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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 154, 29 June 1880, Page 2

The Insurance Companies seem to far outshire other competitors in the advertising line. We have had foot rules, almanacs of all descriptions, blotting pads, etc., but the National Insurance Company seems to have eclipsed the lot. Their latest is a " match scratcher," nicely fixed on an ornamented card. They only want to supply tobacco and pipes, and smokers will bless them. A Christchurch telegram of Friday says : — The largest yield of wheat that has ever been reported here, and which is also believed to be the largest ever known anywhere, has been obtained by Mr Robert Blake, of Lincoln. He raised 199 bushels on l£ acres, or 128 bushels to the acre. The land is improved swamp land. The following resolution has been passed by the Oamaru Presbytery :— " That, in the judgment of this Presbytery, horse racing is a disgrace to modern civilisation, a waste of time and means, an incentive to gambling and other vices, and deserving the reprobation of all prof easing. Christians as injurious to piety and morals ; and instructs the ministers bf the bounds to direct the attention of their congregations to these evils*" Hia Honor the Chief Justice, when at Blenheim the other day. was considerably astonished at having a medical certificate banded up to him signed " G. Cleghorn, his x mark." Before the Judge had time to recover from his surprise at finding a registered medical practitioner unable to write, it was explained to him that the doctor had broken his arm. Thereupon the Court resumed its accustomed placiditoy. The house fly, if in good health, can lay 20,000 eggs in a season. The Danbury News thinks it a pity a fly can't be grafted on a hen. A correspondent writing to the Hawke's Bay Herald on the subject of the beer tax says: — "A great deal of fuss is being made by the licensed victuallers concerning the oppressive nature of the tax on beer. Perhaps a few figures will serve to show the absurdity of the outcry. A hogshead of beer costs the publican £5, or 2s per gallon. A good deal of the beer is sold at sixpence per small glass, of which about three go to a pint; some of it is sold in larger glasses, termed "long drinks," while some is sold in pint pots at sixpence per pint. The average may be safely taken at eightpence per pint, though I believe this is much below the zeal figure. The publican, therefore, gets 5s 4d for the gallon of beer for which he pays 2s, and yet he denounces an impost of sixpence as iniquitous. Why, even then he would get considerably more tban 100 per cent, on his outlay." Lately a firm of auctioneers in Georgestreet, Dunedin, named Inglis, initiated a new system of auction sales by a free luncheon. The result was very satisfactory — to the public. What our American friends would call "the free lunch fiends" must have been there in abundance, for we are told that 80 41b loaves, 60 legs of mutton, a large cheese, and two hogsheads of Marshall and Copeland's XXXX beer were consumed on the premises, wnile there were literally no fragments to gather up. Messrs. Inglis, we are glad to learn, had a successful sale immediately afterwards. The following Melbourne telegram gives some idea of the spirit in wbich the Payment of Members Bill was discussed iv the As;* aembly the other night :— " Last night Vale) alluding to Jones called him a penniless braggart and trained beggar of billets, without wbich he would have to go iuto the Benevolent Asylum, or else run away to America, and leave his wife and family to the charity of the country. Jones retorted on Yale as being hired to defend rogues ; then Mason's insult to the ladies was referred to, and he retorted tbat he did not visit the back slums of the city at an early hour of the morning. This was the style of debate, and it was found no progress could be made with the Payment of Members Bill.'' The Christcburch Press states that over 2000 bushels of oats were sold last week on a farm near Methven, in the Canterbury district, at 7d per bushel. It ia very evident tbe sale at tbis low price was made under exceptional circumstances. A case which probably will be quoted as a precedent in the future, was heard last week at the R.M. Court, Otaki, before Mr Ward when a publican named Greenough was charged with serving a drunken man with a glass of beer, for which offence he was fined £5 and costs. For further allowing a picture to be raffled on his premises he was mulcted in a penalty of £2 and costs. In England portable gas ia now sold and delivered everywhere. Country residents receive it from the city in copper cylinders. The unarmoured composite sloop Doterell, six guns, 900 horse power, has been successfully launched at Chatham. Steel is largely used in ber construction.