The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MAY 9, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 15, 9 May 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MAY 9, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

I A gowl specimen of a true-born Britisher wm siated in hj» fcoggy this morning, and wfoa joat ready to start, informed a friend, who watt also going the same way, that he < wwld jog along comfortably and Kb trieod | Woold wilf pick turn up on the road. The worthy representative ef John Bull weighed, If aa ounce, sixteen stooe. A little, dirtynosed street Arab, who wads standing by at the tine and beuJ the- remark, smartly ol>nmd, "I'm Mowed if it won't take yon all (jjrtnsr txßMv Mister f* | A meeting of the Oamaru Dramatic Club "it isHSBCtdl to be held at the Masonic Hall, that at half-past seven o'clock. A foil attendance of members is requested.

The criminal business transacted at the Resident s Court tliis morning was confined to the hearing of the third charge of embezzlement against Edward CJillett Biclscrton. The prosecutor, .John Milne, gave evidence, virtually the same as that published by ns yesterday; and John Locke, Manager of the National Bank, deposed as to the Banks transactions with the prisoner. The Bench, after reviewing the evidence, fully committed the prisoner to stand his trial at the nest sitting of the Supreme Court. A nuuilter of Civil cases were set down for hearing this morning, but postponed till Friday. The presiding justices were Messrs. T. \V. Barker, K.M., and James ITdall, J.l'. The liivcreargill "Times " says one of the local volunteers made an experiment which might have deprived him of his eyesight, or even his life. He had charged a breech-load-ing rifle with a muzzle-loading cartridge, but |on tiring was astonished to find that the | breech flew hack, and the powder exploded in his face all round his eye, and lie thought at tirat, " that he had blown his head off." As some other volunteers are thinkingo, tiding the experiment, it would lie iw \icll foi them t« take warning.

Mr.J.CJ. S. Grant, who lias lil>clkd the Colony in a letter to the " Belfast News-Letter, '* will faaysthe "Taranaki Herald") I'.ndthivt for the future his name will not be held in very great estimation in Iruland for venu-ity. believe his Honor the fjuiicrinteiuleiit has received intimation that the General Covcniment intend obtainiug a histor>- of Mr. Grant's Colonial career, as far as it can be ascertained, which will be forwarded to the Agent-General for publication, with a view to counteract the mischief the letter may have doti't.

The " I'overty Bay Herald " says :—" A 'f&forne Girl' lias taken a leaf out of the Thames laities' hook. .We bear on tlie most undoubted authority that the following challenge, Insuring the signature ' (Jisbotnc Girl,' has Wen issued to the Hawkes Bay boating clttbtt :—'CwWnie, March 27, IS7U. 'Io Mr. Eva, Secretary Kapicr Kowing Club (per Eiivotif of the " Hawke s Bay lierald )• l)ear Stir,—l call assure yon we Uisborne girls are »ttr|>rised at the shabby manner in which yoitr crack ctcw# slimvwl the white leather, and declined to meet the Poverty Bay crew on our own Ngantroro lliver. V\ e should like, however, Poverty Bay to try her skill against Hawke'st Bay, ami to make the match more level, there is a ladies' crew of four very anxtottst to see what you can do. \\ edo not jrtill as well a» tiie j»ri>|»cr (Jisliornecrew, hut 1 think we could make you work hard for the stakes. The match to take ]»lace 011 our river, the stakes to lw W a-aidu, ami the crew that w itw to take themoney, walk-over or no walk-over.* "

We arc glad to hear (says the " Napier Telegraph ") that one of Mr. Fisher's host thoroughbred hors«» lias been secured tor this and may lie expeirted here shortly. His pedigree canuot he sitrpa.-;.-icd by that of any horse in the Colonies, ami we arc informed that hi ap|>e«rauec he is j»crfeetion. Hi-; owner intends putting him t>< tht* stud next season. ifr. I i.-her i; the Sweat kii'rtrn limikr of liitrsw in the Australian Colonies, and the horse bought from him by one of onr moat enterprising settler.* is one of the handsomest and most bloodWking Itorses to l'C seen anywhere in ietorii. He i» by Firework.-.-, the sire of the celebrated (Joldsborough ami Itobin Hood, ami hist dam is own sister to Ferryman and Maribymong. ami half sister to King of the Ring. Maribyniong is sire of Hamlet, Horattoii. The Diver, and the great wonder Ilichntoitd.

