The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, MARCH 15, 1880.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 64, 15 March 1880, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, MARCH 15, 1880.

Tpif, number of competitors who attended the late meeting of the New Zealand Rifle Association, may be regarded as a proof of its popularity, and that the institution is likely to be a permanent one, always provided that the management is carried out in a wise and discreet manner. At present, we must confess that there seems to be much room for improvement in this in more ways than one, and especially in the matter Of discipline, or rather in deciding whether the representatives are siipposed to be subject to tnilitary discipline or nbtj whichj as niattero now stand, is cleariy an open question. Col. Packe, in addressing the Volunteers en the closing day, said, " The discipline has been perfect." Now we take leave to differ from him, that is, supposing that, in making that assertion, he intended to convey the idea that there had been an implicit obedience to orders^ That which we are about to refer to May seen! a amall matter, but it is quite sufficient to show that the Volunteers who were here did not consider themselves bound to pay any heed to the orders of the officer in command. Many of theruj including several of the officers who certainly ought to have known better, were in the habit of going about in a nondescript sort of dress, consisting of partly uniform and partly ordinary clothes, and so slovenly was their appearance that Col. Packe deemed it necessary to issue a camp order, calling attention to the matter, reminding the Volunteers that they were under military discipline, and expressly forbidding their appearing in public in huch unsoldierlike attire. Not the slightest attention was paid to this order, and the paper on which it was written, and which was kept up on the notice board throughout the meeting, was simply wasted, for, up to the day of their departure, the Volunteers, or, at least, a considerable number of them, continued to act in defiance of it, and, notwithstanding this, they were dismissed with the assurance that "the discipline had been perfect." We repeat that this may seem but a small matter, but it is in obedience to small things as much as to large that perfect discipline consists, and if one order is permitted to be treated with contempt, it is an encouragement to pay the same disregard to others. Again, the Volunteers were permitted to leave and to enter the camp as they pleased, which is certainly nob in accordance with the generally received notions of military discipline. We are not making these remarks in a cavilling .'or fault finding spirit, .but we wish to see these meetings placed on a sound footing, and therefore call attention to what appear to be weak points in the hope that a remedy may be applied. First and foremost it should be decided whether or not the Volunteers while in camp are to be subject to military discipline, and, if so, no breach of that discipline, however slight it may be, should be suffered to pass unnoticed. In another matter too an alteration will have to be made. We refer to the catering, which cannot possibly be conducted another year on the same principle as at the late meeting when the caterer, who did his best, and, so far as we can learn, gave general satisfaction, did not know whether he had to provide meals for twenty or for 150. Either the men will have to be told that they will all have to make arrangements for billetting themselves in the neighborhood, or they must all be required to take their meals in camp, when a guarantee of a certain number can be given, without which no one will ever be found again, after the experience of the last unfortunate caterer, to undertake theprovisioningof thecamp. These are matters for the executive couocil to consider before next year, and we call attention to them thus early in order that there may be plenty of time for their consideration. We regret to have to announce the death of Major Stack, an old and well known officer of the New Zealand Militia, which occurred on S-turday night after a long and painful illness. The deceased gentleman was a captain in the English Militia and Instructor of Musketry at Hythe. In 1863 he emigrated to New Zealand and joined the Waikato Militia as Captain, and in 1865 he was sent by the Government to Melbourne to enlist men for service at Waikato. In 1867 he was appointed Inspector of Armed Constabulary and subsequently received his commission as Major in the New Zealand Militia. At the time of the Fenian disturb ances on the West Coast be was in command of the Constabulary at Hokitika. Soon after his appointment to the A.C. force he was placed in command of the depot at Wellington, where he remained until a few months ago, when hia failing health compelled him to seek a more congenial climate in