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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 307, 28 December 1867, Page 2

..The announcement contained in the news received by.theilast .mail relative to .... the; fall in the London wool market, must '■''.: ' : nece^Barilyvbei* of interest to many of our ;\r^ders^;and ;the question naturally sug- ;...; pestsitseif^w of this ide•';/jir^jeiatiph ? We learn that large failures ■ * ' ; _a lv e f>r6cently occurred, ct_iefly connected

with cotton, the Royal Bank of Liverpool having closed its doors with heavy liabilities, and the present political aspect of the Continent, sustaining and aggravating the distrust which prevails in commercial circles generally. Wool is necessarily much affected thereby, iand. we learn that the opinion is general that, with the return of cotton to its price before the American war (during which it rose 300 or 400 per cent.), it must displace the partial use. of low-priced wool that had gone into consumption instead of cotton, and hence probably arises the depreciation to which we have alluded. The festival of Christmas was observed at Richmond by, the celebration of Evening Service at the Church of the Holy Trinity, at 8 o'clock on Christmas-eve. A crowded congregation was present, aud a sermon was preached by the Rev. W. D. R. Lewis, from Isaiah Ix, 1-3, 'Arise, shine} for thy light is come.' The church was beautifully decorated with flowers, hollywreaths, &c, disposed in various Christian devices. On Christmas- day Morning Service was given, with the Holy Communion, the Rev. C. 0. Mules preaching the sermon. The annual treat given by the Rev. W.D.R. Lewis to the children attending the Holy Trinity Sunday-school took place on Thursday afternoon, in the grounds of the Parsonage. The children, after engaging in the usual English games, made a most hearty tea, their parents and. friends afterwards sitting down in goodly numbers, and the evening was spent very agreeably by all present. TheAhaura (Upper Grey) correspondent of the Grey River Argus, under date of " the 16th instant, in noticing the visit of ' that pearl of Commissioners, 5 Mr Kynnersley, and other notabilities to the township, states that a deputation of the leading tradesmen waited upon the Commissioner to urge him to exert his influence with the General Government to have a Resident Magistrate appointed for the Ahaura, and also respectfully desiring that Mr Warden Lightband, as a gentleman thoroughly acquainted with the district, might be nominated for the appointment. MrKynnersley informed the deputation that the General Government fully recognised the want of ■ such an official, and had in fact already appointed another gentleman to the office. A feeling of regret was universally expressed that the Government should have passed over the claims of Mr Lightband to the vacant ofiice, and a more convincing: proof of his able management of this widely-spread and populous district could not be afforded than the fact that upon the Commissioner desiring the deputation to name any complaint they might have to make, or improvement to suggest, he was informed that in all other respects everything was satisfactory. The writer in the G. R. Argus concludes by sayiDg that Mr Warden Lightband, on his departure from the district, will undoubtedly bear with him the best wishes and kindest regrets of the inhabitants. The Home News states that the Right Rev. Bishop Hobhouse has been appointed to the incumbency of St. Mary the Virgin, Beech Hill, Strathfieldsaye, Hants. A scratch match came off, Thursday, at Victorysquare, between two elevens of the Nelson C.icket Club, which resulted in some excellent play. Wickets were pitched about half-past 10, and the game was brought to a conclusion shortly after 3 o'clock. A large number of spectators were present, who appeared to watch tbe progress of the game with much interest. Lloyd's Eleven — Lloyd, Greenfield, Pratt, H. Drew, Bird, R. Lee, Tennant, Stavert, Wright, Stallard, Ist innings 39, 2nd 59, total 98; Clark's Eleven. .Clark, J. Knyvett, Mortimer, Grut, Taylor, Somerville, A. Knyvett, Batchelor, Trask, i. utt; Ist innings 56, 2nd 55, total 111. By the courtesy of Mr Wilkie, who, with Miss Wilkie, arrived last night by the Rangitoto, after an absence of some nine months in the old country, and we are happy to add in the enjoyment of excellent health, we have been put in possession of an ' extra ' of the Jamaica Colonial Standard, containing a fuller account of the fearful calamity which befel the Island of St. Thomas. It appears that the steamship La Plata, on board of which were the passengers via Panama, had a very narrow escape, for she was met by the great tidal wave, as she lay off Peters 'Island, which struck her on her starboard side, carrying away her bulwarks. Her commander, Captain Revett, fearing that she .must have sustained some injury, and thereby be unable to withstand a similar shock, ordered the crew to take to the boats and put the passengers ashore. This was effected with all possible speed-, the officers and crew doing their duty like Englishmen. Tlie passengerswere severally domiciled by the . kindness of the Governor of the island, by Mr Cameron, the agent of the company! and other of the inhabitants, during the evening of the 18th it was generally reported that the La Plata had gone down, but on the morning of the 19th she steamed slowly arid cautiously into the harbor of St Thomas, and ' took up her position at the coaling station of the R.M.S.P. Company, where she received 200 tons of coal, put in by the crew under a broiling sun, lor the negroes, who usually coal, the, steamers,

