The Evening Mail. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 116, 4 September 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

When the lately-departed ami hrghlyrespeetcd Dr. Watts wrote nn a recent occasion th;it. find* some mischief still for'dle bands to do," it is doubtful whether lie had ever visited Oamaru. At any rate, had be been here yesterday, he would have seen | fob remarks venfied. lor al.out a dozen youngsters were amusing themselves on the Waitaki line, u«ar the bridge over the lagoon. The truants from Sunday school had obtained a platelayers trolly, and pushing it along the line as far as the Gasworks, | and (lien jumping on allowed it to run down | the slight incline over the bridge. This | s»port was indulged in for about four hours | and appeared to afford the young rascals an | immense amount of pleasure. Perhaps the | ganger will accept of this hint, and place the I trolly where it cannot ha obtained by the ' juveniles for a similar purpose next .Sunday. One of the moat extraordinary astronomical ; phenomena we have ever witnessed came under our notice on Saturday evening, about seven o'clock. Standing at the top of Waus-beck-street. otu could see away t«» th 3 eastward a magnificent star—certainly of the first magnitude. It ajijieared at times to grow dim. and then in a few seconds would shine forth with inerea ed brilliancy. The star. ti> us. seemed to l»e in the constellation of Taunts, the second sign in the Z«wliac. The nutnbar of persons witnessing this celestial mystery all agreed that they had never seen such a singular eccentricity, if we may K> allowed the term, in the heavens before. The excessive brilliancy was no doubt eauai-d by the rarilied air below the constellation j magnifying the star to the spectator's vision. [Since the »lw>ve was in typ?» a man has j called npon us and states that the astroiio- | ntual phenomenon was nothing more than a i forge eight-pointed star which -Mr. Joseph I M'iss had erected over the door of his clothing establishment in Thames-street. He says if he cannot do any business, he will *>{<♦»• tie the people of Oamani.j The Traffic Manager ha 3 forwarded to us the time-table of the Otago itailways for the | present month. The tables are published in small pamphlet form by Messrs. Mills, Dick, and Co. Beside the time the fares are given, as well as information in connection with t >e Mataoca coaches and Balclutha railway. It is a very old saying thit " Listeners f naver hear any good of themselves," and, as . a rule, those wives who pry into their hus- | bonds' business never gain much satisfaction

from the curiosity evincea. A case came nnder our notice the other day. A friend of oars received a telegram from Dunedin, stating that Laura Bell had arrived at Port Chalmers, anil that a cheque for £l2O, for passage and expenses, would oblige. Unfortunately our friend was away from home at the time, and his wife opened the telegram. The announcement that Laura Bell had arrived from Kng'and was too much for the better half. Could her husband, with all hi 3 devoted affection, be untrue to her ? Was he villain enough to carry 011 a correspondence aud bring out a lady from England, while lie was pretending eternal friendship to his dear little loving wife at home? No, the thought was too horrible to entertain for a moment. But who was this Laura

