THE EVENING MAIL. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1877.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 278, 14 March 1877, Page 2

THE EVENING MAIL.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1877.

Wprdst are thins?*. ar>«l » drvp »>< ink fai'in? npon a thought may prt«iu«« that whieli wiake» thousands thtrvk."

There was a gnod mnster of the Artillery Company at the Volunteer flail last evening, where they went through a ] ortion of the Infantry drill, nndvr Sergeant-Major Maei tlierS'-'ti'sS instruction, in which they appeared sadly deficient, ami want brn-hiiig up very much before they can aj»pa.-*r to advantage in any l>rttt. It is hut fair t*> state that they paid every attention to the instructor as lie explained the different movements to theiti, which showed that they wciu dextrous of improving themselves t» that res poet. A very disagreeable announcement is matte in our telegraphic columns. It is that ttie , :hip Sydney had hern spoken, bound fur Ot.-igo, with small-pox on hoard. Our telc- : grant says there arc only five passenge.T*, hut 10 eases of the disease ; so that, if this is the : ease, five of the crew must In? itl. There «a» no business traisact.nl at the Kesident Magistrate's Court this iiwuing. Our telegram* inform «s that a fire took p f aee last night in Dunedin, in which a life was tost. The building burnt was originally a hoiel, but ha* for some years been ■ known as the Waverley Boarding-house. It ; is surrounded by wooden httiUtings of a rather flimsy character, and it m«4 have been simply throttgh the exertions of the ! Fira Brigade and the immense power of water brought to bear upon it th»t an extensive conflagration was* prevented. The affair seems to have a very suspicious look about it; but, of course, no conclusion can be arrived at from a mere lelegram:. ft wilt be seen from our advertising columns that the Conks will be closed on St. I'atriek "s Day. We have had rjttite a foretaste of winter for the last day or two. It is tnte there has been scarcely any rain, bnt it has been extremely cold, especially in the night-time, with a bitter wind coming from the southwest. Barn is hourty expected, and we reatly imagine there tnttst be a good snow- : storm looming in the distance. Friday is the last day on which tendere for the Harbour Works can be lodged. The work is divided into four sections, the first being the extension of the breakwater by a ' distance of 2W lineal feet; the second, th« extension of No. 1 wharf by .10 lineal feet; the third, the construction of No. 2 wharf, I3*)i't: and the fourth, theconstrnctionof So. 3 wharf. 35"2 feet. The plans, &c, are on ■ view at the Harbour Board's office. A meeting of the School Committee will take place at Mr. Hardy's office on Friday evening at 7.30 o'clock. The "Imnny" warfare in Southland seems to be stilt going on with as great I vigor as ever. It is quite a common occurrence to see two or three hundred dogs advertised for in Punediti, and we see the applications for animals of the canine species have now extended to Oamaru. We hope that the owners of vicions dogs will not lose : the opportunity of getting rid of them at a profit. The National Bank has followed the cx-r-npte of its elder sister, the Bank of New Zca'and, and established a branch in the northern part of the Dnnedin City. In addition to the regular office hours, ttie Bank will be kept open on Saturday evening 3 from 7 t<* 9 for the convenience of tradesmen and others—a concession which will be greatly appreciated we have no doabt.

