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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 20 February 1915, Page 8

The death of th«* late Mr Robert Drysdale. at the Opihi River, furnished a "farther illustration of the fact that too much care cannot be taken in the handling of poison (says the "Timaru Herald"). The poison to which he gained, access had been given, 12 months previouslv, bv Mr James, of Timaru, to Mr Drew another hut holder at the Opihi, who had asked for it to poison i-ats, with which he was annoyed at his hut. Prior to this Mr James had kept the bottle locked up in his own hut, where he had been using it for destroving rodents. On giving the bottle to Mr Drew he impressed upon him that it contained a deadly poison, and that he should ex--ercise the create?* care with it. .Mr Drew said he would, but some time later he left for 'London, and presumably forgot all about .Hhe poison. The late Mr Drysdale had access to the hut, and drank a portion of the contents of the bottle. "At the inquest the Coroner remarked that Mr James's explanation was quite satisfactory, and that no blame was attachable to him. A correspondent forwards an exchange an account of the discovery by him of a skeleton three weeks ago on a sandbank at Piilans Head, near Tahakopa. He had gone to the head to obtain some flax, and at the end of the sand he noticed a round shaped object protruding from the sand. This he found to be a human skull in a good state of preservation, withont the lower jaw. There was a remarkably good set of. teeth in the upper jaw, the back tooth at each end, however, being missing. Three days later the informant, found a number of decaying bones showing out of the sand, and on making a further search he* four.d the lower jaw, with the teeth all intact, with the exception of one, which was missing. Close by is the site of an old Maori Pa, and a" few Maori relics have occasionally been found there. -Lord Kitchener is the physical giant amongst tbe allies* leaders.' Amongst all the pen pictures of the marshal, thatoi the late (reorge W. Steevens stilt has the most tellins sentences :—"Kitchener stands' several inches over 6ft, straight as a lance, and looks out imperiously above most men's heads; his motions are deliberate and strong; slender, but firmly knit, he seems built for tireless, steelwire endurance rather than for power or agility. Steady, passionless eyes shaded by decisive brows, brick-Ted rather than full cheeks, a long moustache, beneath which you divine aiji immovable month —bis face is harsh, and neither appeals for affection or stirs dislike. But these externals are irrelevant —he has no age but the prime of life, no body but one to carry his mind, no face but* one to keep his brain behind. The real Kitchener is the brain and the will—so perfect that you cannot imagine Kitchener as other than seeing the right thing and doing it." Th 6 discovery of human remains has beeJo made by workmen engaged in excavating for a building on land just off Mountain "Road. Mount Eden. About a week ago the skeleton of a woman was discovered in the same place. Last Saturday, the workmen caire across two skulls and "eg and arm bones, apparently the remains of two men. The remains were found between two heavy rocks. The approach to the rocks was hidden by scrub, and it is thought probable that the persons when alive must have crawled into the rocks for shelter, though how tbey met "with their death there is no *vay of proving. The bones were bleached, and had evidently been lying where they were found for many years. Not the least remarkable of the feature* of the present exceptional season is the sharp demarcation of the rainfall as between northern and southern Marlborough (says the "Express"). One settler puts the case by saying that there is not much more than a hop-skip-and-jump between the parched country on the plains and the verdant almost rank, growth on which stock is thriving in the Pelorus district and the Rai and Ronga Valleys. A Kaituna farmer relates that while" passing through TTavelock recently he was delighted to see a heavy downpour, which taxed the gutters to the full, and he indulged in pleasant anticipations of the beneficial drenching that his own thirsty land was receiving. In a short space" of time he had reached home, only to find the same old drynees. and the stock heing hand-watered, with pot {he slightest prospect of a shower.