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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 9, 11 January 1881, Page 2

Says Truth of November 3rd :— " Mr Mapleson, who recently arrived at New York with his opera troupe, does not give a Tery flattering account of the Nevr York Custom House officers. Interviewed by a reporter* he said—' One of the officers objected to Gerster having twelve pair* of gloves, and another refuted because Belecca brought the same number of chemises, jnat as if a lady should only bring dirty linen with her. Another official told me that they wera obliged to be so very particular, be cause the Gorernmeut employed detectives to watch the officers, spies to watch the detectives, and two convicted thieves to watch the spies.' What an interesting comment upon the advantages of * high tariff and protection." ' In the course of Tuhi's trial the following evidence was given by Mr Eyes, formerly Superintendent of Marlborougb: — "It Ja not thought anything for Maoris to be seen in liquor there. They can get drunk as often ias they like, the law notwithstanding. The '■ law is a dead letter." ! Bonnor, of the Australian Eleven, hit a ball 147 yards in practice at Mitcbam Green, the distance being marked and chained by the late James Southerton. The late G. F. Grace caught Bonnor out in the match at the Oval at a distance of 115 yards, supposed to be the longest and highest catch ever Been. If this had not come to me from one who heard it (writes " JEgles") I would certainly have doubted the possibility of its occurrence. A lady, expensively attired, entered an omnibus in which several persons were seated. There was a few seconds' delay, and she sharply ejaculated, " Drive on, John ! " Then looking round with ineffable sweetness oo the other occupants she condescendingly explained. " You must excuse me. lam so used to driving in my carriage that I forgot for the moment where I was." They did excuse her, conscious that she knew no better. The police yesterday visited the hotels in Wellington and having caught eeveral bonifaces 'Dapping,' or visitors 'supping,' will issue summonses against them as soon as possible. The police, be it understood, are not making what is commonly termed " * raid " against publicant, and have no desira whatever, we are assured, of persecuting —as they are frequently accused of doing—any publican or publicans. AH they intend to do is to carry out their instructions regarding Sunday trading in liquor fairly but persistently, and the system of visiting hotels will be con- [ tinued Sunday after Sunday till the law is | strictly complied with. Those who have ' been adjudged guilty of a breach of the law will have the renewal of their licenses strenuously opposed in future. — Pat, Jao. 10. A Christchurch correspondent telegrapbß to the Mew Zealand Herald :— ••• A chairman of a suburban Road Board and ex-chairman of 1 a School Committee, having fallen foul of a paper, indited a letter to it. They amused themselves by publishing it as it was received, to the horror of the offended official and the amusement of his friends. This may be gathered from the fact that spectacle is spelt 'spectackless'; gazette is made 'gagette'; wrongs, ' rongs '• and a multitude of other equally amusing specimens of ignorance. The fact that seems to have chiefly irritated this village-cock was, that they (the paper) had called him an active particle, which be evidently did not understand, and took to be abuse of some kind. A somewhat amusing incident recently occurred during the cavalry drill at Hamilton, at the jumping exercise. A well-known member of the corps when putting his horse at the hurdles, was sent forward a cropper through the animal coming to a sudden stop, and fell fairly on his head, and the spike on (he top of his helmet, sinking into the turf, actually held him for a space of two or three seconds in this inverted position, when he fairly fell over as on a pivot.

