SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.

PORT OF LYTTELTON. ARRIVED. March 26. Taupo, s.s., from Southern ports. March 26. Watiaka, s.s., from Northen ports. * u *» s - s -> from Kaikoura am Welliiijjion. Mrncli 26—Southern Cross, barque, from Ncwcas e. March 26.—St. Kilda, s.s., from North. Sailed. March 26 laup •, ~s., for Northern ports. March 26 VVanaka, s.s., for Akaroa ami Oluyo.

POST OFFICE NOTICES.

Mails at the Ashburton Post Office close as follows : I'or Christchurch ami .North at 10.20 a.m., 4 p.in., and 7.30 p.m., daily. For Chertsey at 10.20 a.m. daily. For liakaia at 10.20 a.m., am! 4 p.m. daily. For Ashburton South, Winslow, Hinds, Coldstream, Ran-itata, Orari, Winchester, and Geraldine at 10.30 a.m. daily. l*or Ashton, Waterloo, and Longbeach at 2.45 p.m. daily. I'or CJreenstreet, Ashburton Forks, Mount Someis, and Ashburton Gorge on Tuesdays and Fridays at 10,30 a.m.

hot 1 emuka, I imam and South at 10.30 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily.

Ihe next outward San Francisco mail will close at Christchurch on Friday, the 29th.

The Evening Echo. TUESDAY, MARCH, 26, 1878.

Owing to the length of our article on tie Mon. E. W. Stafford and our crowded columns yesterday, we were unable to give the whole of what had been written. A criticism or a history of the public career of a statesman is incomplete without some notice of his ability as a speaker, and that is about all we have left ourselves to do.

In purely unimpassioned parliament ary debate, Mr. Stafford' has few superiors. His voice is strong, clear, and pleasant, and he modulates it cor rectly to suit any audience. On any political or social question, and on many scientific subjects, he can literally “ talk like a book,” either with or without preparation; and though inclined to s P e ak exhaustively on each point, he rarely wearies his hearers, and not un frequently convinces them ; but no very good speaker was ever further from being an orator. Cold, unsocial, • and unsympathetic himself, he is singularly incapable of moving the feelings or passions of an audience, and on the few occasions on which he has been foolish enough to try it, he at once de scended from the powerful to the ridi iculous. In one of the most solemn perorations he ever attempted, about Roman Consuls abusing their powers, and, consequently, losing their positions and their heads, his supporters and opponents burst simultaneously into a roar of laughter. When he told the House that he had stood by the cradle of New Zealand and taken out his handkerchief to weep over her predicted early grave, he produced only shouts of derision. After he thought he had imitated Earl Chatham, in a most ani mated and demonstrative appeal to the members to volunteer every sacrifice of “men or money” that their countiy could call for to vigorously prosecute the war, Mr. Fox convulsed both sides of the House by complimenting the Colonial Secretary on his successful imitation of a Maori war dance.

We bustle up with unsuccessful speed,

And in the saddest part cry, “droll indeed.”

At a time when a policeman can hardly change his beat, or a railway porter his station without a public dinner, a panegyric, and a testimonial, our ex-Premier has departed for Eng land without either. After devoting more brain power to the colony's ser vice than any other man has ever done; after having originated most of our

early and necessary laws ; after being ten years Premier, and for at least twelve more holding a position of great power and influence; after manipu lating honors and titles, ribbons and garters, for many associates with far in ferior claims upon their country, he left us without sound of trumpet, and without any appendage to the historical .tame of Edward Wiiliam Stafford.

CORRESPONDENCE.

We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by our correspondents.

OVER-ZEALOUS POLICEMEN.

To the Editor of the Evening Echo. S ,R > — Ir > your issue of Friday last is reported the case of a man named Wallace, tried and acquitted by the R. on a charge of being di unk and disorderly. This is not the only case in which the discrimination of the police constables have been at fault, and did I not be lieve I saw an inclination on the part of some officers to over-ride their commission, I should not now trouble you ; Lut as such an excess of zeal, to put it in the mildest possible way, may be dangerous to the characters of respectable law-abiding residents, I feel it my duty to call public attention to it.

