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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 224, 12 November 1880, Page 2

New Zealand (says the Sydney Bulletin) from all accounts lately, is in a deplorable state. The latest comes from a Sydney gentleman now on a visit to Dunedin. It appears to do nothing but rain there. No amusement, save drinking— drinks, Gd all round; oysters, ls 6d a dozen. Barmaids are the great attraction, and our informant saya he doesn't wonder at it, but that he wouldn't live there for anything.

G. Palmer, one of the Australian eleven, is among the dismissed of the Victorian Lands Department. Twice eleven— 22, just the wins of the Australian team. Their losses were four, aDd their dravys eleven. Lightning seldom strikes twice in the same place, and a homely woman feels that a similar law governs question-popping. The Minister of Railways in Victoria bas about a thousaud tons of old rails on band, which he intends to use in making tramways iv the agricultural districts to act as feeders to the lines of railways. If the experiment proves aa successful as ifc is anticipated that ifc will, the system of tramways will be carried out on a more extensive scale. This ia an idea which might with advantage be copied in New Zealand. Ifc appears tbat the Agent* General ofSouth Australia allowed six ship loads of defective rails to leave England after bis attention had been called to a fraud having been committed. Mr George Elliott, of Dunodin, paid the admission fees of fifty pupils of the ludos-; trial schtiol of that city in order to enable them to hear oue of Professor proctor's lectures. ' The smuggling of tobacco is being largoly . engaged in in Tasmania, and two Melbourne firms are alleged to be manufacturing tobacco for the purpose of getting it is'muggled into Tasmania. In the t-nitcd States recently a woman went into the show business on a s_ila.ll scale with a bogus petrified baby, which she wheeled from town to town in a perambulator, telling a story of its sickness, deatb, and final transformation into stone. The figure had been well made up as to its head and arms, but plain marks of the chisel were found slsewhere. The Chinese difficulty in the Northern territory is v. hat the S.A. Government bave now to face. It is thought that unless something is promptly done the Northern territory will become a Chinese' settlement, be abandoned by Europeans, and the capital expended there turn out a dead loss. The French Acadaniy has distributed ils annual prizes for virtue. Four huudred dollars each were awarded to a woman in humble life for adopting deserted children; to an arti-.au, for forty years' devotion in saving lives from fire ; to a peasant, Jor preserving' lives from drowning, and to a widow, for fifty years' services to the sick and needy. The Scotch Education Department has reported to Parliament that the number of children of the school age— namely, from five years to thirteen — was ascertained to be 62., 25 _at the last census, from which it advanced in the seven years to 645,076; and the schools in Scotland provide places for 40,000 more children than there are to be educated. In startling invention France has resolved not to be far behind the enterprising Yankee ; for we have seen a letter in the Times, from Mr. J. S. Cocksedge, describing ploughing by electricity in France ! One of Mr. Howard's double furrow ploughs has been used afc Scrmaize-les-Bains (Marne), in experiments with electricity as a motive power, and these are said to have resulted in a complete success. "The plough," says Mr. Cocksedge, " worked steadily and completely to the satisfaction of all present. A gentleman whom I have known for many years, M. Gourguillon, of Vir try-le- Francois, who saw the experiment, speaks of it in the most assuring terms. He says the motion is conveyed to a drum from the electric machine aud thence by a coil of wire to the plough. There was no stoppage of any kind, but the plough did its work steadily, aboufc Sin. deep. The inventor is aM. Felix, owner of a large sugar manufactory at Sermaize-les-Bains. It may be many years before this can be brought into profitable practical use, but if ifc can, what a revolution it Avill accomplish 1" — Mark Lane Express. Bishop Moorhouse's address on education, at the Melbourne Social Science Congress, is described as a masterly survey of the whole field of primary education, aud will inevitably produce great effect throughout Australia. Tbe Bishop