The Evening Mail. MONDAY, MAY 1, 1876.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 8, 1 May 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. MONDAY, MAY 1, 1876.

Ot*f: morning contemporary, the "Otago Daily Times," is not yet satisfied with Oamaru and its Municipality; and in last Saturday's issue lie again returns to the charge. This time he admits that he made a mistake of some £3OO or £-100 in the amount of the town's annual revenue. This is refreshing, for after all, if it is even £3OO, one is pleased to know that ottr contemporary has some show of honesty about him, and is free to admit that he made some slight error in his first statement regarding us. The most amusing part of the whole of this free advice given us !»y the " Times " is, that the Council is to blame I'ecattse it would not allow an Australasian engineer to be forced down its throat. We surmised in our first article on this subject that we thought the "Times" had some pet engineer in the background, who had been disappointed in not getting the situation. We are inclined to think that our prognostication was not so far out. We are supported in this theory from the fact that our contemporary says:—"lt is witliin our knowledge that one engineer did actually come over from New South Wales, and that another from Victoria, if he did not actually come, was intending to do so, with a view to the appointment." Seriously speaking, dtd anyone ever read such sheer impudence as this i Because an engineer came over from New South Wales, and another one " thought" of coming from Victoria, therefore, as a consequence, the Gamaru Council was bound to engage either one or the other. The engineer from New South W«!es was never asked to come over to W»k toir the appointment, and the advertisement never lead any applicant to believe that if he did come over he would get the billet. Wc have no doubt that a great many gentlemen would have come over from a)! parts of the Colony if "they thought that their jjcrsoiial attendance would secure them the £I,OOO a-vear. Our contemporary seems to think that becati.sc these gentlemen came over, they were, as a matter of fact, to be engaged. It certainly dees not follow that the New South Wales engineer should be any better qualified for the duties than the one now appointed. Oil the other hand, we are inclined to think that if the New South Wales gentleman were any good, lie would not require to leave a large Colony like New South Wales, where there is always an o]»entng for an engineer of moderate abiiiti»':j. Our contemporary also becomes prophetic and very sagely informs ns that the subsidy of one shilling in the pound on town assessments is most likely to be shuck out altogether next session cf the Assembly, and will certainly disappear in a year or two as permanent revenue. This statement on the part of the " Daily Times " reassures ns, because whenever our contemporary says anything will occur, it can be safely taken for granted that the prophecy will never be fulfilled. Our con temporal* had made several attempts lately at prophsying, bnt in not one single instance have the "straight tips" come ofl". Perhaps the most remarkable one was the \ ogklian prophecy, in wliich the Duiiedin oracle was confident that Sir J cut's, when he came out from Home, wonld be sure to join the Opposition. We recollect liow our contemporary republished old speeches of the Premier, in which the " Times " fancied it could see a thorough Provincial tone running all through them. The "Times'' carefully selected extracts from these speeches just to suit its own purpose, and then enlanjed upon them to such an extent

that Sir Julius was placed on the Opposition list nolens vofena. /We could instance many other cases in which our contempof ''straight tips'',; have proved' crooked ones, but we tftmk we have said enough to show our readers that they need not he alarmed by ' any prophecies of the of the "Daily Times" as to the future prosperity of Oamaru.