Correspondence.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 155, 15 April 1859, Page 4

Correspondence.

To the Editor of tlie Colonist. Sin, —As a further proof, although a needless one, of the oppressive system that the residents of this town suffer under, through the way in which the Board of Works have proceeded since the second rating, I will, with your permission, briefly state a case of injustice. Last week a town acre was put up for public competition—of course open to anybody and cverybodyr—and many of the land/speculators .were present. In the face of all this, however, : with the assistance of an indefatigable auctioneer, the land fetched less than £3 per foot. Now, when the assessors last went their round with: magnifying glasses to their eyes—when they put down the prohable worth of the land—-this piece of;ground was estimated at per foot. It is,, therefore, no wonder that some of the unfortunates

who3e names appear in the rate-book, should have such large sums attached to them,. when this simple case proves that the ground is.estimated, and the. tax is extorted, to the slight extent of 33 per cnt. above the true value. lint, Sir, shall I tell you the respectable way in which the supposed value of the land was arrived at? Why this: just previous to the assessed value being fixed, the owner was asked by an apparent purchaser, in a seemingly friendly manner, what he would take for the land ; and he replied (taking into consideration the known risks of this gold-mining''province without cash) kt £4 per foot, but a cash purchaser should have-it for less." This conversation was used against himself, and the " £4" was rated and used as a guile for others! A most unfair trick was thus practiced, and information used against the supplyer in a disgraceful and Jesuitical manner. And this is not. the only, case that could he mentioned where a similar pettifogging trickery occurred. Surely such persons must be as vain as they are unfair, and if they were asked what they con.sidered their own services were worth in any public capacity, would be sure to say some goodly sum that should be well remembered ; and if ever there should be an income tax in Nelson, let these very acute but dishonorable persons lie rated according to their previous self-value, and adapt their miserable shuffling to their own casiis. We might well be exhausted with the details of the misdoings of this Board, if only from sheer repletion ; but I think it necessary to ask the insertion of this, because I hear that during the coming term of our Council, an attempt will be made to extend their already too extensive and wasteful powers," and I ' think it necessary that all good citizens should .be on. the alert to prevent further mischief. \ Let them prove that they can judiciously apply} the means they at present possess before more power, and consequently more mischief, is allowed them. Yours, &c, VOX. To the Editor of the Colonist. ■ ' Sir,—Your contemporary very facetiously commences his leader of Saturday last with the observation that, "as the gentleman who, after long fruitless attempts to make himself agreeable, declared that at last he had good hopes when lie heard that the lady of his choice began to abuse him and run him down, so do we begin to have a strong impression that the surpassing merits of Nelson and its harbour, and its advantages as the most central spot for the General Government, and the most advantageous port for steam communication with the Australian colonies, are at last becoming apparent to our (shortsighted and envious) friends at Wellington." Borrowing his simile, and concluding with him that the more abuse is heaped upon us by those who are never satisfied without our actions do not fall in with their own views, I should say our present apathetic Government may justly flatter themselves that their conduct has been as uniformly correct, in the exact ratio to the amount of his lavish abuse of them, whose anxiety to chronicle every conceived neglect of theirs in furthering the true interests of tlie province, even though it should be of no more importance than the mistaking the light of a long sisdip for the anticipated Nelson lighthouse upon the Fifeshire Rock. I say this, and the whole tenor of his article goes to prove the truth of the adage, How dangerous it is to mix one's self up in other people's quarrels. So long as he had the field, to himself, Nelson was going to the JD——], while her captain and crew were consuming the stores of the passengers. But when that old busybody and never-contented mother Wellington joins in the clatter, he turns round and says to his readers, Don't mind what that old beldam says. We are happy to say the energy of our active and enterprising Government, by theirgo-a-head spirit, will soon remedy the few minor grievances some sharpsighted grumblers may point to. Have not they determined upon a lantern that, like Diogenes's, you will be able to distinguish the windmill from the cathedral in broad daylight ? Have they not advertised for tenders for the erection of a solid and substantial jetty, with a frontage of 200 feet, and a depth of 16 feet at low water (notwithstanding there is one already alongside of which the Prince Alfred steamer has been laid); and notwithstanding there is every probability of the present arrangements, as regards our steam postal colonial intercourse, being knocked on the head by the more powerful political influence of Auckland and Wellington in the General Assembly. Still, this