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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 254, 25 October 1881, Page 3

A constable volunteered to watch- a-store which wbb to be robbed at New Sbaironj lowa. He slept at bis po'gt. and the burglars took b is mboey, pißtoi, and clothes, leaving hlin covered wi<h molasses. Erskine is said to have once forgotten for which party, in a particular cause, he had been retained ; and, to the amazement of the agent who had retained him, and the horror of the poof client behind, he made a most eloquent speech ia direct opposition to the ihtere/stk, he had bejen hired to defend. Such Was the fceat of his eloquence, that no whispered remonstrance from the rear, no tugging at his t .elbow could stop him.-; But just as he was ab'pat ,to ait dowh> this trembling attorney jitit a slip of paper into his hands : "You bave pleaded for the wrong paity 1" whereupon, with an air of infinite composure, be resumed the thread of his oration, Saying, "Such my lord, is the statement you will probably hear from my brother, on the opposite side of this ciu&e. I Shall now bet leave, in a very few words, to show your lorflshlp how utterly untenable are the principles, and how distorted are the facts, upon which this very specious statement has proceeded." He then went once more orer the same ground, aid did not take his seat till he bad most energetically refuted himself, and destroyed tie effect of his former pleading. He gained the cause.

. iSany of the publicans- in Donedio have printed cards hanging on the walls of their bars and parlors stating that the spirits they sell are reduced by water, and they thus avoid the penalties of the Adulteration Act, unless it is proved that they use other ahd deleterious iuprpdientß. Tbe NZ. Times of 'Merday say « :— Tfap Reamer Kennedy "left od Saturday night for < Wart«j£Dnj, tn route for Caiwell Sound, where fit is intended to proaeeoie the quarrying jfor marble by ; .4,he Qwweil Souttd Gompaby. The "steamer took away a f nantity of plfcnt for the company, consisting of houses for the workmen, tools/ &c., and also stares calcalated to ]aht the operatives for several months. The reetslt of tbe f utor • «perat ions o£ tbe company will be anxiously awaited> and if, as anticipated, the atone oan bo easily and is of the quality described; a; great and remunerative future is in store for the company. The subscriptions received in Melbourne within three weeks after Bishop Moorhonse'* appeal on behalf of the Cathedral I"upd amounted to £20,000. It is said that the bltte gum is an enemy to almost all insect life, acd Mr Mills, of Marlborcßgh, Victoria, has turned this propetty of the eucalyptus to good account. By bis mafciojj a practice of strewing blue gum branches on the ground round about, and fiftenins strips of the bark aroand their Stems, hig fruit trees throve wondtrf ally ; atd whilst thosa of his neighbours are blipbted, bis are entirely free from insects. A London telegram to an American paper says :— A great sensation has been caused at Bristol by toe discovery of a cargo of 300 tons of butaaD b«nes, feeing discharged there to the order of a local firm engaged in Manufacturing manurt. The bones were shipped from Rodssto, at Constantinople, and are "fitifpposed to be principally the remains of the defenaerfl of Plevna. There are complete limbs among tbe horrible cargo, and in come cases hair Btili adheres to tbe skills. We (Poti) have received a copy of tbe New Zealand Gazette containing the "ultimatum" to Te Whiti translated into Maori. , Mr. Rolieston's name appears at the foot pf - ttie proclamation a$ Na te tloretana. There isn't much similarity between the two, but~ the Maori equivalent perhaps sounds moire romantic than the original. The interpreter, - however, has apparently been tmaWe to get the names of the late Governor and the Chief Justice, for while all else is translated into the Maori language the patronymics "James Prendergast" and "Hercules Bobinson" stand out in all their native sim p'icity. Perhaps the translator had a dread of wounding the feelings of these high functionaries, **HemiPerenteate" and "Herkulehi Bopetone" would scarcely look the correct thing in an ultimatum of such, importance, however, euphonious they may appear. . 'Mr Bußsell. one of the candidates for the "Faxton District, addressed tbe electors at Otaki on Thursday evening. First of all he •poke, through an interpreter, to tbe Maoris, who preponderated, addressing them on local matters and warning them against those who wen buying land for the railways. A cumber of the natives pot questions to Mr Bus■el, and as each question waa answered, the qaestieaer exclaimed : "This is my word, jl 4ball vote against you." The candidate then -addressed the Europeans, receiving a vote of thanks. i The Otago Bibte-in?Schools Association means to conns once more to the front. A of the Council took place, wken the ~ following, amongst other things, were agreed - toponY viz :— That by public advertisment electersk favorable to the amof the Assoc