The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1868.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 8, 10 January 1868, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1868.

The Provincial Government Gazette of -Monday last contains the annual Report of the Trustees of the Kelson Trust Fund for the year ended Ist December, 1867, with the accompanying abstract of accounts for the same period ; the appointment of Mr F. Nairn, as Chief Inspector of Sheep for the Province ; declarations of inso!veucy by John A. Langford, storekeeper, of Nelson, Robert Dutton, miner, of Ci>arleston, Thomas Dwan, accountant, of West port, Samuel Samper, storekeeper, of Westport and Alphonso Jecklin, storekeeper, of the Devil's Grip, Maruia and Lyell; and Judge's orders calling meetings of the creditors of Henry Bradley, of Addisou's FJat, Westport. on the Bth proximo, at Westport, and of Terence Patrick Finu, also of Addison's Flat, at the same place and date. . The Mataura, with the mail, left Wellington , for Panama, at 4.15 on Wednesday afternoon. The Lyttelton Times of the 28th ult. appears in mourning, and contains a very interesting obituary notice of the late Mr Crosbie Ward, one of the proprietors of that journal. Mr Ward was the fourth son of the Hon. and Rev, Heury Ward, brother of the last Viscount Banjror, aud wa3 horn in 1832. He was consequently in his 36th year at the time of his death. The acute disease from which he had suffered for some time past, had gained such a mastery over him as to deprive him of rest, and to make hia life a protracted tortare. Nevertheless he worked on, and a letter from Mv Selfe, received by the last mail, proves that he was doing his duty to the last -with all his wonted pluck, dying, as he had lived, a brave, unselfish man, doing the work he bad found to do in this life with all his might, until death relieved him from his pain aud from his labor. Private Bullard, of the 6. Company Canterbury Kifla Volunteers, has beeu de-

clared to be the winner of the cup presented by F. A. Weld Esq., our late Premier, and recently competed for at Christchurch, and it is announced that a handsome prize, offered by his Grace the Duke of Manchester(who. when Lord Mandeville, was one of the origiual projectors of the settlement, and still holds considerable property in the province), to be competed for by Canterbury Volunteers. The Melbourne Gazette of December 27, contains a proclamation renewing the prohibition of the expert of warlike stores to New Zealand. The General Government Gazette publishes the following scale of allowances for prosecutors aud -witnesses : — Laborers, per diem. 6s ; journeymen, &c, per diem 10s ; master tradesmen, farmers, yeomen, and auctioneers, per diem 1 5$ ; professional men, per diem, £1 Is. Female witnesses at the rate of two-thirds the allowance to male witnesses of similar rank. Travelling expenses. — Witnesses residing at a distance exceeding one mile from the place of trial, expenses not exceeding Is 6d per mile oue way. If there is a steamer or coach or other public conveyance, either the whole or part of the way, the actual cost of such conveyance in lieu of mileage. When they travel by water, fore-cabin fare will be allowed to the first aud second class of witnesses, and chief-cabin fare to the latter classes. Witnesses in the pay of the General or Proviucial Governments will not be paid for their time but only for extra costs occasioned by their attendance. Our attention has been directed to a case heard in the Resident Magistrate's Court at Duueuin, on the 24th uit., which is of considerable importance to commercial men. Mr George Tuvnbull, of the firm of Turnbull & Co., merchants of that city, was charged with an evasion of the Stamp Duties Act under the following circumstances : — lt appeared that the defendant had drawn an inland bill of exchange for £460 4s. lOd. in duplicate, on which he had put stamps to the value of 10s., that is to say, ss. on the first, and ss. on the second of exchange. This procedure, had it been a foreign bill of exchange, would have beeu perfectly correct, the same duty being required on both sets for foreign bills, but the Stamp Duties Act ?s silent as regards inland bills, and the question therefore arose whether it was legal to divide the duty into two sums instead of putting the full amount on each set. The Magistrate, Mr. . Strode, ruled that every set of exchanges should bear the full amount of stmips, and fined the defendant in the penalty of £50, at the eatne time acquitting him of any intention to evade the duty, and expressing his confideuce that the Government, if applied to, wouid remit the penally. The defendant's solicitor consequently gave immediate notice of appeal agaiast this judgment. We understand that the six water-color drawings by Mr Hoyte, of Auckland, to which we drew attention in our issue of Tuesday, will be disposed of by raffle at Mr Hounsell's, Trafalgar-street, 30 subscribers at £l each, and the drawing will take place as soon as the subscription list is filled up. The Margaret Campbell, schooner, J. A. Scott master, arrived from Newcastle via Buller this moruiug. She arrived off the Buller on the oth, and after spending five days in working ioto the anchorage, aud waiting two days there, in order to gain a favorable opportunity of going inside, was compelled to give up the attempt and therefore continued her voyage to this port. She encountered very stormy unsettled weather ever since leaving Newcastle, and brings a cargo of coals. The concert of sacred and secular music, given last night at the Provincial Hall by Madame Carandini and her party, on their way to Auckland, was a great success, the audience being a very crowded and fashionable one, and the performance passing off most satisfactorily, if we except the signs of fatigue, superinduced by a not very propitious sea voyage, exhibited by one or more members of the party, especially during the first part of the programme. Nothing could have been more exquisite than Madame Carandini's rendering of ' ' Angels bright and fair,' or more perfectly harmonious than the unaccompanied trio from the Elijah, 'Lift thiue eyes,' and every member of the audience seemed to regret that eucores and applause I were not de rigeuv during a performance of sacred music. The other trios 'Ti prego', and 'On thee each living soul,' from the j Creation, were equally successful, whilst the solos by the Misses Carandini aud

