Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 1881.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 98, 26 April 1881, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 1881.

A foot note having for the last two years been appended to the vital statistics periodically published in the Gazette to the effect that those referring to Nelson were not to ]t)e relied upon as the returns had not been . forwarded by the Municipal authorities, we made a point of enquiring into the matter, and a8 the result of that enquiry Btated that "the implied accusation of neglect is entirely without foundation, the assertion that the required returns have not been furnished being absolutely untrue." This drew forth a very indignant letter from the Registrar-General, who wrote to the Town Clerk as follows (enelosing the paragraph cut from the Mail of 30th March -last): — "I have the honor to draw your attention to an extract from the Nelson Evening Mail of the 30th ultimo. I think it is to be regretted that the Editor Bhould have deliberately charged me with making an untrue statement. I presume he did so in consequence of statements made by you. I can only repeat what was stated in the report, that the information asked for has never been supplied to me — it has never reached this office. I am, &c, Wm. Brown, Eegistrar- General." Mr Gully very properly declined to be answerable for any editorial comments that might appear in a newspaper, and replied as follows to the RegistrarGeneral:— "The only 'statements' made by me to the Editor of the Evening Mail on this matter consisted in my giving, in answer to his enquiry, information as to correspondence between this office and your own in reference to returns, copies of which, and of returns furnished, I showed him, such information being to the best of my knowledge Btrictly correct. For the Editor's remarks thereon lam not responsible. Ido not understand your statement that the information asked for has never been supplied." A memo came back from the Registrar, of which the following is a copy: — "I cannot explain my words more fully. If being supplied means delivery to this office the words I have used are correct, and I do not know what further to say to make them clear. I have never had the information I asked for respecting the number of inhabited dwellings in Nelson." Mr Gully appears to have been a little nettled by the tone the correspondence had taken, and memoed back to the evidently angry Registrar: — "The point upon which I wished for further information was not the meaning o£ ' being supplied,' but what it was that ' had not been supplied.' This you have now made clear. I beg to call your attentiou to the fact that on the 21st May la3t I sent you a Return coutainiug, amongst other information, tbo 'estimated number of buildings ' in Nelson, having already previously informed you that I was unable to distinguish between inhabited and uninhabited houses. This Return, I ' presume, reached you in due course of post." The foregoing was written on the 16th instant, god up to date no reply has been received,

Ihk ir, iuC Gits.i'Jf v,-t"ic-j came <c hand ficciay there is n taui; s^i^toa by the Kegistruv fhaf. us we tfti'l on >'h<>. 30Ui ult.. "the i.r.p)uu ! . ucv-in-ilk'n oi Uc^Uxt was entirely wi; bout f(H\»Hi;ii ion, tho assertion that the ic-.r.^-cu iwuUia b;»vo j;Ou beta fui'jishc-d bcui;, absolutely untrue." The vilal Kiatia-tic-i Liifj pu'o'ibhed ia due course, but the offensive foot none ib omitted ! And yet not a '.iij^.o return of any kind has been sent to tho lii-^isirar's office, by the Town Clerk sii.ee tho publication of tho last statistics. The Kegistrar-General should not have been content with merely omitting to make the groundless accusation to which he Imd appended his name for the last twenty-tour months. Seeing that newspaper comments have heeu made upon the alleged neglect of tho Town Cleik on the strength of the Uegislrar'a ofl-repeated misstatement, he should have explained that it was his own ofliee and not that of the Town Cleik that was to blame, Fnov the railway traffic, returns recently published wo ler~u that the receipts iot the financial year (which closed oh the 31st March) up to the Sth March were £768,935, the expf-mtunte for tho same period being £481 „"51. On all the seelions there was an increase for tho four-wetk'.y period na comparer! with the cot'iosponding month of the previous year. ()u the Nelson section the receipts were £748 against £734, the small increase being in the passenger traffic, the returns for freight being within a few shillings of the same amount as iu ISBO. The total receipts for the nionth were £69.697, towards which the great southern line contributed £51,407. The Gieymouth still continues to be the best paying Hue, the average revenue per mile calculated for a twelve-monthly period being £1342, aud the expenditure £614. On the southern line the average receipts per mile are £800, against an expenditure of £489 ; on the Nelson section the receipts per mile average £419, the expenditure