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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 150, 25 June 1881, Page 2

Ii is reported that the returns of additional taxable property under the Property Assessment Act required to be made on the Isth instant have shown a gratifying increase in ' private property throughout the colony even • since the last year's assessment. A substantial improvement in this year'B proceeds of the lax, if reimposed, may be confidently expected, A recent Sydney telegram says -.— Mi Jervaulx, manager of the Orange Slaughtering Company had a narrow escape of being frozen lnst week. The door of the refrigerating chamber closed on him while the rnncbiuery was in motion. Ten minutes pissed before his cries were heard, when bo was partially ib&ensib'G,. A gentleman while talking down the Finegand road a few days ago he observed three of the large common -hawks diving repeatedly underneath the bank of the river, apparently in pursuit ' of :sofae prey. Upon coming up to the spot, W'fohrid that the object of their attack was a f ull-growtfcock pheasant, which had sought shelter underneath the bank close by a willow bush ; and from the ruffled state of his plumage and the exhausted state he was. in, our informant concludes that had he not come up opportunely, they Would have quickly dispatched their quarry. This may account for the scarcity of pheasants in quarters where hawks abbitnd. The Post t6Us the following good story in connection with Mr Murray's notice to introduce his pet chicken, the Drainage Bill, about which for years past he appears to have had a kind of craze »■— " It is said that years ago, when ihe drainage question was agitating the minds of leading men at home, Mr Murray wrote to Sir Robert Peel offering some suggestions oh the subject. Sir Robert, courteous gentleman , that he was, replied thanking Mr Murray for his valuable suggestions, and intimating that they would in due course be laid before the President of the Board of Trade or some other high functionary. Ever since then the recipient of the document " bearing the autograph of the eminent statesman has kept that le'ter pressed to his heart, and would not part with it (the document, not his heart) for untold gold. Ever since then, too, has he had c drainage mania, and notwithstanding the fact that his little bill is annually consigned to the Comparative oblivion Of the grocery establishment and the kitchen, it has year by year risen from its ashes like the Phponix of antiquity, and is once more to be exhibited before the ej'es of the assembled wisdom and might of the people of tbe colony. May its end be peace, for it will doubtless once more be mingled with the ashes of the < grate:' " A further instance of a lucky escape from the Tararua disaster has cropped up. The Biirnadale (Victoria) paper publishes n letter written by Mr George Barnes, oi Cnristchurch, to bis father, in the course of which he saya j-"My luck in not going by the Tararua is sbmething wonderfti'. I wem from Cbristchurch to go in her, and waited all day to sail in her until twenty minutes to six in the evening, when one of my mates here asked me to pay his fare to Melbourne and he would come with me. I put my hand in my pocket, spying that I had but £G, thinking I had £15, viz., a £10 and a £snote,—but to my surprise I had paid away the £10 note for £1 note at the bank for the draft I was taking home with me, and as I had nob paid for my passage I intended coming to tho Bank, seeing after the cash, and going .by Ihe next train to. catch the steamer. But I was delayed so long that. I missed her, lost tbe £10 note and saved my life. That was the best spent money I ever parted with since I was born. Had she gonf anywhere near the time advertised. I asBuredly should have been in her. Two of my mates said she would sink as soon a3 I told them of the loss of the money." The following Wellington telegram recently appeared in the Auckland Star.—* Astßgors, the Greek fiendeaa of storms, is raging in Wellington, and theharboris lashed into foam. So' far no chimneys have been blown down. Only a few tileß, kerosene tins, paving stones, hats, umbrellas, and miscellaneous articles have been whirled away into space. No damage has occurred to tbe shipping; but a few roads have been washed away, and several landslips. Bankruptcies here average about three a day. The Wanaka has just sailed in a gale." .We are glad to, see that the Wellington College is already showing signs of improvement, A few coat* of paint and a little carpentering ia making a wonderful cbange in the building, which certainly did look very dingy before. We hope the improvement will not be confined to the outside, but that Mr Mackey and the new staff will "live up to it "-iV.Z. Times. Rabbitß, although far too plentiful as it is in New Zealand, can scarcely be said to cause as much alarm here as the eight of them apparently does in Australia. iEgles, ip a recent contribution to the Autiratasian, says .—-".The rabbjt is, an innocent-looking member of the animal creation, and yet I believe there are flock-qwners and farmers who would' rather see a tiger at large upoa their lands. Here is a veritable instance. Mac Mutton, .whoße. acres are countless, met on one of his runs a man mounted on ft Borry steed, with a swag on the saddle before him, 'and makitg for the riverford. MacM. (who can scent a selector a mile off) ordered $he manibaqk. <But,! pleaded the horseman, • I am going to Sloptown, and if I have to go round it meanß 25 miles more to my journey.' 