iatonbe requested to see that their names are placed on the electoral rolls ; a committee was appointed to take steps to have all candidates, for the House of Representative." tjßestioTied as'tb their views on the Bibl«-ia-schools .question; and the secretary was instructed to communicate with the associations of Aucklaid, Najier, South Canterbury and Invercargill as to taking united actiofa in the mattery- " Some extraordinary effects of lightning are reported from Naples, It appears that the rarish church of Staccbetta, five miles from Brescia," was struck by lightning, wbicb hafl been attraQted by an iron cress on the clock tower. The lightning, after tearing off the bands of , the clock, entered the church near the pulpit, where the curate, Don Guiieppe Bovo, was celebrating maea before a denselypacked congregation, completely paralysed by the effect of thP lightning and the f ssrf ul dap of tbunder .following.- Many people were thrown uowa violently, others lif it d from the pavement or thrown upon onf another, and a young workman, Vitali Camilla, was instantaneously killed. The lightr BiDg entered on his left side, drove his silver watch ipfo his ribs, ran down bis left leg,, tearing' up tie Beams of his trousers, and took rff his haavy boots, , ; One of the most surprising feats on the }»rt of a horse, says the Manawatu Times, which we have beard of for some considerable time came under our notice a few days since. A foal, »ot eighteen months old, was confined in a staole in which there was a window with two panes of glass, each 18ia by 30in. The imprisoned animal evidently pined after its liberty, and was determined to bave it, for it made, a clear spruig through the glass, and lauded outside unhurt, and that without in the sliehteet degree injuring the dividing sash "between the : two panes. As the foal is a very large one, a glance at it and its mode of exit > would lead most people to the belief that the feat it had performed was almost as impossible as for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Nevertheless, it is so, and in proof we can produce half a dozen witnesses. ; As the window was fo*r feet from the ground! and the jump mnsthave been a standing one; the owner of the beast sees visions of yet possessing the champion hurdle racer of the colony. . . ... i The artist for the Auckland Observer is; rather, roughly handled by the Sydney Bulletin, which, in its issue of Spptember 17th, £ays Jr— The Auckland Observer has come jrot with a portrait of .Mr Lyons (of Lyon r 8 Tourists) thst will prove extremely Interesting to that gentleman's friends a.nd relations It represents a yootb with a property moustache, no perceptible parting to his matted locks, and a bead the shape of a padlock. ... His collar is halfway down his ' chest, and there is a rim of fur round his right ear. We don't know who the artist is, as he haa bad the extraordinary modesty not to sign his name; but tbe engraver is evidently the local bellman, and the weapon he has used to mutilate the wood with is a crowbar. There will be another disturbance: in that cmVe soon, unless they kill their artist. By tha way there's a job lot of misfit coffins at. the quarantine ground that the Government want to sell cheap. 1 The Gtey Ri-tr Argus thus concludes an article commenting on Mr Ifi'JiGerald'i a-idresa:— " Profiting by the experience Mr TitzGerald gained in contesting this constituency, and with tbe oratorical powers b? then developed, it is not at al! improbable thai be vnsj make a more successful contest: at Hokitika than he did here ; and we have no doubt that had be contested this coeatitu- 1 ency again he would make more of his chance iban be did id the first instance. : 1^0100,000 : .letters' p«r day are delivered tbrdnghout tn» world. • A mob of from 15 to 16 larrikins (the Melbourne Argvs says) attacked and d«m«f od : the Mnone Ponds omnibus atboit midaight on September 26" h. Mishael 6!att«ry, tha driver, states that when oppositt Abbots ford-strett, on the Flemingtnn road, on bis way^to Moone Ponds, ht was surrounded by larrikins, who howled, and attempted 'o stop ihe omnibus, but he drove on quickly. They th«n threw a quantity of road metal at the omnibus, breaking the windows and striking one of the passengers on tho head A short time previously the Melbourne omnibus was stopped by the same larrikins, the driver, Clark, was told he was not the man wanted, and wat allowed to proceed un molested. It was thought that tbe youths purposed robbing the omnibus ; but, finding tbeir design f rostrated by the driver whipping up his horßea, they took to stoning him oat of .revergp. The South Aaßtr*lians are already in the -field for the cultivation of S*x. A compsßy for the erection of a mill has bsen formed, and tbe South Australian Company has promised a bogus of as mieb as £100 for tie first 100 tons of fiax straw bought by the company- from their tenants. Tbe company ha* likewise obtafoed and distributed a large quantity ot seed, and it is estimated that as Taach as 300 tona of fiax will be grown this year.