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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 128, 29 May 1880, Page 2

The Melbourne Juvenile Exhibition was not a financial success. The anticipated deficit is about £4:00, the expenses having been very heavy in proportion to the sources of revenue. Ihe Sydney Morning Herald states that Mr John Gully's painting, "Lake Wakatipu," which received a special first prize at the hands of the judges who examined the pictures shown at the Art Gallery, has been purchased for £100 by Mr Edward Knox, of the Colonial Sugar Company. The North Eastern Ensign thus writes respecting the Kelly outlaws :— "lf a constable or stranger is seen in the Valley of the King River, the fact is carried straight to the Kellys by bush telegrams. It is not necessary that that the ' telegraph ' should speak to the Kellys or even see them. A certain way of tying a handkerchief on the sleeve of a coat, when riding along a bush track, constitutes a cypher, word which the outlaws can read without showing themselves from one of their watch towers. The gang have given up all hope of heirig able to break away, and they are now playing a waiting game, which must inevitably be won by the police ; but whether the end will come in a month, or six months, or twelve, no one can say. The present operation of simple watching the Kellys is costing the colony nearly £5000 a year ; and all the return the colony gets for the money is this, that the police have deprived the outlaws of all hope of escape, that they are leading a wretched life of anxiety, and "daily becoming less and less trustful of their friends. It is some satisfaction to know that they have been effectually cornered, and that their capture or death is only a question of time. We know also that anything like another outbreak of crime in the infected district has become impossible. Dr Gullasse, of the French navy, in a recent paper on typhoid fever, says : — 11 Coffee has given us unhoped-for satisfaction ; after having dispensed it, we find, to our great surprise, its action is prompt as it is decisive. No sooner have our patients taken a few tablespoonf uls of it than their features become relaxed and they come to their senses. The next day the improvement is such that we are tempted to look upon coffee as a specific against typhoid fever. Under its influence the stupor is dispelled, and the patient rouses from the state of somnolency in which he has been since the invasion of the disease. Soon all the functions take their natural course and he enters upon convalescence." Dr Gullasse gives to an adult two or three tablespoonf uls of strong black coffee every two hours, alternated with one or two tablespoonfuls of claret or Burgundy wine. A lit tie lemonade or citrate of magnesia should be taken daily, and after a while quinine. The Wellington Chronicle refers to defects in the education system, and says : — " The defects are mainly due to the over zeal and want of judgment of the Inspector-General. There can be no doubt that Mr Habens is a gentleman of large ability and untiring indurtry. But his zeal gets the better of his judgment. He aims at accomplishing too much, with the usual result of accomplishing less than with proper discretion he might readily accomplish. The programme for the examination of teachers is altogether too extensive. It contains subjects which are of no practical value to the teacher of a State school. In a go-ahead community like ours the first question to be asked in regard to everything should be 'Of what practical advantage it is ? ' Tried by thia test, we are afraid that much of the programme of examination for New Zealand teachers must be found exceedingly defective. Then again, the same error occurs in regard to the subjects taught in our State schools. The curriculum is altogether too ambitious. It would suit much better for a grammar school. All that the State should provide— and moreover, all that it can afford to provide — is a sound practical education ; accomplishments are luxuries which those who desire should be made to pay for. The programme of our State schools should be limited to reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, and geography." The " Australian Insurance and Banking Record " states that the leading banks of issue in Victoria have combined in making a handsome presentation to Mr Hector Munro, who, in November last, evinced such true gallantry in protecting the bank at Moe under his charge against desperate odds. It will be remembered that the Bank of Australasia, in whose employ Mr Munro is, presented him with a splendid watch and appendages of the value of 100 guineas. The sister institutions have, in combination, provided for bestowal upon him a large silver salver. The banks' subscriptions further provide £200 for the recipient This recognition of duty by the banking institutions will be an encouragement to their officers to do likewise, if placed in a similar position of difficulty and danger." Particulars of the tragic affairs which took place on board the Orient during the recent passage of that steamer from London to Adelaide are to hand. On the day after leaving Plymouth Mr George A. Hill, a saloon passenger, was found in his cabin shot through the head, a clear case of suicide. He was said to be a merchant from Leeds. Another case of equally determined selfdestruction occurred on the 10th ult , when Mr J Travers, also a saloon passenger, deliberately jumped overboard in the presence of a number of the passengers. Effort was at once made to save him, but although a search was maintained for two or three hours, he wasnot recovered. Mr Travers was said to be a merchant of London, and was 29 years of age. He was in very indifferent health, and' this is supposed to have prayed on his mind. Again, on the 18th ult, George Scott, a third class passenger, was reported as mis-, sing. There was a muster of the passengers, but Scott did not appear, and it is conjectured that he had fallen overboard. The 1 last of this tragic series of events occurred on the 10th inst , when Henry Davis, another third-class passenger, died from bronchitis. ■ By an unfortunate coincidence the life' assurance companies of the United Kingdom have within a year had claims made npon them for no less a sum than one and a quarter millions sterling by the "falling in " of three lives on which the largest insurances in the country had been effected— namely, those of the Duke of Newcastle, the Marquis of Anglesey, and the Earl of Fite. The tkc< use of two other noblemen within the same period brings up the total, on five lives to the good; round sum of one and a half millions.

Another, and ev6n chore singular ease of the extraction of a foreign substatic'e frtini the eye than that we (Post) recently referred to, has occurred at the Hospital here. It seems that some eight months ago a man named Byrne, who was working somewhere near Napier, had occasion to blast some logs or stumps with dynamite. " After one of the explosions he felt a blow in the eye, one of the splinters having struck him. The part was much swollen and very sore, so much so that he obtained medical advice, under which the small wound soon healed up. The injury, however, altered the position of the eye, turning it to oue side slightly, btu not sufficiently so as to impair the sight or greatly disfigure the eye. Abont a month ago the old wotind btrtke out again and, jt slight suppuration followed, and the sufferer applied to the resident medical officer of the Hospital. On examination Dr Gillon found what appeared at first to be a piece of bone or other hard substance projecting a little way out of the skin, and on close inspection founfl it to be the end of a piece of splinter of wood. He proceeded to extract it, and to his astonishment took out a piece of rata no less than two inches in length and half an inch or so across. At the time of the accident this had been driven into the orbit, right behind the eyeball, without in the least degree wounding the latter, and had there remained, undiscovered for two-thirds of a year. The patient is getting on well, and hia sight is perfect, the eye having also recovered its natural position. The Christchurch Press says :— We are given to understand that two gentlemen are now in Christchurch making arrangements for the purchase of the necessary plant for the distillation of acetic acid. One of the gentlemen in question is the owner of a conaiderable tract of bush land in the Peninsula, in the clearing of which large quantities of timber will have to be heaped and burnt at considerable cost. If, therefore, this timber, hitherto cleared at great expense, can be utilised in the manner Btated, a greatly enhanced value will attach to bush land, as it is computed that One cord of wood will produce 36 gallons of acetic aciJ, worth in England Is 6d per gallon. Marriage or Celibacy. — The clerk who could not afford to marry had a third larger salary than the man by his side, who had a beautiful wife and four children, a wellfurnished house nearly paid for, vigorous health, a smiling face, and a happy heart. When rallied on the subject, he exclaimed, " Married J I cannot afford anything else." " Yes," said the small , boy of -the Latin class—'-' yes, lapsus may be Latin for slip in a book, but when mother lap 3 us it usually means a slipper.' 3