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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 147, 21 June 1880, Page 2

A Sydney paper says that the tramway officials there hare succeeded in killing three persons and cutting the arm off a fourth in a little over six months. The following is fsom - the Post :— The Lyttelton Times of Saturday last publishes a rumor to the effect that the Government "is not unlikely to accept a proposal to remit a portion of the Beer .Tax with a view to the feiiupbsition of the tea and sugar duties." We have authority for stating that there is not the slightest fotindation for this report. A slight surprise awaited the landlord of the Club Hotel, Invercargill, the other flight, which, for the time, destroyed his appetfce and taste fo r oysters. A very flue one, ex terra ly, had just been opened, and be was about to " negotiate " it, when something peculiar in its appearance caught his eye. A closer examination revealed the fact that the inmate of the shell was not an oyster at all, but a diminutive octopus coiled up in the place occupied by the original resident — tils right of property having been established, no doubt, on the same principle as that relied on by the Maoris of old— that he had eaten the previous owner. ■ A recent Napier telegram re the Maori baking case says :— The Charge against Herika, of roasting Heriona, another Maori, was provocative, of much amusement, His Honor, in his charge to the Grand Jury, treated the offence yery lightly, and expressed a doubt 'as to whether the Crown froseculor should present the indictment. The jury, however, brought in a true bill. When Dr. Hitchlngs was under examinationjtheprisoner asked him how, if after be had prescribed for a patient he was locked up in gaol, could he continue to treat him? The doctor said be supposed he must answer a ••brother professional" carefully, and declined to stty. Herika's defence was to the effect that he was treating the man to drive out a devil and cure him of blindnesg, and he mentioned Mr Colenso'a letter to the Herald, as profitig that he had followed the proper Maori surgical practice. He said all his worldly possessions had been" confiscated by the natives. i)veu his wife, though she was with child had been givento another man. His concluding Salutation was, "May you live long, friends of ray ancestors. I have done no crime. If a man is sick they send for a doctor. The Courts in New Zealand actasTareha (a well known chief) does, they are Ilauhati O'ourtpj I have done." The jury returned a verdict of guilty. His Honor said he did not think the prisoner had acted with wrong intention, and inflicted a sentence of one month's imprisonment with hard labor. Tne Maoris in their evidence showed strong feeling against ths prisoner, and taunted him with cowardice in roasting an old, blind, infirm, and weak man, when there were plenty of strong ones to operate on. A gentleman formerly connected with the Philadelphia Ledger is reported to have discovered a simple form of audiphone, which he has tried with satisfactory results, although he is very hard of hearing. A few days ago he was explaining the prinoiple of the audiphone to some friends, and to illustrate his remarks put a folded newspaper between his teeth, bending it over in the form of a audiphone. To bis surprise he found that he could hear as well with the newspaper as with the audiphone. He subsequently attended an auction sale, and putting the catalogue between his teeth, and bending it down with one hand, heard all that was said, although without some such contrivance he could hear nothing. The experiment is a very simply one, well worth trying by all who are hard of hearing. Newspapers, pamphlets, carboards, even sheets of writing paper seem to serve the purpose as well as the hard rubber audiphone. A trial is now going on in Paris which gives some idea of the money spent on dress by ladies in the upper ranks of fashionable society in that capital. The Count Potocka has laid before the tribunals two bills, one from a modiste to the amount of 110,541 francs for clothing supplied to the Countess Potocka, from July, 1878, to January, 1880, one of the items being 32,000 francs for one sealskin jacket ; and another bill from a ladies' outfitter for 72,000 francs for underlinen supplied from June, 1879, to January, 1880. A lively scene was anticipated at the cori elusion of the sly-grog selling cases yesterday, as it was known that many of the female defendants had armed themselves with rid-ing-whips for the purpose of chastising the two informers, Messrs Eiley and Henry. Consequently it was deemed advisable to provide an escort for the witnesses in the shape of several police officers. By this means thay were secured from actual violence, although they were subject to a good deal of vigorous denunciation. — Post. According the Moscow Gazette considerab'e light has been thrown on the cause of the facility with which the Nihilists have been able to provide themselves with passports strictly en regie, and thus to travel about Russia at pleasure. An official employed as courier of Domains has, it has been discovered, been instrumental, with the assistance of his wife and son, in procuring no fewer than 14,000 passports, made out in false names, all within the past eight years. It is estimated that for his services in the matter be must have pocketed large sums as much as 92,000 roubles having been found in his possession, supposed to have been moßtly received as fees on account of the passports. The man has been arrested, and will be brought to trial on the completion of the evidence against him respecting his complicity with the Nihilists. A cotrpany of children have been playing " H.M.S. Pinafore " at home with marked success. The death of one of them is thus recorded by the Era i — Benedict Tacagni, aged six years and seven moths, died on March 26 of acute rheumatism. He was the Midshipmite in " The Children's Pinafore," at the Opera Comique, and his clever performances had elicited commendation from, among others, their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Princess Mary of Cambridge. He was taken ill on Saturday, March 20, the last day of the season, and was given up by his physician on the Monday night. During the delirium consequent on his illness he continually sang snatches of "The Pinafore" music, the last audible sounds he uttered being his childish version of " For he is an Englishman." The Christchurch Star publishes a statement showing that the various road boards in the Canterbury provincial district had cash in hand on !st January, 1880, amounting in the aggregate to £336,063 12s 10, and calls upon those bodies to provide work in thjeir districts for the unemployed, so as to do away with the scandal of having a soup kitchen in their midst . The following are the principal amounts shown in the statement —Ashley Road Board, £10 457; Courtney, £17,751; Ellersie, £16,600; Geraldine, £32,567; Kowai, £12,177; Lake Coleridge, £13,046; Mount Cook, £25,502 ; Rakaia, £26,191 ; Rakaia South, £12,160; Springs, £13,516; Temuka, £13,867 ; Waipara, £19,635 ; Mount Peel, £39,068. The return also shbws that the great bulk of these funds has ibeen derived from subsidies, and not from taxation. Of the 575,483; tenants in Ireland, , 22§,288 hold thirty acres and 287,516 under fifteen.