The Harbour Board meets on Friday next, in their offices, Water-street. By notification in another column, it will be seen that the various licensed theatres Act have been brought into operation in i Oamaru, the fees payable being i s follows : | Yearly license, £3O; monthly, £5; nightly, j 'tS. i Tickets will he issued at single fares be- ! tween Oamaru and Waimate, on the occa- ' *ion of the opening of the branch line to the latter place on Monday next. " The Tramp of the Fire Brigade," which was dedicated by the author (Mr. Thomas Bracken) to (he New Zealand Fire Brigades, and sung with immense success by Miss Lydia Ilowarde in Dunedin, is being sung in Wellington by Mr. Carey, of the Chicago Minstrels. The Wellington papers speak in high terms of it. A marriage has been arranged between B. L. Farjcon, the popular author, and Miss Jefferson, the daughter of Joseph Jefferson, the eminent actor of " Hip Van Winkle," One of the most barefaced pieces of impudence ever exhibited by a prisoner occurred at the IVntridge Stockade lately. It appears that Scott, alhts "Captain Moonlite," of Egerton Bank robbery notoriety, obtained permission to see the chief warder on duty in the division where he is incarcerated. He went to the office of senior-warder Kelly, and on entering rushed at that official and presented a knife at his breast (the one allowed him to cut his food with), at the same time demanding his watch and chain, | which he deliberately snatched from the offij cer's waistcoat pocket, and rushed away into : the bath room adjoining, where lie locked i himself in. So Midden and unexpected was : the whole affair that Kelly had no time to ! s.-iZ'J a bat-wi or cope witli Scott, -whose mad | prank will doubtless co.st him such punish- ; incut as will deter him from attempting a ! repetition of ntvih conduct. | In Dunedin a Chinwim named Ah Wong, ! who had been in the Colonies for 19 years, ■ ctiiiimtid suicide on Monday night iu coni sequence of pcjii'iiary diiiisulties. i A novel method of gaining information as i to the working of the Melbourne Gaol was ! adopted by a well-known writer in Aryus. \ According to a paragraph appearing iu the A>''!»\tl'tihn Tt/pr>jrti/>fiic:tl Journal the " Vagabond/' a contributor to the Aryux, recently assaulted the Speaker of the Victorian Assembly in order to secure admission t»> Pentridgc, and thereafter furnish the t Arjit-* with an account of his experience within the walls of the Victorian criminal cage. The " Vagabond" was susccssful. In consequence of some complication in ; the arrangements, the San Francisco mails in future will be forwarded only by the slow J lines of steamers which cross the Atlintic. \ This will make a difference of two days in traus mi-sion. According to the Edinburgh correspondent of a Dunedin paper, the Town Council of f Fife, gave a "grand concert" on New ! Year's night, when one of the Councillors figured as a "Negro delineator." The ex- ■ ample might lie followed (says the correspon- ! dent) by the Councils of some of your up- \ country municipalities, the proceeds to be ; given to the local hospital. From frequent ! practice, Town Councillors are generally well ! up in the comic business. The OunrJS-ni, in commenting on Poo'ey's case in Cliristchurch, says :—" A good deal of sympathy is expressed for Pooley because of the harassment he has already experienced over a hotting quarrel. The proceedings taken will effectually prevent his taking part in the All-England rersus New South Wales and Victoria match, and whatever the merits of the affair, the contretemps is a th'ng much io be regretted." A novelty is being brought into use in Victoria, whereby the game of chess will be " naturalised." A Melbourne contemporary says :—" Chessmen of peculiar design have la'ely been manufactured by a Melbourne jeweller. They are made of silver, the white pieces being frosted, and the black oxydised. The figures are characteristically Australian, the kings and queens being represented by black fellows and their lubras, the bishops by emus, and the knights (with their peculiar move) appropriately by the kangaroo. The castle is a mia, with an aboriginal squatting in the interior; and the pawns arc in the shape of the native bear." An important discovery has been made in Wellington. According to the Argus, Mr. J. C. Crawford has growing on his estate at Marama a number of native shrubs known to the natives as the Taupata, and to botanists as the coprosma baueriana. It is a fine hardy shrub, growing about Gft. to Bft. high, with very ornamental foliage, and producing a fruit which much resembles that of the coffee tree known to commerce. This fruit is produced in large quantities, and as the

plant belong 3 to the same family as the I coffee, the idea suggested itself to Mr. Crawford to try the result of treating the berries in the same way as coffee. He accordingly collected a quantity, denuded them of the covering (which is fleshy, and has a rather pleasant taste to the palate), roasted and grouud them, and the result was the production of a cup of coffee, which, in flavour and aroma., was quite equal, if not superior, to any coffee obtainable here. The shmb is so hardy, so useful as a shelter, grows so readily in any soil, and produces such an amount of fruit, that it is quite possible its cultivation may hereafter become a matter of considerable importance, and prove in reality a new industry. The berry may become an extensive article of export in time. Further trials will be made of its quality. Our Adelaide neighbors have met with a serious misfortune. Only a short time ago they imported the largest steam hopper dredge ever yet built, the Willunga, at a, cost of nearly £30,000, and the dredge was hard at work carrying out extensive harbor improvements at Port Adelaide, raising as much as 2GOO tons of silt per day, when she was run down by the steamer Victorian, also a new vessel, and in a short time she filled and sank in the middle of the channel, with about GOO ton 3of silt on board. The policy of insurance on her had expired about a month previously, and the Government had not renewed it. It is estimated that it will take about three months to raise the Willunga, and that it will cost about £IO,OOO. The steamer that ran her down was not much injured. A Sydney correspondent of an up-country journal in New South Wales writes thus concerning the progress of the old city : " Once more I must write a sentence on the rapid growth of Sydney. Stores, stores, all kinds of commercial institutions are multiplying. The streets give every appearance of plethora of busine-s, and the suburbs are growing at a wonderfully rapid rate. If we go on at this pace, we must soon leave Melbourne behind, and regain the position of being the premier city of Australia. If all provincial towns and country districts were i flourishing in the same degree, New South Wales would soon ' ring its name into the ! drum of the world's great caV" The prospects of the Mour.t Rangitito Silver Mine are very b.ight indeed. According to the Wellington Argus each day reveals some new and extraordinary feature of wealth. Last week a beautiful specimen was assayed from a vein running parallel with the main lode, and it yielded the remarkable result of ]3i4oz. of silver to the ton. We only await the completion of the road. Our Canterbury neighbours seem to be having a busy time of it just now. The Lyllcllon Time* says : —To give some idea of the amount of grain traffic, it may be stated that last week one train arrived in Christchurch with Go truck loads of grain ; while on another occasion no less than 92 truck loads of grain were brought in from a single station (Lougbsach) in one day. As the trucks would, on the average, hold 70 sacks, containing over four bushels each, the 02 loads might fairly be said to make in all 26,000 bushels of grain. Ere long the lines will have to be worked night and day, and it is doubtful if the grain can be moved away even then as fast as could be desired.