The Evening Mail. SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 103, 19 August 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

As announced by advertisement, Miss Caaey last evening gave a concert in the Masonic Hall, under the auspices of the H.A.C.B. Society, in which she was assisted by several local amateurs. A lengthy programme was submitted, and if we may judge by the applause with which the efforts of the various singers were received, a highly enjoyable evening was spent. The attendance was good, and the audience extremely enthusiastic-

At the Resident Magistrate's Court, this morning, Michael Piper was charged -with sly grog selling at his house, Cave Valley, on the 6th inat. Snb-Inspeetor M'Cluskey prosecuted, and Mr. O'Meagher appeared for the defence. After hearing evidence, the Bench intimated that its decision would be given on Monday next. Alfred Grave, charged with being of unsound mind, was, on the evidence of James Grave, remanded for medical examination.

We have been requested by the Telegraphic authorities to state that a steamer leaves Penang for Gallc on the 22nd inst. Telegrams for Europe should therefore be presented on the 21st.

It is currently reported (says the Argus) that Sir George Grey's next move will be to introduce a Bill to repeal the Abolition Act of last Scsaion. Of course the hon. member for the Thames can have no hope of carrying such a measure through Parliament, or even through the House of Representatives, and the only object of its introduction, therefore, must be to waste time and impede practical legislation. If any such attempt be made, the Government will be perfectly justified in proroguing Parliament for a few days so as to bring the Abolition Act into immediate force.

The Waikouaiti Herald regrets to Btate that a young girl, aged five years, the daughter of Mr. M'Leod, who resides in the Hawkesbury Bush, succumbed on Friday last to injuries she had received from her dres3 accidently ha\*ing caught on fire the previous day. It appears that Mrs. M'Leod had occasion to go outside of the house, and that she requested her daughter to blow up the fire. In carrying out her mother's behest the poor girl's clothes caught fire, and on the mother's return she was horror-stricken to find her daughter enveloped in ■which were not extinguished before the poor girl had been severely burned. Dr. Moffat was sent for, but the injuries received were of such a nature that the sufferer died under them.

In the Gazelle appears a highly satisfactory return of the position of a curiouslynamed mining company at Auckland. It is called the Bismarck and French Republic Co., and was so christened in October, 1871. Though the elements of its name are so opposed to each other, the operations of the company have been very successful, for it lias paid in dividends twice the amount of its paid-up capital.

The Auckland Star of the 2nd inst. asserts that it is now absolutely certain that Mr. Bass, who was said to have been dx owned from the steamer Taranaki, between Lyttelton and Wellington, and for whose wife a subscription was raked by her friends, "is still in the flcsli, and, according to latest accounts, in gocd bodily health. He came up to Auckland within a fortnight of the new 3 of his death, and plainly told an ex" pressman, with whom one of our staff w;,3 talking yesterday, l!i:it he did not intend going home to his wife. The man inferred that there was some cuuse of disagresment between them. Basr: is at present said to be awav at one of the settlements on the coast not far from Auckland."

The Wellington Afjn* remarks:—"Practically a rise in the price of milk has taken place among many of the miikjveudois lately. That is, the price per pint or quart is just the dame,but the per ccntage o£ aqua pura is much greater. We h:\ve been shown one or two samples of milk lately which, if analysed, would show about 40 per cent, of water, the fluid being exceedingly thin, and of a bluish color. This is rather objectionable, because the price of milk is sufficiently high to soil in its pure state : and also because the sale of the adulterated article by the majority is likely to injure the more honest minority. In Auckland recently there was a raid made on milkmen, and many of them were fined for selling adulterated inilk. There is one milkman here who has two prices—one for pure, and one for ' watered' milk. He adopts the rather novel plan of asking his customers whether they will have the cheaper and impure article or pure and dearer milk, and according to the answer so he serves his customers. This inr.n, at any rate, has honesty to recommend him." The Grey River Aryu* has "official authority for stating that with regard to the anchor plates of the Gorge bridge no representations were ever made to the District Engineer, Mr. O'Connor, nor, so far as he is aware, to any officer of the Government, with respect to their alleged lightness. The fractured plat 23 are, we understand, to be forwarded to Wellington for examination." A correspondent writing to the Grey River Argus, and signing himself " A Freethinker," says:—"Sir,—You will oblige by inserting the following as being my opinion as an 'outsider'regarding the Grey Gorge Bridge disaster. This structure was commenced, I think, about two years ago, and during the progress of the works the Resident Engineer, Mr. D. W. M'Arthur, stated to the contractors' engineer, to my certain knowledge, that the anchor-plates were too weak, and would break before the bridge was completed. Mr. M 'Arthur made a sketch of this assumed disaster some four or five months back, and he is now leaving the Government service (for retrenchment sake) I have no hesitation as a friend of his in stating from what I have heard that he has carried out the work entrusted to him in full accordance with the plans and specifications placed in his hands by, ac I suppose, the head office at Wellington, and therefore I, as a friend, state that he is in no way to blame for the present ' almighty smash.' " At the Thames Police Court recently, a woman entered the witness-box with a plump, well-dressed little girl in her arms, and asked for advice. Some few years back, she said, she took a fancy to the child, whom a man sold to her for 6d. She had kept and clothed her for three years and a-half, and now the man came forward to claim her. She had no husband, but was well able to maintain the child. The Magistrate remarked that the child looked well, but the law did not give him power to say that she could keep the child, or that the person who claimed her could take her away. The only person who could decide whether she or the man was entitled to the custody of the child was a Judge at Chambers.

The Wellington Argus lias authority for stating that the Government do not intend to abandon the Counties Bill, as has been reported. On the contrary, the principle of the Bill will be steadily adhered to, and the measure itself be pressed on, although in Committee considerable modifications of details will not improbably take place. The Government long ago announced that they were not wedded to the details, but were prepared to fairly consider any amendments calculated to promote the general usefulness of the BilL