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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 27, 29 January 1876, Page 2

Tee following letter appears in the N. Z. Times of Thursday : — Sir : — Permit me through the medium of your journal to thank the Regatta Committee, the various boating clubs,* and the public generally for their kindness and hospitality, to us during our visit to Wellington. The reciprocal feeling existing between Wellington and Nelson boating men has long been.proyerJbial, and the present 1 regatta has been no. exception to the rule. I also desire to thank Captain Williams of the ship Avalanche for his kind invitation to a ball on board his vessel, and to Mr Woolston, proprietor of the flour mill at Petone, for his kind attention to our sick comrade in the hour of danger, and to whose liberality in placing a bed at his disposal our men owe his rapid recovery. In conclusion, I beg to state that Bhould ever a Wellington crew come over again to Nelson, they will meet with the same attention as has been accorded to us during our visit here, and that the same keen but healthy rivalry and emulation will exist between them. Our crew will look, back with pleasure to the happy days they spent in Wellington. — I am, &c, W. Simpson, pro crew of Thistle. An Auckland telegram dated Wednesday, says: — Sir Greorge Grey ia very unwell. A steamer proceeded to Kawau yesterday to bring him up to town, but he was not sufficiently recovered to come. The importance of swearing witnesses properly was illustrated at the Dunedin Resident Magistrate's Court a few days ago. A Roman Catholic witness had been sworn on a Protestant Bible, and when asked whether he considered the oath binding on his conscience, he distinctly replied in the negative. About two and a half miles have been made of the track intended to traverse the country between . Mokihinui and the Karamea, permitting traffic to the avoidance of the Bluff on the sea coast.The track, as cleared, is five feet wide, and will do well for driving cattle on ; but recent travellers in the locality express doubts whether it has been cut in the right direction, they holding opinion 'that if extended in its present bearings

it will ultimately terminate at the Lyell instead of the Karamea. At present it ends at the foot of a precipice.— Westport Times. It has been resolved by the Hokitika Jockey Club to hold a race meeting early in March."", Itis the intention of the Club to publish a programme in a few days, offering stakes for two days' events of not less than £400. We notice that in recognition of his services as member for the Hokitika district in the General Assembly for five years, it is intended to present Mr John White with a substantial testimonial. We can only say that if unselfishness, self-sacrifice, and plodding perseverance in that which he deemed to be right, are estimable qualities, no member of the late Parliament more fairly deserves the appreciation of his former constituents than John White. —G. JR. Argus. ' .. The rough ballasting of the Brunner railway has been completed, and the platform in front of the Greymouth postoffice is being formed. The old postoffice, says the Star, is to serve the purpose of a railway station, the postal department being about to remove to the new offices, on the' old Hospital reserve. The second locomotive is to be put together shortly. Three passenger carriages and a large number of trucks are now ready to run on the line, but it has not been definitely settled when the opening will take place, although it was currently rumored that it will be on or about the 14th of February. The Sydney correspondent of the Auckland Sear writes as follows :— " A roasted sheep for half a crown." That is the sort oi heading I fancy I should like to put to 1 a paragraph if I were employed as a reporter upon a daily newspaper. The reader will smile, perhaps incredulously, when 1 say that \ roast mutton has recently been sold in Sydney at the small sum of 2s 6d for the whole carcase. This is how it came about. There was a fire the other day at Mort and Co's freezing works, and frozen fish, flesh, and fowl were cooked in a way never contemplated by the proprietors. Most of the frozen food was utterly destroyed, but the carcasses oi several sheep were preserved. These were retailed to the principal hotelkeepers at half a crown each, and a good thing was done out of the investment by the bonifaces, who advertised special attractions at their tables d'hote, and the dishes were pronounced excellent. -^-The Westport Titres says: — One of the lucky discovers of the nuggets at the Lyel), mentioned in the telegram, has arrived in Weutport, and states that the find was made some months ago but wna kept secret, os the party did not wish to be interrupted in quiet occupation of the ground, which had yielded „a good quantity of nuggetty gold interspersed with rich quartz specimens. The find, however, had ' not proved sufficient inducement to the discoverer to remain, and he is " off to the Cape " by the earliest boat. A recent Cook town paper says: — " Scarcely a person you moot in the street of Cook to vn but who are of two descriptions — -one in the enjoyment of perfect health for the time, and the other stricken down with the all-ruling demon, fever. 'Halloo! What, have you got it, too? is an ejaculation that occurs at every etepj and indeed there is no need of asking the question, for tbe tottering gait and vacant look would answer it. The ' Courier ' wants to know what causes the fever,' and it denies that the climate has anything to do with it. The ' Otago Guardian' "amelleth the battle afar off," and is daily preaching the preservation of the land revenue to the provinces. In a recent issue it says: — " The conservation of the land fund is a matter of so much importance to the people of Otago that the question of what form of government shall prevail fades into utter insignificance before it. Great excitement, the ( Athenaeum ' states, has been caused among the celebrated goldsmiths of Triehinopoly, Southern India, in connection with the Prince of WaW visit. One of the Rajahs of Central India has given an order to one of the said goldsmiths to make him a new State throne of beaten gold, carved over with figures of Indian gods, and surmounted by a gold imitation of the triple feathers of the Prince," while " a full coffee and tea service of gold is being made for the Princess of Wales." In America the biggest of everything is generally considered the best, and San Francisco is trying to make itself the best city in America, it has of courae the biggest hotel in the world. This structure is called the Palace Hotel, and a few particulars about it may not be uninteresting. It is built on a whole block, surrounding a quadrangular court, into which open balconies 12 feet wide, and has a frontage to four streets — 350 to Montgomery street and 275 to Market street; it covers 96,250 square feet of land; it has tiers of storeys reaching to a height of 115 feet; it contains about 1200 rooms; there are 348 bay windows; and 377 bath rooms in the house; every room is ventilated with a separate flue running to the roof; it has four artesian wells, over four miles of hose, and the building can be drenched from roof to cellar in 10 minutes; there are five elevators, each of which can raise 100 passengers from the ground floor to the seventh storey in one minute. The building itself is estimated to cost £600,000. It has not a very pretentious appearance, but go where one will in San Francisco tbe Palaoe Hotel is always in sight*