The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JUNE 20 , 1874.

Mr. O'Conor returned to Nelson to-day by the Charles Edward, after visiting tbe West Coast districts. Gazette in Bankruptcy/. — It ia notified in this morning's Gazette tbat Norman Campbell of the Kaituna Valley, saw miller, has assigned all hia effects to Henry Buckeridge aod James Beattie upon trust for bis creditors. Education Committee.— -At Motueka the retiring members were the Rev. S. Poole, Messrs M'Donald and Grant. The Eev. S. Poole, Messrs Wilson, Rumbold, M'Donald, Grant, and Boyes were nominated, and the three lost named elected. , Nelson Herrings. — We have heard a good deal about, and have tasted, Picton bloaters, and very nice they are, but in no way superior to similar fish caught in Nelson waters, and cured at the establishment of Messrs Moller and Burrell, in Bridge-street. The herrings, which look quite as well as tbey taste, are carefully packed, after passing through the process of cleansing, salting, and smoking. An old Indian resident would make a capital breakfast off them in this wise : fish grilled, rice well boiled so that each grain formed a distinctive part of a whole dish, and bad no immediate connection with its neighbor, a little butter, and a couple of boiled eggs, the whole making a conglomerate of herrings in little bits, rice, butter, and e*?gs, wiih a modicum of pepper, either black or cayanne according to taste. Let every supporter of local industry try this receipt, and then enquire of his within what is its opinion of the experiment. We venture to predict that Messrs Moller and BurreTs supply of fish would be unequal to the demand. The Timaru Herald suggests the possibility of DrFeatherston re-shipping Sullivan to New Zealand as a free emigrant. A Hokitika auctioneer has introduced tbe practice of selling coals y auction, in lots to suit purchasers. At the Opera House iu Melbourne, when near the end of the first act of "II Profeta," some mischevious scamp in tbe upper circle, or else the gallery, flung a largo apple at the orchestra with such violence as to break a valuable violencello which was being played on at the time. The Marlborough Express says : — There is a young man in the Province of Wellington who has greatly distinguished himself as a scoundrel. About tbe middle of 1865 he wa9 in Picton gaol, waiting to be forwarded to Dunedin, where he had committed a burglary. While he was in gaol he carried one arm in a sling, pretending it was broken. He was therefore less carefully watched, and an opportunity occurring, he escaped by climbing the palisading round tbe gaol. He has committed innumerable robberies, bas twice broken out of gaol, has been flogged and leg-ironed, but without satisfactory results. His most recent exploit was afc Greyfcown, where he robbed a pedlar's pocket of £35. The prevalence of garotting in Sydney has led to the revivul of nn invention first brought into notice in London many years ago. The Sydney Morning Herald says:—." The last neat thiog in the way of collars is a steel collar with spikes, a sample of which, made for his own use, has been sent us by Mr John Russel. We have not tried it on, it would certainly be a caution to the night prowlers wbo are 100 fond of putliDg their arms rouud gentleman's necks. We hope there will be no necessity for the fashion of wearing them to become general; but if they should become gentlemen's wear, garotters will look twice before hugging once."

THE WEEK. It is said that Sir James Fergusson hates anything in the shape of pomp or demonstration to mark his incomings or outgoings at the various centres of the colony over which he is Governor. It is fair then to suppose that he likes quietness, and appreciates being free to do as he pleases without the uncomfortable sensation that the eyes of the populace are upon him, and to go where he likes without having to raise his hat in acknowledgment of frequent, i if forced, cheering. If this be so, he must have thoroughly enjoyed his visit to Nelson. There was no crowd to meet him, no volunteers to receive him on the wharf, no salute on bis landing — the gunpowder for the big gun, it is said, is in Wellington — no carriage and sis greys, as at Hokitika, to drive him up to town, no procession, no cheers, aud no waving of handkerchiefs. Indeed, if it were not for the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act in 1868, he would have had nowhere to lay his head, but fortunately a bed was found for him, and little dinner parties were given to hira every evening of his stay by the Mayor, and he rode out here one day, and drove out there the next, and visited the cloth works, of which, as he said, Nelson hos reason to he proud, and drank a glass of XXX in tbe cellars of the oldest of our breweries, aud went to a ball, where he hud an opportunity of dancing with some of the prettiest girls Nelson can produce, and on the following day he walked down to tho port unaccompanied by anyone but his host, the Superintendent not having ascertained the hour of his departure, got on board his yacht, nearly ran into (he Claud Hamilton, but eventually. got safely out of the harbor, and then was met by a furious southeaster, which did not care one rap more for the Blanche tban it did for the Planet or Sisters, or any other little craft, but with utter indifference to