Mr. Sherwin were received with much favor aud were sung with great taste aud feeliug. The second part of the concert consisted almost exclusively of secular cotnposit : oas already made familiar to the majority of the audience during the late visit of the party, and which were listeued to for this reason, with additional zest by those present, who, as if to compensate for the compulsory restraint of their enthusiasm duriug the earlier part of the evening, showered bouquets and plaudits ad libitum upon the fair songstresses. Madame Carandiui and her daughters cannot fail to carry away with them pleasant memories of the reception which was accorded them yesterday evening. We have seen a programme of the Amuri District Races, to take place on the 20th and 21st of February, which promises excellent sport. There are six races set down for each day, and the subscriptions appear to have been very liberal, the stakes being in each instance of handsome amount. We observe that the 'Duke of Edinburgh's Plate of £40, with sweep of £4 each added,' figures among the 'events' on the secoud- day. The Westport Evening Star of Wednesday last gives information of a new rush iv. that neighborhood : — ' We have intelligence to-day of" the discovery of new and very rich ground on the Caledonian. Lead, ami it is further stated that au extensive rush has taken place. The news caused considerable excitement in town, aud during the morning our merchants and storekeepers were busily engaged iv seuding away goods to the new rush. A considerable number of people have already left town to try their luck. Others are ouly wailing for further information. The new ground is supposed to be a continuation of the Caledonian Lead, aud is extensive.' The trial of Bellemey for the alleged murder of his wife has ended in his acquittal. The facts of the case are briefly these: — Bellemy was au assistant at a shop ofMrDe Barr, cheniisf, Goulburn, New South Wales. Mrs De Barr, who was proved to be a woman of very intemperate habits, eloped with him in August, 1866, carrying a considerable sum of money with her. The pair arrived in Melbourne iv September uuder the name of Bcrnett, and passed as man and wife. On shipboard Mrs Barnett had been attacked with severe vomiting, which continued even after lauding. She was attended by Mr Beaney, who was called in by the prisoner to see her, and she was somewhat relieved. Afterwards the same symptoms manifested themselves, antimonial poison was suspected, and Bellemey was apprehended. The evideuce at the tri 1 showed that the woman was a drunkard, and had taken tartarised antimony as an emetic. The Court was densely crowded during all the days of the investigation, but there was not much anxiety evinced for the verdict, as it was felt that after the testimony for the defence, the jury had no alternative. Whatever suspicions may have been entertained at first, and are still held by some, the greater number of those who heard the eviden-'.e believed in the man's innoceuce. After the verdict was given, the prisioner, who was greatly agitated, solemnly asserted his innoceuce, aud on leaving the Court fell down in a fit, but was recovered by Drs Baker and Martin. During his detentiou in gaol he also had one or two fits of a similar character. A Melbourne paper of the 14th. ult., gives the following somewhat satirical, and probably overtrue description of the Prince's visit to the interior of Victoria : ' The Prince's visit up the country has been attended with the most glowing expressions of loyalty, and the most astonishing consumption of spirituous liquors ever known in the colony. If we may judge from the reports of the special correspondents of the daily journals, the townships on the line of road taken by the Prince and his suite have been helplessly drunk for the last week. At Coluc the intoxication has almost reached an heroic pitch. Publicans scorned to serve their customers, dances were danced on bar counters, glasses were broken with mad delight, fights were fought, songs were sung, and every one gave themselves up to the most reckless enjoyment and hideous druukeouess. This is not as it should be, nor as it has beeu in town. The Prince himself, it would seem, has been rather inclined to shirk addresses, and shire councils have made the astonishing discovery that there are limits to his powers of endurance. On reaching Ballarat he