A few evenings ago, while walking down East-street in company with Mr. Fleming, ironmonger, Christchurch, a man inquired of us where he could obtain a bed. I recognised the man, and while in the act of shaking hands with him, Constable Maroney crossed the road and took him into custody. Mr. Fleming and I thought the arrest so uncalled far‘that we went to the depot and reported the constable’s conduct, wh ch was taken down in writing, but so far as I know, there it ends. When leaving the depot, the same constable asked me what I bad to do with it, saying he hml a good mind to lock me up too. I told him that it was more than he could do, but it appeared not, for collar me lie did, and but for the timely aid of Constable Lonergan, who twisted his hand out of my coat collar, no doubt he would have carried out his threat. Constable Lonergan asked me to take no notice of him, as he was only a new chum and did not know his duty. Mr. Mellish not so very long ago recommended the removal of two constables for the very same thing. It would be a pity were a worse state of things to exist under the new men. Mr. Fleming, having to leave for Christchurch by the first train next day, made me promise I would attend the Court, which I did. The constable swore he arrested the prisoner for being dt 1111 k and disorderly, so I thought the time had come to speak ; but it was useless. Two constables collared me, pushed me back, telling me to stand “ hike" till I 1 was- called, hut the call has not yet come. If such a state of affairs as I have stated is allowed to con tinue, and independent witnesses are not al lowed to give evidence, my advice to Ashburton folk is to keep good hours this coming winter.

I am. See., , Samuel B. Nelson. Moore-strect, Ashburton, March 23, 1878. To the Editor of the Evening Echo, . Sir, —In the columns of.your contemporary of this morning great pleasure and delight' are expressed at the Arcadian simplicity of the honest person who in filling up the Census Paper enumerated his live stock. Sir, I should like to know who supplied him with the information from the Census return ? These were distributed and. collected by the police, and if they gave the information it was a most unwarrantable breach of confidence and duty. On the Census Paper it is stated that any person divulging the informaton contained therein is liable to a heavy penalty. As this is not the first time information, has been given respecting the contents of Census Papers, I shall draw the attention of the Minister of Justice to the inegularity. If the Census Papers are to be subjected to a newspaper supervision, they should bear a notice to that effect on the face of them.

I am, &c., Arcadian .Simpleton,

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The new Town Hall is expected to adorn our township as a complete structure about the middle of May. The builder, Mr. M. Smith, is making rapid progress with the work. The whole frame is now erected, and the workmen are engaged putting up the stage.

The tender of Mr. George St. Hill, lor the erection of the parsonage at Windermere, was accepted, and the building will be commenced at once.

We remind our readers of the jj great show "of Friday. Cooper’and ‘Bailey’s menagerie, museum, aquarium, and circus is without doubt the most huge establishment travelling ; and from what we have heard of its reception wher ever it has been exhibited, and from the exceedingly flattering notices given of it by the Press, we should say that Ashburton will, on Friday, be called on to patronise such an exhibition as it has never seen before and is not likely to see again for some time to come. The three large marquees advertised will be erected on the vacant ground opposite Mr George Eagle’s boarding house, and the site is being levelled for the show.

Builders in Ashburton are feeling the scarcity of carpenters, 7 and yy eh. hear complaints from several of inability to find, hands. It is a pity that at this season ofrhe year, when theibeistshould be made of the fine weather, a want of labor or delay in the arrival of material should retard the progress of building operations; but it is only necessary that the want should be known in the centres of industry, and hands will be at once forthcoming. In the matter of material it is a good sign that the transit ol grain should so monopolise our rail ways as to interfere not only with the conveyance of timber but with the ordinary, traffic of the line. From all over the grain-producing portions 1 f the island we hear -of the .rail way offi cials having their hands full, and witft difficulty being able to meet the de mands on their trucks. Of course this glut will be got away with as the days wear on, but meanwhile, tra lers have to exercise patience, and wait: till ahe harvest wagons have rolled past, when they will again be able to command truc< accommodation with some degree of certainty. The criminal calendar at the Christ church sessions of the Supreme Cour will be a heavy one. There will be one case of rape and ;two of indecent, as sault; one case of perjury; four of forgery; seven of larceny; one of wounding a horse; one of. housebreaking; .one of conspiracy to defraud; arid one7o! manslaughter.

Harvesting in the Wairarapa! ha§Been most favorable, and large quantities 01 grain are being brought to the mills in the district. The large track-ot-country on the East Coast, too, which has been for so many years devoted to sheep, is being broken up in spots and cultivated. An honorable member of the Legis lative Council, while on a ‘ visit* to Ballarat lately, during the hot weather (says the Leader), noticed that soda water and limejuice was a popular beverage. Having tried it, he expressed his. satisfaction, and remarked" that /it was singular no one had fever'established a manufactory for limejuice in Geelong, where there were so many limestone quarries. •'* I ‘'- ! 5 ) «' LK L 10i i 77

> All: but five .hundred; of the popula tion of thirty-five hundred in Cortland., N.Y.,1 have; signed the Murphy . pledge, and the liquor business is'ruined. “ But this kind of thing: is.bound to [blow over,” said a dealer, as he sat in his deserted bar-room, “ and folks will >be thirstier than before.”

