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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 171, 24 July 1867, Page 3

A public meeting was held yesterday evening, at the Bank Hotel, to consider the best means of developing the Aorere coal-field at Collingwood. H. E. Curtis, esq. was invited to take the chair, and, after briefly stating the object of the meeting, called upon Mr John Grange, secretary to the lessees of the mine, to describe its present position and its prospects, who stated that the lessees were quite prepared to meet the Nelson public in making any reasonable alterations in the prospectus and in the proposed mode of opening up the mine. Mr Grange then said that he would be glad to hear their views on the matter. Mr Gibbs afterwards addressed the meeting, explaining that he had accompanied Dr Hector when he visited the mine, and as they were not yet in possession of any report from that gentleman, he would, as far as his recollection served him, give his remarks on tbe occasion referred to. In the first place Dr. Hector stated that if he had inspected a sample from the bulk, some fifty tons of which were then lying at the mouth of the drive, the analysis which he had given would most probably have been far more favorable, as the piece he analysed was taken from the out-crop. After seeing some of the coal burned, Dr. Hector said that he considered it was one of the best he had seen, and that the limestone along the line of tbe proposed tramway was of a very fine quality. This, of course, would be a large item in the profit of the lessees, as it could be burned with coal, which would not otherwise be marketable, and is an article for which, if it could be offered at a reduced price, there would be a large demand for agricultural purposes. - As to the tramway, both Dr. Hector and Mr Hackett (who accompanied him), saw no engineering difficulty in the way of its construction. Mr Gibbs stated that the measurements of the thickness of the coal seam given in the prospectus were from Mr Burnett's drawings and plans, but there was every appearance of the band running out and the coal increasing in proportion. After some further explanations had been given, a committee of gentlemen was appointed by the meeting to communicate with Dr Hector, with a view to obtain his opinion, and also with Mr Fackett, and to make some alterations in the prospectus, to be submitted to the Collingwood shareholders, and the meeting separated, to be again convened by advertisement when Dr Hector's report shall have been received. An accident occurred on Monday evening near the tollgate. A cart belonging to Mr Warren, butcher, returning heavily laden from the slaughterhouse, was capsised, driver, carcases, and all, into the ditch. The cart was almost smashed to pieces, but both horse and driver escaped with comparatively trifling injury. This part of the road has long been a terror to passengers, and demands the attention of the Road Board. The Avery arrived this morning after a passage of 1 15 days, having sailed on the Ist April. She brings two passengers, Mrs Macfarlane, and another whose name we have been unable to discover. No telegram of the arrival of the Panama Mail at Wellington has yet been received, and we may therefore expect that the Suez Mail will be sent on by the Wellington steamer to-morrow. A young fellow, the son of an eminent dancing master, applying to a friend as to what trade or profession it would be best for him to pursue, was answered, "I think that you cannot do better than follow the steps of your father." It is stated in La Patrie that " the microscope reveals to us the existence of a

small black spot of the diameter of a pin's head, iv the potato. In this small space can be detected some 200 ferocious animals of a cojeopterie form, which bite and tear each other with continued fury. It _ easy to comprehend the potato disease when such an intestine warfare is raging." *■* No one would take you for what you are," said an old-fashoned gentleman to a dandy, who had more hair than brains. "Why?" was immediately asked. "Because they cannot see your ears." "Please sir," said a child to a guest, " who lives next door to you •?" — " Why, my little dear, do you ask ?" said the guest. " Because mamma said you were next door to a brute," replied the child. A woman being enjoined to try the effect of kindness ou her husband, and being told that it would heap coals of fire on his head, replied that she had tried " boiling water and it didn't do a bit of good." A minister repeating the first line or so of a chapter in the Bible, the clerk by some mistake or other, read it after him. The clergyman read as follows: — "Moses was an austere man, aud made atonement for the sins of the people." The clerk, who could not exactly catch the sentence, repeated thus: — "Moses was an oyster man, and made ointment for the - shins of his people."