CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 34, 9 February 1880, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE RECENT APPOINTMENT OE SECRETARY TO .THE EDUCATION BOARD. To the Editor op the 'Evening Mail.' Sir— At the request of a few fellow citizens I have taken this opportunity of exposing to the public the mock selection of a candidate for the above office, which occui pied the time of the Board until after six o'clock on Thursday last. On behalf of the ninety-one unsuccessful candidates from all parts of the colony, who have been put to trouble, expectation, and anxiety without the remotest shadow of a

chance from the first appearance o_ the advertisement, I make this protest as a public dutjr against those proceedings; which my conteit will show _ disgrace to a body of men holding the important public j? oaition they do. I was an applicant for the office, but being a perfect stranger in Nelson I was advised by very high authorities to make myself and my antecedent- known to the various members of the Board, so that when mjr name came before them in conjunction with the names of other applicants, I should not appear as an entire stranger. I adopted this plan, to a ceriain eitent, for I was suddenly cut short upon my visit to one member, who astonished me by stating, "that it was of no use tot the to apply lot the vacancy, as the mxtter was virtually settled; inasmuch, as he and four other members had privately pledged their votes to a Mr Hodgson, who had solicited the same % that he was tinder no pecuniary obligation to that gentleman, but if he did not vote for him he should be doing him a great injustice; tbat tbe situation became vacant on a certain Thursday, and by tbe following Saturday morning five votes out of eight were irrevocably promised; th at Mr Hodgson had the best qualifications, that he was a brother of tbe Inspector, and that the latter was a brbther-inilaw of the Chairman of the Board." At flrst I was tempted to withdraw my application upon hearing of such a rotten state of affairs, but I afterwards refrained from so doing on purpose of seeing the farce played out. Now, Sir, the mock examination of testimonials took place, and with precisely the result foretold, viz., the flva promised votes out of eight for the successful candidate ; so that ninety-one people have been gulled and cheated from fair public competition for an office, the advertisement of which kept appearing io the papers, whilst the matter had been settled by private treaty on the part of the majority of the Board I think you will agree with me, Sir, when I say a public situation of this kind Bhould be thrown open to fair competition, and that every candidate should bave a fair chance. In England at the present day canvassing for votes is advertised as a certain disqualification, and lam sure that the act of pro- 1 mising votes without due inspection of all ' applications would be considered equal to bribery, and the members so doing would be impeached for corrupt practices. The whole of the transaction I cannot help but characterize as a disgrace to this important community ; for a body of gentlemen placed in such an honorable position of trust by the electors should bo actuated by pure motives and sound principles, and should rise above all family influences in endeavoring to secure for the district an education organisation perfect in all its branches for the much needed improvement in the education of those who will some day have to play important parts in the drama of Nelson life. In conclusion I must thank three of the members for most courteous treatment, which was accompanied by the assertion that they should vote for the best man when the time came. Trusting I have not troubled you too much. I remain, yours respectfully, Edwin T. Hart, Late Senior Head Master of the Birmingham School Board.

To the Editor op the 'Evening Mail.' Sir, — Pardon my troubling you once more on the subject of our erratic visitor, which is becoming somewhat of a mystery. Still, believing it to be the comet of 1843, I fully expected, on the third night, to have seen it stretching away far up into the heavens, as, also, to have seen the nucleus, but, like many others, was disappointed, Finding it still almost stationary, the thought occurred to me that there must be some strangely counteracting influence at work to so serimiß!.-.". fro __ -it_ motioo, _.__ -iuata- _i_lcly tlie cause seemed to present itself. Ie is wellkuown that, when a comet approaches too near to any of the major planets, it becomes strangely perturbed, and its motion retarded, and these retardations are always tnken into account by astronomers when calculating the return of a periodic comet. For instance, we find that early in the last century, when calculations were being made as to the period of the return of Halley's comet, a French geometer, named Clairaut, calculated the effect of the perturbations of tbe two large planets, Jupiter and Saturn, in the vicinity of which tbe comet was expected to pass on its path, and he assigned a delay of 6>B days — 100 being due to Saturu and 518 to Jupiter — which proved to be correct. It is also well-known that a comet has been held spell bound in the heavens for weeks, near the latter massive planet. Here then, the thought presented itself. If such be the effect of one planet only on a comet, wbat must be the effect of the four major planets in our system — all, at the present time, in or nearing perihelion— on our present visitor, and especially of Jupiter, its nearest neighbor. Doubtless, whatever influence the three, which are at a gt eater remove from it, may have upon it, Jupiter has fastened on it his powerfully attractive feelers, and all these together are paralyzing its action and holding it prisoner. This is the only conclusion I can come to in order to account for the comet being almost stationary. A wide and interesting field here opens before us, but I must not trespass further on your valuable space. Yours, &c, W. Hough. Nelson, Eebruary 9, 1880.