. s till suffering from the panic of the previous day, refused to work ' for any rate of wages, and on the following day she lelt St, Thomas on her way to Jamaica. Intelligence had been received at St. Thomas' from Santa Cruz and Tortola of the calamities which had befallen them, but no particulars had reached there when the La Plata left. The Obituary for October received by the last mails includes the following names: — The E**rl of Rosse, illustrious for his devotion to scientific and philosophical pursuits:- the Countess of Gainsborough ; the Bishop (Lonsdale) of Litchfield; Admiral Lord Colchester; Lord Wrottesley; Lord Pitzharding; Lord Kingsdown (butter known as Mr. I 'emberton Leigh); Commander the Hon. F. Pitzmaurice, son of the Eurl of Orkney ; the Hon. George Handcock, brother of Lord Castlemaine, and an active member of various public bodies in Ireland; the Right Hon. Horatio Waddington, recently Under-Secretary of State at the Home-office; Col. Sir Thomas Trbubridge Bart, C.8.; Sir James South, the well known astronomer; W. C. W. Packe, M.P. for Leicestershire; Mr W. H. Weiss, the popular baritone; Admiral Mar wood Kelly; and the Countess Danner, morganatic wife of the late King Frederick VII. of Denmark. A telegram from Wellington in the Christchurch papers states that the Commissioners appointed to make arrangements for the reception of H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh, have announced that no sums will be granted towards public fetes out of the funds voted by the Assembly, Mr Warden Robinson , writing from the Dunstan, says that the Chinese, in their steady plodding way, continue to spread themselves over the face of the country, and seem to do well anywhere. In fact, he adds, I have it on the authority of one of themselves — a very intelligent man — that they find the New Zealand goldfields pay them far better than those of 'Victoria or New South Wales. The best score ever made, with the Enfield rifle, south of the line, was mad* 1 by Mr Slade, during a prize competition at Sydney, on the 4th instant. The ranges were 200, 500, and 600 yards, and the scores were respectively 18, 17, and 18, making the very large total of 53 points. The yield of the New South Wales goldfields for the last eleven months. shows a decrease of 17_ per cent. Mr Commissioner Griffen has been committed for trial for the murder of the Clermont gold escort. William Cross, the boy who received a gun shot wound in, the right breast in the Orange riot which took place in Melbourne during the Prince's visit, died on the 1 3th instant. The steamship Somersetshire, the first of the new line of steamers via the Cape of Good Hope, was to leave Melbourne on the sth inst. for England. It is alleged that carbonic acid has recently been successfully used for the extermination of mosquitoes and flies. A small piece of cloth, saturated with the acid, was hung up in a room, and in two hours the flies had entirely disappeared. In the evening the acid was tried in the kitchen, where the mosquitoes were very troublesome, with like success. An editor down south says he would as soon try to go to sea on a shingle, make a ladder of fog, chase a streak of lightning through a crabapple orchard, swim up the rapids of Niagara river, raise the dead, stop the tongue of an old maid, set Lake Erie on fire -with a lucifer -match as to stop lovers getting married when they take it into their heads to do so.