LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 124, 13 September 1876, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

j Tlie Oiiincnu Artillery Company are to be I congratulated upon tiio proficiency they have ! attained in the use of the howitzer, which i arrived here a .short time bade. At thei [ parade last eveiling, under command of ! Captain Locke, they v. cut through the I different mauunivres in a very creditable | style, and it must be satisfactory to SergcantI .Major M'Pherson to see how readily thej' j pick up the different movements. The Union Company's s.s. Beautiful Star, which left Dunediii last night at twelve o'clock, arrived alongside the Breakwater £t daylight this morning. She sailed ; t halfpast one to-day, for Timaru. with QS casks oi tallow for transhipment to Lyttcltou. On this trip Captain Stewart is in command. Captain I'ieiersen being in charge of tl.e Taiaroa. Sub-Inspector M'Clnskey wishes us to state that, when he said, in Court yesterday, the woman Campbell would possibly not recover, it was on the authority of the medical men wiio handed in the certificates as to her condition, and no* on his own responsibility. We are given to understand that Miss De Vere (wiio it wili be remembered was here with Everett's Hibernicon Company, and who made herself a great favorite with the Oamaru public) will have a benefit entertainment on Holiday evening next. The ama" teur talent iu the vocal line have kindly tendered their sen i ;es, and with the assistance of the Dramatic Club will, we believe, give a really first-class entc f »inineiit. We hope, therefore, to see a now led house on this

occasion. The Wellington correspondent of the West Vocd Times telegraphs to that journal ou the 4th instant as follows :—"Pietro Corrano, the interpreter, who accompanied two Italians to Jackson's Bay, attempted to commit suicide to-day by shooting himself through the heart with a revolver. He was employed as messenger in the Government Buildings, and was suspected of purloining letters. The charge 30 maddened him that ho wrote letters bidding good-bye to his friends, and denouncing the charge as false. In sending

memos, among others he left letters and a ».->ok for Mr. Maefarlane, of Jackson's Bay. He is believed to be innocent. The wound has not yet pi-ovcd fatal." Captain W. K. Kennedy, E.N., has jest published his .Sporting Adventures in the Pacific, and in this book occurs the following recipe, which it is stated was found upon the person of the proprietor of a Californian drinking saloon :—'• For whiskey—Ten gal- ; lons of kerosene, three lb. of potash, one j ounce of strychnine, mixed with soft water. I If gin is required, add qucuiiiim mjficit of oil of juniper." In the course of the debate on the appoint" ment of Sir Julius Vogel as Agent-General, Dr. Eodgkinson was not far astray when he said that "a more imprudent, unfit, uneconomical, or insolent person could not be obtained for the post. Had not a new term been coined, Vogßli-jin, which was synony r mous with all that was reckless and extravagant?" Mr. Montgomery said that the ! affaars of the Colony were approaching a stage of embarrassment, and that Sir Julius Vogel thought it would be easier and pieasanter to enjoy the position and emoluments at Homo of Agent-Seneral. He agr.el in the condemnation passed upon Sir J. Vogel for unnecessarily quarrelling with th<s Crown Agents. He denied that the prosperous position of the Colony _was.due to the policy of .Sir J. Vogel. A wave of prosperity had passed over all the Colonies. He admitted the undoubted ability of the member for Wanganui; but he'had other qualities not so good. His policy was to tule at'allliazards and money; but-we W"ould : yet have to suffer for the extravagant expenditure we had been guilty of. ..-,; - „ -.<>::. :■■■.■.■.* ■■;■;