CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 63, 15 March 1881, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

To *Hfi Editor v os» the "Evening Mail.*,' Sin— ln rny last mail from England I received a paper from Maidetihead, a small country town not very different in sirs, wealth, and circumstances from Nelson. In it is a report from the Sqperintendent of Police, and it has 'occurred to me that the publication of some such corresponding document in Nelson might be of interest to the citizens. I have no doubt such reports exist, but the public would be glad to know what is the social state of the community from the point of view. of the police, who often have a difficult and frequently a thankless task for work which has but scant appreciation. I hopa you will find space for so suggestive a document.— l am, &c, A. B. Sotkr, Bishop of Nelaoa. Maich 15, 1881. The report is too long to give in full, but the following are extracts from it:— '• Mr Mayor and Gentlemen,— l beg mos!; respectfully to submit my annual report with reference to the duties performed by the police. "On the Ut last tho police force of this borough was reorganise:!, and the present strength is one superintendent, one Bergsant, and eight constables. The borough was laid out in bsatSj which are patrolled regularly by tho police on night duty, which has proved an adequate protection, front th : e fact that no burglary or case of housebreakirig has sinde occurred: There has been one case of fowl-stealing, ttnd one larceny of boots from a anop, where property was stolen to the value of £2 42s 9ci, In each case the property was recovered by the police; and four persons were brought to justice, two of whom were 6hrewd London thieves, who had travelled to Maidenhead to ply their calling, but were detected in their first offence. " Twenty-one persons have been charged with drunkenness, vi£ , 17 males and 4 females; but 9 of the males and 3 of the fenmleß were stranger?; which only Jeft 8 males and one female residents of the borough; therefore I am pleased to state that it is iv very low psr centage as compared with many other towns. " Twenty-four persons have been preceeded against for various other offences. Four children have been found wandering by the police and restored to their parents, who lived at fteading and High Wycombe. "Property has been found by tho police to the value of £12, and restored to the owners. " Twelve -valuable dogs have also been found straying, and given up to their owners. " Thirty catapults have been seized by the police from boys, which has greatly diminished street lamps and windows being broken. " A surgeon called to five urgent cases by the poljce: , '' Only one person has been run over in. the street viz-, a child, who was but slightly injured. " Two coroner's inquests have been held. " A strict observation has been kept on licensed houses, and they have been found to be well conducted, and only one case where proceedings had to be taken* "I would reconimetid that beer-house keopero who keep common lodging-houses should be registered under the Common Lodging House Act, the same &b they are in Lbndon and its suburbs, which would bring them under tho supervision of the police, when it would ensure cleanliness, ventilation, and decency. " I would suggest for the better protection of houses that the occiipiei's may plHce on the shutters, or windows inside the house at the basement, or where thieves could easily climb, a bell during the night time, as to my knowledge it has saved several houses from being robbed." &c, &c.

It is but seldom in mining enterprise (says the Inangahua Herald) that a venture can be pointed out which has enjoyed such uninterrupted success as the "United Alpine, since the Company commenced to declare diridend?, about .tune last. Since then nine dividenda have been declared, varying from 8d to 15d per scrip, and the compiny being divided into 32,000 Bharea, this represents n, total of £13,066 13s 4d or 8s 2d per scrip. In addition to dividing this handsome stun amongst the shareholders, tho Company have erected machinery partly out of profits, besides opening out the mine and otherwise developing certainly tho most permanent and probably the moat valuable gold-mining property in New Zealand, there being a certainty of at least five years' atone to be obtained that will supply the crushing power at present available from the levels opened ; and there is every indication of the stone maintaining the good average quality of that which has been treated durir-g the successful operations of the past nine month?. Twenty-one years ago Mr Charles Stewart, of itho Wairarapa, sent out his little sod, a boy of five years of age, to drive the cows borne out of the bush, but the child never retnrned, and though a party of some forty percoas kept up a search in all directions for three weeks, no truce of him was discovered. A few days ago, however, the boy's skeleton was discovered in a complete state, and identified by means of a button found near it which waa at once recognised by his mother. An Invercargill paper says, an urchin having been ordered to write the names of several greatjmen in his school exercise book made a very fair selection, albeit a little pugnacious up to a certain point. The names were — Shakespeare, Columbus, Nelson, Bruce, Cromwell, Havelock, Franklin. . . at this point the colonial spirit assertod itself, and he woundup hia galaxy of talent with Ned Kelly. We, Charleston Herald, hear that the breach of promise action against Mr J. B Fisher, M.H.R., has been settled amicably, bo that all those who have been conjuring up for themselves a realistic explanation of "love's labour 103t," will now find themselves disappointed. The totalisators, three in number, at the Dunedin meeting did a roaring business, nearly £5,000 being speculated in them during the three days. Half the commission goes to the Club, which thus benefits by about £750, and by the terms of agreement with tho proprietors, the machines are now the Club's property. An exchange Bayß: — "Oao of tho bost modes of takiog down an overdressed young dandy on the platform of a street car is to offar him your fare, as if you took him for the conductor. Conductors are very respectable men, but, like editors, they frequently wear their last year's clothes." We heard of this beiug tried once, says the New York Utrald. The dandy gratefully accepted the six cents, paid bis own fare with it when tbe conductor came along, and smiled significantly as he saw tbe giver 'paying bit oror again. Gum arnbic disaoWed in whisky will keep the hair curled in damp weather. — Exchange. A little sugar dissolved in ifc has th« same effect on the leg*.— John B. Gough. The Wairarapn Daily notices that several Matterton settlers went over to Te Ort Ort on Friday to see the "big pyramid." This Htructuro consists of a basement story of kunmras, or spuds, a second tier of flour, a third of sugar, and a fourth of fish, fleih, and fowl. The edifice 1 is 160ft long, 10ft wide and 14ft high ; and is a compact and solid ma«s of dyspepsia. Bags of flour and sugar could be counted by the thousand, and there were truck loads of dried eels, waggon loads of deg-fish, cart loads of shell-fish, numberless carcases of pigs and sheep, casks of mutton birds, pots and pans containing preserved pigeons. All these dainties were packed op. posite the principal pab, ready for distribution among the various campa at Te Ore Ore. So far the Wairarapa natives have been cooking for their visitors, but from to-day tho spoils will be divided, and each pnrty will cook for itself. Tbe completion of tbe edible mound was celebrated on Friday evening by a small haka and war dance, not a very successful effort, but when the distribution takes place there will probably be a better exhibition. The Philadelphia Chronicle-Herald doesn't like toEeegirla wearing chin-whisker* on their foreheads. , ... . ■....

