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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 222, 10 November 1880, Page 2

The Sydney Morning Herald has an article drawing attention to the expenses incurred by the different Australian colonies, merely in maintaining Governors and Ministers, without referring to the subordinate expenses of the various Governments. Thus, the six colonies of Victoria, New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, South Australia, and Tasmania, with an aggregate population amounting to 2,686,951, bave six Governors and 42 Ministers. The Governors' salaries amount to £38,000, and Ministers' salaries to £53,950. Taking Ministers alone, we find that their salaries, paid by little over two and a half millions of people, are nearly equal to those drawn by the Cabinet Ministers of the United Kingdom with a population of 35,000,000. If the limitation to the English Cabinet Ministers is set aside, the whole British Ministry is not more numerous than our Ministers in these coloniea, and is not paid more than double as much. During a Banco sitting in Wellington the other day, his Honor the Chief Justice remarked it wis a curious fact that the working of the bankruptcy laws depended upon a few private individuals. If the newspaper pro- i prietors should choose to refuse an advertisement announcing insolvency, the whole process of bankruptcy would come to a stop. This was supplemented by the N.Z. Times as follows : — lt may be added that if a fish should refuse to stay in fhe water Us life would come to a Btop .When newspaper proprietors refuse advertisements the wg^l.l,.* will cease to revolve on its axis, and the' millennium wili Legih next day. At Hull, Bonner and Jarvis. threw a cricket ball for « a fiver " aside,- the fortnsr giving the latter five yards. The. throws were:— Bonner, 12Syds 2ft; Jarvis; 120yds. Judge Black, writing from Paris, says the Republic is pompous, expensive, and as showy as an Oriental monarchy.

The deceased wife's sister waltzed into | the Queensland Assembly the, other day. j They pitched hotlyinto the English House J of Lords for not allowing her to be a legal wife everywhere. Palmer said onlyi one bishop voted last time against the Bill. Morehead was glad that even one bishop had so much good sense, The Archbishop of Canterbury goes into the highways and hedges for his guests. He recently entertained 600 poor people at Lam betb, and presented each visitor witb a bunch of flowers. There are two hundred millions of capital lying idle in London, and about one hundred millions in the United States. Adelina Patti is enj lying a rest in her castle of Craig-y-nos, in Wales, which has cost her £80,000. On taking possession, she gave a fete to the leading men of the Englieh, French, and Italian Press. It is said that she has signed engagements for an eighteen months' tour in America, for which she is to receive 600,000 dollars (£140,000), and tbat ou the termination of the American engagement she will retire into private] life. No European tongue equals tho Arabian language iu richness. It is full of imagery and beauty, so tbat all love-songs breathe a spirit of tenderness a3 graceful as ifc is impassioned. It has 200 words denoting a serpent, 500 for a lion, 1000 for a sword, &c. The natives believe ifc impossible for an uninspired man to become master of«it. Kate Kelly visited Geelong tbe other day to interview a woman who claims to be able to discern the future in the life of each of her patrons by glanciDg at the wrinkles in the face or the lines in the palm of one's hand. This woman has few customers, happily all females. A 'Frisco correspondent says:— ''The death of Adelaide Neilson cast a perfect pall of sorrow over the city. The last night here she played Amy Robsart, one of the most touching, and wonderfnl of her impersonations. Her scene with Elizabeth, when she grovels at the Queeu's feet, and drags herself round the stage on her knees was terrible in its intensity. She was fearfully ill, suffering from tightness of the chest, and she tore her clothes and shrieked iu her physical agony, though none knew her emotion was aught, but an access of impasioned fervour. As the curtain descended, she fell in a dead faint; aud Was with difficulty r - a' ored — and yet she was vilifiel by her sister women. That night will never be forgotten by tbose who saw her. As I happen to know some ladies who were in her dressingroom, I know this was one of those heart attacks which over shadowed ber life. Curiously enough on hei* baggage was labelled "Farewell Tour." How little that lovely woman knew it was indeed her farewell. On her photographs wbich she gave me at parting she wrote, ( T6ut tassc, tout passe, tout laase.\ She Was always sad, and said she bad not long to live. Sb.e might be likened to a gorgeous night-blowing Ceres, blooming in magnificence once in a hundred years, and ■lowly dying midst the splendour of her wondrous beauty." The San Francisco Ministerial Union met recently to arrange for the visit of Moody and Sankey. A reception was agreed upon. In the course of his speech the Rev. Dr. Piatt made some startling remarks. He said he would heartily second the efforts of his brethren in the work, but as for himself, he was discouraged with the prospects in San Francisco. Money-getting was the only aim in life ; those who got money studiously avoided churches, and those who had none or had lost their all likewise shunned churches, and wandered about the city from place to place with despair in their hearts. He did not see how the churches were to be filled except with importations from the East. Here atheism, materialism, and rationalism seemed to pervade the minds of the people. Even from thc common schools religion had been banished. He understood the Word or mention of God was stricken from all text books, and that there were no religious exercises. One sees strange social records in the Melbourne general cemetery, as no doubt in other places of burial (says a Press correspondent). While walking through this city of the dead, I observe a grave where a wellknown sportsman has buried three wives. I noticed thafc the second was younger than the first, and the third younger than the second ; also that each of them was " beloved." Not far from this tomb I saw a head-stone which was erected by a husband and wife to thc memory of their eighteen infant children. The parents of those numerous babies now repose with their fruitful offspring.