Nelson. However, the disease from which he suffered had secured too firm a hold upon him, and it soon became clear that hia recovery was impossible, and on Saturday night he breathed his last, leaving behind him a widow and eight young children. Major Stack was no stranger in Nelson, having been here on the staff on the occasion of the Government prize firing at Stoke, and as he was one of those who made friends wherever he went, there are many here who will learn with considerable regret that he has passed away. It was generally felt that, if possible, a military funeral should be accorded to one who had held such a position in the New Zealand defence force, but it was found impossible at so short a notice to obtain a full muster, and accordingly it was decided that the Volunteers should be represented by the officers of the various corps, who accordingly followed his remains to the grave this afternoon. We would call the attention of invalids and others to the fact that Mrs Barraclough has now in Toi-Toi Valley a hydropathic establishment in full working order. The baths and premises are all kept beautifully clean, and those who once try them are not likely to be satisfisd with a single visit. There was a somewhat lengthy programme set down for the Justices at the Police Court this morning, comprising sundry actions and cross actions for assault aud battery and othfr pastimes of a similar nature, the complainants and defendants, and defendants and complainants being certain Italian fishermen residing on the beach, the ladies of the families, it is said, being the originators of the disturbances' However, Messrs Pitt and Bunny, who were retained on opposite sides, succeeded in persuading their clients to settle the matter out of Court, and the contestants marched off together, accompanied by the lady members of their own and other households, without troubling the Magistrates. Mr John R. Mabin reports the sale by auction on Saturday of the Jcargo of coal per Pelican from Greymouth at 16s 6d to 20s per ton. A Wairarapa journal says .-—We are informed that owing to the reductions in the expenditure in the Native Department, all the native assessors and other officials in the Wairarapa have been dismissed, and a reduction of about £400 a year has been effected in this district. As might be expected, some of the dismissed officers are not well satisfied with this new arrangement.

An Australian paper says : — A tremendous whirlwind occurred in the neighborhood of Magi 11 a few days ago. The roof of a house a couple of miles from Magill was carried away bodily fully a mile. Crystalised masses of ice, as large as pigeons' eggs fell — causing the creeks to run into the gardens, which narrowly escaped inundation. No clouds Were visabje at the tioie, and the sun waa shining brightly. The storm lasted twenty minutes. An accident occurred in Wellington yesterday (says the Postot Wednesday) through the bursting of a gun, by which one of our Artillery cadets, named R. Grigg, very narrowly escaped losing his life, or sustaining severe injuries Grigg was firing at the buit3 with one of the old Enfield carbines supplied to the corps, when suddenly the gun burst about five inches from the muzzle, scattering the fragments in all directions. One large piece struck Grigg on the shoulder, but merely glanced by, doing him no injury. His escape, however* was almost miraculous. The Carbine, was a very old one, and apparently Unfit for service, it is very nedes-saj-y that. some system of inspection shoti'd be adopted by which it may be ascertained that the cadets are not armed with weapons which may reasonably be expected to "go off" in an unexpected and most perilous way. The following advertisements are taken from an exchange : —The gentleman who sat down on a cream pie let a market-street car oh Christmas' Eve, is known to the lady who had just purchased it, and even though he may have no regard for the huilgry orphans for whom it was destined, he is urged to at once remit 309 and the expense of this advertisement to the business office of this paper, to save the exposure which will follow his disgusting^ conduct." Right underneath it, this Janus of a journal evidently accepts the money of the other side, as the subjoined will testify : "If the slightly intoxicated lady who allowed a gentleman to spoil a £2 pair of beaver pants by placing a lot of slush, wrapped up in a piece of paper, on the seat he was about to occupy, does not immediately remit that amount to the care of A 8., at this office, a full account of the affair will shortly be given to the press." A correspondent of the Otago Daily Times, writing from San Francisco, aaya that in that State " there is a growing conflict between labor and capital, which may at any day assume serious proportions, Capital in thia country is protected on every side, labor is everywhere oppressed. la California, for example, white harvest