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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 44, 20 February 1880, Page 2

The Ashburton Mail, [in preaching a seasonable homily to farmers, observes that " the seasons are doubtful, and so are the crops, but liens and mortgages and promissory notes are certain. Under the best of circumstances they are expensive modes of obtaining accommodation, and they carry away the profits. Let our farmers avoid discounts and legal instruments as they would the red rust or the Colorado beetle, and a prosperous future probably awaits them. Let them go on, placing themselves at the mercy of every storekeeper or banker who chooses to advance upon their crops and holdings, and they may depend upon it that when the next crash comes they will go down with it." The following law case is taken from the | records of the New Raven colony ia 1669,

ThG statute says :— " Whosoever shall inveigle or draw the affections of any maide or maide- servant, either to himself or others, without first gaining the consent of her parents, shall pay to the plantations for the first offence 40s, for the second £4, for the third shall be imprisoned or corporeously punished." Under this law, at a court held in May, [1669, Jacobeth Murtine and Sarah Tuttle were prosecuted, "for setting down on a chestle together, his arms around her waiste, and her arms . upon his shoulder or about his neck, and continuing in that sinful posture about half an-hour, in which time he kyssed her and she kyssed him, or they kyused one another; aa ye witness.es testified." An showing the need of insectivorous bird* in thia district, we (Napier Telegraph') may mention that on Friday last, there wal & growth of grass fully two feet high on either side of the by-road leading from the CliveHavelock': road to the -Boiling-down Fltf station on the railway line; This morning, every blade of grass and green leaf hare disappeared, eaten by caterpillars. All thai is left of the rich rank pasture are the bare. stalks of the clover. Yet people -say that the imported birds are destructive I (jommehtiDg iipon the rumors that Mr Sheehan had been pressed to join the present Ministry, the Press, in a late issue remarked : — " He would join the Hall Ministry, - or any other Ministry, as readily as a duck would swim in water clean or dirty. He actually remained in the Ministerial residence in Hobson-street until last week, in . spite of broad hints to go, just to show, no doubt, that there was no ill-feeling between him and the new Ministers, rind so as to be a( hand injease they should ask him to join them.!. r (The whole business is one of the most entertaining that we ever met with in politick: We have reason to know that the Ministers never for a moment thought of having anything to do with Mr Sheehan, and that several of them would resign immediately rather than consent to his being even consulted on public affairs. This has at last dawned upon Mr Sheehan himself, and he has now'; r#aliied, apparently, that his game, so to ; speak, is played out. He has left Wellington and gone North— but what to do ? Believe it, if you can, ye Liberals, yeprophets of the gospel pf ' the land for the people.' He has gone into partnership with Mr Whitaker and other notable 'land-sharks ' to get a block of three hundred thousand acres of native lands, and to induce the Government to withdraw their claims to it; in favor of the bloated capitalists. Shades of Piako ! We hear that a coolness has arisen between Sir G. Grey and Mr Sheehan, and we are not surprised at it. Mr Sheehan is not to accompany his distinguished colleague to address the Thames electors. We doubt whether he will address them at all. It might be a little awkward if some Liberal were to ask him to explain how he had kept his promise to ' euchre the whole crowd.' The public have nothing to do with Mr Sheehan's private pursuits as long as be earns his living honestly \ but his partnership with Mr Whitaker in ' land-nhatking ' the Patetere Block is certainly the most comical commentary on his political career that could well have been conceived. But these Liberals are an endless fund of joy to a laughing philosopher." An aboriginal, who had probably never before seen the " iron horse," (says a Napier 'paper) caused some little diversion to eyewitnesses at the Thames one day lately. The Maori was standing near the hotel, when suddenly th« locomotive employed by the railway contractors hove in sight. Our vuluita frloud-otood- ir«.n«fi-Ked_ with fear mv the monster approached. As it passed him, the engineer blew the whistle. This was too much for the unsophisticated son of nature, so, shaking off the lethargy of fear which he had fallen into, he gave vent to a heartrending roar of terror, and started off tewards Graham9town post-haste, saying at intervals, "taipo!" "taipo." His stock of peaches, which be left on the pavement, was speedily appropriated by the small boys of the vicinity. The other day a gentleman was shewing a few cornstalks over his picture gallery, and after running the round of Australiaa scenes and classical incidents came te a scriptural subject, which he described as " The Eleven bidding farewell to Paul aad Barnabas." Now, whether it was that in naming the picture he spoke rather indistinctly, or that young Mr Woolpres* wm too stupid to observe the dress, &c, ef ih» Apostles, does not appear, but certainly ta* young man broke out with, "Oh, I see- tbe Eleven ; but Bannerman 1 Banneman ! which is Bannerman ?" An era of speculation in Europe is according to general accounts soon to be inaugurated, and the pent up capital of the old werld