A deep sea sounding machine (says the '* New Zealand Times") is being made at Mills* Foundry, to the onkr of Dr. Lemon, who pnrjMnses employing it in connection with the laying of the second cable between the Xorth and South Islands. The machine is nearly completed. It consist!! oi a drum from wbieh the wire is unwound, and two wheels for winding in, the drum being constructed so that it may be moved an iron l)«d to any position. The apparatus for indicating the length of wire out when the sinker touches the bottom is very ingenious. Atta-Sed to the main spimlle are two small brass wheels, one above the other. The lower is worked by a thread on the spindle, and makes* one revolution to 100 revolutions *of tlie drum, and the tipper wheel, which is connected with the lower by a small cog-wheel of ten teeth, thus makes one revolution while tlie dram has made 1,000, and as the dram's circumference is exactly one fathom, tlie first revolution of the second brass wheel is

an indication that the line lias reached 1,000 fathoms. Bnt when liimlicil a diai plate will W» attached to the machine, with a pointer, which will indicate the precise amount of line out at any moment. The machine will shortly he completed and ready for use. The following advertisement appeared in an Australian journal" Wanted, for Mr. M"Leans establishment, at Euabhlong, a housemaid, whose duties will l>e to assist in the lanndry, ami wait at parlour table occasionally. Character no object. Current wages. The proprietor deems it his duty to to inform intending helps that the last lady who tilled the situation was married by the Rev. Mr. Soorea to a gentleman with £4OO in the hank. The previous lady was married l>y the Rev. Mr. Fullerton, at Sydney, to a gentleman worth £30,000 cash. The two

previous ladies were also married, and are very nicely settled indeed. The responsibility of publishing the following " extract from a letter " rests-.with the " Hobart Town Mercury." The writer says : —"I heard the other day—you may have heard it before—a very good anecdote bearing upon the spirit of rationalistic inquiry which is abroad upon questions of theology, and, indeed, all other 'ologies.' It is as follows :—A coloured preacher was holding forth at a camp meeting in America, his theme being the creation of man, and man's fall. He said that when God made Adam, the lir.;t man, lie made[him of clay, and stuck him up against a three-rail fence to dry. 'Stop, gar,'said an excited and rationalistic hearer, ' if Adam war dc first mail, pray who put up dat ar fence,' Tut dat man out of dis clmpel,' was the reply. 'Such questions as don: will spile all do theology in do world.'"

What is fortunately a very uncommon circumstance in Melbourne happened in the City Court. The " T&lcgraj)h " says that a policeconstable appeared to prosecute a woman for drunkenness, and while in the witness-box conducted himself in a most extraordinary manner. He gravely asserted that he found the woman reposing in a water-channel "in a semi-naked state of intoxication." As the woman was not his prisoner at all, it was rather hard that she should be charged with .such extraordinary conduct, and as the condition of the constable himself appeared to be such as to merit the favour of a sentence from the Bench, he was sternly commanded to stand down by Inspector liyall. The woman was discharged, and so was the female who should have occupied a place in the dock just before, the constable apparently not being in a condition to give his evidence. A wager of a novel description was made and decided recently at Maryborough, in Queensland. The local paper states that an old and dilapidated pocket-bonk, containing a £lO note, was thrown in the middle of the street, opposite tlio Post Office Hotel. The bet was that one hundred persons would pass by without picking it up. One hundred and forty persons passed, out of whom three, viz., an old man, a nursemaid, and a "new chum " kicked, but did not stoop to handle it. It might have remained unnoticed for a much longer period, had"not Mr. Kennelly's dog, Clyde, picked it up, and delivered it in the bar of the Post Ollice Hotel.

The "Colac Times says " The oft-used aphorism 'extremes meet,' according to rumour, is about to receive a local and a specific signification. In bad seasons sheep .-lie from .starvation, but it would appear that around Jancnurt the same animals are seeking the happy grazing land above through obesity. Tt is said that on a station in the locality named, oil which 30,009 sheep Hud su ;teiiancc, twenty out of that number die every day, it is thought, through sheer high condition. In a number of cases the carcases have been opened, but nothing has been detected ill their organisation to account for their deaths. They have been noticed in g.iiul health in the night time, and in the morning the}' have been found dead. In some cases the animals have weighed a cwt.'' < lymnasts in England and America (says the " Evening News ") perform incredible feats nowadays. Tho three brothers Wilson were lately exhibiting in Chicago their unparalleled demon's leap. One brother stood on another's shoulders. The third then took a living leap on a trapeze from one side of the" theatre to the opposite, alighting oil a ledge, oil" which he immediately turned a back somersault, and fell on his feet upon the shoulders of the topmost of the two standing 011 tlie stage. Only a gymnast can understand the extraordinary difficulty of this. Signor Gonza, of Paris, advertises that he will drop any distance from the roof of a theatre through a trait-door in the floor, and bound up again to a high trapeze, by means of his new spring apparatus, on the same principle as that introduced in London recently by Lulu, the Flying Lady.