On the recommendation of the Colonial Office, the Royal Humane Society's Medal has been awarded to WiUiam Jenkins and his boat's crew for saving upwards of 100 women and children from the wrecks of the City and Auckland and the Eelixstowe, off the coast of New Zealand. Sir Hercules and Lady Robinson (saya the New Zealander of Friday) took very unostentatious parts in the people's holiday yesterday. They went down to the Hutt in one of tbe ordinary trains — it was a crowded one — and when they returned, the "special** that had been provided for them was converted into an ordinary train by His Excellency's command. It was just starting, but perceiving that a large number of people were awaiting conveyance he had a lot of carriages attached to it for their accommodation, and the journey to town was, we are sure, none the less enjoyable to him because he thus considerately consulted publio con venience. These are just the kind of relations 'hat ought to exist between the Governor a id the governed. A rumor is afloat that Sullivan, who caused such a sensation in New Zealand some few years ago by the way he used to murder and rob the gold diggers, was seen a few days ago at the farm of Mr J. Sloan, which is about three miles from Wangaratta. It appears, says the local paper, that some young men, who were harvesting in Mr Sloan's farm, and sleeping in the hut at night, were awakened by a knock at the door. Upon the door being opened a man entered who was immediately recognised as being Sullivan, the New Zealand murderer, by one of the young men who met him before on a station in New South Wales. He looked very miserable, and asked for something to eat, which was given him. He then demanded a coat and trousers, but this could not be given him, as the men had no spare clothes. Sullivan said he would not leave the hut until supplied with them, and the young men rather than argue the question out with him— for | be was not unarmed, as he carried a long I

Bh'eatfc &h_J.e~-t. __!t away aiid left him in possession of the but. Before they left Sullivan asked them where he could get a horse, as he wanted to go out to Warby's ranges tb t_ans_ct a little business. On the young riiett _ _t tit hlog td the hot in the morning, Sullivan had decamped. A number of watchmakers from Coventry and the surrounding districts bave recently set sail for Australia and New Zealand. It is believed by some of them that there is a hopeful future for the watch trade at the antipodes, _nd at any rate it is clear that just now the indti&iif is hot flourishing in Coventry. During the speech of Mr Willfatt. Swanson, M.H.R., at a banquet given by bis friendly constituents, an Auckland paper states that in the course of bis remarks tbe speaker gave a graphic account of the life of a memb.t of Parliament during the session, in Welli__g_<__. He bad himself more than once to go and put his bead under the water tap to keep himself awake. A sitting of the R M. Court took place at the Lower Hutt the other day, before Mr. T. Mansford. Two men, named M'Culloch and Menzies, were charged with having been guilty of acting iv a manner calculated to provoke a breach of the peace by sprinkling cayenne pepper on the floor of the Oddfellows' Hall, Upper Hutt, when a ball was being held there ou the anniversary day. There seemed to be very little doubt as to the guilt of the accused, but Mr. Mansford did not consider that the charge had been properly laid, and therefore he dismissed the case. A second charge against the accused for having spilled the pepper in the hall for the purpose of annoying Her Majesty's subjects, also was dismissed. . The Wairoa paper reports that ' a Maori lad was killed on Friday on the Whakamahi beach. He was riding along the beach and had wound on his arm the tether rope, which was attached to the animal's neck. Suddenly something frightened the horse, which broke away, throwing the lad. The rope did not become disengaged in time, and the unfortunate fellow was dangled by the arm a long distance, the head and other portions of . the body being horribly mangled by coming in violent contact with pieces of drift timber. Some coffee rooms for the accommodation of young women in business hours have been opened by the Young Women's Christian Association at Christchurch. Legi of mutton are at present retailed in Wanganui at one shilling each. Supplies are sent in weekly from the Putiki boiling down works.

A paper haa been priuted by order" of the House of Commons, and issued by. Messrs Hansard and Sons, giving the nanie of every member of tlie House of Commons, with the seat wbich he held, from 1213 down to the present time. A etnff officer who was present at thebattle of TJlundi tells of a curious circumstance -which accouuts not only for the small loss of the British troops, who were there drawn np in square, but also to some extent for the far greater loss of the Zulus who were armed with the Martini-Henrys taken at Isandula. Tbese weapon they had tried, and. baying observed that the bullet went farther when tbey aimed with the sightup, tbey came to the conclusion that^ tbe sight was a contrivance, which, when raised," 'niaae the weapon .hoot harder. Accordingly, on the day of . TJ lnr-di they one and all put up tbe sights rf tbe Martini Henrys to the extreme range of 1000 jards, and fixed them in that position with wax. The result waa that most of tbeir bullets went clean over the square'; and many of them are believed to: have, reached their own men who were coming down to attack the other side of it.