Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1880.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 223, 20 September 1880, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1880.

The report of a recent meeting of the Colliugwood County Council, and certain correspondence which was laid on the table, will be found in another column. From- this it appears that on" the 15th October last an application was mnde to the County. Council by one Skilton for assistance under the head u Charitable Aid" for a, man whom he and his wife had been looking after for some days, but who, as tbe applicant stated, had funds of his own. Upon being made acquainted with this fact the Council rightly enough, as it appears, decided that the case was not one for "charitable aid." Refused - by the Council, Skilton seems to have applied to Mr Campbell, the Resident Magistrate, who gave him an order to proceed to Nelson , .with the invalid, and subsequently signed; a voucher for the expenses attendant on the trip, apd others previously incurred, which were ultimately- charged by the Government . to the Council, who naturally enough objected to the payment on the ground lhat they had enquired into the merits of the case, and had come to the conclusion that ib was not ono calling for assistance from the public funds.- Asthey are the body which has to pay, they are of opinion that' to them alone or their officers should it be left to decide bow their funds are to disposed of, and their objection. that the Resident Magistrate, who is in noway responsible to them, should be at liberty to involve' them in expenses which ' they had- aire aly decided they were not called upon to meet, appears, on the face of it, to be a perfectly reasonable one. The downpour of rain on Saturday night, however welcome it might haye been to farmers and gardeners, was not viewed in the same light by the drapers and other, shop- ' keeper, whose weekly harvest is usually gathered in on that evening, for few peopleyentured out and the streets wore a deserted appearance until about 8 o'clock, when a veryfew- strokes of the fire bell Bufficed to inducte numbers to-brave the rain and mud, only to find, however-; that they had been callejl forth by a- -blazing chimney '"at Mr Scott's baker's shop in Bridge-street. The Brigade ' answered the summons quickly, and in a very few miuutes,the flames were extinguished., i In Edward Golding, a miner working at the Table Land, whose death near Ngatimoti . was reported -last Friday, yefc one more is added to the long list of victims to intemperance. The terrible story of his last hourk * will be found in the report which appears elsewhere of the inquest held on the body, . The jury appear to , have, been satisfied to accept his own statement that be had beep ■drinking for three weeks ; without any corj- - robbrative evidence, but sorhe furtherenquiry, it seems to us, should have been made as. to the correctness of his assertion, for, if true, - blame must undoubtedly attach to the publicans in the district who, when . they supplied him with liquor, must have been fully aware of his condition. Ina small district lik. Motueka ifc surely would have been very easy to get at the truth of the matter. i We understand that Mr Blackett, the resident engineer, has received instructions to start for the Buller Valley as soon as possible for the purpose of reporting upon the new road. He. will probably visit -the district about the first week in next month.! An accident occurred on the incline at the Collingwood coal mine last week which, fortunately, resulted in nothing more serious than fche smashing of one of the trucks. A loaded truck was descending, , hauling up ari /empty one as usual, when the rope thafc was winding up the empty truck slipped off the drum on to the axle, thereby giving two or three yards of slack. The truck thus re*leased from the strain immediately started off downwards, and on the rope becoming taut again it snapped and the truck continued its downward career until it reached the bottom, when the body and one of the wheels were smashed to pieces, the bed and three remaining wheels, however, being uninjured. Mr Marshall, the manager, who was on the t/loadedtruck, by throwing the whole of bid weight upou the brake j contrived to get to the end of his somewhat perilous journey in safety. ''*'A ".- ". ;;"' '"" '' ■"'"' ; The Palmerston Times says : — lt is ru-j mored, with what color of truth we.cannot say, ; that 'the member forthe Waikouaiti dis-j trict, Mr G; McLean; contemplates making a trip homeland that he ; intends resigning his seat in the "House of Representatives, andconsequently severing. his .connection, politi-: cally, with the district. -•"'-• j We have, to acknowledge. the ;receipt o£ the first number of the ,Boss t andtOharito Adoocate, which will-' supply a' : want much; felt in the district; and : shpuid,tb&new-gold| discoveries turn out as well as,, is. expected,; will doubtles^prov. ;a : refdunemtive sp'ecula-| 4»tontaMr*Petrie thp proprietor, I *:. "A ;__.*_ *