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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 32, 6 February 1880, Page 2

A correspondent of the Canterbury Times vouches for the following :— " A wool buyer in this district purchased the wool from two farmers, who had respectively 170 and 180 sheep. There was little or no difference in the breed or ages of the sheep, but one lot had been on poor feed, and were low in condition, while the other lot had been well cared for. The buyer gave IJd per lb more for the wool off the well-conditioned sheep, and they cut nearly double the weight ; the cheques received by the respective owners being £18 and £44, or a difference of £26, and only 10 sheep more. This is an illustration of the advantage of taking care of one's stock, even in a small way." In South Australia the reaping is about finished, and as an average yield of 13 bushels ia expected over 1,400,000 acres of wheat land, the vast quantity of upwards of 18,000,000 bushels will be the grand result. The other day we (Herald) referred to the arrival of the P. and 0. Company's steamer Indus at Melbourne. We believe the Indus is the true secret of the Australia making Buch a rapid passage on her last arrival at Auckland from San Francisco. The mails which she brought here left Liverpool on the 4th December, and on the following day the Indus was to leave Southampton, via the Suez Canal, for Melbourne and Sydney. It was then a question whether the mails of the 4th of December would reach Sydney or Melbourne before that of the sth. The Indus is the fastest boat of the line to which she belongs, and her performance on the last trip ia not likely to be soon repeated. As is well known, the Australia was the victor, the mails having been delivered at Sydney on the 16th January, while those by the Indus did not reach Melbourne until the afternoon of the f ollowiDg day. This speaks f ovorably for the Pacific line. By placing better boats on the Pacific, and shortening the overland time ±rom New York to San Francisco to three days instead of six and a-half, as at present, the good time made by the Australia could be shortened by fire or Bix days. With such possibilities, it is difficult to say what the future of the Trans-Pacific mail route may be. A rich childless merchant of Tamboo Russia, by name Ivan Stephanovitch Karkoff, has bequeathed his whole fortune/amounting to 600,000 roubles, to Vera Zassulitch, well known for her attack on General Trepoff. The following is an analysis of a piece of modern English calico : Cotton, 52 ; china clay, 26 ; starch, 12 ; fatty matter, 2 5 ; chloride of magnesium, 2 ; chloride of zinc, 1.5 ; chloride of calcium, 0.5 ; moisture 9.5; total, lOQ, J

The Athendum learns that Miss Colenso, a daughter of the Bishop of Natal, is engaged in Writing a history of the Zulu war. The bid tf iok of getting up a sham fight in the gallery of a theatre and then throwing the stuffed figure of a man over the railing, was successfully played at Leadville, America. The etfcitem'ent in the lower part of the lioiise caused a panic, and aa actress fainted on the stage. The Victoria Loftua Troupe opened at the Queen's Theatre on Jan. 19, and, marvellous to relate, appear to have made a fait. The Sydney Motnincj Herald praises their performance in * most incomprehensible manner. After remarking that the troupe on their first nights had two of the best houses ever seen in the thedtfe, it goes on to remark : — " And we do not flatter the company when we say that they fully deserve the success which attended them ; for, with one or two exceptions, the whole of them are entitled to rank amongst the first of their class, and there can he little doubt that during their stay in Sydney they will be an attraction to large audiences, and will make themselves favorites with the people of this city."

The Liverpool Weekly Courier of Oct. 18 states that the accounts of the Mersey Docks , and Harbour Board for the .year ending June ' 30 have now been balanced' 'and audited, and that they show a balance of £75,000 of revenue over expenditure, which cannot be considered otherwise than highly satisfac- ; tory. ! : They had a dime supper in the neighbor- : hood of Pawf ucket, conceived and carried oat by the ladies^ The conditions' of this novel supper were these : For every word spoken by the gentlemen at the suppertable, a forfeit of ten cents was imposed ; but, on the other hand (an duties are always compensated with rights and restrictions with privileges), it was agreed that whoever could weather the whole supper, submitting to all queries, surprises an 3 ingenious questions, should be entitled to it gratuitously. Many and ! frequent were the artifices and subterfuges resorted to by the* ladies in attendance to entrap the unguarded, and one after another stout and discreet man went down before the constant artful interrogations. At last all fell out and paid the Sime penalty save one individual — a queer chap, ■ whom no one seemed to know. !He attended .strictly to bnsiness. and passed unheeded the jokes, jibes "and challenges. They quizzed him: but all in vain. He wrestled with the r turkey and with the goose. He bailed out the cranberry sauce with an unswerving hand, and he ate the celery as the scriptural vegetarian ate grass; and finally^ when he. bad finished his fifth piece of pie, he whipped but a pocket-slate; wiped it with his napkin, and wrote on it in a large and legible hand, "I am deaf and dumb." Malvern Indepen dant says: — A certain representative of the people, who hails from somewhere on the_ "West Coast, and who by-the»bye, has only lately acquired th ! e right to put; those ■■;ihree letters after his name, was.travelling from Christchurch to . Hpkitika. In his hand he carried a brown paper parcel of something the shape of a goodsized picture TTpon this was a card bearing his name, with those three allpowerful letters after Jt.:x Being of ja considerate turn of mind, and ndt wishing people to strain their eyes, he .' "d chalked on in six-inch letters, ?L_' Esq ' 5 M^EL'- " This parcel ■ * contained something veiiy must hay. i, c never-onceJaid it down precious, for v. . eh bufc < urged ifc m the train or cou. ' n » n ■ * •>"?* his knees, taking cax^' £ cou ™> *> keep the address outwai- s> w ! iat ,? the good of having a title if >? u d °a * let the world know it ? ;. # : The Natal Witness has been inform-j---eu 1 on trustworthy "aathDrity tbatr an indu^a \^ho was present at the slaughter of Israel ok. has given a minute description C* the deaths of two officers, believed to be vhe late Lieutenants Pope and Austin,' of the 24th. The Zulo says that when surrounding. the 2Mb at' the neck at Isandula two officers with pieces of glass in their eyes came forward, stating. at -him with tboir revolvers. One fell dead from a guL'shot, and the other fiefpfr firing his revolver at the induna, a Ifyllet graaiog the right side of his necK, another grazing the left side, and another entering hi^ . leg. The induna then floßg'an assegai, which entered the officer's breast.. The officer with a . .supreme effort almost succeeded in pulling out the weapon (here tS'e Zulu writhed his body 1 m pantomime of the movements of tie officer), but the iriH&i&'fell on him and instantaneously finistie# his! dreadful work with another asseg&i,- A^ on looking- through the list of -..officers | killed, we find that none constancy and conspicuously wore eye -glasses? but Lieutenants Pope and Austin, we roost probably have here some clue to tba death of two of the gallant fellows who> ao nobly laid down their lives 'for Queen and country T on January 22n4 ' ; 1876.