received a tremendous reception, and ia memory of the scenes in the country townships he has laid the foundation stone of a temperan.e-hali. The city was splendidly decorated, and the reception was in every way worthy of the loyalty and wealth of the metropolitan gold-h'eM.' A sailor named Thomas M'Kean deserted from H.M.S. Galatea, at, Melbourne, and made his way north as far as 'Wangaratta, where he got work as a harvestman. However, after doing half-a-day's work ia the field, he found that he had only earned Is. 6d., aud the work was of a kind that he did not like. Consequently, he went into the town, gave himself into custody as a deserter, and was remanded to Melbourne. It is snid that the amount of business done in Ballarat by tradespeople generally, during the time of Priuce Alfred's visit, the day or two preceding, and some days after, exceeded that ever transacted before iv Ballarat in a similar space of time. We take the follovviug Adelaide telegram, under date of the 20th December, from the Argus of the following day: — ■ Tho heat yesterday was iuteuse. The official report from the Observatory gives the greatest height of the thermometer at 157 <leg. in the suu, and from 103 deg. to 111 deg. in the shade. The great heafc was to be accounted for by the dryness of the atmosphere, as a thermometer placed in contact with a wet bulb indicated only 67 deg. In consequence of the heat and dryness of the atmosphere, some frightfol bush fires have taken place, extendiug over large portions of the Giwler, Light aud Stauley districts. At Stockport 30 square miles of country were in a blaze. The crops have been burnt up, stacks of hay destroyed, fences levelled, and farm houses reduced to ashes. At Clare also the country has been in flames, most extensive bush fires having raged all day. The whole of the Bundalare run has been burnt up, and one man on it burned to death. Many other places have suffered to a greater or less extent, and the total amount of the losses sustained cannot at present be estimated. The wiud has changed to the south to-day, which has caused a most favorable change lv the temperature. The following amusing episode is reported in connection with the examination of the children attending the B!ue-coat school at Warrington : — Mr Howej (the master) : In what way did Queen. Elizabeth show her wisdom ? A scholar : The people wanted her to get married, and she refused. — Mr Bowes : 1 dout know that that was a sign of wishom. Why did she refuse ?— The scholar : Because she wished to have all the power to herself.

The following are the correct returns for the election for the College Governorship : — S P* I is S "o js fa S ~ 73 g rij 5 £ C e« § W co « £ S o Ifeison 201 196 134 133 11G 127 Subuiban N... 29 12 22 14 14 22 Suburban 5... 5 16 12 1 15 0 Wairneaß. ... 18 13 16 6 12 7 WaimeaS. ... 24 24 16 16 0 6 Waimea W... 53 45 2S 6 13 13 U. Moutere 2 5 5 5 0 1 L. Moutere ... 3 3 3 0 0 3 Motueka 21 24 32 21 17 3 Motupipi 4 4 6 5 2 5 Collingwood 0 2 2 2 2 0 Ticton 16 25 25 20 27 30 Blenheim ... 5> 48 34 56 13 7 431 417 33.3 290 231 224