LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 62, 3 July 1876, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Rev. Mr. Todd called upon us to-day, and stated that, in announcing the Rev. Mr. Agiiew's lecture, he did not make use of the word "gallant" in connection with the bushrangers, as alleged by our correspondent "Magguffin" in Saturday's issue. We are pleased to give publicity to this explanation. The members of the Oamaru Football Club played a scratch match on Saturday afternoon last. Sides were chosen by Holdsworth and Walls, and after about half an hour's stiff play, a goal was kicked in favor of the former, and subsequently one in favor of the latter. There was a very fair attendance, but if our local men desire to have any show in the forthcoming match with the Dunedin Club, which, we understand, will take place about the end of the current month, it behoves them to embrace every opportunity for practice.

Boss Tweed, the great ring swindler, appears to have been enjoying himself on the Canadian rivers since his escape from his New York custodians. A telegram in the papers by the last mail (says the "New York Herald ") prints a letter from Midland, Georgian Bay, Canada, saying that Boss Tweed and two companions spent the winter on Muskoka river, thirty miles from Midland, and 100 miles from Toronto. It appears that Tweed and two men loaded a small steamer last November, just before the close of navigation, with a great quantity of provisions, and went to Park's mill, which has not been running. Tweed and his companions lived in a cottage all winter, the Boss keeping dumb, and it being given out that he had received a paralytic shock. On the 24th of April the steamer that took them up last fall arrived there again with a lot of provisions on board, but did not leave for a few days. On Friday, the 28th, two detectives left Midland and went to Park's mill, reaching there on Saturday. On being discovered, the whole of the Tweed party fled on board the steamer by small boats. Their escape in boats was covered by some four men on the steamer with revolvers, and shots were exchanged with the detectives who were on the dock. The steamer escaped with Tweed to the bay, the detectives being unable to follow. They expect soon to capture him.

A rather curious case was decided by the Resident Magistrate at Wellington recently. A man was arrested by a constable for a criminal offence, and whilst arresting him the constable's clothing was nearly destroyed. The man was sent to gaol for a month, and ordered to pay £2 7s. 6d. for the damage done to the policeman's uniform. On being released from gaol, the constable proceeded against him in the Civil Court to recover the £2 7s. 6d., but the defendant pleaded that the criminal prosecution and the sentence lie had received and performed was a bar to the action. The Magistrate held that the objection was good, and gave judgment for the defendant, with co3ts.

We ("Wellington Argus") regret to learn the Para Para Company, from which so much was expected in the way of developing and utilising the enormous deposits of hematite ore in Golden Bay, Nelson, has suspended operations. All the men employed at the Para Para Ironworks, who were at work building the foundation of the blast furnace, were discharged on Saturday. A meeting of

the directors of the company was -held at Nelson recently, but the result has not yet transpired. It is .understood that the chief obstacles encountered by the company have been—first, the inadequacy of the amount of 'capital subscribed to the outlay required; 'and secondly, the difficulty of obtaining coal for the furnace at a price which would enable the operations to be carried on at a profit. The coal lands are in the hands of private speculators, who originally bought the land at ss. per acre, and now refuse to sell it for less than £2O or £3O per acre. Thus the development of the new industry is checked by that selfish "dog-in-a-manger" spirit of private monopoly which ever has been the curse of Nelson.

Eevolution and bloodshed still form the staple intelligence from that misgoverned and unhappy Spanish Colony, Cuba. A telegram from Havana, dated May Ist, says : "Intelligence from Sagua La Grand states that on the morning of the 25th a train from Las Cruces was attacked by 200 insurgents at Cifuentes Station. Ten soldiers and one officer, who were on board, heroic defence, but were compelled to succumb. The engineer, conductor, and many of the passengers were wounded; The insurgents burned the cars. This occurrence took place between two stations strongly garrisoned, and but a short distance from each other, but no help was sent. The insurgents have burned the Guadalupe estate, and negroes and mulattoes have plundered the San Jorge estate, within two miles of the village of Sagua La Grande. In the jurisdiction of Colon, the insurgents.have lately burned the estates of Buena Ventura, Santa Susanai San Juan Beglita and San Francisco."

At a recent sitting of the Full Court at Sydney, when an application was made for a new trial in a libel action, Mr. Justice Faucett held that newspapers "were entitled to comment fairly on public topics, not to mince their language, but use coarse expressions if so desired."

On the Queen's Birthday the Governor, who was residing at the Government House in Auckland, did not give the usual birthday ball, but a musical party instead, to which but a comparatively few were invited. A correspondent of a contemporary says : " The disappointment must have been looked forward to, and many a quiet citizen has put himself out to attend levees and make calls in the hope of a dance for his wife or daughters as the great day came round. The practice used to be to invite on that occasion all who had called at' Government House, and it gave so much pleasure to so many that it seems a pity to discontinue it. Sir George Bowen accepted the position, and did his best; but his list was so full that Sir James Fergusson found it necessary to weed it, and if report be true, the process used to afford considerable amusement at Government House as an evening recreation. The Marquis wisely refrains from further weeding, and gets out of the unpleasant difficulty by giving no ball at all."

