The Evening Mail. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 148, 11 October 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

"WonH are things, and a drop of ink falling upon a thought may produce that which makes thousands think."

By the courtesy of Mr. George Sumpter we have been shown a telegram received from Mr. James Mills, of Dunedin, which states that the Waitaki was taken from the Port to town to-day; that the trial was highly satisfactory, and that she promises to steam well.

We understand a most attractive programme will be submitted at the concert to be given tuider the auspices of the Good Templars, in the Tees-street Hall, this evening. In addition to many old favourites, the following ladies have generously come forward to aid the good work for which the entertainment is given -.—Mrs. Bashford, Misses Casey and Liddle ; while the list of gentlemen will be supplemented by Messrs. Grave, Booth, Finch, Mitchell, M'Beath, Jenning3, and other well-known talent. His Worship the Mayor has kindly consented to

preside. The townshio of Richmond, submitted for sale to-day, by Mr. A. H. Maude, realised fair prices, the attendance being good and the competition brisk. Quarter-acre sections fetched prices ranging from £5 to £l2. It will be seen that Friday next has been declared a bank holiday, in consequence of the Oamaru Steeplechase.

Mr. George Sumpter, Secretary of the Oamaru Mutual Benefit Building Society, reports that at the usual monthly meeting of this Society, held last night, the receipts were £496 Gs.

The Sydney Monthly Herald is requested by the French Constil to say that some misapprehension has been created by the telegram of the Government in regard to the Communists of >*ew Caledonia. " Monsieur .Simon is of opinion that, should the French Government accede to the applications of the Government of New Caledonia, the pardons granted will be to drporlit, and not to ordinary fon;o(*. The French Consul anticipates that the pardoned men will be allowed the right, and will be furnished with the 'means, of returning to France. We understand that any influence that may be necessary will be used to prevent any such influx of these d.jyorUf as may be unacceptable to the Colonists of Australia. As the chief cause of uneasiness was a fear that there might be an indiscriminate discharge of criminals from a penal settlement, these assurances will be received with satisfaction.''

Tlic following arc the remarks made by Mr. Justice Johnston in Cliristckurch the other day, about putting an already-sen-tenced prisoner into the dock in prison clothing, to be tried for a second offence. We quote from the Pre**:— "The prisoner appeared in the dock wearing the prison clothing. His Honor inquired of the gaoler the reason of this, and was informed that he was serving a sentence for a similar offence committed in Oamaru. His Honor pointed out to the jury that had the prisoner pleaded •Not Guilty,'and a jury been empanneled, his appearance in prison clothes was likely at once to militate against him. It would at once inform the jury of what they were supposed to be in ignorance of, viz.—that the prisoner had been convicted before. It was opposed to the spirit of English law, and he hoped it would not occur again. Even if prisoner bad no clothes of his own, efforts should have been made to bring him up out of prison clothes. The gaoler explained that considerable thought had been given to the matter, and as 'nothing was said about it in the prison regulations, it had been deemed right to bring the prisoner up as he was. His Honor said he was not blaming the gaoler, but it should not occur again." As our supply of gas coal is now obtained from Greymouth, it may interest our town councillors to learn that the black diamonds are now coming down pretty freely by the railway, some eighty tons having been brought down in one day. The work of loading the vessels is now being more readily accomplished, the tunc occupied from hooking on to one truck, discharging it, replacing it on the rails, and hooking on to another beingfrom seven andahalf minutes to eight and a half minutes, and when some contemplated improvements to the trucks are completed, the manager expects to deliver a truck in five minutes with the steam crane, or fully 100 tons a day. The Argus says, at present, the coal cannot be delivered to the railway from the Brunncr Mine as fast as it can be taken away, owing to the small engine at the mine, used for* hauling the cage across the river, not being powerful enough, but this will be shortly remedied. The line all the way is in splendid working condition. Under the heading, " A Peculiar People," the Wellington Argus remarks :—" Scotch-

men are proverbially cautious and fond of ''the bawbees,*bnt really these national cha-> racteristics seem to have been fostered to; abnormal development in Otago. The North,'is the Ogre which is always conjured up to frighten the innocent Southerners. The North is represented as a greedy and unscrupulous robber, bent on appropriating the goods and chattels of Otago. We are quite accustomed to this in politics, and there the idea is sufficiently ridiculous to every one 'outside of Otago. The feeling, however, is not merely a political one in Otago minds. "We verily believe that if a genuine Otagonian chanced to have a Northern guest staying in his house, he would lock up the spoons and sleep with a revolver under his head. The feeling is assuming the character of monomania. It has even invaded religious circles. As our readers are no doubt aware, negotiations have for some years been pending for an amalgamation of the Presbyterian Church of Otago with the Presbyterian Church of the rest of New Zealand. It was thought that the terms of the union had been satisfactorily arranged, but at the last moment the cry was raised 'the rest of New Zealand wants to rob Otago. We shall have to pay for the support of the Northern Church,' and at once the idea of union was rejected by the Synod. This unchristianlike suspicion, all groundless, and utterly absurd as it was, once excited, overcame every other feeling, and after some scenes, disgraceful in any public body, but doubly so in such a body as a Synod, the labor of years was undone, and the Otago Presbyterians determined to remain wrapped up in their own suspicion, selfishness, and bigotry. No one could read the reports of the late | meetings of the Otago Synod without a feeling of shame and disgust. The Northern Presbyterian Church is, we think, well free from union with a Church, the pastors and masters of which can publicly b«have in a manner so utterly irreconcileable with the first principles of the faith they profess." A remarkable piece of coral, taken off the submarine cable near Port Darwin, is spoken of by the Coohtown Herald. It is of the ordinary species, about five inches in height, six inches in diameter at the top, and about two inches at the base. It is perfectly formed, and the base bears the distinct impression of the cable, and a few fibres of the coir rope used as a sheath for the telegraph wire still adhering' to it. As the cable has been laid only four years, it is evident that this specimen must have grown to its present height in that time, which seems to prove that the growth of coral is much more rapid than our scientific men have hitherto admitted. This rapid growth may account for the new coral reefs that are constantly being discovered off our coast, and in the coral seas. _^________