NELSON AID SOCIETY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 169, 17 July 1880, Page 2

NELSON AID SOCIETY.

The annual meeting of tho members of this Society was held last night in tho Maaonic Hall, the Bishop of Nelsou in the chair. The following report was rend, and, together with the Btatemcnb of accounts, was adopted:— "During the past 12 mouths, 37 separate cases have been, relieved by the Socioty, and moat of these Boveral times. Thus, from June 19th to July 4th assistance was given on 12 different occasions; from May 17th to June 17th assistance was given 17 times; during the two preceding months, on 12 occasions each. In tho oarlie- months of the year the occasions were not go numerous. The total of such occasions during the year has been 99. It is noticeable that the increase of cases during the last few months has not arisen from tho depression of trade, at least not directly, but from casoß of illness. It is in these instances the Society has a special field of usefulness. Tho extra comforts needed and supplied nt such times alleviate sufEeringi prevent further illness, promote speedier restoration to health, exercise the benevolent feelings, and much gratitude is returned. The ladies of Nelson have taken considerable and kindly interest in visiting and relieving sickness. The Committee are greatly obliged for their help, and beg them to continue their attention in the different parts of the city where they reside. It has happened in one or two in stances, that destitution has existed for a week or longer without its coining to the knowledge of the lady visitors. We regret that any such unknown suffering should be I found. The total atnouut expended during the year has been £50 17s 2d. The Society is indebted to Captain Bough, a well known

former resident amongst us, for £10 49, being interest due to him for a loan in Nelson; also to the Parish of All Saints for £9 0s 4d, the offertory for sick and poor on Christmas Day. Subscriptions have been received during the year nmountiug to £36 0s lOd, making, together with balance of £2 8s Id at commencement of year, a total of £57 13s 3d. The balance in the Treasurer's hands h now £6 16s Id. The advantage of having upon j the Managing Committee gentlemen with various connexions in their professional positions has been felt on several occasions during the year, as cases have come before thenl which it is not needful to particularize, in which, but for the Society, public subscriptions, wo.uld have been made with not always the beat expenditure of charitable means. The Committee invite the residents in Nelson to made known to them all cases of distress which can fairly be considered within their province and power to assist." The following were elected as the Committee for the ensuing year: — The gazetted ministers of the town of Nelson, who are exofficio members, Judge Broad, Dr Boor, and Messrs J. R. Dodson, G. W. Lightband, and A. Jones. Votes of thanks were passed to the lady visitors who had assisted in the work of the Society; to the Bishop of Nelson for presiding j to Mr A. Jones for his services as Treasurer; to the Lodge of Masons for the gratuitous use of the Hall; to the proprietors of the Evening Mail and Colonist for mauy gratuitous advertisements; to the auditor; and to the Rev J. Leighton for his services as honorary Secretary*

