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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5760, 15 September 1879, Page 2

The football match, Nelson v. Wellington, attracted a large crowd of spectators on Saturday afternoon at the Basin Reserve, Lady Robinson being amongst the visitors. The match was closely contested, and resulted in a victory for the local team, who won with four tries, no goals being kicked by either side, and no points scored by the Nelson men. The vi-dting team appeared to have the advantage of the Wellington men in point of physique, but tho latter made up for their lack in this respect by working well together, their efforts being consequently rewarded with success. The visitors were entertained by the Wellington team at the Empire Hotel on Saturday evening.

About GO of the members of the Wellington Naval Brigade yesterday made a short cruise in tho schooner Enterprise as far as the pilot station. They had a smart and pleasant run down, but beating back against a head wind their progress was by no means so rapid. It is likely that the brigade will before long purchase a small vessel in which they can practice the art of seamanship while making short trips in the neighborhood of the Heads. Mr. Mansford presided at the Resident Magistrate’s Court on Saturday. One drunkaad was fined 55., in default 24 hours’ imprisonment, and another was discharged with a caution. Antony Andrews, deserter from the ship Waitnea, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 12 weeks’ imprisonment with hard labor ; and an old man named Edward Tyler was charged with having no visible means of subsistence. It appeared that the man had been found in an unoccupied house in Boul-cott-street on Friday night, suffering from hunger, and altogether in a weak, miserable condition. He was taken to the station, and Sergeant Anderson procured him some food, which he ate ravenously. Tyler had only been released from gaol about a month ago, since which time he has been sleeping in outhouses, and existing in a state of semi-starva-tion. He stated that he could not obtain employment, and he would not beg. He held a respectable position on tne West Coast a few years ago, and is a clerk by profession. Mr. Mansford remanded the case for a week to see if anything could be done for the unfortunate man.

The lower part of the Theatre Royal was densely packed on Saturday night, and a large number of meu were in the dress circle, their prurient curiosity being doubtless excited by the criticisms which had appeared in the newspapers. This certainly does not speak well for a certain section of the community, who would allow Shakespeare or genteel comedy to be played to empty benches. Their curiosity, however, was doomed to be disappointed, for the performance was of a very different character from that given on the previous evening, the management having apparently been shamed into withdrawing the objectionable and grossly indecent features that were then so predominant. An entirely new programme is advertised for this evening, tho principal item being a burloscpic entitled 11 idle Pretty Pirate.”

A boy named Henderson, who resides "at Karori, was going home on Friday afternoon in a spring cart, when by some accident he got his legs between the spokes of the wheal ; the result o being that the limb was broken. The hoy was conveyed to the Hospital, where his injuries were attended to. On Saturday morning an unexpected block to traffic occurred at the corner of Manners and Cuba streets. Arrangements bad been made for moving from one corner'to the other during the night the temporary shop of Messrs. Graves and Fleming, but when iu tho centre of the roadway some of the tackle gave way, and the building remained there until 11 a.m., by which time it was moved further across the road, and traffic was resumed. The most serious hindrance to traffic was that caused by the stoppage of the morning tram (with passengers for the railway station), the buildin*' bem<> right on the line. The evil was, however, considerably mitigated by the forethought of the contractor for moving the shop, who°had vehicles provided for taking on the passengers to their destination. A meeting of hotel employees was held at the Central 0 Hotel on Friday evening, the object of the meeting being to protest against the employment in hotels of Chinese as cooks, waiters, &c. The reason for thus protesting against Chinese labor was that the employment of Chinese prevented Europeans from earning a livin*' as the former worked for considerably lower wages than the latter. A committee was appointed to draw up rules for the formation of an association, the members of which are to pledge themselves not to work at hotels where Chinese are employed, and endeavor to induce the outside public not to patronise such hotels. Between 30 and 40 members have already promised to join the association. The meetin" was adjourned till this evening, when the rules will be brought up for consideration. The world's consumption of paper at the present moment is something enormous, and as the demand is constantly increasing, new sources of supply are sought. It appears that Air. T. Routledge strongly advocates the use of bamboo as raw material for the manufacture of paper. Having made careful experiments, he has come to the conclusion that no other plant can be produced so abundantly i with so little trouble and cost. In suitable

climates ami places it requires no special attention, and givws with remarkable rapidity. In the g '.rden of the Kite five a plant shot up nine inches in a single night. In the garden of the Luke of Northumberland a g’gantic specimen reache 1 the h ,j, ght of C !| feet in twelve weeks, and at X- '.c a growth m tnree feet in a week has been observed. The loss o» weight in drying amounts to 75 per c-nt., rind

