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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXV, Issue 170, 29 July 1901, Page 4

i'he receat arrival of coalships in Welington liom both the West Coast and Newcastle " says the Post " has to a very arge extent met the demands of tho Wellington market for household coal. The shortage has related more particularly to Westport coal, and has arisen chiefly from the heavy demands lately made upon the company by the Admiralty, to which it is under contract for supplies. When the fleet was in the harbour auring the visit of tho Duke and Duchess of Cornwall it made demand for something like 13,000 tons of coal, and the transport Tagus was supplied with another 2i € J tons. This naturally had the effect of depleting the market to some extent, as the vessels which would other wise have brought in supplies of household coal were employed in carrying for the needs of the shipping, btill, there has not at any time, we are assured, been an actual coal famine, for if Westport was unprocurable, there was .New- j castle coal available. Westport coal is now arriving regularly, and the company has an early prospect of an increased output from its mines. The Brisbane " Observer " of the 15th instant contains an obituary notice of I'cut Jackson, at one time the champion pugilist of the world, whose death look pla:e at lioina, Queensland, on the previous Saturday, the coloured champion, who had contracted consumption, went to Brisbane five months ago, a..d on the advice of his friends proceeded to Roma, where the climate is drier. the change was uot beneficial, and whilst arrangements were being made tor his return to Brisbane, so that he could di3 amongst friends, death claimed him. Jackson was in his fortieth year. lie was a native of Christ iansted, St. Croix, West Indies. He had mot all the best men of his day, and only twice had he ever met defeat -once when he w»s in his comparative novitiate, and once when disease had taken a farm hold of him. Thus the "Lyttelton Times", a consistent supporter of the Government, on the dangers that be=ek the Party ; " The incompetence ot some of the Premier's colleagues makes it ceitain that the Government will commit errors bo;h in legislation and in administration, and on tho othei hand, tha very absence of criticism mu&c prevent it from giving effect to its own progressive ideas. The moral of all this is obvious enough. Tht> constituencies, it seems to us, must be less insistent in the matter of party pJedges. They must be content to etioosw candidates whosa principles are soundly oemocratic, without lequiring them to to give unswerving support t j the Government on all matters of legislation and administration. Independent Liberalism, instead of being a thing accursed, should be treated as a legitimate political force, and if in place of Independent Liberalism we can build up an organised. Progressive Liberalism, both Parliament and people will have cause to be thankful. There are, happily, among the Liberal Party in the House a number of members who realise the necessity for watching the progress of business very closely, whose allegiance to Democratic principles is beyond suspicion, but who are not invariably found* voting in the same lobby with the Government. We shall not be accused of hostility to Mr Seddon's Government when we confess to feehng the very warmest sympathy with their work and aspirations." According to a recent cable message, a London firm has just been fined for selling butter which contained an undue proportion of water. It is possible that the prosecution was the result of endeavours being made by the Local Government Board to check the use of a German ])rocess which is described by Mr W. H. Lucy as follows —An ingenious German chemist has invented a process whereby waW-r can be impressed into the butter I tub with the result of considerably adding to tho weight of its contents without altering their appearance. Aot only is foivi.n butter thus treated imported in tons and sold at full price to the unsuspecting consumer, but machines that will enable the local dealer appreciably to add to the weight of his butter are imported and find a ready market. Assuming that the water is clean there is no dania'nn"eifec to public health. But, obviously if the head of a household wants to buy Mater he or she can obtain it at a much less price per avoirdupois pound than is J demanded for butter. The difficulty is that the Statute Book does not contain any standard for pure butter that would | meet tliis ingeniouß fraud, the earliest product of the twentieth century. Mr anbury, whose sympathies are warm on behalf of the agricultural interest, is making inquiries into the matter, and moans to devise practical measures for protecting the public. It is said that at one establishment in the East End of London sixty tons of this compound are prepared and distributed throughout the country to be sold as pure butter. Tho Government Trade Commissioner (Mr J. Graham Guiv) has now visited all the a ntrea of population in the colony in his official capacity, and has gained a it ass of inforniution which will prove of great. use to him when he leaves New Zealand at the end of nex mouth to open Hp new markets for our products in various parts of the woild. A few days a»o he went up the Waoganui Kiver, in order ' to be able the better to speak of the beauties of the New Zealand Rhine, and thus f encourage the influx of tourists to the colony. After attending Lho Dairying Exhibition an . Conference a'. Palmerston Mr Gow will return to Wellington, and he will remain here some days before going to the south, King Edward has (according to a contemporary) authorised these changes in evening dress at Court functions .-—Silk stockings, velvet knee-breeches, velvet clawhammer coat, black satin waistcoat, Bhoes and buckles. This, he thinks, is needful in order to distinguish guests from waiters,