being £313. The total number of passengers who travelled on the Now Zealand railways for the four-weekly perio i ending sth March last was 224,064. This shows a great falling off as cotnpaied with the previous year, when the number was 236,142. The southern line alone shows a decrease of 15,000 passengers in the 1881 month as compared with that, of 1880. On the other hand the goods, &c, carried on that section showed an increase of 20,500 tons. Mr. Joseph Mackay having been em powered by the Wellington Board of College Governors to select his own staff of teachers, he will, we understand, take with him Messrs Firth and Bartiicoat, the present juuior masters of the Nelson College. Madame Summeriiatks will give the last but ouo of her pianoforte recitals at the Harmonic Hall this evening when the programme will include a cornet solo by Master Hill, A well attended meeting of the Nelßon Football Club was held at the Masonic Hotel on Saturday evening last. The Secretary having read his report, the following officers were elected:— Mr J. Firth Captain, and Mr H. Burnett Secretary. Messrs Walker, W. Atkinson, J. Askew, S. Wells, Burnicoat ) aud 11. Hodgson were appointed Committee] men. Tne opening game was fixed for Satur. day next, when it is hoped every member will be present. Mk. John R. Mabin reports the sale of Colonial Bank shares at 455. PttOtfKSsoit Ilaselmayer'a farewell performance in Nelson which has been unavoidably postponed until Thursday will be of a more varied character than most of his entertainments, as to his ordinary tricks will be added the exquisitely beautiful effects obtained by the passing of a powerful current of electricity through specially prepared tubes. " Such tubes " (eays the Lyttelton Times) « for the most part contain bo air, but they do enclose one or Other of the gases in an attenuated form, and the presence of the thin hydrogen, for instance, will give to the electric fluid a characteristic colour. By bendicg the tubes iu graceful outlines, dividing thtrn into clusters, which group different gases, and surrounding them with variously coloured transparent liquids, moat lovely combinations of delicate colours are secured. * * * * The effect of hydrogen was first shown, and then the Professor gave an example of the fluorescent effects produced upon powder of phosphorus, after a Uurrent had passed through it. In succeeding simple and compound tubes there were shown varied arrangements of violet, pale green, carmine, primrose yellow, &c, with, in on« instance, the gasaiot cascade effects, produced by placing within bulbed enlargements of a tube, small models of Etruscau vases. There was also a magnificent revolving star, obtained by a very simple grouping of a few Geissler tubes upon a rotating disc, and this portion of the entertainment concluded with a set piece, forming, in variously coloured electric light, the motto " God save the Queen." The complete returns of Customs revenue collected in New Zealand during the financial year ended 31st ult. are now to hand. The total amount is £1,309,848, or £59,848 above the Colonial Treasurer's estimate iu his last Budget. The Customs returns for the previous year amounted to £1,183,541, so that the year just expired shows an increase of £126,307, a very substantial improvement, even allowing for the diiference made by the higher tariff now in force. The total result thus very closely approaches |that of 1878-9, which reached the large Bum of £1,334,421. All the ports exhibit a marked advance on the preceding year. — Post. The Bishop of Nelson was present at a public meeting held at Greymouth, on last Friday week, re the proposed East and West Coast railway. His remarks are thus reported by the Grey River Argus : — " The Bishop of Nelson, who had only juat arrived in Greymouth about an hour and a half ago, said be felt considerable interest in the question, as the proposed line would pass through portion of the country he was obliged to travel in the course of his avocation. As to the desirableness of the line, there could be no doubt about that. It would be a very serious thing to allow Government to interfere with this, the first legitimate exercise of capital. Years ago the construction of the line had been suggested by those in authority in Nelson, and they were told by Government that it would take it into its own hands. They must be upon their guard this time that Government did not take charge of the nurseling and overlay it. They did not want Government to do everything for them. Let them be independent. Let the Government provide security for life and property; let them leave companies and life insurance, and noc get their bands so full of that kind of business as to interfere with the legitimate business of government. He regarded the connection of Mr Wickea and other old West Coasters with the scheme as a harbinger of success. He then pointed out how sadly that part of the country had been neglected in regard to internal communication as there was not even a coach road on it. He wished the movement every success."