The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, MAY 15, 1880.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 116, 15 May 1880, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, MAY 15, 1880.

An alteration will be made in the railway time table on and after Monday next, the 17th instant. The morning train will leave Foxhill at 7*40 a.m., and the other stations proportionately earlier, arriving in town at 854. The afternoon train leaves Foxhill at I*ls p.m., and reaches Nelson at 230. Both these trains ran right through to the Fort. The outward trains will leave Nelson at 930 a.m. and 4-30 p.m., but iv each case proceed from the Port ten minutes earlier. Extra trains will run on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but, a 8 well as on Sundayß, will not go the Port. We recommend our country readers to peruse the time table, and make themselves acquainted with the running of the trains, as it is very disappointing on reaching a station to find that the train has left five or six minutes before one's arrival. Mr. Acton Adams will address the electors of the City of Nelson in the Provincial Hall on Tuesday evening next at eight o'clock. As Monday next is the opening day of the pheasant shooting, our sportsmen will doubtless be about early Mr 11. Hounsell advertises that he has for sale every requisite for shooting purposes. A meeting of gentlemen interested in the prize fining and fete proposed to be held on the Queen's Brithday, was held at Captain Bunny's office last evening. The Committee appointed to canvass the Town for prizes reported as to the success they had already met with, and from the list of prizes already sent in, a good percentage of the competitors will carry home with them trophies of some kind. Some of the prizes on the list are somewhat indefinitely expressed, for instance, there are sundry packages, and in addition to an overcoat, a hrt, a very necessary but unmentionable article of attire, and a " garment." Oh, shades of night what is it, and with what luring hopes will the fortunate man who wins it draw it from its wrapper. In addition to the citizens' prizes the Volunteers will also fire for the Licensed Victuallers' Carbine and Kifle Champion Belts, and it was arranged that for each the ranges should be 200, 400, and 500 yards, five rounds at each. The highest scorer with carbine or rifle will be entitled to wear the Carbine or Rifle Belt respectively for the next twelve months, and upon winning either belt two years in succession or three years at intervals, the successful competitor will be entitled to retain it as his own property. The firing will commence at ten o'clock, and in addition to the firing for Volunteers a match has been arranged for civilians, and everything will be done to make things attractive to the public. Mb. W. A. Thomson, the manager of the Accident Insurance Company, will deliver a lecture at the Richmond schoolroom on Monday evening next at half-past seven. The lecturer has the reputation of possessing the power to instruct whilst he amuses his audience. Mr J. W. Barnicoat will occupy the chair, and admission is free. The annual meeting of the Stoke Kifles will be held at the Agricultural Hall, Richmond, this evening at half-past seven. Me. John Braddick Monckton, F.S.A., Town Clerk of London, upon whom the honor of knighthood has also been conferred, is a son of Mr John Monckton, solicitor of Maidstone, and was born about the year 1830. He was admitted a solicitor in Trinity Term, 1854, and practised for some years in Gray's Inn and also at Maidstone, and he was likewise appointed a perpetual commissioner for London, Westminster, and Middlesex. He has been Town Clerk ot London since 1873, and is also a Commissioner of Lieutenancy for the City of London, [We understand that the gentleman alluded to is a brother to Dr. Monckton, of this city.] A somewhat curious and not altogether creditable incident is reported in connection with the Whangarei shooting case. It appears that after being fired at by the accused mun, Smith, Mrs Washer ran away and was lost in the bush all night. She went for assistance to a bachelor, who pleaded that " he was a single man and could not help her." The Whangarei sense of property must be very finely developed when it pre vents a man from giving shelter to an unfortunate woman who has had a narrow escape from the bullet of a would-be assa-sin, and is reduced to the extremity of wandering about the bush all night. The Wellington /W gives the following particulars of a rather startling incident which occurred on the voyage of the ship Caroline, from London to that port : — On the sth March, while the vessel was making between three and four knot 3 per hour, an apprentice lad named Williams, who was engaged on some