NELSON.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 222, 5 September 1862, Page 5

NELSON.

I fr.'iOM Ol'K OViS CORUESJ»OSI>ENr). j August 27, ISG^. ! The City of Nelson has had another miraculous | eseap? from destruction In-fire. On the morning lof Tuc-KLty, the I2;h instant, between G and 7 j o'clu-k. I'i.uncs were observed to be UsmVz from j the house occupied by Mrs SeaHe, of Traf:i!«ar- | square,, strs i close to tlie business portion of th:> j cify. The fire Ix'ii'_'::vc iurth i;s warning voice, I iUiJ in-ur:- mmy minutes some hundreds of ptr- | suns were mi tV: S jhk, busily engaged in endc.i- ---| v tring to stay the pmgros of t!ie lire with water : t'rom bucket, an;l from the fire engine belonging !it the insurance eo:rm nr.\ Fortunately, the ; morning was c ihn—indwl, there \r:>* "not si 1 j >m-Kth of wind stirring— nil the flame* shot I I straight up to n {jre-it height. Mrs. S.*aifc's resi- : d.'i»( • —:i woij-U'ii bull \h\% —*ra~ very soon con- | *u:ned. toucher with the" whole of the furniture ; rm \ <:<>i:tvn\.* ; but, by exertiosK. the a•!- ! j joining h.>u,es were saved wiiliout ver'v* itniL-Ji I I '.lamrtfje. | T.ie origin of the fire is unknown, but if is ! 'j!iit<- likely that it was caused by the blijj-sl.jp jmniimr iv which some builder* construct house i j ..-liiijiiu^. It B',-enis that Mrs. S«ai!e (who is a widu-.v Lidy a'jil v teaciier of mu*ic) was J avvakeijcd at an early hour in the morning by i hcarin<» some cattle in her garden, and having | drive:i them out, she retire- i to be.l a^ain. Abaut j t'> oVlook she rose an 1 drc-sseil, and on f|oiu^ to ! t*i- door of the sitting room she found the h indie iof the door quite hot, and when s!ie opene-i the jdworthe tlacues bar^t out and scorched her face, ■ and *Ue h vi liarvly tine U) get out at the door ere I the house was enveloped in flames. Neither tiie j hou«e nor its contents were insured, but a sub- ! serijitbn s»et on foot for the purpose of derayin^ j Miiiit of the loss sustaine-l by Mrs. Scail'e (estij mated at XSOJ) has been haiidsoinelv responded I to by our citizens. | (Jf course, the above occurrence was likely to j agitate the ijuestion of water sapplv.nnd, in rc-plv jto a rf-juisitio.-i from 174 hou?eho!.feM. his Honor the Superintendent called a public meeting at :hv I )\d Fellow.-/ Hall last week, for the purpose of t-ii!jsidering thi matter. It was unanimously rt-solve-d t^at a sujiply of water for the city was urgently needed, and various schemes for pr<>-[i-urinl^ Mich si supj-ly were alluded to. Unc tronj tU'!» tn's y»ro;«)>ai was to bring the water from iin*>k-stret:t at a cost of about jCIG.O'.K), to b.' raiel !iy Kn^Jifh capstilist'J and the Provincial (iovennnent, a giuninti-e of 10 per cent. on the capital. Anot!i.T pirty proposed to do the same wurk for about XIO.OOO : a third expresso i [ his ability to supply the central part of tint citr j (ami part with water for about £3,000; while a i | f turth |r,;:itk?:nan projmsetl to carry out a water Mii<piv by means of mm tanks mounk-don raihvav trucks. The rtstilt of the meeting was tho passinir of a rc-tilutinn requestinj; t!te Superiatcndent to apjxtint a cimmi.-fsion to inquire into and rejiort j upon the various schemes pro;»ose<l. A sitting of the Supreme Court (deferred from July on atrcouut of the detention of the Judge :U • U'cllin^ton) was commenced on the lath inst. before Mr. Justice Johnston. The criminal ca- | Iviidar was very li^'ht, and included only four cases. Wiiliam Meeds, charjicd with assaulting his wife, was found guilty of a common assault and sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment. Edw. Davidson (whose assault on Mr. Kndacott. was meitti.mi'd in one of my former letters) pleaded guilty, and n> the charge was not pressed by the prosecutor, the Jud^e inflicted only the nominal iine^ ol Is. J. Pope, charge'! with stealing » p.K>ket-l>H)k at the Wairau, was acquitted, and J. lA'ahy, fai;:id guilty of stealing a watch, was sentenced to six months' hard labor. j The latest move is the proposed formation of a 4i C.!-ojH'rativc Society" ior the purj>o3D of supplying the members and others with provisions and stores at a cheap rate for cash. Several meetings have bien held, and some three hundred | shares have already b'*cn taken. i

iMruovnMKST is Birmingham.—ln Birraiu.;liam JJ150.0&O hid b?en invest >1 by the workimr iuou in conn-'ctioji with building houses. Publics lifiii^M had diminished in the town ; j»u!;ee bal, to a consiilerablee.vtent, become iuinee«s<iry; ami whereas twelve years ago there wa< the utsiosl resistance to the closintr of shop, on Sumlav. the working-classes hiil ciiahintd, and shut up 1600 shops oti the Lord's Day.—" Dr Begs's Speech in Free Assembly" The Kmbkoidered Mcsus Trade.—The\Be//«*f Mews-letter gives tome interesting information respecting the embroidered muslin trade, which some tune n^o nourished in Ulster. In 1553 it was calculated that there were 200.000 women employed in the trade, and receiving for their work M,W)0,0«0 jK-r auniiin. The trade fell off till, in lft'Jl, the rcceipU were reducetl to L150.00U or L 200.000. This trade has the advantage of piving employment to women in their homes, and the payment of the workers constitutes ?» per cut. of the cost of production. Seme time ago a number of clergymen and others lonvarded a menioritil to the Queen, requestiup her Majesty's patronage. The result had not been made public in consequence oFthe death of the Prince Consort. The Xeics letter says that her Majesty, on receiving the memorial, tuok a warm inten?.t in the matt, r, gave extensive orders, and procured from I sins the isewest designs. Her Majesty considerately selected such articles as she thought would find a ready fale, and be generally adopted iv the fashionable world. When Sir John Scott (afterwards Lord Eldon) brought in a bill for restraining the liberty of the pre&s, an Iri.«h member moved the insertion of a clause providing that all anonymous works should have the names of the authors printed on the title pages ! A very obvious method of increasing the light in the street lamps has been introduced m Brussels. It ! consists in a series of metallic mirrors in the upper part of the lamp, placed at such an an au.le as to reflect downwards upon the street the light which before went upwards. A Yankee came over to this country some time ago, and was asked on going* back how he liked Great Britain. " Well," said he, " Enelaud is a very nice country, exceedingly fertile, well cultivated, very populous, and very wealthy; but I never liked to tako a morning- walk after breakfast, because the country is bo small that I was alwaya afraid of walking ©fl'the edge."- English paper.