'Go 1 back, sir— that's nbthiiig to me.' < Oh, very well,' said the traveller ; 'if I mast;, I must. Bub I've got a pair of rabbits in the sack here. I'm not going to carry them round, bo I'll just turn them loose I The change in the demeanor of MaeMutton was marvellous. It was with politeness almost .dignified that he showed ; that ready traveller the very shortest way across the run to his destination." ' Says a Melbourne telegram of the 14th instant :— Walsh, one of the traverserß in the recent trial of Land Leaguers in Dublin, whose departure had previously been cabled from England, arrived in the Ben Cruachen, and is now about to address audiences on the subject of the Land League. He spoke at the Hotbam Town Hall last night, when about 800 persons Were present, and described the sufferings of the tenants' through evictions. A resolution of sympathy with Parnell and the Land Leagne was carried with acclamation. " Steward." said a passenger on board a steamer one morning- while at breakfast, banding across the table a cup containing, some dark muddy-looking liquid, ' " what is that ?»■ « I think it's tea, eir," replied the 1 ' steward, after a hasty inspection. '-{'Ob very : well," rejoined the, fravejler; "then take it; away, and if , it's tea bring me coffee, and if it's coffee bring me tea]" • ' j ' Only about one quarter of the families in New York have separate dwelling housw. '

The N,Z. Times of yesterday says :—" In the debate on the Licensing Bill last night, Sir William Fox described accommodation houses as "abominable and iniquitos drunken den 9." He never gave expression among bia multitude of random speeches to a remark more devoid of truth in its general application. There may be in the districts with which Sir William Fox is most familiar certain shanties wherein what he terms " Muori rum" may be dispensed, but taking the general character of accommodation houses throughout the colony into consideration, it may ba very f a c ely and reasonably nsserted that they fully come up to their designation, as multitudes of travellers in remr.te and sparsely-inhabited localities will be willing to avow. Sir W. Fox speakß of tener of what he imagines than what he really knows, and his imaginations ! are not always tinged with charity. There wis some little reason in tbe argument \ hdvanced by Mr Saunders that accommoda-lio-j houses conduotcd strictly on temperance, principles would be the best, but this was talking altogether outside the licensing system, and on the broad principe that acGOamodation houses are necessary and for the convenience of at least a section of the travelling public, such places should be I tjjnsed to sell fermeated and spirituous liquors ; the attempt to make the licensa fee a'most prohibitive was, to say at least, ill considered." Equal to the oceasion.—Siigbtly sarcastic was the, clergyman who paused and addressed a man coming iuto church after the sermon had begun, with the remark, " Glad to see you, sir; come in; always glad to see those here late who can't come early." And decidedly Bclf-poasessed was the man thus addressed ia the presence 06 an astonished congregation, as he responded: "Thank you; would you favor me with the text ? " * A Coffee Palace has been opened in Dunedin, the ceremony being couducted under the auspices of the Good Templars. A similar institution— the Temperance Hotel— has been established ia Caristchurch, and there is-n wide spread belief in those communities thit these institutions will prove powerful agencies towards Temperance Reform. The Rev P. Robenson Monro, speakiog at Westport recently, said he had tbe greatest contempt for the Eail of Beaconsfield, the British Aamy, and the late Czar of Russia. The first he called a political harleqaiD, and the British Army hi te mcd a horde of unprincipled villains, only fit to be made targets of. Tbis ungenerous deliverance has got the "revereud" gentleman into trouble. The sum of £60,000 has been refused for a quarter-acre section in Princes street, Duneilin. The young milkman and hia girl stood before the justice of peace. ' You take this milk— • h m !— thn rcnn for butter cr foi wore ?" the mighty man of the 1 >w inquired The girl said it never a-curd to her before, but she supposed she would if that was tbt only whey. According to the American Architect, over one hundred rnilway bridges have given way ia the United States alooe within the last let) years, and their fall has in the majority of cases been accompanied with a disastrous loss of life and property. After the Party. — Elderly Coquette: II And I'm sure you naughty girls sat up ever so late, talking us over 1 How I should like to have bid myself behind the screen and heard it all ?" Horrid Boy : " No, you wouldn't 1" • Visitor: " See, now, would you like mo lo give you a sixpence ?" Darling : "Yes." Visitor : " Yep, Yen, if you — what ? " Darliog: "If y< v cau't afford any more." Bret Harte's first poetic "fragment" commenced in these words — "I sipped the nectar of her lips ; I sipped and hovered o'er her." And the last two lines were as follows — "Her father's hoofs fl-iabcd on the scene. I'm wiser now, and sorer." An old miser, having listened to a powerful discourse on charity; said, "That sermon so strongly proves the necessity of almsgiving that — I've almost a mind 1.0 bog."