work on the port side of the poop, slipped overboard. A life-rbuoy was at once thrown to him, and the lifeboat lowered and manned. The lad swam to the buoy, which he sneceeded in placing over his shoulders. He had no sooner done this when ho was beaet by albatrosses, which shrieked and clattered round his head in an appalling manner. The plucky lad felt that his end was near, but he made a struggle for life. He drew his sheath knife, and by slashing at the monster birds, kept them at bay till the lifeboat reached him, and he was taken on board none the worse for his singular mishap. Williams was in the water nearly half an hour. Sir George Bowen (remarks the Cape Times) is making laudable efforts to impress upon the minds of the Mauritius people the necessity of tree planting, upon the preservation and extension of its forests depending the prosperity or ruin of the country and the life or death of its inhabitants. And he is a man of deeds as well as words. A Jarge portion of the domain at Reduit has been appropriated by him as a nursery for the cultivation of useful trees and plants. Already, under Sir George Bowen's auspices, 15,000 trees have been raised in this atboretum, chiefly from seeds of varieties of the eucalyptus brought by him from Australia. Mentioning this fact in a recent address to the local Society of Arts and Sciences, he said :— " It \ will be recollected that plantations of this tree have been found most effective in checking the spread of malaria in Italy, in Greece, in Algeria, and in other lever-striken countries. Ifc is intended also to raise at Kcdiut for distribution throughout the colony other valuable trees, such as the cJiincona, from which quinine is made, the kauri (dammara) of Australia and New Zealand, which is highly prized for its timber, together with many other trees of remunerative growth." Paternal government is not without its advantages.

The correspondent at Inglewood of the Taranaki Herald goes into figures of the audience th«t listened recently to Colonel Trimble, M. H. K. His statistics are as follows : — There were present about 150 men, 10 bull-dogs, 5 cattle-dogs, and 200 fleas, the latter getting admitted in a surreptitious kind of way, concealed in the coats of the dogs, and as soon as admitted, quitting those animals and distributing themselves amongst the assembly. The Rev. J. "W. Davies has recently been delivering a series of « plain talks " to the young men of Dunedin. Business " push " formed one of his subjects, and in dealing with that question the rev. gentleman had doubtless many examples before him like the ■ following, which we extract from the- local Star : — The conventional loan agent is supposed to be generally safe from the ordinary sells of commercial life, but a sad case occurred in this city the other day. A gentleman, whom we will call D, was very hard pressed by an enterprising " commission agent " to invest in a few barrels of especially excellent oysters, but not seeing his way to a profitable trade in such commodities, he declined to touch the consignment. " Well," said the disappointed commission agent, " at all events, old man, come and have some lunch with me and taste them. I intend to broach a barrel." D went and thoroughly enjoyed a dozen or two. On the following Monday he received an account Dr. to his j hospitable friend 6s for two dozen oysters 1 This may be considered the very latest invention in the way of " trying it on," but it was not particularly successful. The Aucklanders, with their splendid water supply and efficient Fire Brigade (says the Auckland correspondent of the Otago Times), are chafing under the new tariff ] arranged by the holy alliance of the fire in- | surance companies. They fail to see why they should pay for the losses incurred through indiscreet risks in marine business. It is stated that a number of business men have already agreed to give rißks amounting to £30,000 (but ultimately to be made up to £100,000) to any English company starting an agency here, apart from the associated tariff. It is a great pity that the companies should oscillate between a tariff which is confessedly exorbitant on the one hand, and on the other j one which, from its ruinously low and reckless character, is simply promoting incendiarism. There is no reason why such a scale should [ not be adopted as, while giving a fair and reasonable profit to those institutions, would at the same time prove satisfactory to the assured. It cannot be said that the authorities at the Wellington Gaol neglect the prisoners so far as education is concerned. The space between tea and bed time is turned to good account by keeping school. Those prisoners who can be improved in this way are taught by masters, themselves prisoners, whose ability and good