The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1867.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 299, 18 December 1867, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1867.

At the time of going to press, no telegram had reached us of the arrival ac the Bluff' of the English Mail via Suez. We would remind our readers that the census will be taken to-morrow evening, the 19th inst., and that the papers,' which are required to be filled up on the following day, must contain the names, &c, of all persons who slept in each dwellii-ghouse on the night of the 19th. We are glad to find that New Yt-ar's Day is not likely to be so barren of amusements as ab one time seemed probable. In addition tp the challenge whalebbat match between four members of the Volunteer Artillery and four members of the Fire Brigade, which is announced to take place that day, an advertisement in our columus contains a proposition emanating from eleven members .of the Fire Brigade to play a friendly game of cricket with an eleven of any other Volunteer Company in the province. _ Madame Carandini's concert last night at the Provincial-hall, if not so numerously attended as its predecessor on Monday evening, was quite as successful, in spite of the absence of Mr Sherwin, who had sprained his ankie on Monday night, and w unable to leave his couch during the day. This f.-ct necessitated some changes in the programme, but it was abo the means of testing the thorough musical traiuing which tliese young ladies have received, for in oue instance at least the part which should have devolved upon Mr Sherwin, was taken, an t taken admirably too, by Miss Fannie Carandini, almost at a moment's notice. The lavely duet thun Maritana. - Sainted ni-'-t.ier,*- was exquisitely sung by the two sisters, aiid Madame Carah<iiin's rendering of Katey's Letter, by the late much-lamented Lady Gifford, elicited the iouriest applause. Of course ' I Know a .maiden' found a place in the evening's programme, and was received quite as rapturously as' ever. Despite the aisappointment caused by Mr bherwin's accident, whicn the ladies did all that lay in their power to atone for, th*» entertainment, was one of the most enjoyable of the •serle--. To-night Madame Carandini takes her benefit • and has announced perhaps ttie most attractive programme which has yet been offered, including specimens of almost every school of musical composition. We are happy to learn that Mr Sherwin has so far recover d from the effects x of bis accident as to be able to appear this even- ■ jngJ There seems every probability that tonight's concert will be very numerously attended, a large quantity of tickets having been already engaged. - On Friday the party make positively their last appearance in Nelson. The members of the Nelson City Club celebrated their sixth anniversary yesterday evening by a supper in their club-room at the Nelson Hotel, R. Pollock, Esq., J.P. being in the chair. About 30 members were present: after an excellent; repast had been discussed, which did much "credit to thy' culinary resources of Mr M'Gee's establishment, a very agreeable evening was spent, the usual loyal and 'local toasts being given, and- duly honored, not forgetting lPro-fP^ZiS^-il^ko 0 .Gity Club.' The proceedingTwefe.niuch enlivened by some capital songs, and esipeeiaPy by the presence of several members of_tfa&tHee Club,vwho . kindly favored ihe party ■witba bomeldelightfuL part-songs, both English . jkni^iGemiaxi? which, we ;need: hardly add, were •Te^r^tol/irexectttod. Tba whole affair was a •.. i ,; .."ti*9€ '. . ';•"•'' . ' •>"■-' ••.- yy-' ■ -•'' " :

decided success, and was not brought to a conclusion until some time after midnight. ! We understand that tbe Voluntter. Band will perform again this evenh.g on the Church-bill. The band haye now, thanks to their persevering attention to tlie instructions of their bandmaster, Mr Louis Draeger, attained such proficiency, that . their performances are exceedingly creditable. These weekly exhibitions of their powers ailbrd a very pleasant recreation to our citizens and their families after the toils ofthe day are over, and we trust thit they will show their appreciation of the exertions which the Band make for their gratification by liberal contributions to its funds. It may be as well to remind our sporting friends that by the Protection of Animals Act, passed during the last session of the General Assembly, it is forbidden to shoot pigeons and wild duck in any months but April, May, June, aud July of each year; anl that it expressly prohibits persons hunting or shooting any native bird on Sundays, uniler a penalty of £10. 'lhe schedule attached to the Act does not include kakas iv the list of protected birds. There ought not to be any complaints of the scarcity ot* meat in VVestport, as out of the 200 sheep brought by the Heron, it has been found more profitable to send away two-thirds to the Southi-rn ports. Mr Peter Snodgrass, M.L.A. for Gip-»s Land, an old Victorian politician, died suddenly on the •26th Ovember, of heart disease. Governor G'ey's horses, plate, &c.