her vico-regal freight, blew ber over to Astrolabe, where, like any other boat, she had to lie at anchor for the night. So, if Sir James Ferpusson's professed dislike to parade and display be really genuine, he must have thoroughly enjoyed his visit to Nelson, where he certainly was not bored with too much attention. It 60 happened that I wa . one of a few in the gallery of the House of Representatives when the Municipal Corporations Bill was passing through Committee, and I remember that Mr Hall who had charge of it was much bullied and sneered at for the pettiness of some of its details, one of the provisions being for the fining of servant girls for shaking carpets in the street. There was, however, one little result that it was to produce that was not referred to at the time because, I suppose, it was never even dreamed of. Nobody ever thought that in assisting to pass that Bill he was agreeing to a measure which was to affect the character of Nelson as a loyal or hospitable town, but so it has proved. Our city — so let us call it — was proclaimed a Municipality none too soon, for, had it continued under the old regime, HitExcellency the Governor would have had to lodge at an hotel or remain on board his yacht, as there would have been no Mayor to throw open his house to him with laudable hospitality, and, as tbe event has proved, no one else would have been disposed to do so, while of Government expenditure there would have been none. It is reported — but I only mention it on hearsay, for I am not acquainted with the secrets of what Mr Donne calls tbe Executive prison house — that on Mr O'Conor being asked what was to be done in the way of receiving the Governor, he replied, "Nothing, we can't afford to spend a shilling upon him." " But we ought to show him some little attention, bow are we to excuse ourselves for not doing so ?" '« Tell him," is the reported reply, " that the Treasurer has gone away and taken the key of tbe safe with him, bo that you cannot put your hand on any money." I don't vouch for the correctness of this, but give it only as an idle rumor, but, at all event?, no public money was spent upon His Excellency, and his reception was left to be provided for out of the pockets of one or more private persons, and right well was it done by Mr Dodson, the firßt Mayor of Nelson, who is entitled to all our thanks for the manner in which he came forward, and saved us from the charge of utterly neglecting the Representative of Her Majesty on his first visit to our province. What we should do without a Mayor and a Superintendent on such occasions, I really don't know. I took up a Wellington paper the other day, and in it I found some remarks upon tbe census returns of tbe colony. Tho writer paid particular attention to those of Nelson and its suburbs, and, finding that the number of females was in excess of that of males, be came to certain conclusions which he put upon paper thus : — " It would appear that, in Nelson City itself, any addition to the female population is altogether unnecessary." . . . . " The question for consi- • deration is whether under the circumstances it wonld be at all prudent to bring female immigrants to Nelson, where opportunities for their employment cannot certainly be abundant," This was a conclusion arrived at after the perusal of a certain arrangement of figures which is known to us as statistical information. Now listen to my experiences on two separate occasions during the past week, and having

heard (hem, don't confound figures with facts. I want to show .hit the scarcity of female servants in Nelson ia something really painful, nnd forma a serious stumbling block to families desirous ot taking up their abode amongst us. Soeiflcan make out a good case. Early in the week I was invited to take a six o'clock tea with a friend, who is not wealthy, but hes a moderate salary and a thrifty wife, aud is himself economically disposed. Numerous olive branches render it necessary that there should be two servants in the establishment. I went, but unfortunately, as it turned out, my watch was ten minutes too fast; My host responded to ray knock at the door and, as I fancied, was a little confused as he asked me to walk in. I did so, and entering the sitting room at his bidding, my nose was greeted with the delicate aroma of soapsuds. On a sofa was seated his wife with something rolled up in a sheet which I discovered to be an infant. Before tbe fire was a tub of water still steaming. The lady apologised. Her nursemaid's brother bad cut his finger, and so her mother wanted her home for a few days to look after bim. A housemaid was not to be procurod for love or money. To save the trouble of lighting two fires baby had been washed in the sitting room, a fact of which I should h'.ve been entirely ignorant had not my stupid watch been in such a hurry. I smiled, condoled with her, and whistled to tho baby, and, thinking it the proper thing to do, attempted to tickle it, but bein^ a bachelor and unused to play with such toys, I was unable to regulate the pressure of my fingers on its ribs, and the result of my pleasing familiarity with the little cherub was a frightful howl. Away went mother and child but tbe howl continued to resound through the wooden house. After an iuterval of some ten minutes, the mother's voice was heard calling to the father