Ifcuocr's forth not orfc** 1 - Noab lived forty day »r.n water. . h }u Au Austrian Count hsa had a railway . M ul on bit domain tfat carriages on which are propelled by saili. Never spank your children" with a handBaw, or box their ears with the sharp edge of a hatchet, as it is apt to affect the brain. A 1 California inventor has devised a process for pressing and drying potatoes so that they will keep for years without losb of flavor.- , Different persons set f ery different values on their own services. The Hawera Town Board advertised iot an Inspector- of Nuisances the other day, add there were four candidates for the office, one of whom asked for £32 a year, while the accepted candidate asked bu*. £7. The Kussian are paying great attention to the revolver as an instrument of warfare. Upwards of sixty thousand of these handy weapons are being made at Berlin for the Russian army. Divorces are so cheaply and easily obtained in Switzerland, "that it is becoming quite a common practice for persons to marry, in order to find out if they are likely to suit each other. If the result is satisfactory they continue to live together, if not, they obtain a divorce " Fir William Pox is now at Westoe enjoying a few weeks' holiday. The Jianyihkci Advocate understands that he has made most satisfactory progress in settling the Maori claims on the West Coast, and that if things ,s?o on as they have done up to the present, the whole of the claims south of New Plymouth will he settled by the beginning of the sespion. This is how the owner of a Brooklyn clothing store tried to set fire to his premises in order to get the insurance. Before going to the theatre -with a friend he got three half-starved cats and put them into the store. Then he placed a kerosiue lamp close to the edge of his counter, and put a wire hoop strung with fish around the lamp. As he went away he released the cats, .and when they found the fish, the only food in the place, they I^.™ t0 P u!l nt l \ and ™{ umlI .y pulled the lamp off ti.C counter. When it struck the floor it broke, the lia^e met the oil, and there Was a fire. The Coming Ausfcraliau. — This is the title of a remarkable paper in the Victorian Hevietv, in which Mr James F. Hogan maintains that the tendency of jrauog Australia is decidedly downwards. The three^ main characteristics of the native Australian app?ar to be (I) an inordinate love of field sports; (2), a very decided disinclination to recognise the authority of parents and superiors; and (3), a grievous dislike to mental effort. Mr Hogan says that nine out of every ten native Australians spend all their leisure either in crieke*, or football, The insubordination of the Australian '"' larrikin " he attriliuteß largely to the extent to which State education takes the place of parental training ; and, whatever its cause, there is no doubt that the. proportion of juvenile crime in Victoria is abnormally large. His evidence is less conclusive as to the dislike which he thinks he discerns to all mental effort. He sums up his conclusions by saying that " the coming inhabitant of the Southern continent will lie peaceably disposed and sportively inclined ; rather selfish in conduct and secular in practice ; contented and easy going, but non-intellectual and tasteless." In other words, remarks the Pall Mall Undget Mr Hogan thinks that the Australian of the future will sink to the level of the Sandwich lilander. A jfMitleman Informs us tbat he was in Netr Hampthirfi last summer, when the following incidents •ain« under his observation. Tba m«n were mowing in the field, and accompanying them was a large ffewfonndlad dog, who watched the operations and Baw some moles Btart in the grass. The dog caught several by digging for thorn and killing them. All at once the dog disappeared and was gone for iome time. Looking up the field in the direction of the farm-house, our informant saw the dog trotting down towards the men, and by his side was' dotting the house cat, the greatest cordiality always existing between the two animals. The dog brought the cat directly to the swath, and soon pussy know what was up. As soon as a mole was started she caught and killed him, and when one retreated to a hole, the dog scented and dug him out, the cat in this case killing the mole ; and so the dog and cat hunted together for quite a, time, until they wearied of their sport. We suppo3e we shall be told that instinct governed the animals, and that they had no language in which to communicate with each other. — Brunswick, Maine, Telegraph, November 26th. A curious anecdote is told by the Indian Herald concerning Admiral Bythesea, V.C., C.B-, who has just retired from the Service, after having for many years filled the post of Consulting Naval Officer to the Government of India. It is stated that the Admiral was picked up, as an infant, far out at sea, lashed to a bale of goods. A lady — presumably his mother — was with him, but she -was dead, and there was no evidence of any kind by which the names of the waifs could be traced. The officers of the man-of-war which picked up the poor little infant did all they could by adTerti«ement and inquiry to find oat his relations, and, finding all their attempts futile, they determined to adopt the child, to whom they gave the name of "By the, Sea" He was sent to a naval school and when old enough joinod the Navy, By a happy coincidence, the first ship in which he served was the one which had saved his life as an infant. He took to his profession, and during the Crimean War distinguished himself at the Island of Wardo, where he earned the Victoria Cross and the decoration of C.B. Later on his services in India gave him the Companionship of the order of the Indian Empire, and he now retires from the Service with the rank of Admiral — a consummation little dreamed of by the kind-hearfced officers who rescued and educated him.