thinks thejeffort in these colonies has been to perfect a system rather than to create a thirst for knowledge. " The German child is among the best educated of children, but too often becomes a stupid man; while, on the otber hand, the American, in country districts, was among the worst educated of children, and developed into one of the brightest and most efficient of citizeus." " I can't see the Exhibition on account of the exhibits," said a little precocity the other day at the great show. Paradoxical as this exclamation might seem, nevertheless there is some amount of truth in it, for no judgment whatever has been used in apportioning the spaces. Whilst in some almost impenetrable places iv the Foreign Courts we are squeezed into mummies in vain attempts to catch a glimpse of a trophy or a trifle, iv other places, notably tbe Victorian Court, open spaces stand stanngly vacant for the purpose of displaying aud advertising to advantage some vatnped-up, protection-nur-tured abomination.. Chief Justice Thompson, of Pennsylvania, says:— lf those wbo preach had been lawyers previous to entering the ministry, they would know more about the depravity of tbe human race than they do. Education, refinement, and even a high order of talent, canoot overcome tbe inclination to evil which exists in the human heart antl has taken possession of the very fibres of our nature. From tbe electoral returns just issued from the New South Wales Government Printing Office it appears the Jones's carry the day, and are more numerous than the Smiths. After tbe latter come the septs Williams, Taylor, Davis, and Brown. Johnson stands tenth, Robinson, eleventh, Wilson tweltb, Thompson with a " p" takes only twenty-fourth place, and Clark without an ,l e" is only thirty eighth. Among the strange names are Albertina Regina Victoria Gotha Brown, Turnerica Henrica Ulrica dv Gloria de Lavinia Rebecca Turner, and Hostilliana Ophigenia Maria Hypiphile WadgSmith. Cologne Cathedral was commenced August 14, 1248, and the last stone of the cross ornamenting the pinnacle of one pf the great spires was finally fixed on the 14th August last. The church bas thus been 632 years in course of erection. In Italy (remarks a contributor to a Melbourne paper) a charming device has been adopted by the Legislature for raising the wind. They have decided to tax titles, or rather the wearers of them, just as in England we tax those who use armorial bearings, even if tney but wear a a crest on a signet ring. A prince has to pay 30,000 lire, a duke 25,000 and so on, and they will have to produce a receipt in order to establish their claim to nobility. This will probably not much increase the revenue, because Italian noblemen have very little money, but it will decrease the nobility— a reflection which, as Mr Pecksniff says, " is very soothing." Will any member of our present Radical Government have the temerity— but there, I daren't write ifc. The following sketch of Mr C. S Parnell, M.P , is from Vanity Fair :— " Some 40 years ago a scion of the noble house of Oongleton was espoused to the only daughter of Admiral Stewart, of the United States navy, and in the year 1846 their union was blessed with a little boy, Charles Stewart Parnell. Tbis little boy having grown into a big mau, and haying learnt all that Magdelen College, at , Cambridge, could teach him, turned his mind to politics. Following in the step, of his grandsire, brother to Baron Congleton, who was a mighty Anti-Unionist, Charles Stewart has become a leader among Home Rulers, and a prophet ofthe Anti Rent Party. A union of Saxon, Milesian, and American blood has made the greatest agitator of the day ; aud the peoplo of the oppressed island hold him a 9 a second Liberator. Lord of the lovely Vale of Avoca, and brother of sisters who are celebrated for tbeir beauty, Mr Parnell cares little for the amenities of life, and be is most at home when his foot is on his native platform, and the excited Milesian is before him. He is at this moment an acknowledged power which Ministers treat with deference, if not witb kindness, and he bas ifc iv his hands to do much for his country, either for good or for evil. Mr Parnell is not a heaven-born orator, but an unbounded belief in himself haß carried him on, and he is now always listened to both in and oufc of the House of Commons, where he has sat or stood for five years. His grateful countrymen have provided him with a variety of seats in it, but with not one easy one among them."

