The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1880.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 67, 18 March 1880, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1880.

Town tk-ciots who are in the habit of attending political meetings in well lighted halls and amid comfortable surroundings, have little idea of the circumstances of a country meeting of a similar nature. There was a good illustration of this last night, wheu Mr Richmond, on his arrival at llichmond, was met by a wrathful little knot o£ electors, who were giving forcible expression to cenain uncomplimentary opinions regard ing the conduct of one of the residents in the district, who, it appeared, was the lessee of the Fair ground and Agricultural Hall, iv which building the meeting was advertised to take place, and had locked the door and put the key in his pocket, and declined to give admission- However, the little difficulty was got over by the transfer of a coin of the realm from the convener of the meeting to the gentleman in question, and the door having thus been unlocked with a goldeu key, the room was thrown open to the public, and in a short time the business of the meeting commenced, the scene being one that was worthy of being transferred to the pages of the Giapkic or Illustra ed London JSews. In the centre of the room in a tin chandelier suspended from tho roof, were four or five half candleß which shed - a softened and flickering J

pght upqrathd'iwidiencji -A^tf^&e fjii end of oii's&hTclrWvas pracecT a triistle which didi; (Wy as a table and supported a caudle aud gjke^inevitable tumbler and decanter o£ water. Hseaf^d at the front of the platform, stt tlie feet of the chairman and addresser, of the ttieetihj*, Were the reporters, \v nose demand ; f <jrlfelflf]|as ifiSGbiffl^Hr responded tp byf£n f e ofjuos<rf[resest j^wSq&o^ldoi^^, Second , delier from anbther'parb oFlhe rootn'sind^ placed it on the platform before them with amid all tfie7^oolu7~tli[eT^~^TfatG^~to~tre~ 4,uite a3 much interest taken in the politics* of the colony by the sixty or aeveotyUwwi y^i^Ji}Uiia-.ln,rgpr niimb£c.jßh.j_. attended the brighter and more comfortable"" Provincial Hall when the town members receTffly addresscdiaftieir cous£itiientßi A "t; A^bGGESI-ioN made by Mrfc^.. RobejjtaotD in STftter Which appears ejs£&here to^lh^" efte^fcfthut theTßoyscl Conimis^JEJn on Ntftivg Indfistries shoSfd^eudfavor tocjjlbtain S^orF mapl from t£©se engaged iivinanufacljires" as SSI as frotoijcottijnercial m^S is oneCthafc; i is weH worthy^f cjgnsideratio&Sforther^iiire^ weH>e3ieve,v.mafiy in New Zeal&nd wheujn a; qufe.J^way^tiav'S'beanjturnj-qg tsa^accoutijn thai promfcts^pf tire ea?th,andyn jfalatlng s}leii£. exp^encfe w&uld afford s£ferff>large atiiSunr" of €n?ormat4oi^,tha^ wiju'Js^et'3iivaiu'abi* tbj; ! those^.ug&gedfin aJchfMvork^s the ; misSMn referred tk\ it ifcnoGjou account gf pthe«w|int e¥ intelligent} or-of $)£ knowledge- | howtodo i-th&yJSavemjot.ijomiato .hexfronlh and become^ i thf'pr.oprjetors of Tarj c rnanu&ctoriesj^-biv^ i fvcminvaniipf^peajps, an^ m^n like tjgesoC ) whose ex^rifrncejjas 3xti£>nd4a\ oft£ &t? nX--jyejk^n an^whTsae knowledge i*J)i aj)rao_t*caU^ jano^, therefore &■£ ttie bjstpkifiU- wgpldjro^ > ba^be £ble &i qj§>r naify- su^esgon'fcjhatc ar»-net li^lyTo come from ofier qjjartjifs. rIJHhe &JZn,V6tintekr §eri>fcs; Ghztlte of thi^^h instangis ac.sub-l^d^Qoi? the late mdwSiig q£ the3Ri|lfe Association, in which thfngineriin. mgbagelhent is condemned in a whroftfeale matlßer. Although there was beyoff^tll doub£~much room for improvement, thewriter appears to have taken an exaggerated view of the grounds for complaint which actualy did exist* and to have been somewhat misled by some of those grumblers who are always to be found wherever a number of men are congregated. The following is the article referred to : — " The Colonial Prize-Firing at Nelson this year seems to have been conducted iv such a disgraceful manner, that Majors Baillieand Lean, who, we understand, have had charge of the arrangements, are likely to gain anything but praiae for their work. We have seen private letters from Volunteers at the Camp, which speak in no measured terms of the manner in which the firing has been conducted. From Majors Baillie aud Lean down to the scorers and markers, muddling seems to have been the order of the day. With reference to the scoring and marking, the writer of oue letter which has been handed to us for perusal says: — " Excepting Paxton there is not a decent scorer on the ground, aouic of th-m can hardly write, and although in some kiud of uniform appear to know as little about scoriug, and anything pertaining to shooting, a3 possible. The markers are ten times worse. I have been in charge of squads ever siuce I went to the ground. One time I and the others round about were certain we heard a shot hit the target. Not wishing to do the chap out of his shot I went up to the target and there was a bull within an inch of the centre of the target. And what do you think the marker said ? '• lie didn't hear it," as if he had any business to hear it. Another frequent thing is stopping the shooting on six targets for the purpose of painting out one or two perhaps. To a person accustomed to go right through' and walk away it is tantalizing " This is anything but crrdltable, and could have beeD easily avoided, for good markers aud scorers are by no nieana scarce in the Colony." The Thames correspondent of the N Z. Volunteer Service Gazette wrote as follows under date February 19 : — From eighteen to twenty men will proceed to Nelson to represent the Thames. Captain E. T. Wildmah, of the Naval Brigade, who was present last year, will again accompany his men. Thames Volunteers are somewhat indignant that a refusal should have been given to an appli cation for the appointment of one of their number as a marker at the Association meeting, and it is extremely probable that for this and other reasons the North Island men will endeavor to form an Association of their own. The cost of attending the Southern meeting is more than we can afford. £20 is the most moderate sura to clear a Thames rifleman's expenses to and from the meeting, and we can Dot but reason that the said £20 per member would form a good capital contributed for a local rifle association. The following telegram was read at a public meeting at Hokiiika, from the Hon John Hall:— "I have just receivpd- your telegram. A.9 Mr Oliver will be on the West Coast next week, it is not possible for me to state at present what works will be proceeded with. lam afraid that neither you nor the West Coast authorities realise the extent to which the limited resources of the Government are already pledged. The greater part of thfe five million loau is now either spent or engaged, and it is out of our power to raise any money for three years to come. Unless, therefore, we are prepared to plunge the colony into inextricable difficulties, it; is absolutely indispensable that many works which we should be glad to see prosecuted shall stand over. You are probably aware that the revenue is falling off seriously, more so than ever we anticipated." A gentleman left the Te Anau at Auckland, forgetting £101 which he had placed below his pillow. At the Bay of Islands regatta, the money was found where the owner had left it, although the bed had been occupied on the way to Russell, and the lucky man recovered the sum intact. Mr Hugh Peck, of Melbourne, who has just failed for about £90,000, gives the followiug as one of the reasons of his insolvency: — The withering curse of the Berry blight has so thoroughly shaken the confidence of capitalists and others that freehold property, in which alone I was dealing, has not only depreciated very considerably over 40 per cent as a general average value all over the colony, but has become positively unsaleable at any price whatever; neither does it now appear a bona Jide security to finance upon. The correspondent of the Marlborough Times, writing from the Wairau Valley gold field, says : — The Warden has not yet been here, and there is no one to supply miners' rights on the ground, but Mr Ragg, who has started as Mining Agent, aud undertakes to obtain them, has, I believe, had several applications. This looks well, and as if the miners intended to stick to the place. There is another good sign of our prospects shown iv Mr Litchfield, a most cautious and careful business man, who is not likely to do anything rashly, starting a store here. This morning he scut up by Mr Watson about a ton of goods, and he is, I understand, about to put up a large tent. Mr Charles Elliott has also brought up provisions and other stores, and Mr Gibbs has sent up sawn timber for making sluice boxes. Mr Bell, although he objects to diggers fossicking about his run is willing to supply good mutton at 3d per pound, which is certainly a moderate price on a goldfield. This will be a pleasant change from wild pork, which has been the standing dish here, and very good it is in its way. but it becomes monotonous when you | have three " square feeds " of it every day.

