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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 344, 27 December 1875, Page 2

Mr Warden Broad has been ap- ' pointed to succeed Mr Warden Giles ' in this district, and will commence his duties on the Ist February proximo. < His successor iu the Inangahua, district I

has not been definitely named, but there are several candidates for the office.— West port Times. The Hokitika Star says :— The pass-, ing of a Maori funeral through' the lo.rn a few days since attracted some attention. First came two horsemen, wearing wreaths of evergreens and flowers, thrown over the shoulder, scarf fashion. These were followed by a number of vehicles, the first of which contained the coffin, which was covered with a pall, and strewed with native flowers. Each vehicle was covered with evergreens, and the occupants,male and female, were profusely decked m the same fashion. A son of Wotherappou, the great London confectioner, was found downed the other day at the Napier breakwater. He had been drinking h avily. ° The Post, of Thursday says :— Active preparations are being made for the Luna's expedition to repair the Cook Strait cable. The Luna was moved round to the Lion Foundry yesterday, and returned to the Queen's Wharf today, having received on board the necessary machinery which* was imported from England orignally when the cable was laid, and has been stored at the Lion Foundry since. It includes maasive grappling irons to pick up the cable, and a large " drum >f on deck, round which it will be coiled as hauled in, should the attempt to grapple it be successful. The Luna is expected to be ready to start in about three days. A Brisbane telegram in the Melbourne Argus of Dacember 2 says :-— "The escaped Communists found on Double laland State that they were engage;! for nearly three years in making their boat. They made their escape from New Caledonia in daylight, cutting the boat's painter, aod setting sail when unobserved; but they were afterwards pursued by two small steamers, and fired on, which obliged the escapees to lighten their boatTby throwing nine out of seventeen aacka of flour overboard. The breeze freshening to half a gale the boat sailed well, and outstripped the steamers. They were without a compaes; but one of the number was able to take rough calculations. On the eighth day out the last drop of water was consumed. They reached land four days later, their feel and legs being much swollen! Yesterday they still remained at the camp of Duke, a timber cutter." A Baltimore paper reports that a Mrs Mulligan, of that town, gave birth on the 16th February to four female infanta, all of them " fine, fat, healthy ond handsome." Mrs M. is a small delicate woman, about thirty years of a*e, born of Irish parents in Baltimore A year before Mrs Mulligan gave birth to five male children at one time. Tiioy are still living no t the slightest deformed. The children form a little regiment, and will soon, doubtless, walk, perhaps march to the Mulligans' March. The Jewish Chronicle ban the following, under ihe title of "Another Deluge" :— The Adventiats, an American Christian sect, believe that another deluge will visit the earth before the end of the current year. The head of this religious body therefore has proposed to form a company which is to issue shares for the purpose of raisin* the funds requisite for building a large ark, wherein the members of the sect raigijfc take refuge at the appearance of the flood. A twenty-dollar share is to enliile the holder to a place on the deck, while the holder of a share of fifiy dollars is to have the privilege of using the best cabin. Special provision is to be made for the animals that may accompany their masters. • News comes from Adelaide that Ernest Giles, the explorer, has reached Western Australia, from Adelaide, with ten men and sixteen camels For more than 1000 miles in a straight line the country was simply an ondulation of dense scrub, with water holaa few and far between. On one occasion tbey travelled 325 miles without water. They have 800 botanical and geological specimens collected, many of tha former being quite new. A Dunedin telegram to tha Post sajs :— Under the heading, "A Love Tragedy," the papers here give the following particulars of the career of AJexauder Scott, who committed suicide at Dunedin on Sunday week:-—A considerable time B ioce he left Greeiong in Victoria, where his father is well known as a timber merchant and owner of considerable property, to fill a position in the Colonial Bank at Dunedio. This he held, esteemed by all who* knew him because of hia courteous habits and gentlemanly disposition, np to within four montha ago, when, becoming involved id a lovo affair in which he was .unsuccessful, he rashly sort to drown tha pongs of unrequited affection in driok. The result was his dismissal. This was a climax that only tended still further to exasperate him. His father at first had allowed him £25 monthly. This was reduced to £16, and for the last two months the remittance, which was paid through tn uncle, ceased altogether. It is probable that his loas of employment, and the discontinuance of his allowance, tended to precipitate the crisis bat those who knew him intimately ascribe his fate directly, as well as remotely, to the fact that a young lady, with whotn he h«e long been on intimate terms, and to whom it. is believed he was affianced, recently married another. Fijian papers, received in Auckland on Monday last, state that the Alarm from New Caledonia broughj to Lavuka

intelligence that a French man of- war to leave Noumea two days after 'jJw Alarm, and go to the New Hebrides to hoist iha French flag over that group. The «e we, say 8 the Herald, has created considerable interest in Fiji as tha laborers on the planlniiora there come in large numbers from the New Hebridee, with which Fiji has been in this way closely cooucted for the past ten years. Tha pigeon English spoken by these laborers, in Fji in order that they may be able to communicate with each other, must be pretty well diffused throughout the ?few Hebrides group, and it seems a pity they should fall , into foreign haoda. Nothing is said of any action to be taken by Sir Arthur Gordon in the matter. Perhaps His Excellency may be yet beforehand, and repeat the measure taken in early New Zealand days at Akaroa. The duty on manufactured tobacco has been increased in New South Wales to 2s 6\ per lb. beiug an increase of 3d} and leaf tobacco to Is 6J, being an increase of 6d per lb. The loan estimate for railway ex-i tension ia Now - South Wales is £2,900,000, and the total of the loan estimate is over £3,000,000, and of this amount £50,000 is provided for immigration. A debate lately on the Pacific mail service was started in the New Seuth Parliament on a motion for adjournment. The Government stated that Mr Hall owed £3,000 for over-pay-ment, and £50,000 for penalties. ; A discocery has. lately been made (says the Pall Mall Budget), on ao island in the Mississippi, which sbows that the aborigines of America were not wholly uaacquaioted with raechauical surgery, but occasionally wore wooden legs when deprived of their natural limbs. In a subterranean cave, hewn out of a huge solid rock, which '" had undoubtedly been made thousands of years ago," was found, among several other rerafttkaMe sriiclt-a, a skull as brown as a polished walnut, perfect. in every respect, and of extraordinary size,, also an almost complete skeleton, with a wooden leg. The fastenings of the artificial limb coosiated of petrified leather and bronze buckles. The original leg appears to have been removed half way between the hip and knee. This discovery is regarded as extremely interesting, as not only proving that timber esirerai ties were fashionable in early ageß, but that a knowledge of bronze was among the learning of the ahorigines. It is, however, rather painful to reflect that the state of society thousands of years ago had not even the redeeming point of being natural, but was artificial, as at present, and that in honoring the bones of our forefathers we have often unconsciously been merely honoring their wooden stumps.