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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 150, 11 August 1903, Page 2

That there are some undesirable visitors to Nelson at present was indicated recently by two occurrences which are happily rare here. On Saturday night or early on Sunday^ morning a "sneak thief entered the yard of a house in Beachville and removed;* rom a safe the family's Sunday breakfast and dinner meat. A piece of cold mutton, hewrever, he charitably left, and on this the;family had to Bubslst till Monday. A day" or two ago, in another locality, a half-caste stranger of burly proportions is reported to have entered the grounds of a 'house in broad daylight and ransacked the wi|sli-house 1 though it is not known if anything was taken. Only a domestic was^'iti at the time, and she was so scared that she looked herself in her room till theinan hud left.

On Monday/, ott the motion of Mr Johanseu; l the. jßegistrar of the Supreme Court, in Chambers, granted probate of the will of the- J. Wilkie, of Motueka, to Alexander Willie,, of Braehurn, Murchison, leave being reserved to Mr W. Page to come in and prove. The Mayor of" Lyttel ton, at a meeting of the local Harbour Board, brought under the notice of the members the value of the harbour mud, -which is a kind of blue clay. Mr Radcliffe said that as a painter he had used it forj'distempering purposes, and it was really excellent, the colour being good for decorative work. He also suggested that it might be made into bricks under the new process, as it was clean and free from sand and grit- He had been endeavouring to get a sample treated at one of the local kilns. Tip. matter was referred to the chairman <*md the Mayor of Lyttelton to make experiments with a view of ascertaining the value of the mud. One of the pioneers of the West Coast, Mr H. W. Young, died at Greymouth last week. Mr Young was well-known in mining circle^ and as engineer to the Midland "Railway Company, and many other important public works in Westland. The cause of hia death was, we understand,- th"c result of a paralytic stroke.

A gallant rescue of 65 men from the French fishing brig Sans Souci took place in mid- Atlantic on April 28. The brig, which was of 300 tons burden, was bound from the Bay of St. Milo to Labrador, and was taking out a. large company to relieve the sick, and wounded of the French fishing fleet off the banks. On April 21, af ter she had passed through a series of terrific gales, she collided with an iceberg, and stove in her bow. The next day she raninto a pack of floe ice, and narrowly escaped being crushed. More gales, all leaving the record of damage, blew the.ship hundreds of miles out of her course, and on April 27, owing to the steam-steeling gear giving way, the craft nearly foundered. Five men were washed Overboard as they laboured at the pumps, and two others were killed hy falling spars. Help was at hand, however, lor on April 28, the Phcenix liner S fa. Andrew hove in sight. The waves ware running mountains high, and Captain Fitzgerald, of the St. Andrew, exprassod doubt as to whether a lifeboat could live in such a sea. He asked for volunteers. There was a long pause, during which the crew of the St. Andrew looked at the mountainous waves that were breaking about the steamer, then at the miserable wreck that was labouring heavily a mile away, and then at one another. Finally, the second mate of the St. Andrew (Stephen H. Hobbs) stepped forward and said: " Skipper, I'll take a shy at anything that's going," and, turning to the men, inquired " Who's going to help me ?" A cheer broke from the crew, and seven men followed the mate's brave lead' and so it came about that, after several hours' struggling amid the perils of mountainous waves, the crew of the St. Andrew's lifeboat, in three trips, rescued all the men of the Sans Souci. The brig was sfunk. Mr Hobbs visited Australia twice in the St. Andrew, which vessel took) to South Africa on May 24 last year the South Australian portion of the Bth Batallion Australian Horse.

The Parliamentary correspondent of a Southern p*aper writes that the greatest secrecy is observed in regard to the new school syllabus. He says : — "The changes will run pretty, well on the lines recommended by the inspectors at the last conference, and will be in the direction of giving more liberty in the range and course of study. The teaching of a subject yill no longer be shaped by hard and fast rules. In small schools there will be much, more freedom allowed in this way, and in various subjects teachers will have power, subject to the control of the Education Board* exercise their discretion. The .compulsory subjects will be the three R's, drawing, geography, and history, but changeswill be made in the method of treating the two last-mentioned. The information imparted will be more general and useful ; no stuffing with a lot of useless dates and matter. Civic history will be giVen special prominence. In science, con-udeiuble . latitude will be given to teachers, who will pay attention to the needs of pupils in their particular districts ; '% teacher might lead up to agricultural science, for instance. A course of physical exorcise will be provided for, and instruction in health will be given during the science lesson. As extra subjects handiwork may be taken instead of elementary -science. In the Seventh Standard the teaching of algebra, Latin, French, Euclid, and kindred subjects will only be permitted when there is no High School near at hand, and thus it is hoped to prevent the present overlapping. These recommendations have still to receive the

seal of the Cabinet, but it is not likely that"tney : will be much interferred with," The representative of a. Wellington paper interviewed Mr Seddoa in regard to a cablegram sent from London on Thursday, stating that the| Government had engaged M. Allo to construct an electric power station at Huka Falls. The Premier's pronouncement was emphatic. "As a matter of fact," Mr Seddon continued, "we are getting a report from Mr. Hahdcock, the American engineer, who did the West Coast electric lighting in- ; stallation at San Francisco. That is the state' "of \ the matter at present; the cablegrams you quote ara entirely without foundation. The New Zealand maib for Europe, despatched via San Francisco on 10th July, arrived in London on the sfteraoon of the 9th iust. To-morrow, at 1.30 p.m. Messrs P>is]ey ; Bros.- and Co. sell by public auction household furniture, and effects, on ber half of Mrs S. Avery, at her residence, Richmond; at 2.30, the usual weekly live Btock sale, Richmond, entries include 150. ewes in lamb, fat cattle, store cattle, weaners, etc. To-morrow, at Takaka, the auctioneers open out for private sale the fieehive Importing Company's stock, and are determined to clear all lines. Tomorrow, at 2.30, Messrs W. Rout flnd Sons will sell live stock, at Richmond; on Saturday next, at noon, the " Troaadero " boarding house. Haven Road ; on Wednesday, August 19, stock sale, Wakapuaka.