hands this season are paid 6s per day of the same duration. Shelter is usually provided for ' the heathen Chinee,' but the white man enjoys the luxury of sleeping in the stubble, wrapped in his own blanket, serenaded all night long by coyotes and other vermin. In the Western States the average wages of field hands is 75 cents a day, or 60dols a month and found. Laws against tramps are vagrants are being passed in the various States, which outlaw and treat as felons men travelling ill quest of work. Every legal artifice is resorted to for the purpose of degrading labor and making it servile in this free aud enlightened Republic." Queenstown must be a veritablo paradise for trout-fishers if the following, taken from the Cromwell Argus, is to be relied on : — " Mr J. S. Worthington, the local Secretary of the Oiago Acclimatisation Society, commenced fishing on the 10th November, and has not been able to devote much time to sport, yet up to the 24th inst. he has caught 256 fish. Oue day last week, never fishing over more than 30 yards of Hayes Creek, he caught 50 Mh weighing from 6 to 120z9, and on the 24th himself and friend caught, in a couple of hours' time, ten fish weighing from l£lbs to slbs each, besides smaller ones. The ten fish formed a most tempting basket. The larger trout have neat, clean a small head, and a well-developed frame." Messrs E. Pritchard and Co, contractors for the reclamation works, Dunedin, have just imported from America one of Otto's steam excavators with Chapman's improvements. The machine, which has somewhat the appearance of a very massive and powerful steam crane, weighs no less than thirtyseveu tons. It arrived in the Elinor Verno, and will be fitted up and put to work at the Sandhills without delay. It is constructed principally of iron, it will excavate five yards, or equal to one truck, in two minutes, or fill twenty waggons, containing four .yards each, in forty minutes. It will work in clay as well as in sand or loose earth, and it can be worked with five different motions, accordiug to the material in which operations are being carried on. This is the first machine of the kind imported into the Australian Colonies. A shocking case of neglect has just come to light in Hull, near Ottawa, Ontario. A youth of seventeen years was taken down with smallpox, and his family deserted him. The neighbors hearing of it, went to the house with a bowl of soup, and on entering the room, found the youth covered with blood and almost at the point of death. Soup being placed to his lips, he ravenously swallowed it. An examination showed that he had eaten the flesh from one of his arms in his agony of hunger. He died a few minutes after the arrival of the neighbors. A Texas editor thus describes a recent episode : — " Jim King took some slight offence at a few casual remarks which ap- . peared in the Herald last week, and endeavored to emphasize his displeasure by shoving a revolver in our face. Our revolver was the largest and on hand first, so Mr King retired to the bosom of an affectionate family. There is a degree of modesty and brevity in this narrative which shows a great deal of latent talent, and reserve fund. An eccentric Englishman haß recently built a house in the Quarter Tivoli for the residence of himself, bis wife, und eight children, which is the talk of all Paris. It is circular, and has neither door nor window externally. The approach to it is from the ground floor on to the roof by means of a ladder, which is moved up and down by machinery similar to that of a drawbridge. There is only one floor, and that contains eighteen apartments, mora or less small in dimensions, looking into the centre, which is lighted from above by a glazed cupola. Oue stove for all these rooms is in the middle, and in summer is to be occupied by an exquisite parterre of flowers. A circular balcony, open to all the apartments, surrounds tbis space. The motive of thia oddity is, of course, only known to the author of it, but everybody can see that two points are gained by it— immunity from the taxes on doors and windows and a perfect preventive of any attempt at burglary. — Bos'on Traveller. The emigration from Great Britain in 1878 was calculated by the Registrar-General at 112,902; the immigration during the year being no less than 77 951. Of the emigrants, 54,000 went to the States ; 10,652 to the North American Colonies ; and 36,479 to the Australian Colonies. From Ireland alone the Registrar General estimates that between 1851 and 1877 inclusive not less than 2,432,000 persons emigrated. The Local Government Board sanctioned loans for sanitary purposes in England and Wales in 1878 amounting to £8,170,000, making, with previously authorised loans, a 1 sum of £50,040,000. The gas and water loans of tenboroughs of 31st December, 187S, amounted to £14,390,000. A tight squeeze. — The embrace of a drunken man. [For remainder of News see Fourth Page J