conduct have warranted their appointment to such a responsible position, and some of the pupils show not a little aptitude, the copy-books of the majority being most creditable. If education tends to prevent crime, then Mr Read ought certainly to be congratulated upon the fact that he is adopting the best means at his disposal for reforming those whose conduct has caused them to be placed under his care. — N.Z. Times, The Wellington Post has the following comments on Sir George Grey's speech, lately delivered at Auckland :— Anybody who could be so weakly credulous as really to expect from Sir George Grey either a new subject of discourse or even a fresh mode of treating his " old, old story," must, on reading the report of the " Great Pro-consul's " last night's speech, have realised the force of (he .omitted '• Beatitude "—''Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall not be disappointed." Similar would be the case of him who looked for any useful or practical deliverance from the same quarter. We are so far blessed in that we indulged neither of these pleasing anticipations, and therefore have escaped the bitter pangs of disappointment. His speech, divested of those graces of oratory in which the speaker so notably excels, was indeed a singularly poor and empty string of trite platitudes. Sir George Grey is so brilliantly gifted a natural orator that his splendid eloquence of delivery fairly carries away for the time his delighted audience. They derive vivid enjoyment from listening to his fervid oratory, and so long as that spell is upon them they give themselves up to its influence, utterly rejecting any idea of analysis or criticism. But when they have time to reflect, te weigh the glib utterances which enchant their ears, to compare them wi'.h known facts and figures, to rea i calmly through the report in next day's paper, how different an impression is produced ! Then, while entranced by the speaker's eloquence, they could only cry with Mr John Willett's customers at the Maypole Inn ('immortalised by Charles Dickens in " Barnaby Rudge ") — " Go on improving of us, Johnny ! " Now they feel inclined to exclaim with Desdemona, " O most lame and impotent conclusion." They can hardly believe that they were really thrilled by these stale truisms and claptrap denunciations, which seeai so very poor and empty when coldly read in a newspaper report Yet they cannot help recognisipg the familiar words and subjects, but divested of the oratorical graces with which they were clothed in utterance, those now appear so bald and inconclusive that they are lost in wonder at their former administration. Tbis is? a familiar experience in regard to Sir George Grey, and his last address has proved no exception to the rule. We have again those unhappy " serfs" trotted out and flourished ; the mournful wail over defunct Provincialism chanted ; the unattractive vision of an elective Governqr cpnjured up ; the iniquity of a landed aristocracy denounced ; the Legislative Council reviled ; the indecent and sinful conduct of the Home Government — in conferring colonial titles without consulting Aim— drearily dilated upon. But all this is as " old as the hills," and could have fc eu written in half an hour from any previous speeoh delivered by Sir George Grey. The only instance in which he did attempt to deal with actual current events .and practical (.business was in his reference to the enormous and permanent financial deficit left as the legacy of his two years' administration. This may be disposed of with commendable brevity and point. A savant once asked : " Why in such and such a case does sc and-so happen?" He was puzzled fora momeut, and could not answer off-band. But a brilliant inspiration struck him. He merely replied ; "It doesn't," That was Sir George Grey's course in reference to the financial deficit of about £ 1 ,000,000 He says thers isn't any deficit worth speaking about. This is comprehensible and conclusive. How happy must that man be who can get off a disagreeable fact by the convenient process of merely denying its existence ! Sir George Grey practically resumed the leadership of the Opposition, such as it was, at the close of last aession His speech of last night was therefore looked' forward to with some interest as .likely to contain some indications of a policy, even if only one of destruction rather than construction, but after reading the telegraphic report, which is obviously by no means hostile, and appears to he a very good one, we are constrained to once more exclaim, " All is barren." Thirty thousand pounds is no mean sum to speud on a funeral, yet this is said to have been actually expended on the obsequies of the Maharajah Burdwan. The great portion of the three lakhs was given away in charity.

