The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 25, 1876.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 81, 25 July 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 25, 1876.

LOCAL AND GENERAL. *. Up to the time of our going to press there ' was- no sign of the Samson. ' Mr. James Kidd, the librarian, lias forwarded m the Catalogue and Rules of the Oamaru Mechanics* Institute. From a cursory glance through the list, we notice that the Institute possesses some very excellent works of reference, and also some hooks cont lining some good light reading. The Institute 13 now- supplied with what has long been regarded a* a fc.lt want—a good catalogne. It is with extreme regret that the "Bay of Plenty Time* " learns* that the Right Rev. die Bishop of Watapu, 0.D., has had another paralytic stroke, in consequence of which he fi-wi resigned the Bishopric of the Diocese. We understand that a Synod will be held in the month of October, at Napier, for the purpose of appointing lit* successor, and that it is ttkety the Veil. Leonard Williams, the son of the present Bishop, will be appointed to the See. Those who have had the temerity to find a place in it (find a seat Would not be correct) wiK agree with the Wellington '* Argus.'' It says that the Stranger's Gallery in the House of Representatives is a disgrace to the i Legislature. Badly ventilated and uncomfortable at any time, it becomes a kind of Black Hole when crowded, and this Session, apparently, no effort is made to preserve order amongst its occupants. When the doors are opened there is a rush which will certainly cause some serious accident some day ; and the same thing occurs when the House rises. People stand up or sit down, wear their hat or sit bareheaded, exactly as Sttit-t their persona! convenience, without any regard to the comfort of others, and during the last two nights the speakers on the floor of the Honae have been applauded with hands and feet with enthusiastic admirers in the galterj-. If the manners and customs of the pit of a theatre are to be tolerated in the galleries of the Houses of Parliament, of course unpopular members must make up their minds to be hissed, while popular memb^?^ a ?nfeioc' of the Herculean tasks which telegraphic operators have sometimes to perform, the "Corwmandel Mail" states that Mr. Tait, the telegraphist there, without any assistance, received the whole telegraphic summary of the Budget. He commenced at an early hour in the evening, and throughout the whole of the night, and until noon the following day, his pencil never ceased moving. He afterwards went on with the ordinary business of the day as usual. Such a feat as this deserves promotion ; very few indeed could have accomplished it. A cttrious episode is reported to have occurred at a concert given at Coatbridge, Scotland, lately, and shows in a strong light the unpopularity of the Royal Titles Bill by the British people. As is very common at the conclusion of such meetings, the National or Queen's Anthem was to l>e sung by the audience, standing. Votes of thanks had been given to the chairman, singers, &c, and the conductor took her place at the piano, played over the first part of the music, expecting that the words would be taken up by some of the gentlemen on the platform : hut no one seemed to be able to get over the difficulty as to whether "Our gracious Queen" or "Empress] Imperial" should be sung. One looked to another in mute astonishment, but not a sound escaped the seemingly paralysed lips : the audience had at last to disperse in a somewhat ludicrous and unsatisfied manner without the usual finish up. When tlse Financial Statement was delivered and telegraphed to ever)- part of the Colony, the "Coromandel Mail" adopted a rather novel method of giving early publicity to it. The paper was printed a day sooner than usual, and contained nothing in the shape of reading matter but the Statement, and a short leader containing a synopsis of the leading features. ! We ("Guardian") hear from a private ■ source of a strictly reliable character that the gentleman appointed by the Government as Lanaey Commissioner is a I>r. Skae,' late of the District Asylum in Stirling. Scotland. TFvts gentleman qualified as at St. Andrews in lStf"2, and lias, like Drs. Hulme and Alexander, had some experience of lunaciu asylums, although he graduated something like ten years later than either of those gentlemen, and at a peculiar time in the history of the University of St. Andrews, when it is said to have produced a great many atnmnii. In Saturday's s Christchnrch " Press," the special correspondent at Wellington for that paper writes :—" Mr. Stout's Local Option 88l would not. it is said, have passed had the publican* lieen quiet. The bonnceable way m which chcy talked at their meeting in Punedin made many vote for the second reading, in order to show them that they cannot influence political action." > . \ Some humourous witnesses occasionally j find their way into the Supreme Court, j