find a vent in fertilising industry and commerce all over the Globe Never (says the Saa Francisco News Letter in its issue of the 25 th November) was it more clearly demonstrated that gold is not wealth than, at the present period — a time when the Bank of England holds as large an amount of I bullion as it has ever dona, i.e., £35,000,000, ' and whea as is well know, the country banks have in a large measure refrained from sending up their surplus funds, owing solely to the small rate of interest to be obtained; indeed, we bear of large sums being lent out from day to day upon Consols and other Government Securities at rates yielding little more than " one farthing per cent per diem." Is it wonderful then, that on all sides we hear than an era of speculation is about to arise ? In Erance it has for some time been rampant, and signs are not wanting that efforts are being made to inaugurate it on the London market- ' The New Zealand Herald says : — Alluding to a remark in an article in a late paper, a correspondent thus corrects us, aad gives a glimpse into the future : — " Will you please allow me to point out that the battle of Ar«ageddon will be fought out between two nations viz., Gog and Israel, otherwise Russia aad Britain. The approaching conflict in Earepo will secure the supremacy of Russia and her allies, but Britain will take no part ia it. Afterwards, Russia and her allies will come down with a mighty host to overwhelm Britain, then occupying Palestine and Asia Minor, but at the battle of Armageddon Russia will be annihilated, and from that time forward our natien will be supreme in the world." We do not inquire where our correspondent gets his proofs for the extensive programme which he lays down, because that would simply bring upon us' a shower of texts of which we could make no application to ourselves. We doubt very much whether Europe is going: to war just at present, and we doubt whether the Colossus of the North could be " annihilated " in oae battle, that and all the other nations would disappear, leaving " our nation " " supreme in all the world." On Monday (says the Press) an exhibition of locomotive power was given on the Lyttelton line which eclipsed anything of the kind yet recorded upon any of the New Zealand Railways. The engine used was one of the recently imported American goods engines, Seventy-six loaded waggons were ' brought through the tunnel from Port, the steam gauge registering 130lbs. at the start and falling to 1151bs. on the up grade between Lyttelton and Heatbcote. Springfield colliery coal was used. Thirty-one more loaded trucks were then added, making a train pf 107 waggons, and the whole were drawn to the Christen urch depot at a speed of ten miles per hour. Taking an average of 3J toaa for the weight of each waggon, and 5 tops for the contents, the aggregate weight of the train would be 900 tons—a moderatesiaed shipload.

We clip the following from the Hawke's Bay Herald: — A young lady, a goyerness, died of lockjaw through using a hypodermic needle to inject morphia. It was her cure for neuralgia, and on the occasion in question she had injected 12grs., whereas one-eighth of a grain its an ordinary dose. Yet she did not die from the morphia. "I do not think," said the doctor, " she could have killed herself that way, having accustomed herself to it so extraordinarily. .... The entire front of her person was covered with innumerable punctured scan produced by the needle as if, in fact, she had been tatooed. Any fashionable doctor will tell you, in confidential talk, that very many gentlemen and ladies of q'tia'lity sire tattooed in this way. It is the aristocratic. t&tiiMf for ldw spirits, and an excellent substitute f'oif cognac. With your hypodermic needle and jour dtap of elixir vitae you can arm yourself for the dullest dinner party, and even for a tete a tete at home with your husband. Sooner or later, is it true, the practice affects the nerves, and erentually the reason ; but it is " quite the right thing to do," and until this unfortunate affair of the poor governess, was supposed to be confined to the best circles. The death ef Miss Kennedy, of Roscrea, Ireland, has revealed a hcaidinjf of riches almost unparalleled in that district. ; A box containing £7000 in gold was found in her chamber, and several thousand pounds in bank notes were also discovered, some of the latter being of a very old date. Miss Kennedy lived a very austere life, and none of her neighbors believed she had any wealth. She lived for several years by herself, and, it is stated, almost denied herself tfce. necessaries of life. Se willed- all her money to wealthy friends. ' From the Jewish Herald, a paper published in Melbourne, and devoted- to the interests of Judaism in the Australian colonies, we extrast the following leaderetts :—" Ireland cries for help. Her people are once more in the throes of famine, and humanity is called upon for aid. We who live in the, sunny south, with blue skies and verdant landscapes can scarcely conceive the misery those quarters of the globe less favored are steeped in. The mind of the philanthropist, though, is flexible, and when once appealed to on behalf of a fallen er starving brother, he needs not imagination to teach him how to act.' To the religious Jew, it is a matter of indifference whether the recipient of his charity be Christian, Hindoo, or Copt j but, in the case of Ireland, her nations history j so strangely resembles that of his own, that, if it were only for sympathy's' sake, he should give, and give right freely. Ireland, of ' all places in the world, stated- our chief Rabbi recently, is the only one, having