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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 165, 13 July 1881, Page 3

The Post in its " "Esseuce of Parliament " says : — The greater part of yesterday afternoon's sit ing of the Lower Chmaber was devoted to settling a" storm in a teapot," raised by a report brought up by the Native Affairs Committee upon a pcti ion of someHokianga natives. These natives had sent to Mr. Rolleston a petition for presentation to the House, praying that tbeir names might be included among others in a Crown grant in corns ec ion with certain land in a part of the Hokianga district, hay ng the lovely but simple designation of Whakatahatoha." Xoohject:on could of course be taken to this, but the petitioners co- eluded by intimating that should their words n--.t he considered thoy '* will take up arms against the people whose names arc- in the office at Auckland, and it is possible s; meone may be killed *' This is what the Native Ail-airs Coramttee thought improper hij'guaje, ani unfit for the consideration of the iiouse. When Mr Ro'bs'on present td the petition he was not aware that it contained the angunge co.T.pla'ned of. or it would not have been handed in, but being handed in. the liouse was sorely troubled whtt to do with it. Nearly two hours" debate took place on tie subject — some members urging tbat the petition should be considered, because the Mnoris di !n't mean any harm, and others stating V at the language was so threatening and insulting that uo notice should be taken of it ILithnntely. it was resolved to fo!! w to some extent the ox-mple of one of Artemus War-is heroe**. v,h-.>. after fifteen long and weary years in b lonesome dungeon, was struck with a su den thou-jht — h oponid the win'ow and got out. So with the petition cf these natives. After spending s much breath upon it th? House •J'vcntually beca-i.e impressed with the notion that it would be best to allow it t? be withdrawn—aud so it was. The following enthusiastic appreciate n of the Brighton review by a French correspondent appears in the " Clarion "A "I have just attended one of the- finest sights that it is p ssible to see in a fre j country. Twenty-two thousand citizen soldiers voluntarily saoificing a holiday, their Easter Monday, to ac:omp!i'sh a part of th-ir military duty, and behind these 22,000 there are 200,000 others ready to aire their lives to defend their country against iuvasion, hut who for the most part live too far from Brighton. They were therefore absent, but if danger wore threatened they would al! rush to the front," Parliamentary forms can sometimes be varied with advantage. The other day a Bill was brought into the Colorado Legislature, offering a premium of £5 for tbe scalps of skunks and Indians. '• I move/ said an indignant legislator, '•'• that the Bill he chucked under the table." The Speaker's face glowed with satisfaction as he put the motion iv exactly the words in which it had he 11 offered : •' Tbe motion to • chuck the Bill under the table' is carried." said the Spcak^ r ; -•* chuck it under the table." And the clerk literally obeyed the order of the liouse. A little of this promj-itude would not be a bad thing in our own Parliament. An interesting case was heard in the District Court at Chriiic'aurch on Monday last A firm had soma cement od board the Abernyte, a*. Ljttelton, 260 casks of whicb were detained on board for some time. Tbey sued for damages, bavicg had to buy cement at a loss to make up an order, while their own was detsiued. The capiain eaid it wa? the practice of vessels to keep some of the heavier cargo ca bear! for '• stiffening " until it was replaced. The jucgj decided that the captaiu had no bu mess to consult hi 3 own convenience, to the detriment cf owneis ef cargo, and gave judgment for X! 2 10s, the nctual loss ia buying other ctmeut. Nearly every Legislature in Europe is more or less p'e-occupif_ wi'h the marriage question. Io Hungary they have just legalised tbe marriage cf Jews acd Christians, acd are discassiog the introduction of obligatory civil maniac*-?. Ia Lenmnk the Fulk:thicg has been discasjji-jg the re-m-irrij-ge of divorced persona. In fSpiin the S^gisja "Ministry is busk-d about the rc-est.blishment cf civil manages. M Naquet's bill for legalising divorce was defeated a snort time egr> t-y the Fiench Chamber, which 13 now called upoa to dtal with prrp jsals legalisms the marriage of brother -in-law witb their cisters-in-liiw and the marthge of nriests. In Italy the divorce question has beta brought before ths Legi-da ure by a proposal to sanction divorce when cither the husband 01 tie wife ba-- been condemned to pei:al servitude for !iu-, a:;.! to cnovert a legai separation imo -.