Dell, tlii.s destroyer of her peace of mind How dare she ask her husband for passage money ? While Mrs. Blank was asking herself all these question 5 regarding her husband's perfidy, Mr. Blank arrived upon the scene. His wife handed him the telegram, and demanded an immediate explanation. There v.as a pause, anil then the loving husband explained that Laura Bell was a prizn shorthorn cow. which he had just- imported ! from England. But what a little ifc takes to cin.-c a row in thehon-e. We have to acknowledge the receipt of the X>ir X'.'il /V„Y': f/.'-i for September, which, in addition to a choice selection of extract matter specially interesting to Press iiiosi. contains an able article 011 trades unions We lu«k upon it as the duty of every oim. connected with tl;r- profession, 110 matter in what branch, to support the -Vevt : [ and w tare pleased to see by its own showing I that it cannot complain of the measure of i support which has been accorded it, and to which it is justly entitled. One of tin har.leit galc3 ever experienced lin Oainaru. blew last evening, between half- [>:■,. C seven and half-past eight. While it | lasted the force of the wind was something t torn"lie. On making a tour round town thi- morning, we found that several persons [ had mi!l ere.l through th j severity of the gale. | In Jluiuber-slivet a fence was bodily removed ! on to the footpath. Mr. Murray's shop j window was blown in, and .a large pane of plate smashed, which had stood the battle and the breeze for the last seven years. Mr. j «.* busy looking round to see if any ' one ha<- found his shutters, and Mr. Williams 1 is anxious to find a person who has the doors and roof of a lean-to not belonging to him. t Altogether the wind last ytvening played up f sail havoc. Vt--' * I Mr. Chamberlain, inutile Legislative Council the other to a | motion referring to the beftfet preservation of [ New Zealand fisheries, was awfully funny. He said : —"They had a fisherman whose , name was Pah'-, the otfjUr, and he would be very happy to show the Council a--'picture of i the angler. He would finish by saying, iiow that he was upon tolas and jwrrhed upon his /»/"«•••, that he would not flounder any further, or carp at the honorable gentlemen ; and he would further add that at some filture time he would hope to be able to pUolJhh Bills more successfully.'" They make it "lively" sometimes for " wife-beaters " down Kelson way. Recently (says a local paper) the roi-t was enlivened' by a demonstration. It appears that one of the inhabitants of that usually quiet portion of Kelson indulged his brutal propensities by a savage attack upon his better half, and his neighbours determined to express an opinion upon the cowardly act. Au eliigy was therefore prepared, and carried to the door of the house occupied by the woman beater. Here j a mock trial was gone through, and the figure, j in accordance Milh the verdict, was carried ! on to the beach, saturated with kerosene, | and ignited. It blazed away merrily, and displayed to advantage a placard attached stating, " This should be the fate of wifebeaters." The crowd, numbering about 100, then gave three groans for the party for whom the exhibition was especially designed, and dispersed. I The Auckland Star says" We are sorry to learn that the wreckers, infamous in the records of British shipwrecks, have imitators in this Province, whose rapacity only requires opportunity for more full development. After Mr. H. Koe's cutter Williamette went ashore at the ilanukau Heads, the crew, under the direction of Mr. Koe's son, exerted themselves at great personal risk and exposure in saving what cargo they could. They succeeded in taking out a good deal of stuff, and believing that 110 one would add plunder to the other misfortunes arising from the occurrence, the men thought they might safely leave the salvage unprotected for the night, while they went in search of food and shelter. Upon returning in the morning, however, they found the whole of the goods stolen, the best blocks cut out of the rigging, and everything that was worth takiug and could be conveniently removed, carried off. Fiom traces discovered in one gull}- near the flagstaff, it is believed the plunder went in that direction. The disreputable act ha> cast a stigma upon the whole of the settlers in tuat district, who should take measures to discover the perpetrator and bring him to justice, in order'to purge the district of the odium resulting from the disgracefal and unmanly offence." They certainly have some " cool hands," and a simple one too, in Balclutha. The

local paper records the fact that .the other night two. men/]took a barrow in at a front garden gate in Clyde-street, wheeled it along the gravel walk .up to the front, and round the end of the house to the coal-house at the rear, loaded it- with coal, and returned the same route. The noise made by the barrow was distinctly heard by the neighbors. It was also heard by a male inmate of the house, who got up, looked out at the window, saw the men, and called out to them. They did not condescend to reply, and coolly proceeded with their load. A little pluck and effort on the part of the inmate referred to would at least have secured the barrow and its contents; but the thieves were allowed to depart in neace.

We notice by our advertising columns that Mr. J. (Jagney is now holding a great clearing sale, which will be continued till the 10th iiiat., when he will remove to other premises. We draw the attention of those interested to an announcement made elsewhere by Mr. A. H. Maude; intimating that he has received instructions from the Oamaru Harbour Board to submit to public dgmpjstition to-morrow afternoon, some valuable central building sites fronting Thames-street, and immediately facing the Post-office:"" The advertisement will l>e found in the usual column. It is notified iu our advertising columns that several pcrsons'liaving intimated their willingness to assigivit is intended to hold a "Digging and Planting Bee," to-morrow (Tuesday), on the grounds attached to St. Luke's Church. The proposal is an excellent one, and should prove highly successful. ■ The meeting convened by his Worship the Mayor, fort-lie purpose of forming a volent Society, will be held this evening, at the Mechanics' Institute, the chair to be taken at eight o'clock. v ; 11 will be- seen on reference to our advertising columns that the ordinary monthly meeting of the Horticultural Society will take place this evening, at eight o'clock, at the President's office.