EXTRACTS FROM LAST MAIL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 39, 17 February 1868, Page 2

EXTRACTS FROM LAST MAIL.

improved machinery lowers the price of f production. The cheaper a fabric is, | the greater is the demand for it, and it at once undersells the fubrje. produced with* j out machinery. Where'-the demand for a I certain, fabric increases'" .more hands are ' of "course employed. persous can -work at machinery -than at handicrafts where strength is required. Suppose machinery abolished in Lancashire, that would not prevent its being employed elsewhere. The wife andchildreu would .be thrown out of work by the stopping of the' lighter machinery. -The husband. und father, having to support his family alone, requires higher wa^es.. Prices are. raised to meet this drain for more wages. Trade again flows to the cheaper markrt. The trade iv the non-progressive or riotous places dwiudles. Fewer work-meu are required ; down go wages-; au'tl Poverty, ' Famine, and Death, thpse-ycruei teachers of political economy, creep into the half-'' deserted factories, aud push the workmen fiom their seats into the graves that "have long been gaping at their feet. — All the Year Round. According to the Times the. race of oysters became extinct or nearly so in August 1866. In that year 700,000,000 oysters were devoured in London alone. Wild oysters are nearly as rare as Avild horses. Thenceforward the demand has vastly exceeded supply. ' About five weeks ago, in excavating a salt marsh on our southern coast, the skeleton of a man', was discovered buried iv the fashion of the highest antiquity, iv a thick layer of oyster shells. Ergo, oysters have been devoured since the days 'of lacustrine man,' and they have at last been eaten up. Thence the Times points the moral of j oyster culture. It takes three times as ! long to grow an oyster as a sheep, but I when an oyster farm comes into bearing the increase is prodigious. A French oyster-ground, which was barren in 1856, produced £320,000 in 1861, and is worth perhaps five times as much now. In England oyster culture has made little progress. The most successful attempt to i imitate the French experiment has been njade at Hayling Island, near Portsmouth. 'Itis^expe'cted that an eighteen-acre farm .there will, yield for the season of 1870-71, ■ 80,00^,000; fine oysters. This will be about one-tenth the number required for London alone. The extent of this neglected mine of wealth may be estimated from .the fact that a single bed on the Irish coast used to employ 2,000 fishermen^'and 1 produced iv . the season £1,000 per week. It is now worth hardly iJ3OO a year. When the causes of success and of failure are better understood, oysterculture may become an important industry. It is computed that 200,000,000 human, beings consume tobacco in one form or another ; and the Bishop of Oxford pathetically remarked some time ago that our annual State revenue from 'the weed' was greater than the total income of the English Church. Opium has numberless votaries,who dream life and health away in the sickly visions which it inspires j and many preparations of hemp — such as haschisli, aud bhang — are smoked or eaten in Persia, India, Turkey, Africa, ,-.nd Brazil. All over India and the Indiau Archipelago the betel-nut is eaten. In Peru and Bolivia "coca' is the favorite commodity nor has scieuce, indeed, half investigated the properties of the wonderful leaf. The South American, Indian will go for days without food, and pass the loftiest points of mountains, where the rarified air would otherwise

make blood issue from the nose and ears, with a handful of prepared * coca ' to chew. The Empress of the French, more perhaps than any of her predecessors on the throne of France, has awakened in this country a consideration as to the claims of the labouring classes. Most of the reforms lately accomplished iv favor of the poorer classes, of the destitute and wretched, have sprung from Eugenie's large, deep and philanthropic heart. No longer do you see iv Paris those rude, boisterous, dirty children who in former years roamed about the streets, living ou the garbage of the markets, on the proceeds of beggary and petty theft, and who pillowed their houseless heads ou the stairs of the low localities in which they germinated. Cleanliness, industry, aud the rudiments of education are being inculcated at present on the new generation of the gamins of France, conducing to the peace and safety of the community at large, and the good of the poor children iv particular. Thanks to her Majesty, a revolution in the condition of the children of the poorer classes is going on as efficiently as Christiau heart could desire. — Paris Correspoudent. A good deal of surprise has been felt at the sudden breaking off of the intended marriage between the King of Bavaria and the Duchess Sophia. A short time ago they appeared iv the same box at (he Munich theatre, and it was noticed that the King gave his fiancee a bouquet, and seemed particularly attentive. Everybody then prophesied that the wedding would be very soon. It is now said, however, that the match was given up because the bridegroom elect, so far from displaying the eagerness usual with persous in his situation, desired to postpone his happiness for two years, in order, we presume, to enjoy the pleasures of hope. The bride that was to be did not sympathise with her fiancee in this, and so there was a tiff, aud finally a definite rupture. The King, however, has given notice that he will not withdraw the dowry which he had intended to give to a number of young maidens ou their marriage. In the contest of safes at Paris the jury have awarded the stakes, 15,000 francs, to the American inventor, Mr Herriug. The 15,000 francs deposited by Mr Chatwood are to be divided after paying expenses, among the charities of London, Paris and Washington. The Tomahawk says : — We are pleased to hear that the Queen has taken the initiative in reducing the present exorbitant price of butchers' meat. The various tradesmen who supply the royal palaces have been informed that they must accept BJd. a pound for the best mutton, or the Queen's custom "will be withdrawn. Of course they will one and all accede to the royal terms, aud if ' Purveyors to her Majesty' reduce their prices, the smaller tradesmen must follow suit. The Queen's spirited resolution will confer a substantial boon on all classes of her subjects. A woman died lately in London in consequence of the accidental administration of the essence of mirbune, or nitro-benzol. This substance is used iv the manufacture of aniline, from which mauve and other coal-tar dyes are obtained. It is a most virulent poison, a single drop placed upon , the tongue having been kuowu to cause < the death of a lad, who drained it by mistake from the bottom of a bottle purporting to contain common almond flavoring. Its flavor seems to'affect the Derves of smell alone, the taste of the oil being confined to one of iutense and indescribable sweetness. A very minute quantity is sufficient to produce violent v headache. The essence, as generally sold, consists of a solution of one part of the pure oil in four or five of spirit. It is much employed ]

' as a scent for hair pomades, &c. No case of injury through its external use has been recorded. Even iv this diluted form however, it is nearly as poisonous as commercial prussic acid. It is in small articles, such as are sold by the little drapers, that shore measure and short number are generally given. Pius sold by the gross iv boxes are but rarely anything like that number; needles, again fall short; and calico and tape, when sold in the piece, can never be depended upou for length when purchased from any of these small shops. The yard with which they are measured is very often far short of three feet, and is generally known by the uame of the 'short-stick.' It would be as easy to make a descent upon these these short-sticks as it is to inspect the baker's scales, and we tnist that before long this will be dove, for at the present time the poor are uiuiost exclusively the sufferers in health and in pocket from the dishonesty of these petty tradesmeu. — Cassell's Magazine.