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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 48, 25 February 1880, Page 2

It will bt welcome news to many to ltarn that the promoters of the Pelorus Tramway intend going on with the werk without further delay. This means the employment of a largo amount of labor, and the opening up of an industry that hefore long will considerably adrance the prosperity of the Pelorus district and Havolock in particular. — Press. Intelligence received f roai Norfolk Island is to the effect that the Island is at present passing through a phase of religious mania unparalleled in the history of the country. Crowded meetings are nightly held, and an extraordinary change is working amongst the people. The Hawera correspondent of the Pott writes : -"When Katene was being examined he paid : — " la the old days, when there was fighting, I was always there against the Europeans," but, with singular modesty, he made no reference to the fact that he afterwards greatly distinguished himself in fighting for us. Indeed he is quite a curiosity in the way of wounds, having received enough to kill a dozen men, once being shot through the body by * Maori only three feet away, the bullet aftarwards going through the leg of a man named M'Don&ld. Katene has baen shot in all, in about a dozen places, and has had his nose broken with a blow from a rifle. According to Professor Dubois-Reymoni, of the University of Berlin, there are no physical reasons for apprehending the dissolution of our planetary system just yet, though how long this world may remain worth living in seems to have been left an open question In a lecture which he gave last week at Bremen, " On the end of the world," the learned professor cam* to the conclusion that, according to the law of the conservation of force, the sun can continue to ihine only for 17,000,000 yeara longer. By the expiration of that time the surface of the earth will have been csvered by glaciers. A gentleman who visited the Wakamarina gold field a few days ago informs us that the party working at the Forks have completed their water race which has cost them £700 and taken 12 months to complete, have just revived the old workings, and are sanguine as to being repaid for their outlay. If this should prevc the case it will give a great stimulus to further prospecting in the district. — Times. . As to the reality of the distress in Ireland, at a meeting held at the Mansion House, Dublin, in December, Sir Arthur Guinness said he could speak for the West of Ireland, from which he had returned a faw days ago. He could say that every subscription and every amount that could bo obtained would be very inadequate to afford the relief required. There were hundreds of families wboss mppiy of potatoes iia<2 Mb yery

nearly exhausted ; their credit wfts gone, and unless the hand of charity was put forth to assist them, they could not tell vrhat would - be th« re«ttlt. it is tftated on good authority (says the London 6orresponaent of the" Manchester Guardian) that the Government have just made an extraordinary purchase of 25,000 horae shackles for cavalry purposes. It is said that siltntly, if not secretly, great preparations are being made at the Horse Guards and the War Offica On dits are, indeed, plentiful that the Government are making military arrangements for the possibility of hostile work in the spring The war party, which is very numerous in Pall Mall, anticipate that when the JJusatans are alvancing in Central Asia the British will be moving to the occupation of Herat. The special correspondent of the Lyttelton Times at Hawera writes : — v My journey ings about the bush daily more and more impress me with the belief that the authorities greatly understate the numerical strength bf the Mdbfis. At every native village are to he foliad numerous visitors from the Waikato and other parts of the I island. An old settler assure* me that he is convinced ! aa * ; between the Wanganui river and the White UiiS three thousand natives capable of bearing arms cou'* be gathered at forty-eight hours' notice." The T: ranakl Herald, however, says that there is nofc a siith of this ntlmber capable of bearing Afffis; , Several performers left Chiarini's dircus (says a, New York papor) when it was about tb sail. from San Francisco, Cal:, recently for Australia, owing Iti the fact that they had been promised first-class passages, as they allege, and after their effects had been put aboard the steamship many of the troupe discovered that accommodation had been secured for them in the steerage. The aggregate steam power in us« in the world is estimated at present at 3,500,000 horse power employed in stationary engines, and 10,000,000 horse power in locomotive engines* The steam power is equal to the working force of 25,000,000 horses, and .one horse consumes three times as much food as one man. The steam power, therefore^ is eqluivalsnt to the sating of food lor 75,500,0~00 human beings. ~ Messrs Fitzgerald and fen-ins, of Melbourne, have offered £500 fejvafd to any person who will give information that will lead to the conviction of anyone who at any time used, either in the bottling or manufac ture of their ales or porter, or in the cleansing or riasing of bottles any substaQcs or other ingredient deleterious to health whatever, or who, after the bottling, admixed poison with their manufacture." Messrs Fitzgerald and Perring bate pursued a very proper course, says a local writer, but it is not likely to lead to the elucidation of the mystery how the poison got into theirs and Messrs Findlay's ales. We are of this opinion because we agree with those who hold that the poison was in the bottles in a crystallized form before they came into the brewers hands. A gentleman writes to the London Echo, and says: — On board my ship an inebriated sentry fell overboard, .and the officer of the middle watch want in and saved him. On being recommended by the first lieutenant to the captain »s worthy of wearing the Humane Society's medal, the captain refused to forward the suggestion to head quarters, on the plea that the officer had not permission to leave the ship. A compound armour plate has lately been invented and tested in England which is taid to be impenetratable to the heaviest and hardest projectile of modern warfare. It ought to become a favorite lining for fall overcoats in some sections of America. Complaint is made in California that the spot in Colombo, El Dorado County, where gold was first discovered, has not been marked by some suitable monument. As it is, however, there is considerable doubt where tha discovery which has been so full of vast importance the world was made. Marshall, the recognised discoverer of the precious metal, is still living on the edge of the township, and is miserably poor, being dependent on bis daily labour for the barest necessaries of life. One of the Kembles made his first appear ance on the stage as an opera singer. His voice was, however, so bad, that at a rehearsal the conductor of the orchestra called out, "Mr Kemble ! Mr Kemble ! you are murdering the music !" "My dear sir,*' was his quiet rejoinder, " it is far better to murder it outright at once than to keep on beating it like you do." The Secretary of the United States Navy, in his annual report »n the condition and operations of the Navy Department, says:— "The condition of the Navy has greatly improved during the last year. There are now in commission thirty-five vessels, consisting of cruisers, monitors, and torpedo boats. Of the different classes sixteen can bo put in condition for sea service in a few months, and twenty could be made ready in an emergency. With this done, the fighting fores of the navy which might be made available in a very short time would consist of eighty-oae vessels of all classes, and if to this number be added the four monitors, Terror, Puritan, Amphitrite, and Monadnock, and eight powerful tugs, which can be fitted for either, cruisers' or torpedo boats, our whole effective fighting force would consist of ninety-three vessels. The monitors could be completed, with the necessary appropriations, without much delay. Of the vessels now used as receiviug ships, seven are unfitted for any other service. There are 27 vesseli unfittod for naval purposes of *ny kind whatover, but which are a positivo expense, as it is necessary to keep in employment a force of Bhipkeepers to preserve them from entire destruction. Some of them might be profitably converted into merchant vessels, and it would be economy to sell the whole."