A definition of bankruptcy lately given by an English judge is reported to have been : —When a man Owes a lot of money, and a lawyer and an accountant divide the estate between them. > ' ls

Railway Incidents- in India.; — The following, telegrams are stated'to have been actually received the other day by a traffic officialyjof the G.I.P. Railway. As they throw a curious light on the daily life in an Indian-Railway Office, they are worthy of record. V The first is to the following effect The man you saw dead on J the platform is not,dead. . He is the station-master. He was dead drunk. We poured water over him, and he has come to life again., The, police have, thrown him over tlie edge with a Another from Mandera is more sensational “ Tiger jumping in station yard. .Points man unable to. go to points through fear. Please arrange sharp.” Times are evidently lively for man-eaters in Nimar. 1

Mr. Percy Wells, of Adelaide, has) in vented a tramroad, which, he contends, will enable a sft. 3m. guage railway to be made -at a cpst of less than per mile. “ Have' you heard my last song ? ” asked a music waiter of a rough critic. “ I hope so,” was'the reply. The Hoine News hopes thdt Sir Wra. Jervois, when he arrives in England, will be asked to read a paper on’the defences of Australia, before the Royal Colonial institute.- ~ , , , , , The “ Mhrselllhise'”- has become -the*- bone of political contention in France. The Minister of War says it ought l“ not to be tolerated in the arinyi” Tliel Extreme Left have submitted a to the Deputies that ft is the French r ‘ National Song. That is certainly the , light in which Europe regards it. When Marshal Canrobert attended Victor Emmanuel 5 funeral, the Italian troops honoured him with its kindling notes, and Napoleon 111., after silencing it, for 18 years as a Republican composi tion, had it performed by his military bands and sung in the theatres when the Francb-Prussian' war broke out.

An Up and Down Reply.— During the examination of a witness as to the locality of stairs in a house, the counsel * asked him which way the stairs ran. The witness replied, that “One way they ran up, but the other way , they ran down.” The learned counsel winked both eyes, and then took a look at the ceiling. An (Intelligent * Dog. --We/hear much of the intelligence of dogs, and the many wonderful instances that are recorded can; scarcely cause surprise at any rtevV pro/Sf oPsagacity 1 ; The follow ing incident, it is said, occurred in Belgium : —A certain Monsieur N , going, on foot from Leuze to LessineSj*. m Belgium,, took with him his dogy>* which he was anxious to get rid of; but as he was unwilling either to drown him or to shoot him, he resolved to lose him on the way. • The dog, which, in stead of kind words and caresses, re ceived nothing but threats, seemed to understand his master’s project ; he kept quite close to his heels, and would not leave him for a moment. N obliged to sleep out for that night in order to finish his business, went to the inn, and said, to iiis four-footed, com panion instead of good-night T omorrow, you rascal. I shall take the train, and you will have to walk about here.” He then went up to his room, and went to bed. The next morning great was N- ’s surprise to perceive when he got up that one of his socks and his waistcoat were missing. The landlord when questioned maintained that no one could have taken these ar ticles, as no other stranger had been lodged in the inn.' They were all search ing and wondering,.when.they found in a corner of the house the dog which had beeti'so threatened thfe evening before, lying upon the stocking and waistcoat of his master. The poor animal seemed toffiaveAvisljeddn this, way to„ prevent his master from starting without him. N ~admiring-the sagacity, of.his dog no longer tried to"get rid of him!

CROPS OF 1877 THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

This country is the greatest of grain merchants, and it is well, with the open ing of the new year, to take an, account of stock. Let us sum up the results of the harvests of 1877 both in our own land and in European states. : ./ As regards France, the grain crop of the year shows , an; average return in point of quantity, but a decline is remarked in Jtteighfc and quality as compared with the yield ol 1876. In the case of wheat, for .instance, the de ficiency is reckoned at from five to sieved pei'centyand'there is no .’doubt that-France will be obliged; to supple ment her native resources, to sprue ex tent, by importation of this staple.

Great Britain is less fortunate rthan France. In England, the yield of wheat, barley, and Oats is considerably below/ the average., The results aje similar, in Bcotland and' Ireland,,andia further source of loss ' tb ’ the ' latter country is the fact that -jidtatbes -suf fered .greatly, owing to r the r prevailing humidity‘Cf the~htmo£pheffe. re gards Italy, very different returns are

THE EVENING ECHO, TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 1878.