WELLINGTON.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 309, 29 December 1881, Page 2

WELLIN GTON.

[From our own Correspondent.] (By Telegraph.) Tuegday Bight. I hear unofficially that Mr Bryce dariDfr a visit to Parihaka yesterday, formally notified to the natives that 20 per cent of the r«ser?es previously get ap»rt for them would be cocfitcated by th« Government, in accordance with the Urros of the proclamation, as indemnity fcr the cost of suppressing the disturbance on the West Coatt, owing to the rcfußtl of the nativts to submit to the proclamation. I understand that it was deemed nccesiary to do this in order to show the natives that the- threat in the proclamation would not be allowed to become a dead letter. I am informed that Mr Bryce further cautioned the Parihaka natives that they would risk losing mor« of the reserves made for their behefit if they did not prevent the return .to Parihaka of Btrangere who bad no legitimate business there, but that the natives- disclaimed any power to prevent each return, as strangers wonld come if the crops were still in the ground and would probably return to claim there at Parihaka, It is reported that Mr Bryce stated that th« ! crops net belonging to P«rinuka woald be destroyed, so that atranearg might have no excuse for returning. From t!l accounts the natives seem completely cowed and submissive. Wednesday night. A serious hitch has arieen regarding two of the late Parliamentary elections. From Hbkitik'a the writ ia nofc returned owing to the non- receipt of the official report of the Deputy Returuieg Officer for Jackson's Bay, Mr Allen, the Postmaster at Okura, who started on the 10th instant, the day after the election, currying the voting papers for delivery to Dr Giles, the Returning Officer. He wag accompanied by Sergeant-Major Nelly, and neither hare yet turned up, although 18 days have elapsed since their departure from Jackson's Bay. As the Wear Coast rivers were much swollen at the time they had to make the journey, which is notoriously a very dangerous one, it ia greatly feared that both men have been drowned. A search psrty is out looking for them, but bo far without resnit. Dr Giles has telegraphed to-day asking that the time for the return of the writ may be extended iv order to give another chance of discovering the fata of. his deputy and the voting returns. Thß, time, of course, can easily be extended, there beiDg ft special provision in the Regulation of Elections Act for such a procedure by the Governor in Council in a case of amergency, but there teems no eroTiiion for sweh a contiogenoy «■ tht accidental loss or deitnictioD of th<s ballot papers on their way to the RetwDiug Officer. The matter has been referred to the Law Officers, who are now carefully considering the case, but have not yet alviaed as to the proper course. The other difficulty is ag follows :— The Returning Officer for one of the Southern districts failed to return the writ, which in his case was transmitted by telegram according to a provision in the new Act of last session. Tfce Clerk of the Writs telegraphed asking for an explanation of the delay, and requesting the immediate return of the writ. The Officer replied that he had no writ to return and never had any, but simply received a telegram instructing him to hold the election -vrhich he did accordingly. The Clerk replied that the telegram was the -writ which he must endorse and retura forthwith. The Officer rejoined that he would be happy to do so, but unfortunately the telegram was no longer in hi 3 possession as he had attached no importance to it, and had not preserved it. I understand that in fact it was used as wast* paper for domestic purposes. Under these peculiar; cirenmstanees the advice of the Law Officers has again to be loujht as to what is to be done to get out of the difficulty, and validate the election. Probably these two incidents are wholly without precedent, and certainly could not kave been anticipated by tke framers of the Regulations Act — I have reason to believe thattho iuformatioa which, I telegraphed last night on unofficial authority respecting Mr Bryce's action in regard to the forfeiture of a portion of the native reserves as indemnity for the disturbance is entirely accurate. I now hear on excellent authority that this couhg was decided os, and duly communicated by Mr Bryce to the Parihaka Natives. Five thousand acres Will b« deducted from each of two large 25,000 acre reserves, and a smaller area from leßger reserves in order to show the natives th»t the Proclamation is in earnest and Will be carried out:. Of cours.