A large and influential meeting is reported to have been held lately in Liverpool for the inspection of plans of a new scheme for crossing the Mersey by means of an iron tunnel to be sunk at the bottom of the river in a line between Liverpool and Seacombe. The scheme embraces the excavation of a trench in the bed of the river to contain the iron tube, which will lie at a depth of about two feet below the bed. The tunnel will be connected with the lines of railway on both sides, and its cost, exclusive of station buildings, is estimated at £500,000.

Thoroughbred mastiffs must be at a high premium, for we learn by the "Taranaki Herald" that a Mr. John S. Bailey, who some time since brought out from England with him a dog and bitch of the pure old mastiff breed, has disposed of four of the whelps for £6O to Captain Wheeler of the Hawea. The pedigree of these animals can be traced back to 1415, to a bitch said to have defended Sir Percy Legh, of Lyme Hall, as he lay on the field of Agincourt. The names of these animals are "Adam" and " Eve," and were brought ont from England in 1875 by the owner, who was offered £SO for either before they were landed. The pedigree given by the owner is as follows : Eve out of Judy, Judy out of Queen, Queen ont of Alps by Hanbury's Prince, the old Birmingham champion, valued at 500 guineas. Sire, Emperor from Mr. Sukey's world-famed kennel, and the celebrated champion Turk, sold to Terry for 850 guineas. Adam, out of Empress, by Faust; Faust by Bamford's Sampson, who is descended from Bill George's Tiger, through the kennels of Lord Kings - clown and Mr. Loftus Pemberton.

The Nelson "Times" of the 20th inst announces the death of Mr. Frederick Tuc kett, at his residence in London. This gentleman will be remembered by the very early settlers of Nelson as the chief surveyor of the lands of that Province* under the New Zealand Company. He was one of those present at the historical Wairau massacre, and it was he who, before leaving the pah, strongly urged upon his comrades the necessity of meeting the Natives unarmed. The wisdom of his advice was evident when, a« it turned out, the first shot fired on that disastrous day was an accidental one. By that shot the daughter of the head chief Bauparaha, and wife of the chief Rangi

haiata, wasirilled, an was construed by the Natives into the commencement of hostilities on our part. The Scene that'followed needs no description here, afid a few H words will describe the part Mr. Tuckett took oh that memorable day. With some of his companions he succeeded in making his escape to the beach, and there overtook a wounded man whom many others had passed hi their flight. At the imminent risk of his own life Tuckett assisted the injured individual to a place of safety. On the beach a number of those who had made good their escape were endeavouring to made arrangements for a passage by a whaleboat to the Government brigj but were unable to pay the exorbitant fee asked by the owners of the boat. This fee Mr. Tuckett paid for them? aud thereby saved their live 3 and his own. "Minola," a contributor to the " Saturday Advertiser," in describing her visit to the Dunedin Lunatic Asylum, writes : —" Beside her, sits a careworn-looking woman, with many pages of world-weariness and pain in her pale, wan face. JAt a sign from Mr. Hume, clasping her hands, she fixes her eyes with a sad, far-off look, upon the opposite end of the room, and, in a peculiar wavering voice, begins slowly and softly to sing " The Isle of Beauty.' As the plaintive words flow unevenly from her lips, one cannot help wondering if they convey any meaning to her mind, especially as she sings wistfully, ' What would I not give to wander where my old companions dwell.' It is easy to imagine ' that a faint gleam of memory returns to her, and she dimly recalls some once happy homein her own ' Isle of Beauty' far away beyond the seas, where, in bygone days, surrounded by the friends of her childhood, she little dreamed of ever becoming the lonely, and perhaps forgotten, inmate of a lunatic asylum. It has been truly said that the veil which hides the future from our sight has been woven by the hand of mercy. Poor thing ! mournfully she concludes, ' Darker shadows round us hover; Isle of Beauty, fare thee well.' Surely unrelenting fate can hold no darker shadow in store for her than this darkest of all which has already fallen. I have often heard high class music and artistic singing, but none which ever made such a sad impression upon my mind as the simple song of that poor woman. I shall never again hear it sung without vividly recalling the sad, weary face of that insane singer." The Coast Guard at Cahirciveen have been profoundly stirred by the discovery within their district of a corked bottle, washed ashore through the surf of the Atlantic. On opening it they found a piece of paper with something written in a foreign tongue, of which the only word they could recognise was " Idaho," evidently the name of a ship. After much cogitation they decided to send the paper to Lloyds, with a report of the circumstances under which it came into thenhands. The Secretary of Lloyds found that the foreign language was German, and he has had the satisfaction of transmitting to the chief boatman at Cahirciveen a translation of the statement, which runs thus : •'This bottle was filled with lemonade, and ; -was drunk on the 7th July, 1875, on the outward passage of the Idaho." Then followed a list of the names of persons to attest 1 the fact. ~