Correspondence.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XVI, Issue 11, 5 May 1855, Page 2

Correspondence.

To the Editor op the c Nelson Examiner.' Sir— Having noticed in your paper ol the 19th of last month, the letter signed tc The Helmsman " (a very proper one), respecting there being no lights and the reply of the Harbour Master on the 26th of April, a poor excuse for his not having the lamp burning, as he states it has te recently undergone repair, and cannot be improved, I should like to know whether he would not be held responsible in the case of a vessel running into Blind Bay, and, looking in vain for the " Kelson light/ found herself on the Waimea sands. Pray, in what manner would the Trinity Board treat this 1 I should recommend the Harbour Master to look to the light, and, if it is in proper order, then to reply to any (he may think) improper remark, but not till then, particularly as he does not deny the statement made by the Helmsman; and also when he is told that frequently a light in Mr. Pointer's house is the only one by which the Motueka boat is enabled to enter the harbour. One of the Passengers on the Night of the 17th. May 3.

A letter from St. Petersburg, of the 26th December, in the Cologne Gazette, says : — " Promotion in the army takes place at present so rapidly, that there are many lieutenants who have been only eighteen months in the service. In times of peace a man remains usually three years in -the same grade, bo that it requires twelve years to become a staff officer." Cube of Drunkenness. — The following remedy has been tried with success in Sweden. We will suppose that the liquor which the patient is addicted to drinking is the commonest in the country — say gin. When he enters the hospital for treatment he is supplied with his favonrite drink, and with no other ; if anything else is given to him, or any other food, it is flavoured with gin. He is in ecstacy — the very atmosphere is redolent of the favourite perfume. His room is scented with gin : his bed, his clothes, everything around him ; every mouthful he eats or drinks, everything he touches ; eveiy zephyr that steals into his room brings to him still gin. He begins to grow tired of it — begins rather to wish for something else — begins to find the oppression intolerable — hates it — cannot bear the sight or scent of it — longs for emancipation — and \s, at last emancipated. He issues into the fresh air a cured man ; dreading nothing so much as that loathed persecutor which would not leave him an hour's rest in his confinement. This remedy appears to have been thoroughly effectual — so effectual that persons who deplore their uncontrollable propensity, have petitioned for admission to the hospital, in order to be cured ; and they have been cured.