champion of our " do-nothing Government," in the face of all this uncertainty of the present state of things, would wish to urge them on by the light of his countenance to begin the works at once, and trust to the liberality and patriotic enthusiasm of the Council to sanction the necessary expenditure. In conclusion he says," PFe have never been anxious to rake together, or put notoriously forward against Wellington, the notorious inconveniences of her port, or the accidents which ha,ve from time to time befallen her.' But he goes on to say, " this constant habit of self-glorifi-cation and depreciating her neighbors, laughable at first, becomes tiresome in .the end, and forces upon us some little inquiry into the validity of pretensions so frequently and boastingly set forth, and the subsequent conviction that there is very little in them after all." Where, I would ask, could I or anyone "who has ever taken the trouble to read the Examiner, look for language more terse or appropriate to depict the conduct of the editor of that paper in his increasing vituperations against the members of our Executive, because they have refused to coincide with him as to the propriety of their assuming a power over those portions of the settlement which the General Government have withdrawn from their superintendence?—which, however, we, suppose common decency will now put a stop to, unless he should persist in shutting his eyes to the contents of the letter from Auckland upon the subject of mining' leases, the truth of which he persisted in repudiating when communicated to him by the local authorities. Where, I say, could one look for language more appropriate to say of him—as he so truly says of the Wellington scribes. This constant/ habit of abusing the Government and deprecating its conduct upon subjects which he knew were beyond their .control,.forced.upon us the question, wnich was the preponderatinginfluence which thus urged him on, the real interests of the province, or the gall arising from disappointed pride, to find that his fancied self-importance had received such a check from the hands of that government which he had so long held up to the contempt and ridicule of the other colonies ? Your insertion of the above will oblige Yours, &c, SENEX ALBUSt - A Practical Joke.—During the past few days many of our citizens have been startled, and some of the more nervous sort positively frightened, by a mural picture which has challenged observation and criticism from every dead wall and boarding in and about the town. A row of coffins standing on end in a theatrical poster, called attention to the fact that "Lucrezia Borgia" was being performed at the Napier Theatre, and, as we have said, startled the.passers by. With this bill a trick was played on Thursday night, which, for its mischievous ingenuity, is worthy of being mentioned. The sheet was mutilated so as to leave only the row of coffins already mentioned, and these words, " The Poisoner," and affixed to the door of a well-known medical practitioner. While at his toilette in the morning he was astonished and puzzled to see the passers by pau-e opposite the house, and then go on their way grinning. His feeling on discovering the cause " may be more easily conceived than described;" his observations we refrain from publishing. They were of a stronger kind than we can admit into our columns, and consisted in great part ofadverbs and adjectives.— Ballaarat Merciiry. The Goulburn Herald understands that an endowment of £800 per year in perpetuity has been granted for the bishopric of Goulburn, by two members of the Church of England, residing in Sydney, while a donation of £1000 ha 3 been awarded by a society in England, and further subscriptions are anticipated from similar sources.

The Eakthquakes in Southern Italy.—' In. a paper by Dr. Lacaita, presented to the Royal Institution on this subject, the following results are given :—rOn the whole, by. this terrific earthquake (in 1858) at least 22,000 human beings, on a most moderate calculation, were destroyed in a few seconds. Many, no doubt, would have been saved.had it been possible by active steps to dig them out immediately. This will account for the comparatively small number of wounded, in all about 4000. Iv the 75 years from 1783 to 1857. the kingdom of Naples has lost at least 111,000 inhabitants by the effects of earthquakes, or more than 1500 per year,- out of an average population of 6,000,000! Several touching anecdotes were told in the course of the narrative. In 1783, Eloisa Basili, a beautiful girl of sixteen, was buried under the ruins with a child in her arras, which died on the fourth day. She was so wedged in that she could not get rid of its lifeless remains. She was dug out alive after eleven days, which she had counted from a ray of light which reached her. She recovered, but remained sad and gloomy, could not bear to see a child, and would neither marry nor become a nun. She preferred solitude, turned away with a shudder from houses, and liked to sit musing under a tree, whence no buildings were seen. She pined away and died at five-and-twenty. More fortunate was the lot of Marianna de France3chi, a beautiful young lady of J2O, who in the earthquake of 1804 was. dug out at Guardia Eegia, after being buried for ten,days and eight hours. She recovered, married, and became the mother of a , numerous family. A lady; with chili was dug out after nearly thirty hours by her devoted husband, who nearly died from overfatigue. On being asked