The Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1879.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 256, 8 November 1879, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1879.

The Spring Grove School Committee have a grievance which has been laid before us to-day, a companied by the wish that we would give publicity to it. A new school having been recently erected at Brightwater, it became necessary to appoint a mistress for it. Applications were invited by the Education Board and four were received, which, with the testimonials by which they were accompanied, were forwarded to the Spring Grove Committee with the request that they would make their selection from the applying candidates. This they did, their choice falling on Mrs Desaunais. To their great surprise they learned from the published report of the Board proceedings at its last meeting that, in the face of the selection they had made, Mrs Bryant, the present mistress of the River Terrace School, bad been appointed to the situation instead of the one to whom they had given the preference, and yesterday they received a letter from the Secretary stating that this had been done on the ground that, by transferring Mrs Bryant to Brightwater, no new aDpointinent would be necessary for the River Terrace school, as the present assistant would be able to carry it on, as the number attending it would be considerably diminished by many of the older girls removing to the Brightwater School The Spring Grove Committee have not a single word to say against Mrs Bryant, who, indeed, is held in the highest respect by all the residents in the district, and they are also willing to admit that there is some force in the reason given by the Board for the appointment they have made, but they very naturally ask why the Board should take the trouble to consult them at all, or give them the trouble of meeting to discuss the matter if the decision they arrive at is to be ignored, and the candidate they selected to be set on one side in favor of the one whom they had placed second on the list when making their choice. We have no doubt whatever that the Board acted with the best of inteutionsin the matter, but it is not to be wondered at if the Committee feel hurt at the treatment accorded to the recommendation they bad been asked to make. The Customs receipts for the week ending to-day were £2532 15s 9d. A cricket match will be played at Motueka on Monday between the Nelson and Motneka Clubs. The Nelson team, wbo will leave by the Lady Barkly at 730 a.m , will consist of the following players: — Boddington, Coles, Firth, Flint, Foy, Foote, Greenfield, Haliiday, Mountier, Naylor,and White, with Root as emergency man. The attention of those who are disposed to take part in a costume cricket match at Richmond on the Ist December is directed to an advertisement which appears elsewhere. A VARiETr of means of enjoying the holiday on Monday is offered to the public. For those who are fond of the sea excursion trips are provided by the owners of the Lady Barkly and Wakatu; at Wakefield there is to be a public tea in the Choral Hall, to be followed by a concert and a ball; at Motueka the Weßleyans will hold a tea meeting; and at Spring Grove the same. At this latter place special sermons will be preached tomorrow. For fuller particulars of all these events we refer our readers to our advertising columns. A rifle and carbine match between teams selected from the Stoke Rifles and Naval Brigade will be fired at the Stoke range on Monday morning. The last of the Messenger has not yet been heard of, as we notice by advertisement that Mr Mabin will again sell her by auction, and a quantity of material saved from her, on Tuesday next at Burford'x wharf. The Na?al Brigade have been induced to repeat their concert, and it will be given in the Provincial Hall on Monday evening next. As there will be no other amusement of any kind that night, the Hall is likely to be well filled. A dance will take place after the concert, at which the music will be provided by the String band. An application was made to the City Council last night on behalf of the Volunteers asking for permission to continue the works connected with their proposed new range across that portion of Collingwoodstreet which is under water at high tide. The

permission sought for was granted, but it 1 Beems to us that there is yet a difficulty to be got over which the Volunteers should see to before they incur any expenditure on the new range. By-law No. 211 says :— " No person shall carry any loaded firearms or any other dangerous weapons, or discharge any firearm, within the Borough without lawful excuse : Provided that this part of these By Laws shall not apply to any person in her Majesty's military or naval services or any constable, peaoe officer, militiaman, or volun teers on duty," Are Volunteers "on duty " when thejr gd to practise rifle shootiug i If not. it is clear that the proposed range, which, we understand, is within the town belt* will be of little use to those who are now making it, if objections are raised by any of the citizens. The death is announced of " Frank Buckland" the well known naturalist, who, through the columns of The Fitld, and Lmd and Water has contributed so many interesting facts and papers hearing upon natural history The following brief notice of his career is from « Men of the Time " • — Bdcklasd, Francis Trevelyan, M.A , eldest son of the Very Rev. William Buckland, D.D., bean of Westminster, born Dec. 17, 1826, was scholar of Winchester College and Btudent of Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his B.A. degree in 1848. Inheriting from bis father a strong taste for physical science and natural history, he devoted himself to the study of medicine, and having served the office of house surgeon to St George's Hospital, became, in 1854, assistant-surgeon to the 2ad Life Guards, from which post he retired in 1863. He has been an extensive contributor of papers on pisciculture and on other branches of natural science, to the columns of the Timet and of other periodicals, and conducts the "Sea and River Fisheries," and " Practical Natural History " columns of Land and Water. He has established at his own expense the " Museum of Economic Fishculture " (under the Science and Art Department, South Kensington), at the Royal Horticultural Gardens. This museum Illustrates the cultivation of salmon, trout, and useful freshwater fish, 83 well as oysters and sea fish. In 1866 he received a silver medal for hia labors in the promotion of this branch of science, from the " Exposition de PSche et d'AquicultUre," at ArcachoU, in France, and in 1868, the Diploma of Honor from the Havre Exhibition. He is the author of " Curiosities of Natural History " (first, second, and third series) • and of " Fishhatching." He edited, in 1 858, his father's Bridge water Treatise on Geology and Mineralogy. In 1859 he discovered, in the vaults of St. Martin's, Charing Cross, the coffin of the great surgeon and physiologist, John Hunter, which was re interred in Westminster Abbey by tbe Royal College of Surgeons. For this he received the thanks of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons, and a bound copy of the Catalogue of the Huntenan Museum. The Leeds School of Medicine also presented him with a silver medal. In 1867 he was appointed Inspector of Salmon Fisheries for England and Wales, and in 1870 Special Commissioner to inquire into the effects of recent legislation on the Salmon Fisheries of Scotland.