-, were sold by auction at Wellington, on the 3rd instant. *We regret to state that Mr P. 0. Neid, of the firm of _l Callum, Neill, & Co., Dunedin, who is well known in this city, has met with a severe accident, through being thrown from his horse, by which he sustained a compound fracture of the leg. A skittle-match was played on Monday last, at Ryan's Alley, Richmond, between lour Sti-ke and four Richmond players, which resulted in favor of the latter, the plucky style however of the 'Turfites' being much admired, they having 'tied' on 7, 8, and 9. The average play on both, sides was really good. The following are the names of the Richmond players — Messrs 11. Tasker, J. Tasker, J. c-utton, and Hammond; Messrs Augarde, J. Smith, A. Bradley, and G. Kowbotham representing tlie Turfites. 'The return game is io take place at the Turf-hotel, Stoke, during the Christmas week. Mr Best, of Appleby, has hit upon a very successful tneth'.id of decimating the numbers of the hawk tribe, who. e-;p-:cially at this season of the year, infest the country in the vicinity of the farmsteads. It seems that he places on a high pole out of the rea h of dogs, etc. a young rab:>it, which is, of course, a bonne bouche to tliese ravenous birds, and which has been previously saturated with strychnine. The birds devour this greedily, ■ and of course fall victims to mhplaeed confidence. In this manner we understand tnat Mr iiesr. has destroyed nearly 200 of these birds within the last month. We quote the following from the VVestport Times:— The Kennedy, which came in on Saturday, gave cheering note by the aspect ot her decks of the preparations made by shippers in Nelson for the inward comfort of wu* expatria-ed ones on the West Coast. Pigs, sheep, and poultry, dozens of fowls, scores of turkeys, hundreds of geese, bushels of potatoes, hundredweights of cherries, hogsheads of ale — in short, nearly everything good to eat or drink lumbered her deck or filled up her hold. No reason but want of money to prevent our enjoying as merry a Christinas as our neigh burs — thai is, as far as creature comforts can contribute to the enjoyment. According to the VVestport Evening Star the diggings at Mokihinui are not in the most flourishing state. No new discoveries have yet been made, as were expected ere this, and the gold is not coming forward in such quantities as to cause any s T ir. Business people are rather down in the mouth upon it, as some more excitement was expected to have shown itself with some new ground opened before this date. There is ot course no knowing wiiat a day may bring forth, but a good many miners have returned to \Vestport during the past week rather dissatisfied with their luck. In the London Times' office a new priming machine is erected which will priut *i0,t)0o copies of the paper per hour. It will print on a continuous sheet, which will afterwards be cut into separate copies of the Times. It is claimed by an English photographer that he has a process by which he can t.ike 50 photographs simultaneously. The Friend of India says that, owing to the heat half ofthe euaine-drivers on the East India railway are sick. 'The other day,' it adds, 'a train was stopped at Hooghly with the stoker dead and the driver dying.' Of all the filthy habits in the world tobaccochewing is one of the filthiest. Yet how promptly and cheerfully the chewers bring forth their little tin-foil packages, and minister to each other's cravings! And how the quid-chewers benevolently overlook their squirting practices, especially in places ot amusement, railroad cars, &c. On the New York Central travels a pleasantmannered conductor — a neat, tidy man, in every thing excepting the weed. One morning, shortly after his train had started, he entered a car which was ' bran-new' and gorgeous in its adornments. His attention was at once drawn to the zinc around the stove, the brightness of which had been sadly dimmed by the filthy expectoration of some tobacco-chewer. Looking around with a frown, he spoke loud enough to be heard by all in the cir, demanding to know who had been guilty of so dirty a trick? No one replied, lle repeated the question in more an 'ry tones, when a meek and scared-looking young m-in tremblingly said, 'I did it, bul I — ' 'All right,' said the conductor, his face relaxing into a smile — ' Give us a chaw!' And lhat deoeitiul conductor paid no more attention to the nasty performance, but went on ' chawing' and calling out ' tickets!'— Sala. Not a thousand years ago, at a party given by one of our great American bankers, who had made his millions on Government securities — a lady wit pointed out to her companion, also a banker, the wife of the host, remarking : ' What , a splendid creature ! She ought to be a countess!' -Oh yes; beautiful enough and clever enough; , bat perhaps she prefers to be a discountessl'