During the recent action for damages brought against Messrs. Brogden and Sons, a witness was examined respecting an accident that happened on the Moeraki line, when a truck full of labourers was turned completely over. He stated (says the " Guardian ") that he was pitched about seven yards beyond the truck when it fell, but being asked if he was much injured, he replied, "No, Sir, not very much; I was more frightened than hurt, sure."—(Laughter.) "And wliere did you fall?" pursued the examining counsel. "On the ground, of course," was the naive reply. "But where did you hit the ground?" ex- ! plained the nonplussed banister, amidst ill- | suppressed laughter. "Oh! I see now," | said the witness ; " well, it was on the broad of the back."

A bulbous plant called the soap plant, long | known to the Indians and the old Spaniards, is said by a Califomian paper to be now claiming the attention of settlers in America. This plant grows all over the country, and sometimes in very large quantities, and is now attracting much attention with a view to its cultivation. The bidb is enclosed in a fibrous coating, of which the writer thinks one is produced every year, so that a matured plant will have many. It is found that, when dressed, those fibres run into four or five different qualities; the finest is like human hair, and being naturally of a fashionable color, it is in great request for ladies' uac, the other qualities for various purposes. The coarsest of the fibres is used for stuffing sofas, chairs, and other articles of furniture, and also for stuffing railway carriages, superseding crimped horsehair, being equally elastic and much sweeter. It is expected that more than a thousand tons will be exported during the coining summer, and it is now thought- desirable to bring the plant into general cultivation. The cone of the bulb makes a lirst-rate lather with water, equal to : the finest soap, and its properties for cleansing | are very great. ! A policeman was found dead drunk in Christchnrch a few days ago, lying helpless across the footpath. When picked up he came to, and rushed into the river. On being pulled out he again tried to throw himself in. He was dismissed the force on the following day. The "Marlborough Express" says that Mr. Angus M'Lauchlin met with a singular accident on Saturday morning. Having risen to call his sen-ant, he was lying down a«:un, when he stnick his head against the bed aud put out both jaws. Drs. Home and Clcghorn were close at hand, and came to his assistance, but it was not without extreme difficulty that they succeeded in getting the jaws replaced again after trying for two hours.

A divorce case, Grace v. Grace, is now pending in Auckland. The petitioner is a son of the Rev. Mr. Grace, the well-known missionary, and is by profession a native interpreter. In a moment of weakness, or perhaps led by his father's teaching to regard his dusky neighbours in the same light as white people, lie married a Maori lady, the daughter of a chief. But the lady was not worthily rewarded the compliment paid to her race for she has thought proper to indulge in pranks entirely inconsistent with her marriage vows, and has capped her naughty behaviour by running away with a gentleman of her own colour. .Sir Julius Vogel picked up on his travels through' America one of those newly-invented writine-machines, of which marvellous °. . . „v,„/i in , i.ne iiisii-uiiibi<« is worked in a jvav much similar to playing the piano. The "fetters are-brought together by the application of the fingers to the keys. From one to thirty copies can be taken at once. Sir Julius is quite an adept at this novel mode of caligraphy, and never puts pen to paper now. So fertile are the resources of this wonderful man, that while with one hand he composes a dispatch to the Colonial Office, with the other is manipulated a pleasantly-worded invitation to dinner to some wavering M.H.R. The North Canterbury " Standard " has not a very high opinion of the volunteers in New Zealand, if we may judge from the following in its last issue:—" Thi3 huge farce, volunteering, is fast becoming the laughing stock of the Colony. The Richardson Fusileers made a rare exhibition of themselves the other day, when hooting and hissing their Commanding Officer on parade. The Akaroa ' Fencibles,' or whatever their euphonic appellation may bo, turned themselves into a Hying artillery corps not long ago, with the sanction, of coin-sc, of the Wellington authorities. Consequent upon the change, a couple of antediluvian siege guns of the year of Queen Ann, were at once forwarded to that formidable military body* to play with and assist them in keeping their hands in. The expense of shipping, conveying, unshipping, and insuring these two monsters came to a very large sum indeed. And there they are on the very spot upon which the ship's tackle left them. The grass grows rank and luxurious around these relics of former greatness, and the Company has not yet realised the fun of trying to move them about. The Wellington Artillerymen are birds of quite a different feather. Their efficiency has often been praised, as well as the skill they exhibit in handling the light Armstrong field pieces which belong to them. The only fault that could perhaps be found with them is the inordinate amount of modesty which they evidently possess. Last -week, when presenting their Captain with a testimonial, the address accompanying it contained the singular affirmation that 'they all felt strongly their own efficiency as a corps.' "