care will be taken that the Maories do not suffer gevere deprivation, bnt they will be taught that the Government are in earnest and that they must obey the law. I 3lso learn that the Natives expelled from Paribaka are now living peacefully in their own homes with no idea of returning to Parihaka. Mr Bryce is expected to arrive in Wellington to-morrow. — Thera is a new rumor now afloat that Sir Arihur Kennedy willsncceod Sir A. Gordon as Governor. I attach no importance to this report bat give it as it is. Tbe inconvenience of an nropire with an impediment in his speech is shown in the following ludicrons incident. On one occasion when Malton was autagODised with Surrey, the latter place was favoured with the services of one who stuttered. On being ap^ pealed to in a case of l.b.w.,£the umpire said nothing bat shook his head. The next ball took the baiU, and at the same moment the umpire surprised the uative3 by exclaiming " not out." What do yon mean," queried the bowler, " don't you see I've bowled him?" "T— Yes," said the deliberate, " bnt I m — m— m — mean the bali before." The Knmara correspondent of the " Hokif ika Star " says : — " A most remarkable and amusing question was put to Mr R. J. Seddon at his last meeting, held st the Theatre Royal, Kumara. It was as follows : — * Is it true that yon made Mr SlcWhirter drunk for three days, causing bim to spoil three batches of bread, and, when he was at last discovered, was he not found in a trough mixed np with the dough V Mr Seddon said he justified the action of Mr McWhirter in not coming forward as a candidate after promising to do so ; that his failing to do so was owing to some private obstacle in his business, which he (Mr McWhirter) would be able to explain to them publicly ; feut the candidate failed to answer the question as satisfactorily as it was put to him." It is claimed that there are in round numbers 10,000 Chinamen employed as servants in San Francisco, who on an average •repaid 3dols a week. Tbe latter ia alow eßtimate, bat this makes 30,000 dols a week or 1,560,000 dols s year paid in this city alone for wages to Chinese servants, provided the number stated be correct, avery cent of •which is year by Year withdrawn from circulation. Many a man thinks ifc is principle that keeps him from turning rascal, when it is only a fall stomach. Be grateful and do not mistake potatoes for principle. The following care for a terrible disorder of the mouth, commonly called " Scandal," has been supplied us by a lady for publication :— «« Take of « good nature ' one ounce, of an herb called by tbe ladians ' mind your own business' one ounce, mix this with a little ' charity for others,' and two or three sprigs ot ' keep your tongue between your teeth/ simmer them together in a vessel called ' circumspection ' for a short time, and it will be fit for use. Application— The symptoms are a violent itching in the tongue and roof of the mouth, which invariably takes when you you are in company with a species of animals called ' gossips '; when you f«el % fit of the disorder coming on, take a spoonful of the mixture, hold it in your mouth, which yon will keep closely shut till you get home, and yon will find a cowplete cure. Should you apprehend a relapse, keep a small bottle - ful about you, and on the slightest symptom re peat the dose." An Englishman arrived at a Swiss inn and ordered a bottle of wine of a better quality than the ordinary wine of tho country. Tae land lord produced a bot< le whose label certified to fourteen years. When the bottle was uncorked the first thing to appear was a live fly. A drunken man, at a Yankee temperance meeting, interrupted the speaker by exclaiming. " I say, mister, do you think a gin sling does a fellow any barm ?" To which the lecturer replied, " Not if the man slings the gin far enough, but when the gin sliogs him ever so little, then it does him harm. A characteristic anecdote i 3 told of the dashing General Sir Evelyn Wood, V.C He was going the round of the sentries in camp during the Zulu war, when he tested one sentinel rather closely. He allowed himself to be challenged three times. Swish I A bullet went through t his helmet. The dismay of the sentry may be imagined when he rpcognispd his general, and received the chaffiag advice, "Next time you challenge call londer; next time you fire, fire lower!" An lady, Mrs Alfred Wilkins, has juat performed a literary feat which is pot likely to flod many rivals or imitators. She has taanslated into pprfect and most elegant French the " Bird's-Eye View of Irish History " which forma a portion of the first volume of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy's "Young Ireland." It is a mild rendering of snch an