell him all about it it. He is an animated interrogation point; a humau corkscrew, who gets a deeper hold on your secret every time he turns round. His mission is summed up in j the short and terrible sentence, " If you do it, I'll tell." What religion can't do, the fear ( of the reporter will accomplish. i