about, ih) per c -lw. o! the remainder consists of fibre suitable f paper-making, the net Held of an acre being o tons. The plant grows abundantly in umst parts of India, Africa, and Centnd and South Amer To. Hitherto it has not bt-en found to answer W;m-*e the plants u=ed were too oi 1, with a hard !;bre and tbicit siliceous coating, which remli rni it necessary to have recourse to long boiling in strong solutions of ciustic alkalies under a pressure of ten or eleven .itum-pheres. Young plants should he selected, and passed through the rollers to get rid of all lumps and knots, and split the stalks. They are then to be further s' lit up into strips by fluted roll rs, and afeerwartu cut up into suitable lengths by a chopping apparatus, as a preparation for boiling pans connected lay pipes, through which the caustic alkali circulates from one to the other. The fibre is, lastly, to bo washed, pressed, divided, and dried in hot air.

We remind our readers that the service of song entitled ’’Eva” will be rendered tomorrow evening By the Wellington Evangelistic Choir, assisted by others, the proceeds to be devoted to the organ fund of tire choir. The service of song is new to this city, and is described as a musical treat.

Ford John Manners, Postmaster General, replying to a question in the House of Commons, said that .under the new contract with the Peninsular and Oriental Company the Australian mails would be conveyed to Melbourne in 39 days.

The Paris Academy (says Xi't'ce) has just awarded the Lalanda medal to M. Stanislaus Meuuier for his researches into the constitution of meteors. M. Daubree had already shown that there existed a close connection between these falling bodies and the lower strata of our own globe. M. Meuuier has carried ths same line of research further and proved that this analogy is not confined alone to mineralogical constitution, but that it extends to the relations which these cosmioal materials, disseminated in space, present when compared amongst themselves. The Academy considered that M. Meuuier had reason to conclude from his experiences that all the masses once belonged to a considerable globe, like the earth, of true geological epochs, and that later it was decomposed into several fragments, under the action of causes difficult to define exactly, but which have more than once been seen in operation in the sky itself. Such a conclusion, it is remarked, adds greatly to the interest attaching to these as “ minute stars.” The astronomer, once occupied only with their motions and their probable distribution in space, finds himself confronted with a sinereal geology, as he was already under the necessity of having regard to celestial physics, celestial chemistry, and celestial mineralogy. There has recently been started here (says the Melbourne correspondent of the Christchurch Press) in the interest of Ministers, a small illustrated newspaper called Sant Slick, which would seem to aim at comicality, although without, as yet, any very marked success. Indeed, comic journalism does not flourish amongst us. Even Melbourne Punch is more truculent than facetious. But, oddly enough, comic matter is sometimes discovered in the most unlooked for quarters. For some time past the managing committee of one of our groat charities has been greatly exercised in its mind on tho subject of a half-penny worth of flea powder, which the resident surgeon improperly obtained from the public store to apply to the back of his own private dom Again, wo have amongst us a very distinguished savant, Mr. Ellery, the Government astronomer, who supplies the newspapers with interesting “ Notes from the Observatory.” There is no question whatever as to this gentleman’s scientific attainments. As Captain Cuttle said of old Sol Giles, “ He could put the north star in a scale and weigh it, or determine the. density of the atmosphere of Sirius with the utmost precision,” but it is only quite lately that he has exhibited a talent for jocularity. Recently, in the columns of the Aujus he has been discussing the varying brilliancy of certain heavenly bodies, and lias shown conclusively that Argus is the most inconsistent and variable orb in tho heavens, flashing up sometimes till it dazzles with its coruscations, and anon fading away until it almost dies out of sight. There is an immense latent fund of amusement in physical science, if properly considered.

At the lowa Agricultural College, iu the United States, every girl iu the junior class has learned how to make good bread, weighing and measuring their ingredients, mixing, kneading, and baking, and regulating her fire. Each has also been taught to make yeast and bake biscuits, puddings, pies, and cakes of various kinds ; how to cook a roast, broil a steak,- ami make a fragrant cup of coffee ; how to stuff and roast a turkey, make oyster soup, prepare stock for other soups, steam and mash potatoes so that they will melt iu the mouth, and, in short, to get up a first-class meal, combining both substantial and fancy dishes, in good style. Theory and manual skill have gone hand-in-hand. Vast stores of learning have been accumulated iu the arts of canning, preserving, and picking fruits, and they have taken practical lessons in all the details of household management, such as house furnishing, care of beds and bedding, washing and ironing, care of the sick, care of children, &c. The girls, we are informed, are also thoroughly taught in science, mathematics, and English literature ; but this is of slight moment compared with the foregoing catalogue of virtues. If there is anything that challenges the unlimited respect and devotion of the masculine mind it is ability in woman to order well her own household. Each one of these charming lowa girls, it is safe to say, will marry within six weeks after gradation.