Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1880.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 242, 12 October 1880, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1880.

The traffic returns o! the New Zealand railways for the four weeks ending 21st August are published, from which it appears that the total for the month is £51,026, the expenditure for the same period having been £40,107. Towards the total the great southern lines, Ainberley to Kingston,. 755 miles in length, contributes £38,257. The receipts on the Nelson section, consisting of a modest little twenty miles, are, we are glad to find, gradually increasing, the total being £55fi againßt £387 for the corresponding period of last year. The increase is upon the carriage of goods, the number of passengers having fallen off considerably, the first class having gone down from 582 to 352, while the second class barely hold their own, the number for the last month having been 3639 against 3644. The quantity of timber carried on the line has gone up from 180 to 255 tons j of merchandise from ilO. to 152 tons ; and of firewood from 195 to 345 tons. The Westport section, bad enough as it was before, shows a considerable falling off in the receipts, which have dwindled down from £252 for the August month of 1879 to £139 for the corresponding period of this year. The Greymouth section maintains its position as the best paying line in the colony, the receipts for. the month being £674, wbile the expenditure was only £433. The percentage proportion of expenditure to receipts on the South Island lines since the commencement of the current financial year has been as follows : — Amberley- Kingston (755 miles) 63'37 ; Greyroouth (8 miles) 53 97 ; Westport (10 miles) 14856 j Nelson, 79-93 ; Picton, 89'20. All the lines in the colony are classified under eleven heads, and in point of remuneration the Nelson section stands fifth on the lisf-.

The u'rst service in connection with tbe Sunday school centenary celebration will bo held in the Wesleyan Church this evening, the Rev R. Bavin presiding. To-morrow evening there will be a Bpecial service at Christ Church when the Bishop of Kelson will preach.

Another most successful entertainment in aid of the All Sainta' Institute was given last night at the Masonic Hall, which was uncomfortably crowded, additional seats having to be brought in and ranged in the passages. The programme, which was an excellent one, was faithfully carried out, and, judging by the number of encores, tbe efforts of the performers to please were thoroughly appreciated by the audience. Pabents having children whom they desire to be instructed in music and singing will be pleased to hear that a German lady

who has a high reputation as a teacher of both the piano and^ organ is about to take up her residence in Nelson, where she will give lessons. Sho has recently arrived in Sydney from Europe, and brings testimonials from Benedict, Thalberg, and Sainton, all of whom speak of her as a thoroughly finished musician. We understand that she is expected to arrive in Nelson in the course of a few weeks.

Thk following provision in the " Customs Tariff Act 1880" relating to playing-cards is published iu the last issue of the Gazette : — "Section 8. Every pack of playing cards imported or cleared from any warehouse after the passing of this Act shall be stamped or marked in such manner as the Commissioner of Customs may direct. — Any person who sells, uses, or has possession of any pack of c»rds so imported and cleared, and net so stamper! or marked, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding fitly pounds.*'

The Wellington " Monthly Price Current" has made an interesting comparison of the Customs receipts for the year ending 30fch September last with those of the previous corresponding periods. The result is that for the quarter ending on that day the receipts were £312,630 ugainst .£308,850 for the September quarter of 1879, nnd for the year £1.240,000 against £1,252,867 for the pr'e ceding twelve months ; £1,330.872 for the year endincr September 30th, 1878 ; and £1.204,807 for that ending on the same day, 1877 This is pretty good evidence that the depression of which we occasionally hear so much is not very clearly indicated by the Customs returns.

It has come to our knowledge that poaching is being carried ou nightly in the Maitai river in the most systematic manner, many a fine fraut havitig found its way into baskets carried by those who not only bad not paid the license fee, but were fishing iu an illegal manner. The names of some of the offenders, we understand, are' known, and it is not improbable i iley may receive a summons to attend at the Police Court, and as they have rendered themselves liable to a flue of £20 they may have cause to regret their folly.

Lamentable accounts reach us from tho country districts of tho damage doue by the frost of last Friday night, which, appears to have been experienced over the whole of this island. In the Waimeas the early potatoes have been cut down in every, direction, many of the young peas have suffered severely, and apricot3 have been shrivelled and blackened on the trees. As giving some idea of the severity of the frost we may mention that in a dairy in Waimea West the milk was frozen, while on the higher levels in the neighborhood of Tadmor and Wangapeka tbe ice was an inch thick. The Post learns that H. M. S. Danae, which is at present at Auckland, is to leave for .Fiji on or about the 17th instant for the purpose of conveying Sir Arthur Gordou to this colony. The Danae will most likely reach Wellington with the new Governor on the 18th proximo.