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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 101, 1 May 1869, Page 2

The reference made in the Queen's Speech to the New Zealand atrocities is the subject of the following remarks in the Melbourne Daily Telegraph : — We did expect that the news of the Poverty Bay Massacre would arouse public sympathy in England. But it seems that this is not the case. Sympathy is certainly expressed in words, but it is denied in deeds. No doubt, say the Liberal Ministry, ' the case is a very sad one;' but they add, like Aminadab Sleek in the play, that relief 'is not in our way.' There is something of cold-bloodedness in the words put into Her Majesty's mouth, which ill-rec[uite the warm feeling that the mass of the colonists entertain for their country and its Throne. The settlers, it appears, are to be entirely abandoned to their own resources. To such an extent is this to be carried, we hear, that even Fort Britomart which has for so long a time stood guardian over I Auckland Harbor, is to be dismantled, its walls levelled, and its guns shipped to England. The folly of this act is only equalled by one thing — its meanness. We do not suppose that the colonists will despond in their new situation, nor yet do we imagine that they will be so very much worse off than before. One proverb declares that the heavens smile on those who help themselves and another that they favor the stronger battallions. The settlers have shown that they can do the one, and, even without British regiments, they possess the other. But it should not be forgotten that this war, which English statesmen are so much disposed to shirk, and which a taxfearing people are so much inclined to ignore, is a war which was begun by the Queen's representative to defend the Queen's supremacy over the Queen's territory. If English aid is to be denied, let it be so. Victoria, in her time, has been more generous. Rich Gold Discoveries at the Gulf of Carpentaria. — Private letters have reached Sydney from the Gulf of Carpentaria, announcing ' the discovery there of a very rich and extensive goldfield. The locality is on the Cloncurry River, near where the copper mine was found, and about 150 miles from Burke Town. The fortunate discoverers, it is stated, have, amongst other nuggets, secured a 30oz. and a 4Ooz. lump; and there have alredy been brought into Burke Town 3000z., although there are but thirty diggers at the place It has been long known that the ranges for 300 miles around the Gulf are auriferous, but this is by far the richest yield on record in that region. Domesticks thinks it conclusive evidence of drunkenness when he sees a man " sticking a postage-stamp behind his left ear, and attempting to get into a letter-box to go by the mail train." i

Chloroform at an Execution. — A convict who was executed at Utica, N. Y M on the sth inst. for the murder of a little girl, was helped easily into eternity by the administration of chloroform before the drop fell. It was permitted by the State authorities that the law should he mitigated in such a degree that the murderer should be hurried before his Maker while he was in a state of insensibility. New York is rather peculiar in its ideas in relation to the criminal law. The other day a man was acquitted of murder in &ew York upon the ground that, altheugh he was sane the moment before the commission of the deed and the moment after, he was insane at the particular instant when he drew the trigger of the pistol. Now, in their mercy, they stupify a murderer before "hey hang him. — Philadelphia Inquirer. It is rumored that a telegram has been sent to Bombay to Lord Napier of Magdala to proceed at once to New Zealand to report on the state of that colony, also on the expediency of establishing permanently two brigades of Sikhs or any other kind of troops he may select from India to assist the colonists in their present difficulties, and for the future maintenance of peace. It is further reported that this suggestion has come from the colony and that the Colonial Government are prepared to bear the expenses. The Russian Government is sending out large bodies of poor JFinns to colonise the extensive and promising regions of the Amoor. Each man is to have a free grant of 200 acres free of taxes for 24 years, and a supply of implements and cattle, to be repaid in eight years' time.