A distressed early " cockatoo " harvester, on hearing Captain Edwin's forecast of cominc storms the qther day ruefully remarked, ••Tea, that's just lifce the Government, they send iia dry weather right up to harvest time, and then they send us this abominable weather to spoil our crops. Someone says that one o£ our legislators is going to iutroduce a bill prohibiting "shouting" and is going to call it a reformatory measure. Auy one who shall " shout " for another in a public bouse shall be fined not less than one pound. There aie Bonie rash who wonid never violate this statute if. they attained the senility of Methuselah. We do not. believe (a London payer remarks) that Mr. Parnell wisfcc* assassination to be common. There is nothing m ttte man so to separate fcim from ordinary humanity. Yet he can find nothing wiser or nobler to say about a foul murder than thai, such acts would bo" unneecssaiy" if the tenantry Wete orsmuised. What are Englishmen or Irishmen to tliinlc, except that he believes sucli acts, iinder certain circumstances, necessary and tfcer&fore excusable 1 Can any course of conduct be wiofsE *oolfek than one which deepens prejudice, already" almost immovable, by making it seem identical with ordinary morality ? Any wise agitator at tins .noment in Ireland, with his heart set on a now tenure, would declare murder treason to the popular cause, would ostracise any one who defended ifc, and would inaiet that juries, if only out of patriotism, should do their legal , duties • whereds the leaders utter onljr those j cold repfoOfs which/ to men boiling with excitement, sound like encotttageitient, and give the authorities no aid in hunting criminals personally ! with the facts informs the Tones of an act of distinguished gallantry, recen tly performed in one of the mines in the flining district of Leimres, in Spam Three mineis were engaged in sinking ft shaft, and a.tei charging the boreholes with dynamite two or them climbed to the gallery above, the third as is cusfcomiiry; remaining behind to light the fuses attached to the Charges, Having done so, he signalled to his comrades and was in the act of being hoisted up with a windlass and rone; when oil nearing the month of the shaft lie by some accident lost .his hold and fell a distance of fifty feet to the Bottom of the shaft, where he lay stunned and disabled in close proximity to the burning fuses. A chain ladder fortunately communicated with the bottom of the shaft, and on observing the fall one of the miners at the windlass, placing his drawn knife between bis teeth, went down without a moment's hesitation to the rcsciie of his injured comrade and severed the i'iiscs as they were on the point of igniting the charges, tlitis saving him from an awful and instantaneous death. In their " Household Departments" there are very godd adjuncts to a newspaper when edited by a woman ; but the male journalist who dabbles with tbo heaven-inspired mysteries of cooking runs (says a Californian paper), a frightful risk. The editor of tbe Wetldy Pacaluma Pcavine started a column of that kind recently, and a few days afterwards a fierce-looking female came into the rflice, carefully concealing some object behind her apron. " Are you the man that published that new and improved vray to ro«ke currant cake ?" He said he waa. "You said to mix washing-soda with the flour, and stir in a little corn meal and sweet oil to give it consistency ?" " I— l— believe so." "And to add fifteen eggs and some molasses, and two ounces of gum arable, and set it in a cool place to bake ?" " I think that was ifc." " Well, take that then !" And the indignant housewife knocked him down with a weapon that felt like a sandclub, but which he believed in his heart must have been a half-baked hank of cake constructed on the Peaving pattern. An American contemporary, writiDg of tbe state of affairs in Ireland, says : — " The serious measure advocated by the Times was last put in force in 1871. The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended in a district in Ireland, and power was granted to the Lord-Lieutenant to issue his warrant 'for the arrest and detention, without trial, of any person whom he had reason to suspect of belonging to the ' Ribbon Society.' The effect of that Act was magical. The district named in it became as quiet aa any part of Ireland. The Act expired in 1873, but its effects continued down to a late period. The long line of secret societies covered by it extended ever a period of a hundred years. Towards the end of the last century the ' Houghers,' bo called from their system of proceeding by houghing cattle, extended their operations to the hamstringing of British soldiers, by stealing behind them and severing the tendon Achilles with a heavy butcher's knife. They were followed by the • Terry Alls, ' Whifeboys,' and ' Lady Clares,* and these by the Ribbonmen and Polly Magnires, the latter society changing its locality from Roscommon to America, about 20 years ago. The Ribbon Society continued to flourish in Westmeath, Meath, and King's County until the law made a vigorous crusade against it." By the mistake of an invoice clerk, a truck load of loga were delivered at the wrong station at Aix La Chapelle, recently, and as they were being unloaded one of the labourers discovered a longitudinal slit in one of them, and on inserting his knife a strong odour of tobacco issued. The customs officials overhauled the entire lot, when it was found that thirty-two out of thirty-eight logs had been hollo-wed out and stuffed with 3809 pounds of Belgian tobacco. It was a cute trick of Trench smugglers, and but for the blunder of the clerk would probably have escaped detection. A Plumas farmer has a new kind of oats, accidentally discovered. The heads are seventeen inches long and the kernels larger thau usual. Thunder-worship is practised by certain of the natives near British settlements on the West Coast of Africa.