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West Coast Times, Issue 338, 23 October 1866, Page 3

We take the following from the "New Zealand Advertiser " (Wellington) of the Bth inst. : — " One of those graceful tributes which are not altogether an empty reward for bravery, was paid by the House of Representatives, on Saturday evening, to Commodore "Wiseman and the officers and men of Her Majesty's navy who have served in New Zealand. A vote of thanks by the Parliament of a country is always considered to be one of the highest honors that can be conferred upon any individual, and we doubt not that the gallant Commodore, on quitting our shores will think no worse of New Zealand and its colonists, when he takes with him the thanks of their representatives for the services he has done. For the of&Vers and men of the fleet we can' do no better than use Mr Stafford's words, and say that while there may have been some question. as to the valuable services that the land forco» have rendered, there never has been any with regard to those of the navy. Those who have lived through' the last six years of war in tliia country need, no reminder of the umhakeu bravery of the officers and men of England's navy, over which there has never yet passed a shadow of doubt. The thanks voted, in Parliament will find an echo in every heart throughout the colony, and the memory of " the war" will never be dissociated from the memory of the gallant seamen vrho helped to fight for us.

The Nelson " Colonist" informs us that tlie Committee appointed to lake steps for the erection of a suitable monument over the graves of the five murdered men buried in Nelson Cemetery, have selected from some thirteen designs submitted to them, one by Mr Theophilis Mabille, C.E. This is a graceful pentagonal column tapering towards the summit, springing from a pedestal which rests on a series of steps in excellent proportion with the shaft above. The design can be executed in three different scales costing proportionately, Ll5O, L2OO, and L 270. At the last named, price the monument would be twenty-three feet high, and the committee re■olved to have the largest si/c, provided sufficient funds were raised to meet the expense The five sides of the pedestal will bear the names of the several murdered men, the name of each being engraved on the tablet, while midway up the shaft will be a garland carved on each side of the pentagon. The work will be in substantial stone, and it is admitted that the design is the. most graceful that was shown. There were many chaste designs, from the simple obelisk, to the florid decorative imitation of the emblems of woe in the famoub Parisian cemetery of Pere la chaise ; and from the unadorned upright stone to the fluted column, cajefullv broken at the top, whiobi though & pretty, ig, fit the toit &. purely

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