exploit to cay that not one in ten thousand of the best French scholari could have achieved it. The translation will shortly be published iv one of the leading English reviews The Southbridge paper states that they have seen a letter received from a recent resident of that district and who is now located at Suva, Fiji. The writer states that the heat is not so intense as he had been led to believe, but was a most excessive kind of heat, like a vapour bath. Wages are high: carpenters getting from 16s to £1 per day : and shopmen from £3 to £4. There are no road 3 nor paths about Suva, to which place the Government intend to remove from Levuka the present capital about the beginning of the year. From a recent London paper we learn that Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to confer the decoration of the Imperial Order of the Crown of India on Olive, Lady Ferpusson, wife of the Right Hon Sir Jamea Furjjnsson, K.CMG., Governor of the Presidency of Bombay. No line in England carries the same number of passengers, or carries them so cheaply and pays so largo a dividend, as the Underground Railway of London. The passengers last year numbered 110,000,000. Several of the underground and overground railways carry workmen cwelve miles a day for a penny, thus enabling them to enjoy cheap houses and country air. Ybirrrs to the Mi-an Exhibition can see there the petrified body of a girl 18 years of age, petrified by a new process the secret of Dr Cami. When ha took the body of a girl from a Florence hospital it was already in a BUte of patref action, but the doctor, without touching the intestines, get to work and gradaaliy reduced the body to marble— that i», the body h»s become quite white and hard a? marble, bnt tbe hair has remained as soft as daring life, and even the down on the arms remains as in life. Telegraph-poles in Norway are destroyed in a peculiar way. Most persons are familiar with the singing noise produced by tke action of the wind on the telegraph-wires, and iv most countries the birds appear to understand it too ; but in Norway the wood-peckers are not yet sufficiently educated, for in one night they often peck holes quite through the poles, and ruin them as supports for the telegraph-wires. The explanation is that the birds have mistaken the humming of the wires for the buzzing of insects, and in tkeir endeavoara to reach the anticipated feast have pecked the posts right through , only to be disappointed. The vibration of the wireg communicates itself to the poles, and the birds are deceived by the sounds produced in the wood — an explanation which is feasible, because it is known that spiders are similarly deluded by vibrating a tuning-fork near their webs, when they rush out in the hope of securing the fly which they imagine is producing the buzzing noise. The Griefs and the Heroiam of Miners.— I r3rneT3b3r seeing oiq po or woman a day or two after the explosion at the Edmunds or Swaith Main Pit. The dead body of her husband was then lying; in the mine ; but she had children — the daily work of life mast be done even by her. She wanted a pan which, searly full of dirty water, stood near her door upon a stone. I shall, I suppose, never forget (it i$ many years ago now) the far eff look in her eyes as ehe appproaehed the pan ; her whole figure was the expression of one without hope; the very embodiment of despair; she raised tbe pan by tbe edge, utterly careless that the falling water splashed her dress and feet, and listlessly moved awey. Her grief was too deep for words or tears; and I turned away with a fat art sick to sco such suffering, aad to kao«v that she was bat one of more than a hundred in the same sad condition.— Samuel Plimsoll in The JNinitetnth Century.

Mr Edigon, the American Electrician, is said to hold interests valued at £1,000,000 in the various companies formed to introduce hiß incandescent light. It is estimated that this year the quantity of wine in France will amount to 704,000,000 gallonsj which will be an increase over last year of 66,000,000 gallons. The claret this season promises to be of excellent quality i and to exceed in quantity the arerage of th« last fire years by 12,000,000 gallons. Prices, however, which exceed by a half what they were in 1875, are not expected to diminish until some means be devised for stopping the ravapres of the phylloxera. The stupendous estimate has been made that 3,600,000,000 of inhabitants might sustain life on the American continent, and it is deemed not improbable that such may be the case for centuries hence. If this calculation were realised, then the continent would contain a mass of human beings seven times greater than the present estimated population of the glob«.