LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 140, 2 October 1876, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The grand stand, booths, gates, &c., at the forthcoming Oatnaru Steeplechase, were pu.t up to public competition to-day, by Sir. A. H. Maude, at hi 3 rooms. The attendance was pretty numerous, and the bidding spirited. The following are the prices realised for the several lots submitted First booth, with right of erection of a grand stand, Mr. \V. Maitland, £ls ; second booth, Mr. W. Maitland, £l3; gates, Mr. J. Cahill, £32; cards, Mr. -James Eeid, £3 los. ; two saddling paddocks, Mr. J. Cahill, £5. The total sum realised towards the funds of the club, amounted to £G'S las. We have received an intimation from the Telegraph Department stating that the mail for Australia, per Ilingarooma, will close at the Bluff at eleven to-morrow morning. Telegrams may, therefore, he dispatched from the Oamaru office up to that hour. From a telegram received as we were gding to press we learn that the Grand Jury at Wellington have found a true bill against C. E. Haughton ; and that in the case of rape the Chief Justice, in consequence of the victim being so young, ordered the case to be postponed for three months, so that the child may be instructed as to the nature of an oath. The same telegram announces that an iron safe at the Government Buildings was yesterday broken open and robbed of over £IOO, no clue being left as to the perpetrator. 2s ever since the establishment of respon sible government in J>*ew Zealand have such scenes been enacted in the House of Representatives as those which have taken place during the pastweek. No one will gainsay that an Opposition is necessary for parliamentary government, but if that Opposition, when not strong enough to oust a Ministry, obstructs the business of the country, then it becomes mischievous. The battle should be fbught out afer the policy of the Government is pronounced, and if the majority of the memthe Govcrnmentihafl their.

to have followed this course, and the late disgraceful proceedings in the House, instead of strengthening their cause, has done it irreparable damage. It will be seen by advertisement in another column that a Committee meeting of the Horticultural Society will be held at the Albion House this evening at eight o'clock. The news which vie ■(Wellington Argus) were enabled to place before our readers on Saturday evening, of the successful result of the experiment of smelting the Taranaki iron sand, created no little excitement in the city. It is really difficult to overrate the importance of what has been accomplished. Through good report, and through evil report Mr. E. M. Smith lias steadily maintained the efficacy of his process. After many rebuffs, he has at last, with great difficulty, obtained a chance of testing his invention, aud he has succeeded. For the first time the molten metal has run from a furnace, all previous experiments having been made in crucibles. The importance of what has now been demonstrated as possible, is enormous. Except to the shareholders in the present company, it matters very little whether the sand can be smelted profitably in the present works. The great point is that it can be smelted in quantity, and that a suitable flux has been discovered. If it cannot be smelted profitably in the local works for any reason, it can be so smelted elsewhere now that the process is known. The value of the metal will leave an ample margin for transport of the raw material to the place where it can be most profitably smelted. We believe, however, that the sand can be smelted by the present company in their existing works so as to make it a success. If this prove the case, the shareholders have a brilliant future before "them, and the Colony has a newly developed mine of wealth. Mr. E. M. Smith deserves great credit and substantial recompense.

We learn from the JS T ew Zealand Times of ■September 9 that a meeting of Wellington ratepayers desirous of au amendment of the municipal law as bearing upon what is known as private streets, was held at the Princess Hotel the previous night. Mr. Anderson was called to the chair, and stated the grievance under which he conceived those living in private streets labored when called upon to pay full rates without any portion of them being expended upon, these private streets. The Mayor, who was present, explained the state of the law, and the meeting came to a unanimous resolution to wait by deputation on the city members, and urge upon them the propriety of effecting such a change in the Municipal Corporations Act as would meet their view of the case.

The Kaiapoi Independent informs its readers that the tower over the new Government buildings at Lyttelton, was found to be far too low for the clock that arrived from England, and it was, therefo-e, necessary to raise the tower some eight feet. The alterations are now being proceeded with, and will be comi>leted in about three weeks. Of course, no one is responsible for the slight error made of ordering a clock that requires eight feet more room than was provided for it. George Eliot has recently been somewhat taken to task by certain of her critics for the too frequent use of scientific slang and the occasional obscurity of her expressions. This is all very well, but we really must object to such explanations of difficult phrases as that made by a New York magazine of the meaning of her -words " warm-paleness," which according to this authority, is identical with the hue of man's face who struggles wildly on the perilous edge of a piece of orange peel and is too pious to swear.

Some two or three years ago, a series of singularly brilliant sketches appeared in a London daily paper. There was great curiosity about the authorship. The editor of the paper met one night in society another editor, who asked him point-blank for the author's name. The former, under the impression that he -was merely evading an inconvenient question by a sure and obvious joke, answered that the author was "a Mr. Smith, a young man from the country." To his amazement there appeared next day a paragraoh in the other gentleman's paper, announcing, "on authority," that the brilliant articles, of which everyone was talking, were the work of "a young man from the country named Smith."