-. divorce \vb--n three years, in tbe oas* cf cbild'ess marriag?, or five y.-irs if there aie children, have elapse! without a rec nciliatisn after tha judgment of separation ViS pronounced. A Mains correspondent ef the' Boston Journal tells this incident. In a certain town iv Mutu-e some farmers went out haying and carried with tr em a jug of tider, which they put in the shade of a tree. While they wert a& work a snake swallowed atoad, which swelled him greatly. He then crawled near Ut the jug, which was tipped over on the ground, and espied another toad od the other side. Seeing the quickest way, the snake stuck his head through the handle of the jug and quietly swallowed the poor toad. Now, to the snake's amazement, be couldn't move either way, as he had swallowed a toad on tither tide of the haudle. In that peculiar position he was captured by the farmers. A trade organ in Engb.cd writes rather bitterly on the uniformity of dress evinced by the male sex generally. It says: When si'k, velvet, and lace were the priucipa! materials worn by the rich, poor men were proclaimed by their coats. It is one of the n.ost striking changes which thia century ha? produced, that the hi-;h have declined, and th 3 low have risen, until now, in this matter of costume they are almost on a level. The Eame is visible in all the progressive countries of Europe, and is, ia fact, the tide-mark of progress. Ia the United States, the white, the black, ths lich, the poor, are scarcely distinguishable by their ciotbes. We live, indeed, under a republic of dress, and bo!d is' te or she who will cot accept its uniform The Spectator of the 14ch May thus concludes au article en the appointment of Lord Salisbury as the successor to Earl Beaconsfield in the leadership of tbe Conservative Party in the House of Lords:— «« Take him how you will, there is menace for the Constitution in tbe rise of that reckless and defiant sphit to bo the head, or all but the head, of a great, mute, inarticulate Party with which bis whole political nature is in sympathy, whose utmos; extremes of feeling Bppear to him moderation, and who are sure to ba much more bold and self-confident, and therefore much more dangerous, under his learJer&hip than tbey were under the cool and mocking glance of tbe man whose criticism they feared as much as tbey admired his audacity. If anybody could endanger so popular an anomaly as our Hou39 of Lords, tbat mau is Lord Sjilisbury. Almost any statesman of influence can now endanger our hold of Ireland, and we only hope that Lord Salisbury may not effect that also. He is just tbe mau to kill the two birds with one Btone." The growth of Glasgow in the la3t thirty years has been almost as astonishing as that of Chicago. Io 1841 it wss a place of less consequence thau Bristol. In 1879 a local census gave it the second rank after London — 578,00G~-which is 40,000 more than Liverpool had at that time, also hy local census. Since 1870 the rate of increase has been higher in London than in New York, if we miy credit the local estimates, which gave her a total of 3,G20,568 iv 1579. The five chief cities of Great Britain were estimated two years ago a.s follows :- London, 3,620,808 Glasgow, 578,156; Manchester, 539 668Liverpool, 538,338 ; Birmingham 388 884 Total, 5,CG2,9H. These live great cities contained in 1879 ne.rly one-sixth of the whole population of the United Kingdom and London alone hod more than one-tenth! The growth of London has been more rapid in the last two years than ever before, and the probability is that the census just taken will give her a population of 4.000,000 at least. Her increase since 1871 has been more then that of all the rest of the country, Manchester, Gl-sgow, and Liverpool excepted. In fact, little or no increase is anticipated from the country since 1871, the stag-' nation being due to the decline of agriculture and certain staples of manufactures. Liverpool and Glasgow will probably exceed 900,000 each, ranking below Philadelphia and New J York, but above Brooklyn {md Chicago, j