The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 93, 8 August 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

tt t* notified that the tjstfal general meeting »>t* the Oaitiarn Mntaal Benefit BniJduig Sn.jety will l>e held in the Mechanics* Tnstitutev this evening, at the nana! hour. The remains of the late Volunteer Robert lies were interred in the General Cemetery thta aiterneon : and as a mark of respect to the deceased, in addition to a number of private friends, the various branches of the Voltmteer Force, and Several members of the

Loyal Alfred Lodge 1.0.0. F., foilowed'thte funeral cortege to the place of interment. The volunteers mustered forty-five of all ranks, including the cadets, and coin- | missioned officers, under the command of Major Steward. ' The service was solemnly performed, after which the volunteers returned to town in regular military order. Wc are compelled to hold over a letter on "The County Boundaries," signed " Robert Wilson," till our next issue, though pressure on our advertising columns. Under the heading of " Not to be Had Again," a Southland paper has the following sarcastic answer to a requisition:—"ln reply to a requisition asking him to stand as a candidate for the representation of one of the wards in the Borough of Eiverton, Dr. Monckton has made the following happy reply, which is advertised in the columns of our contemporary the "Western Star": — Your requisition has come under my consideration, and appears to resolve itself into a sum in proportion -. If 72 pledges produced 29 favorable votes, how many should I derive from 23? The question can be answered as easily as a previous one was, viz. : If a man attempts to protect you from being swindled and bullied by a rascally outsider, what return can the public make for his impertinent interference? The result of-the above calculations make me prefer thinking that you mean what you say, to giving you the opportunity of proving that you don't. I need hardly add that I decline to be nominated for election to the Town Council.' It may he necessary to state that the Doctor was recently requested by 72 ratepayers to stand as a candidate for the Mayoralty, and received '2O vote.-s. The Wellington "Argus" says, ''There is in London Docks an institution known as Her Majesty's Pipe, where condemned goods are burned if the duty is noj; paid-on them. The Customs Department here has found a new use for the Perfect"-Failur^jsteam launch. On .Saturday, to the great envy "of a crowd ol larrikins, her furnace was utilised for the consumption of a large quantity of cigarettes, on which duty had not been paid." There has arisen (says the "Spectator") close to the St. James' Park Station of the District Railway within the last year a fantastic building, in a Brobdignagian style of architecture, a dozen storeys high. Here Mr. H. A. Hankey has spent, or is spending, a quarter of a million of money to induce Englishmen to abandon the axiom that each man's house is his castle, by showing how man had better abide in fiats than in either houses or castles; and in educating a select number of our upper classes in the theory and practice of a refined Socialism. There are, or are to be, 250 sets of apartments, each set district, at an average rent of £IOO a year ; bat with a common kitchen, common coffeeroom, saloon, and reading-room, servants supplied by the management, and fixed charges for everything. The experiment is a very interesting one, and ought to succeed, tried on such a scale, amid a population which affords such an area for experiment as that of the weal thier, unsettled classes of London. The main difficulty will, we imagine, arise in the organisation of service. The Briton may relinquish his regard for his house, but will hold longer to the wish to have his own household about him. Under the heading "Rich in Landed Estate," "the Southland Times" makes the following very funny observation : —" The Town Council of Oamaru has more landed property than any other corporate body in New Zealand, having Mainland and Headland—that s, two of its newly-elected members rejoice in those names." Mr. Service has directed attention in the Legislative Assembly (says the Melbourne " Argus ") to the fact that serious inconvenience was often occasioned by the inaccuracies which crept into telegrams passing through the New South Wales offices. It appears that the heads of the department in Victoria attribute this to the use of the automatic system lately introduced on the New South Wales Line, and to the want of a proper cheque being kept in the Sydney office on the Victorian and Queensland business passing through New South Wales. The Superintendent of Telegraphs in New South Wales, however, is of opinion that if the automatic instruments were brought into use in Victoria, the telegraph business between the two Colonies would be cxi>edited. Mr. Ramsay promised to communicate with the Postmaster-General of New South Wales on the subject. I A popular and successful Victorian preceptor, says " -Egles," some time ago " did " Egypt on his way to the old country. He had always a keen eye for curiosities, and had a trans-Tweedish proclivity for making a shrewd bargain with the native vendors. Having on one occasion visited the Pyramids, on his way back his guide showed him a diamond. It was well cut, and he saw that it was an excellent stone. After a prolonged bargain a price was agreed upon, and Mr. Blank flattered himself that he had done a good day's work. He caved in somewhat when he discovered that eveuing that he had bought from the ingenious foreigner the stone out of his own ring, and the bitterness of his awakening was enhanced by his recollecting that he had that day paid for the stone only more than he had originally given for it in its setting to a Melbourne jeweller.