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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 177, 27 July 1880, Page 2

After commenting upofl the reports of General Davidson and Colonel Lecfcie on the Volunteers of the colony, the Post says:— " Summed up in a few words, the couclusion we are driven to, after reading these repot ta, is that it would be impossible to have a finer body of men or a much worse system than are afforded by the volunteer force of this colony at the present time " During a recent sitting of the R.M. Court (says the Ashburtoh Guardian) a charge of vagrancy was preferred against a man named William Addison, Sergeant JTelton stated that the man came to the police station on Monday in a deplorable state, being wet, cold, and apparently very hungry. He asked to be locked up, as he had nowhere to go for the night. The Sergeant said he had given him a bed and made him some hot tea, which, with bread and butter, he devoured most ravenously. Sergeant Felton said there was nothing known against the man, and, under the circumstances, he would ask that the accused be remanded so as to allow the police to make inquiries regarding him. In reply to the Bench, Addison stated be had been wandering all over the country in search of work, and had travelled on foot from Dunedin to Ashburton, but his efforts to obtain work were without avail. Immigration returns laid on the table of the House Bhow the total number arrived siuce July, 1879, to be 7413 souls, and. a grand total to date of 84,490. Of the last number 12,857 arrived at Auckland, 15,432 at Wellington, 27,412 at Canterbury, and 29,439 at Otago. During the last year Auckland received 793, Wellington 1309, Canterbury 2000, and Otago 2429. The total number of nominations during the year was 5607, but the number each month is gradually diminishing' none being nominated for the last two months. Ot the number nominated during the year only 4569 airiyed, and of a total of 57,856 nominated since the commencement of the scheme only 17,180. ;■ A Hawke's Bay paper records some of the difficulties in the way of dispensing public charity in Napier:— "The question of charitable aid is becoming a very serious matter, so much so that the committee has' wisely resolved to insist upon a certain amount of work being performed .daily by indigent persons in receipt of rations. There is a notion abroad that at Napier the poor and distressed get first-rate treatment, and indigent people are actually sent by train from places as far as Waipawa that they may share in the good things to be had."