We clip the following from the N.Z. Times 1 report of the Parliamentary proceedings on Tuesday night !— On the vote " Lunatic Asyl ums £35,547 h being proposed, the Hon. the Colonial Secretary proposed a reduction of £1741.— Mr Gisborne thought it Would be false economy to try and economise iv the payment of those who had the charge of our lunatics. — Sir William fox said it was enough to drive any Bane man mad to hear hon. gentlemen in that distinguished senate trying to cheese pare in the matter of our public iunatic asylums. ("Name, nnme. i Nobody has suggested economy.") Well then they were all the madder. (Laughter. ) j What he wanted to say was that they should strike at the root of the evil. They were proud of their gaols and Luuatic Asylums which were filled from their drink shops, and yet they found £20, £30, £40, and £50 on the Estimates. For what ? Why, for drink. It was said this was not for the patients. Probably not, but it was for the nurses, warders, and other officials. In proportion as they lessened the amount of stimulants given to the patients, so in proportion would they reduce the numbar of patients. They would, year after year, have these large votes coming up until they abolished the source of the evil. — Dr Wallis denied that three-fourths of the insanity arose through drink. It was the love ot liquor which arose from insanity. Far be it j from him to speak in favo- of public-houses, but he could not allow the remarks of the hon. gentleman for Kangitikei to pass unchallenged. — Sir William Fox said that authorities showed that from one-half to three-fourths of the lunacy in the world was produced through drink. On the occasion of the receut poll of ratepayers of Invercargill, to determiue whether the municipal authorities should borrow £120,000 for the purpose of bringing in a water supply, which was determined in the negative, the following startling appeal appeared in a column of space in the local paper: — 'Ratepayers of Invercargill. Fathers of families ! Mothers of families I You are to-day brought face to face with the demons diphtheria, dysentery, diarrhoea, and death. Will you' save your pockets, and sacrifice your children ? If so, vote for Thompson's rabbit-poisoued ditch, and against pure water, health, wealth, and prosperity.' Under the beading " The fatal number three," an English paper says:— "lt is a curious fact that three female sovereigns are ill at the same time — the Empress of Russia, the Queen of Italy, and the Queen of Sweden. Some fatality h as attached itself to the nu mber three during the year 1879. Serious attempts have been made upon the lives of three of the crowned heads of Europe — the Emperors of Russia and Germany, and the King of Italy. Three foreign potentates have been dispossessed — the Ameer of Cabul, the Khedive of Egypt, and the King of Zululand. Three famous actors have died — Falconer, Buckstone, and Matthews— and the fourth estate is not without its adhesion to the unlucky numeral. Three editors, or proprietors, of our foremost newspapers have bade c a long farewell ' to all their greatness—Lawson, Delane, and Sergeant Cox. Bonnor, the Australian giant, eeems to have excited some sensation in England at the matches played by the A uatralian cricketers, both on account of his proportions and his batting. He is about 17st. in weight and stands 6ft 6in in height. He is only betweeu 22 and 23 years of age, During the match with Nottingham he made a hit fully 120 yards, the ball dropping in the street leading down to the railway station, and nearly alighting upon an omnibus waiting to take up passengers. On another occasion, by an off drive, he sent the ball on the fop of a house in the town, and a worthy inhabitant had to ' " shin " up the water-pipe to recover it. Captain Eraser, speaking in the Council on the Gaming and Lotteries Bill, said the object of the totalizator was to " blow up those bookmakers " A colleague of his had recently travelled down south with a bookmaker, who became very communicative and told him that during the year he had lost £1500. His colleague said, " That is a large amount, how are you going to make it up ?" "Oh 1 we have made it up ; we bought a horse." " Then I suppose ho won ?" " No,'' said the bookmaker, " he lost." The Otayo Witness says: — " The members of the Harbor Board are lamentably ignorant of Biblical history. At the meeting on Friday last it was mentioned that a patent gas-light buoy recently inveuted remained alight without renewal ' for forty days and forty nights.' This provoked from Mr Walker the remark that 'it was a coincidence,' and on inquiry by another member as to how so, he said he rcfered to .Jonah and the whale. Mr Fish then came into the room, and the information about the buoy keeping alight for « forty days and forty nights ' being retailed to him he 'took up the parable.' Said he, 'Why that's the time Jonah was in the whale's belly, isn't it?' We feel bound to add that not a single member, not even Mr Keitb Eamsay, corrected either of the ignoramuses. Jonah's acquaintance with the whale and its interior extended over only three days and three nights, not forty. One would have thought a Harbor Board, of all bodies, would have known all about such a startling fact in marine history as that. Can it be wondered, in face of such an ignorance on sacred subjects, that heretofore Providence has not smiled upon the operations of the body ? " The Scientific American hasthefoliowing:— • Mr G. W. Griffin, TJ. S. Consul to New Zealand, reports a notable increase in the maunfacturing interests of the colony, and a growing trade with this country. He thinks the furniture made in New Zealani the most beautiful be has ever seen. It is made of the mottled kauri wood, and is artistically designed. New Zealand produces the finest wood in the world, and manufactures some of it. The chief imports from this country are hardware, edge tools, and agricultural implements; tobacco, canned fruits, and wooden ware, including waggons and