Dr Smiles is writing, under the title of " Duty," a companion volume to " Self-Help" and other popular works pf his of the same class.— Farjeon, tbe novelist, will be the editor of a new London weekly, soon to be issued, under the title of Saturday Afternoon. Nearly 500,000 despatches pass monthly through the pneumatic' telegraph tubes of Paris. The pack of salmon this year in tbe United States is about 534,000 cases, something like 100,000 in excess of last year's return. All patent medicines are in Japan examined by public analysts before being allowed for sale. Last year there were 11,900 applicants for 48,000 secret medicines. Of ithese a large number were prohibited, and a great majority were harmless to kill or cure. Th-; Bishop of Durham, England, recently characterised co-operation as a development of property and free-trade, a harmoniser of differences between capital and labour, and a patent aid to moral and political progress Benjamin Abbott, who has jusfc died at Smyrna, New York, in the eighty-second year of his age, waß the seventh husband of his widow, who survives him. Thia muchtalked of and much-published event (for it = went the rounds when he for the secoud and she for the seventh time bowed before the altar of Hj-caen) occurred on June 30, 1875, he then being seventy-eight and she eightytwo years old. Mrs Abbott's history iv the marital relations of life stands perhaps without a parallel in the records of the nation, and tradition ha 3 it that there is to be yet another. Ifc is currently stated, without contradiction, that some years ago she had a vision in which eight men stood before ber in a peculiarly impressive manner, which she has ever regarded as prophetic of the number of conquests she was to make. Her maiden name was Williams, and she has beeu successively Mrs Franz Mrs Riggs, Mrs Farrow, Mrs Wallace, Mrs Barry, Mrs Pratt and Mrs Abbot. In every instance, save the first, she married widowers, some of them with a good number of children ; and on one occasion, in hor early married life, she went to the almshouse and took therefrom three children and raised them. All her life bas been spent near Smyrna, aud all her husbands were buried by the same undertaker. A thrilling episoie is reported from San Juan de Luz as having taken place during a graud bull fight which came off in that town on the 22nd ultimo. Frascuelo, the eminent toreador, had beeu engaged for tbe Correo ln question, although scarcely recovered frotn a wound inflicted upon him by a bull at Pam peluna a fortnight previously, and entered the ring, bis left arm still bandaged and in a sling, amidst the enthusiastic plaudits of the public. After the firsfc bull had been subjected to the usual preliminary tortures at the hands of the chulos, picadores, and banderjlleros, Frascuelo took up bia position in front of the corregidor's box, tbere to deal the infuriated animal its death blow, secundum artem. As, however, he delivered tbe mortal thrust with bis accustomed grace, the bull caught him under the arm pits and tossed him into the air, trampling upon him when he fell. With great difficu'ty tbe banderilleros succeeded in distracting the angry brute's attention from its prostrate foe, who was raised from the ground, still conscious, yet unable to stand without support. As be was being carried oufc of the ring the bull made a fierce rush at the bystanders wbo had climbed over the barriers, and a scene of indescribable panic ensued, which, however, was happily terminated by fche death of the valiant bull. Transfixed by Frascuelo 's unerring blade, it stopped short close by the barrier as though stricken by lightning, tottered, fell forward on r s knees, and rolled over dead, having avenged its torments by disabling the most skilful and intrepid matador of the Peninsula Frascuelo is still in a desperate state, bufc little hope being entertained of his recovery. " Stolen Kisses," tiie title of Mr Merritt's play afc tbe Academy (writes " Atticus" in the Leader), has given rise to some awkward ancl some interesting situations. An eligible bachelor of great bashfulness was throw ninto a state of excessive nervous excitement the other, day by having to escort to her residence in a quiet suburb an almost equally tremulous spinster of uncertain age, and of decided matrimonial leanings- Just as tbey were passing down a quiet street, shaded by overhanging trees from the beams of tbe moon, some luckless inspiration caused him to break silence after a long interval with the thoughtless inquiry (he had been at the play the nighfc before), " How do you like ' Stolen Kisses' ?" Ob Mr J !" simpered the coy maiden, clinging to his arm more closely than ever, and thinking that at last her hour bad come. "If .you do I sball be too frightened to scream !" After tbat he walked the next two miles without opening his lips or turning his head towards his expectant companion. Young W was of quite, a different stamp; and when his pretty cousin, after giving her opinion upon the Royal Middy, asked, "Is ' Stolen Kisses' good ? " he answered with great promptitude, " They're generally considered'the sweetest — suppose we try." Of course she had never thought of such a wicked rendering of her innocent query, and was shocked at his boldness — but they tried. The Age thus opens an article on the latest phase of Berryism :— " We fear that there is not a Liberal in the country or in the House who will not hear with pain and astonishment that Mr. Berrj*- should have taken the inconceivably foolish step of promotiug one of bis sons and appointing another in the department under his charge. Public men will occasionally commit acts that have the character of absolute infatuation ; and when tbey do, it becomos necessary to take care that tho party with which they are associated should not be compromised by them. We can think of no argument whatsoever by whicb Mr Berry can expect to justify bis conduct, even in the eyes of his friends, much less of bis enemies. His enemies will, of course, accuse him of abusiug his position for tbe purpose of furthering the interests of his family, and his friends will find it imposssible to acquit him of an execrable breach of taste. He will probably bimself reply tbat in reinstaling his son in the position from which his predecessor dismissed him he is only following out the policy which the Government determined on from tbe beginning, and that there is no reason why a different treatment should be meted out to the Berry s because they happen to bear his name. But there is a reason, and it is a reason which every man who is not insensible to the fitness of things, and who knows how much the instinctive sense of fitness enters into the judgment which the public form of public men, will see at a glance. The feeling is one that has its roots in the higher and more refined side of human nature, and no public man can recklessly shock it without imposing asevere strain upon the indulgence of his admirers."