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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 225, 13 November 1880, Page 2

In a letter to Mr J. C. Brown, M. H. E., the Premier says: — " The re-arrangement as to the portfolio of Minister of Mines will be effected when Ministers are newly sworn in on the arrival of Sir Arthur Gordon." It is stated that a large party of Jesuits expelled from France will come to New South Wales. Gr. W. Williams, the coloured representative from Hamilton county, is writing a history of the coloured race in America. The demands on the watch trade in the United States amount to 3000 watches a day. At Singapore within six weeks 40 Chinese have died out of six hundred. The disease is known as beri beri, Sir Hercules Robinson is popular even iD New York. A paper there, speaking of him, concludes thus :— " Sir Hercules is one of the numerous sons of an Irish clergyman by the daughter of Sir Hercules Languish, fie has an Irishman's love for horseflesh, and never missed an Australian race of any importance. Of a conciliatory disposition he always got along very well when Governor, and is deemed a safe man by the Colonial Office." The Post of Thursday says:— Among the civil actions fixed for hearing at the Resident Magistrate's Court this afternoon, is one in which Dr Kesteven, of Wellington, figures as plaintiff and Mr George Ashcroft, the manager of railways for this district, as defendant. The amount sued for is £28 7s, " for money payable by the defendant to the plaintiff for work done and attendances of the plaintiff by him bestowed as surgeon and apothecary and otherwise for the defendant and at his request, and for medicine and other materials supplied and provided by the plaintiff to and on account and at the request of the defendant." The bill of particu'ars was as follows:-—" Attendance at the Rirautaka railway accident, 27 miles, at £1 is per mile, £-°8 75." Mr Forwood, we believe, has been engaged to undertake the plaintiff's case, and Mr Gordon Allan that of the defendant. A large number of witnesses—including several members of the medical profession — have been summoned on both sides, and the result of the case will be looked for with considerable interest. The Rangitikei Advocate states that at a forced sale of timber in the Manawatu district recently a considerable quantity of rimu was sold at Is 3d per hundred delivered on the railway trucks, and some went even at the lower price of Is per hundred. House building should be cheaply done in that neighborhood. A prisoner in Exeter Gaol has just committed Buicide in an extraordinary manner. After breakfast he was allowed to remain in his cell for some time, and on the warders next visiting him they found that he had crawled under the bed, then lifted the end of the bedstead, and allowed it to fall across his throat. He was quite dead. It is a curious example of the irony of fate, says London Truth, that the new editor of Punch is a Roman Catholic. There was a time when Punch was so conspicuoua for its attacks upon Roman Catholics that Doylo severed his connection with it. At one time these attacks grew so violent that the Tablet announoed that if they were continued it would publish a series of accurate biographies of the Punch staff, beginning with the editor., The attacks stopped, and the tjographies did not appear.

In Lumpkin county, Ga., there is a negro woman named Matilda Herbert who is 120 years old. Trickett, laycock, and Jack Thompson are called the " gianta "in England. When they go out together for a walk they are " the observed of all the observers." There was a lively scene iD connection with the Melbourne Exhibition affairs the other day. Mr Sergeant, the caterer, endeavored to serve the Hon James Munro, one of the commissioners, with a writ for £5000 damages for breach of contract. Mr Monro wielded his historical umbrella, and shouting his historical battle-cry of "Never, never, never," he sent Mr Sergeant down to the ground in approved fashion. The latter's head is considerably injured by the bumping it sustained, and he intends to sue the rejected of Carlton for damages. There was a terrible wedding " sell" at Accrington last week, says s London paper. The couple, whose families occupy a prominent position in the " society " of the district, were actually at the altar in the chapel, which was densely crowded, when the "minister" discovered that the notice had not been given, and the cereniooy consequently had to be postponed till next day. The would-be bride and bridegroom and their friends consoled themselves in a really philosophical -fashion by returning home to consume the " breakfast," after which they drove out to spend the afternoon at a picturesque spot in the neighborhood. Messrs Grant and Foster, the Lincolnshire farmers' delegates, sum up the book they have written on New Zealand as follows: — Is New Zealand a good field of emigration for British tenant farmers? Will they be able to use there to advantage the capital that remains to them after the hard times through which we have been passing, and will they be able there to establish the home which an Englishman, in whatever part of the world he lives, wishes to possess ? We answer yes to all these. We believe that any English farmer, of industry and perseverance, possessing a little capital, and a good knowledge of his business, may make a very good living for himself and his family, and will have better opportunities of settling his children than he would in a country like ours, which, after centuries of occupation, is crowded in every corner with members of every trade, profession and calling.