aa ancient history, that has not persecuted the Jew : this should give the appeal to Jewish hearts additional force. We hope that the fund at the Town Hall will not close until every Israelite in this colony has given his portion towards the relief of his suffering fellowcreatures in Ireland." In bidding its readers adian, the New Zeulander, which was brought into existence to support Sir George Grey and his party, and ceased publication last Tuesday, wrote as follows : — With this issue publication of the JNew Zealandtr will cease, an amalgamation having been effected with the New Zealand Times. Our words of parting with our readers will be few, as parting words ever Btaould be. Scarce two years ago the New Zealander was ushered into being amid brightest anticipations, and predictions of a auocessful and long continuing career. Money wan spent umparinf ly, the best availing journalistic talent employed, and contributed articles poured in from many among the ablest pens in the Colony. The new journal was inteuded to fulfil a certain mission, to uphold at all hazards a then popular political cause. . „ Wafted on public favor, supported by liberal finance, it spread its wings, and became a power in the land, probably the most widely read among New Zealand morning journals. For a time all went well, bat the day of reaction came. There is a limit to liberality, and to political fervor, and those who had provided the sinews of war became less confident as the conviction forced itself upon them that the public, vigorous in applause, were slow in more aubstaatial response. Commendation, profuse thanks, patronage of a kind was freely given, but the more necessary element of support failed in sufficiency. * * * * , Asd so the New Zeafoiirfer bids all its readers adieu. Regrets at bur contemplated cessation from labor, thanks and hearty cemmendatioM for sttdfast adherence to the cause we have espoused, have been expressed, and we «re grateful. Much, very much more, might be said in reply aod acknowledgement, but (here are times when silence bears the palm of eloquence. Grateful to tho few who have stood us in good stead, we do not desire to dilate on departed hopes ormak'e great' ado in vain repiaings. " Henceforth the New Zealander and- '.New J^taland^Timiig^in amalgamation, will represent the- one morning journal of Wellington. All that is sound and practical in 'true Liberalism will be engrafted on one stock ; all that is true and honest in intent will be conserved' and fostered, errors rerealed by the light of experience, will be avoided, and an independent leading journal established on an enduring foundation. The following item was published in the Scientific 26th 1867:— Why should not every house ha\e its telegraph wire ? When gas was first applied to purposes of illumination it was used only iv the public buildings and streets, and even now on the continent of Europe it has been introduced but sparingly into private dwellings. Why may not the telegraph wire be extended and diffused — if we may say so— a* the gas pipe has been ? Suppose a net work of such wires laid from a central point in the city to the library or sitting room of every dwelling, and an arrangement made for collecting news similar to that controlled by the associated press. Through the wires, then, this news might be instantly communicated to each family, without the work of time rendered necessary to put it into type, priat it, and distribute it by means of carriers. A fire, a murder, a riot, the result of an election, would be simultaneously known in every part of the city. Of course this would do away with newspapers, but what of that ? ▲11 things have their day, and why should such ephemeral things as newspapers be ', an exception to the rule ? A sportsman of liberal mind hired a deerforest ia the Highlands which is 35 miles from the nearest telegraph station. He had to get almost all his provisions from Perth. One day, among other things, he ordered from his Perth butcher some kidneys for a certain day. They did not arrive, which was, of course, a very small misfortune. The next morning there arrived iv hot haste a messenger on horseback with a telegram. The sportsman paid his thirty-five shillings for it, opened it, and found it was from the Perth butcher regretting that he could not fttnd the kidneys ! 1 Mrs Margaret Robinson, after having lived happily under three British Kings and one Queen, was gathered in at Cooper Angus, Scotland, in her one hundred and seventh year. The clay pipe was always in her mouth and constituted her chief enjoyment. A correspondent, writing to the Auckland Herald, says :— " Servants are so scarce that the few that we have rule employers with a rod of iron. We scarcely dare open our mouths in the way of reproach, no matter how glaring the fault may be that the servant hai committed, for fear of the week's warning to tare cu b« iidt,"

Som» idea of the legal formula may be gathered from the following ipecimen, wherein, if a man wishes to gire anothar an oranee, instead of sayiDg " I gire you that orange," he must set forth his "act and deed " thus—" I gifa yon all, and singular my estate and interest, right, title, and claim, and adrantage of and in that orange, with all its rind, skin, juice, pulp, and pips, and all right and advantage therein with full power to bite, cut, suck, »r ptherwiseitiat jtbesame orange, or giro the same .away,- '■ with or without its rind, skin, juica.V pulp, and pips, anything heretofore or hereinafter, or in any other deed or deeds, intrumentj or instruments of what kind ot nature soever, to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding." ■ . i