5 ® Eangitikei Advocate is responsible for the following :— « The thickness ot ths skull of one of our colonial youths was testified to, •in a practical, manner, the other day at Carnarvon. , A young man named Cameron, aged about 15 years, slipped off a bullock dray, and fell in front of the wheel, which passed completely over his head, from the left temple to the back of the Deck. Beyond a black eye and bruised head he is now knocking about as usual." We were shown to-day one of the Union Bank£l notes altered so aB to resembles £5 note. The imitation was so exact that it would hare passed current for the larger sum anywhere. The "one" in the figures and body had been carefully erased and " five " printed over the erasure. We are informed that forgeries of this description have been very common in Dunedin of late, and that some people have been swindled to a great extent by the imposition. Eor the information of those who may wish to know how to detect theße altered notes ;we may state that the most simple way is to hold them up against a strong light, when the marks of the erasures will become quite apparent. The microscopic printing of the words " one pound "in the body is another test. A third sto notice the date. All the Union Bank .£1 notes are dated Ist January, all the £5 Ist February, the £lo'a Ist March, and the £20's Ist April.— Post. A church organist at Aratoff, near Kieff, lately confessed on his death-bed to the murder, twenty years ago, of a farmer. He committed the prime with the priest's pistol, which he stole and then placed in the sacristy, confessed to the priest so as to preclude the latter from giving evidence against him with out infringing the obligation of secrecy, and then went and denounced the priest as the culprit. The priest, who vainly protested his innocence, was sentenced to hard labour for life, and, on his liberation being applied for on the strength of the organist's death-bed confession, the reply was that he had died a '«tf months ago. A member of the present Victorian Ministry was travelling with his wife (by an ordinary train, as is now the custom) on one of the Government nes. Leaving the lady in tho carriage he went to the refreshment room. In his absence a guard entered the carriage and said, " Will you show your pass, ma'am ?" The lady said she had no pass. " It's always been the custom, mumbled the guard, " for members' wives to have a pass. Perhaps I had better see the Minister." " But," said the lady, " although I have no pass, here is my ticket 1" The blank countenance of the guard at the sight of a ticket paid for by a member of Parliament is reported to have been a sight to see. "iEgles" writes:— Thickson, who has a station on the Darling, was not long since buying some sheep, and M'Diamond, a backsquatter, offered him some wethers. Thickskin, junior, inspected the sheep, and agreed to take them if there was a possibility of getting them to the Darling, the weather being very dry. •• Oh," said M'Diamond, " the only difficulty you will have will be through my neighbor Smithson's run, and I'll write and ask his permission for the sheep to have water." Smithson readily enough gave his good-natured assent. When young Thickakin had got the sheep through the run, having obtained all the water required, he rode back to Smithson's station, and in the latter's absence left this message with the storekeeper: — " Tell the Boas I don't feel at all beholden to him for the water, as if M'Diamond hadn't got the use of it I wouldn't have bought the sheep. So Smithson musn't attempt to bring sheep through our run, as / don't give water I" Smithßon is now in town, and is constantly on the look-out for any of the Thickskin family. He wants to give one of them a lunch at Scott's or the new Club.

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MhiU climbing: up the mountain in a little gully? through black sanfljjatiddown wsbichalarge stream of -water. had evidently> passed years iagb, they -were astonished foifind thafrin itMs sand were large quantitiesco r fr fine' gold. !^ln' some placesethe sand, was only about half-an jneh>:deep overttheJ'gr&niteiT Thegold, in ;pieces».thei size of a b'eah; and . smaller, was: founds in the little fissures- in the &ce>of»thevbed-r6ck; Very little washing i was necessaryj and > thley found a littlo Springs of watkr,' "which furnished 1 them Avhat they needed; They obtained, ! they think> about 600dols. worth in half- ' a-day's ?r work. About two o ? clock in : the afternGlon' they -were surprisedto see i fin 1 Indian woman come to the gulch above the spring, and start to come dowtfl- ■ ' TTpon" seeing' them she ran back overHhe hill. In less' than ten minutes they were surrounded by fifty or sixty ; savages. The Indians were very small arid seemed to be different to any they hatis ever seen, in Arizona. The Mexicans were not anned t except with , knives, and the survivor says they were ; almost instantly caught with lariats. The Indians;took;them up the mountain and put tnem in a caye. They tortured ' and killed his companion, and his fate would. hsve been the same bufc for his face* > They Josti their gold with all their^ outfit. The Indians seemeji to be caveidwellew, and 1 were evidently excited over, the place being found by outsiders. ; Por tb.e. benefit of non-resi-dants,'. we will say that Superstition Mountain derives its name from the fact thNtno white man has ever been seen again who attempted its ascention. It ; is a tradition among the Mexicans that large, deposits of free gold are to be fouhdinits gulches and ravines. It is not known whether there is any water there or not.