;jkr Biff ws*st into t>wn to.^s^to Bee the t^He i*ed^;||^y what he can ""du-to lcl^the minere2§JEiiis v 'rUn. A friend of mine who is a bit of a bush lawyer says be Cannot do, anything but in ti-esnassj but 1 lidpe fchei-e will be no trouble or litigation in jihe iliatter and that satisfactory terms will fie arranged. My friend say? tuat legally he i /emft'rl»hk' on^bisrau, inepe^,t«oreSais &Mfer t^npak^ierme- with him. |I| "The'n'eTa snbiild proVe^jctl jtj'wptild P r °. ye n^" easy matter to stop the diggeraj and in the ~gDod than harm, so tlia"rrhe~sooTieT-Timrcable-arrangemeiijs^ajwa R Vt tde the.bej.terj. At all ev<s A the* : p r deple-fl%re^wiH t b'e-fcerfy vgl&dLAo ;J^a..hJ9_ulujJtoj^ Mb tTonTri^-MabiTrreporTarbat-at friFsaleby auction yesterday at the yards of the Red Horse Hote^y Richmond, there wart ag^ery goOl attendarut%.chiefly composed of Tfuye/s who would ifa*€ given satisfactory JpriSF 9 for most decryptions ,of Stock, bufattjie latter wi^notrf%shcoming to the extefi|spected. offered was sold as follows^— rams, 30s-U29 to 6d ; lambs, 4s ; Merino owes erosseil Downs of ages, 53(3^ ; &fteoth wethers, 7s 6iljl&mp aud harness, J^^?los j steers and cowaL&i ; Hotses; fJK)m ij&JOs to . £>2 ljCy .Mr pii|ii> \iill Bol^'ijtiou'ifeSauctioa at the J3£d Ttofse in a mottb's jfiuTg. ,-» r*"^