aud asking him if he would mind bringing in the tea. He did bo, all the time anathematising the government for not having introduced a supply of female immigrants long ago. He put the teapot where the meat should be, and left the cold pork on the tray, forgot tbe knives and placed the fotks in tho , saucers, &c. After a time the lady of / the house came down again still with the baby who would not sleep. She seemed amused with ber husband's efforts to lay the table and quietly rearranged the things, and then smiling a pleasant smile at me and saying she thought Mr F. would like to tnste the chutnee she had recently made, asked her husband to bring it in He disappeared and soon entered with a glass pickle jar which was handed to me. I helped myself, and laid a little of it on a morsel of corned pork, and placed it in my mouth. I tried to look pleasant but could'nt. My hostess instinctively discovered tbat something was wrong with her guest, and quietly asked for the cbutnee. She uncovered, she looked at, she smelt it, nnd then. — " Why Henry, this is raspberry jam." General confusion. Explanations that with no servant and plenty of children the whole house was topsy turvy. Growlings at Ann for going home. Grumblings at Susan for not coming when she promised to. General disgust at the impossibility of getting servants, and so od, and so on. Somehow or other after this we all of us felt uncomfortable, and I left early, aod wondered as I walked home whether it was better in a servantless colony to be a married man with a large family, or a bachelor with none, but I shall reserve my decision for another lime. Later in the week I went to the house of a richer man. Whist and pheasants. The pheasants had been killed on the first of the month, and the invitations were sent out on the second, bo I had had tbe pleasure of many days' anticipation. J. was admitted by a member of tbo family, and could not help noticing that the hall table looked dusty, and the oil cloth not so clean as it might be. The master of the house, who looked cross, shook hands with me, asked if the Adamant was signalled, and complained that they were without a servant, the cook having left at a day's notice because her mistress ventured to suggest tbat quail should not be stuffed with sage and onions, and the housemaid having required three days' leave of absence, as a friend of hers was going to be married, and she had promised to attend the interesting ceremony in the capacity of bridesmaid. We sat down to whist. My host and I were partners, and we got on pretty well together until, at about ten o'clock, at the fifth trick of the band, and when the odd trick was to decide both the game and tbe rubber, the door opened. Enter : First an odour of pheasant; second, a smell of something burning; third, after a little hesitation and brushing down of a dress, [a little girl about twelve years of age. Hair rumpled, face red and perspiring, fingers blackened at the tips. "Ob, Pa! Ma says will you come into the .kitchen." A rush to Pa, and then in a whisper intended to be inaudible to others, but not so : — "Ma was taking off the pheasants when she let some fat fall into the fire, and the blaze frightened her, and one of the pheasants .dropped into the grate, and knocked some cinders into the bread sauce, and she's afraid the chimney will catch fire, and she says do please come." Mr npologized, left the room, was absent two or three minutes, returned, muttered •■Confound tbe servants," and then said that he bad forgotten all about the game, which' turned out to bo quite true, and we lost five shillings. Supper in due time, the lady of the house . t . s

looking very hot and uncomfortable. One pheasant was negro colored, but our host, not knowing that we had heard what the child had whispered to him, told us casually that it had been shot in a gully in which all the high fern had only recently been burnt. The bread sauce was speckled with block spots that looked liko curra:;ts in what is known to a schoolboy aa plum tiuff. Our hostess said to our host that really tbey must change their baker for the bread was abominable, every loaf consisting of burnt crust right through it. We who had heard the child whisper recognised and appreciated the lady's wonderful powers as a romancer, but we decided that, a9 bread waa faked in the colonies, if, was folly to carry out the old English habit of eating bread sauce with pheasants, which, after all, lasted so much nicor without it. Supper over, the lady of the house and tbe little girl cleared away and left the room and then we drew round the fire, and after the second glass of toddy, and impelled thereto by the mild influence of a pipe, our host laid bare hia grievances, revealed to us as a hitherto secret what we had heard the child whisper, and aaid that though he wus willing to pay anything in reason to provide his wife with servants, she was quite unable to get them. We sympathised with him, drank just one tnore glass of toddy, for the nigbt was cold, and then I walked home nnd happened to take the Wellington paper to which I have referred, and rend there that any addition to our female population was altogether unnecessary. I smoked my pipe meditatively and thought — Well after what I have seen to-night and read in the paper I will nevtr attempt I to found a theory on figures only. i F.