CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 31, 5 February 1880, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor op the 'Evening Mail.' Sir— -The comet which has so suddenly burst upon our view appears to me to be our old friend of 1843, then first observed in New Zealand, and as it was a nameless comet I have often thought that we ought to have claimed it as our own, and given it our adopted country's name— Zealandia. Its period has been calculated by astronomers to be about thirty years, but should this turn out to be the same, as another night or two will show, its period will then turn out to be in round numbers thirty-seven years. The first appearance of its tail was on a Sabbath evening in the winter, and iv the north-west. Its appearancewas very brilliant, and alarming both to saints and sinners, rising up as it did like a drawn sword higher and higher in the heavens for three days and nights ere the nucleus appeared above the horizon, when its tail then covered ninety degrees of arc. If you could refer to the Nelson Examiner for 1843, and get the date of its first appearance on that Sabbath eve, and count up to the 3rd of this present month, should it prove to be the same, you will get its i exact period. — I am, &c, W. Hocgh. Nelson, Feb. 5, 1880.

To the Editor op the 'Evening Mail.' Sir-Through an oversight Messrs Pratt and M'Cleary's names were omitted from the list I of collectors for the Irish Relief Fund. It is the intention of those gentlemen to continue their canvass in the city and country. I am glad to inform you they have been very successful, having already collected £21 10s. Yours, &c., A. M. Kavanagh, Secretary. Nelson, February 5, 1880.