what her. thoughts were during the time, she answered, " I was waiting." In the late earthquake, a gentleman of Montemurro, whilst escaping from the housa with his wife and a large family of children, remembered that one of them had been left in bed. He rushed back to take him, the house tumbling on every side, he remained alone on a wall. All his family were crushed to death. The blow was too great; his mind gave way, and he went raving mad. At Saponara tha judge was buried under the ruins of his house, with his young wife and two children. He was dug out alive, but his wife was found dead lying across his knees, with her arms outstretched towards her dear children. He was overwhelmed by his loss; ever since he has diligently fulfilled the duties of his office, but has never been heard to allude to the event, or seen to smile. Instances were mentioned shewing how tenacious life could be under the most trying circumstances. Besides the cases of Basili and de FrancesoM already recorded, in 1788 a baby was dug out alive.on the third day, and lived. At Montemurro, in December last, Maria Antonia Palermo and her two little girls, one of them only thirteen months old, were dug out on the eighth day, and lived. With some animals the length of time they had stood alive was quite remarkable. A donkey was found living on the fifteenth day; and in 1783 two mules and a chicken were found still alive on the twenty-second, and two pigs on tha thirty-second lay. ; Anderson Dead Beat.—The Philadelphia Ledger gives the following account of a Japanese juggler:—Here are some of his feats—No. 1. He took an ordinary boy's top, spun it in the air, caught it on his hand, and then placed it (still spinning) upon the edge of a sword near the hilt. Then he dropped the sword point a little, and the top moved slowly towards it. Arrived at the very end, the hilt was lowered in turn, and the top brought back. As usual, the sword was dangerously sharp.- "No. 2 was also , performed with the top. He spun it in the air, and then threw the end of the string back towards it with such accuracy that it was caught up and wound itself already.for a second cast. By the time it had done this it had reached his' hand and was ready for another spin, No 3 was still performed with the top. There was an upright pole, upon the top of which was perched a little house, with a very large front door. The top was spun, made to': climb the pole, knock open the said - front door, and disappear. As we remember, the hand end of the string was fastened near the door, so that this was almost a repetition of the self-winding feat. But feat No. 4 was something more astonishing than all tbi3. He took two paper butterflies, armed himself with the usual paper fan, threw them into the air, and, fanning gently, kept them flying about him as if they had been alive. "He can make them, alight wherever you wish! " Try him '"remarked tlie Kami through the interpreter. Mr. H. requested that one might alight on each ear of the juggler. No sooner expressed than complied with. Gente undulations of the fan waved; them slowly to the required points, and there left them comfortably- seated. Now, whether this command over pieces of paper wa3 obtained simply by currents of air or by the power of a concealed magnet, Mr. H——- could not tell or. ascertain. One thing, however, was certain-r-the power was there. . Mr. John Thomas Smith.—-We find the following' in a late number of the Sydney Morning Herald^ as furnished by its Melbourne correspondent. The subject is worthy of all the humour thrown into it hy the writer:—" The Corporation of (he City of Melbourne has'been true to itself. It lias maintained its character for impudent presumption and consummate ignoi'ahce. The collective 'wisdom', of the corporate body has been called together, at the requisition of eight members, whose names do not appear, to pass a vote of censure upon the British Government because John Thomas Smith, the five times mayor of Melbourne, was not knighted on tlie occasion of tho presentation by him to her Most Gracious Majesty of an address of congratulation on the marriage of the Princess Royal of England to Prince Frederick William of Prussia. The story of the mission of John Thomas Smith is well known. He was sent home (by a sudden movement amongst a clique numerically strong in the Council) ostensibly to congratulate her Majesty, but really that, tlie Queen might obey the behest of the civic dignitaries of Melbourne, by admitting to knightly rank the man whom they had delighted to honor. The mayor went home, was feted by the Colonial Secretary, feasted at Birmingham and Edinburgh, claimed as a long lost son by Mrs. Hall, boxed on the ears by her pretty grand-daughters, whom he tried to kiss—■ ''received' at Windsor, and at last returned from the same place John Thomas Smith, ex-Mayor, who had sailed away Mayor some ten months previously. He stopped for a month in Egypt to prepare the Common Council for the Wow, and here he bought a donkey. When he did arrive by the next mail, he and his donkey came quietly into Melbourne. There were no processions, no triumphal arches. Smith came.up by rail and tlie donkey by the common road, and little or nothing has been heard of either since. Whatever the feelings of the ex-Mayor may have been, on re* turning an unsuccessful man to his adopted country, they were as closely concealed as were those of the animal who first set foot on it under a process of adoption generally known as that of Hobon's choice."