THE COUNTRY.

Evening Star, Issue 3158, 3 April 1873, Page 3

THE COUNTRY.

Oamaru.— The captain of one of the harbor steamers, having a small piece of Oamaru stone aboard, put it into the furnace, where it was shortly reduced to a fine powder—the purest lime. Hfi used this for whitewashing tho funnel, which it rendered dazzingly white, and he found that the coating stood better than any he had ever used before, without peeling, it being almost impossible to remove it. He intends to use nothing else in future. —We understand that a few days ago a. number of the tinsmiths employed at the Now Zealand Meat Preserving Company’s works, Kakanni, struck work. It appears that the men were allowed 1 per cent, of bad tins without deduction of wages, and wished that there should ho no deduction at all for had work. The time chosen was when a large quantity of moat had been slaughtered, and, of course, a most inconvenient one to the company. Rome of the employes in other departments, however, were found able to take the place of the recalcitrants, and some of tho latter have since returned to work.—ln a township, not a hundred miles from Oamaru, a Doctor (?) — well, say Dr. X.—commenced practice, and was consulted by not a few. Although one of his prescriptions savored strongly of lard and kerosene, for which mixture he charged half-a-guinea for a pill-boxful, he throve for a time, but one day, unluckily for himself, being in the bar of an hotel, he was hailed by some recent arrivals with the greeting, “ Hallo cook, you here !” A hasty adjournment took place, and a whispered consultation followed. The thing could not be kept quiet, the pseudodoctor was tho cook of the Great Britain. Ho has levanted, to tho great regret of credulous creditors. — Times,

Ixvercarotm.. —Our correspondent, writing under date tho 27 th March, says The election continues tho all-exciting of the day. I mentioned in my last the names of two probable candidates —Messrs William Wood and George Lumsden, Mr Wood was formally announced yesterday, although it was well known for a day or two previously that he would contest the election. To use a sporting phrase, the entries are closed, the two competitors being Mr Wood and Mr Cuthbertson. Wood was handicapped a deadly opponent, and to that creed ho freely subscribed. In Mr Cuthbertson’s politics there seems to be a hitch. According to the diction of his committee of management he is a Government supporter out and out. Mr Cuthbertson himself repudiates such a doctrine, alleging that he is merely prepared to give a conditional, or as lie term's it “a dwexlm mating support.” This discrepancy lias been carefully noted, to the prejudice of his election, and a host of theories have been propounded on tho subject. According to one story Mr Cuthbertson has been misleading his committee, according to another, the committee have been ’.misleading the electors, and a third, version, still more sweeping, as an imputation has it, that they are jointly and severally implicated in the misleading process, their motto being—All things to all men in order that they may gain—not the few, but the many. I can hardly believe that a committee of gentlemen, such as those under whose auspices Mr Cuthbertson comes forward would wilfullj' lend themselves to a practice of this kind ; on the other hand it is hard to believe that the candidate would perpetrate snob an absurdity. Mr Cnthbortsun promises to meet tho electors in public meeting before the day of election. When I consider the ravenous character of the men pitted against him I pity him. I observe from a late issue that you supply an omission of mine, and state that Mr Cuthbertson has for some time past edited the Southland Times. I purposely made that omission, as I understand that that is looked upon as a weak point in his candidature. Mr Wood's party is said to he making desperate efforts on las behalf; and if we can believe their statements, they have already succeeded in completely eclipsing the Cuthbertson prospect. Mr Wood has been twice elected Mayor of Invercargill, and, though a ' man possessed of litqlc, W- no personal energy, he stands well in the estimation of a large circle of the inhabitants. Such a thing as making a living out of politics has never been imputed to him, although it is worth noting that his honorarium does not go, as a rule, towards swelling the accounts of our charitable institutions. Looking at the election as it stands, it cannot be called better than a choice of evils. In the one candidate, we have a sure opponent to the present Administration, and in the other wc have a probable opponent : that is, an opponent unless the opposite course suits Ins views, and in all likelihood his interest. Mr Cuthburtsou’s opponents say openly that lie would take LI,OOO a year for life, ana retire from the contest, but the report has not boon confirmed. —lam happy to report that steps have been taken for opening out the coal seam at the Night Caps. A lease of tho ground was applied for by two private individuals under tho usual prospecting conditions. The application was held over for consideration from the last sitting of tire Waste Land Board. In the meantime, a party was formed, not for the purpose of opposing tho application, but for tho purpose; of watching that, in the event of the lease being granted, the applicants will lie bound to prosecute the work of development, In the event of that pledge not being satisfactory, the application will be opposed and a public company formed to undertake the work. In a word, what is aimed at is to see that none of those family, or rather “mutual friend ” arrangements at which I have already hinted, are renewed. The two applicants mentioned above arc understood to bo in league with an extensive but nonresident landed proprietor. I desire to add that there is not the slightest imputation made against the applicants, still the public feeling is that it would lie wrong to allow this valuable public estate to pass from under its control, without a sure guarantee that it will be turned to practical account.