The operations for blowing up the wreck of the Paterson with dynamite, at Waitara Iliver, arc described in New Plymouth papers. The amount of explosive used was one charge of 10lb. and two smaller ones of 7Alb. each. The explosion is represented as presenting a grand sight. A huge body of water was thrown high in the air, apparently in one solid mass, half as wide as an ordinary street. On' reaching its full height, the volume of water curled over most beautifully, and came down-to sea level as if it had been thrown out of. an immense fountain. After the second shot there were thrown up with the water large plates of iron and long pieces of timber ; of the deck and beams were also thrown to a great height, and in some cases a long distance. One plate of half-inch iron, which would at least weigh 4cwt., was carried ashore, and with smaller pieces came to earth with a heavy thud from a height of nearly 100 ft. The effect of the firing of the second charge was more like that of blowing up a fortification! It seemed as if along with portions of the wreck tons of sand from the river bed were also lifted

upwards. Four explosions completely shap' tered the wreck and operations will be commenced to clear the " Atticus," writing in":'.the-; Melbourne "Leader," says :—"I must confess to Having; been puzzled by a seemingly simple questibtf that was put to me this week. . Supposing the Christians in all countries were to'.commence ringing their church bells at half-past ten o'clock on Sunday morning, according to the" time of the'longitude they'are in, where do the bells first start. We commence half an hour before the people of Adelaide, while in Sydney they are half an hour before us. The Wellington bells are an hour and a half in advance of those of Sydney ; in fact, Lord Normauby is coming out of church as Sir Hercules Eobinson is going in. Honolulu is more than an hour and a half in advance of Wellington, and San Francisco two hours and a half before Honolulu. Going round the world in this way we would make out that they had Sunday morning fourteen _ hours twenty minutes before us in London instead of, as is the fact, our having-it nine hours forty minutes before them. As we sail round the world from west to east everyone knows that somewhere or another we have to sail into the day before, but the question is, where does the change take place ?. There must, in short, be some longitude on the earth's surface wliere one can travel from Sunday in the course of a walk between breakfast and dinner! Such' a pursuit would suit admirably the numerous class of Christians who desire to keep on good terms with both God and Mammon. 1 would be obliged to any astronomer or geographer who could tell me where to look for it."

"Argus," writing in the "Herald," offers the following suggestion : —We have at present among ns the proprietor of the great Gollah Indian remedy for gout. Let that gentleman hie him to Wellington and try the potency of his specific on Sir Julius, and if he effects a cure, his fortune may be said to be made:

There appears to be a young man in difficulties at Otahuhu. The following advertisement in the Auckland "Star" of last week should, however, supply a "want" : '' A young man, about nineteen or twenty, who is in possession of sixty acres of land (freehold), a six-roomed house, four cows, two horses, and everything necessary to make home comfortable, would like to meet with a respectable young woman, who can milk, and understands dairy work, and who would also be willing to accept him as her husband. Apply by letter to ' J.S.,' care of Mr. De Rose, Post Office, Otahuhu." Does the young man want a loving wife as a boon companion, or is he of an economic turn, and wishes to save the wages of a hired girl?" .