The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1877

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 362, 21 June 1877, Page 2

The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1877

The twenty-first of July—the day upon which the Mayoral election is by the Act prescribed to take place—is sufficiently close at hand to create a little speculation as to who will go to the poll for election to fill the honourable position, or whether there will be any contest at all. A modicum of light will be shed upon the question ere long, for the nomination day, to be fixed almost immediately by the Council, will be a true tell-tale of the extent to which the position is sought after by Councillors who aspire to the highest civic position that can be attained. It is rumoured that our present Mayor—Mr. Steward—being of opinion that the office should be a rolling one, will retire at the expiration of his term of office. We are not in a position to assert this as a fact, but trust that, if this is Mr. Steward's ultimatum, the public will be as happy in their choice of a gentleman to fil] the Mayoral Chair in his stead as they were in electing him to the position. We know of no public body that could vie with the Oamaru Municipal Council with regard to an apparently steady determination amongst the members to work harmoniously together for the promotion of the public good ; and not a little of this satisfactory state of things has been infused into the Council by our present Mayor. We trust that competitors for the honour—should there be a contest—will bear in mind the qualities that should exist in a gentleman ispiring to the position.

Mr. Longford, with his accustomed iberalitv, has placed the Masonic Hall at ;he disposal of the Hospital Committee, free >f charge, for the purposes of the special enertainment to be accorded that institution >y the Calcined Corkonians on the 10th >rox. These are acts that, in these days of he supreme concentration of most people's ninds on one object—money making—are rorthy of record. We trust that the public rill follow the excellent example that has een set them, and that they will, whilst in lie enjoyment of nature's greatest blessing?, smember the suffering by liberally secondig the efforts of the Calcined Corkonians in ssisting to support one of the most useful f all public institutions. Mr. C. DeLongueville Graham and Mr. sher, the gentlemen appointed by the [acandrew Testimonial Committee to oolct subscriptions, are now travelling through le district with the object of securing the nounts promised towards the Macandrew estimonial. We trust that those who have omised to subscribe will do all in their iwer to facilitate the speedy accomplish- , ent of the design the Committee have in ( ew, and that the sum subscribed in recog- 1 tion of the services to the now defunct ovince of Otago of an old and genuine . end to the Province and the Colony, will 1 a large one consisting of small amounts, s is will be evidence that Mr. Macandrew a appreciated for the unselfish manner in lich he filled the onerous public position it devolved upon him for so many years. j Che late fatal football accident seems to t re brought the Auckland footballers to vi lething approaching a proper appreciation p ;he dangers of the game. According to a 33 igram in another column, they have E mad it advisable to modify the rules sc

There was another blank sheet at the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning.

The regular fortnightly meeting of the Municipal Council will be held this evening at 7.15 o'clock.

The usual fortnightly meeting of the members of the Harbour Board takes place at half-past 10 o'clock to-morrow morning.

The Rose Brothers, whose entertainments are both pleasing aud mysterious to a degree, according to the criticisms of the press, will appear at the Volunteer Hall to-night. So far as variety is concerned there is enough in the programme to satisfy the most ardent advocate for change, whilst the facility with which the most wonderful tricks are performed, has earned for the Rose Brothers a reputation that should ensure a full attendance ; especially when it is remembered that some uncommon musical porformances are also amongst the treats promised.

The celebrated bond fule Negro Minstrel Troupe, termed the "Georgia," will appear in Oamaru ou Wednesday and Thursday evenings next, at the Masonic Hall. Not having been present at their performances, we cannot, from a personal knowledge, write of their excellences, but we feel warranted in recommending them to the people of Oamaru on the word of our exchanges, the notices in which are full of their praises. We believe that this is the only genuine neg'-o troupe in the world.

We have read somewhere that on a certain occa ion in New York a showman attracted a large concourse of people around his show by the sign : "Little to be seen, but much to be learnt." They gazed at this enigmati-

cal announcement until some few, more

curious than the others, determined to solve the problem by paying the price charged for ad mission—2s cents. They did bo, and walked along a passage until they arrived a

the scene of the show. There they saw a gaunt Yankee, who very politely welcomed them. Before him was a table, in which was placed two pieces of wood—one small; the other large. He attracted the attention of the on-lookers to these billets, and remarked : "Now, when you wittle a small piece, you wittle to you; but when you wittle a large piece, you wittle from you, and you wont cut yourself. Now, gentlemen, please make room for others, and don't tell anybody what you've seen." With feelings of mixed annoyance and amusement they retired behind a screen with a determination to at least have the satisfaction of seeing others sold. They had not to wait long before in walked another batch of victims who were treated to the same lecture, wnich the first batch accompanied by a loud guffaw. By this means the showman had coined money, and as soon as he

had woiked out one locality he would move to another. Now, our advice is, Go and see the wonderful Sea Leopard, feet from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail. There is no sell about this show ; for, in addition to being treated to a study of natural history, the visitor, for the small sum of one shilling, charged for admission, is entitled to a prize—so says the advertisement.

I' is understood (says the Palmerston Times) that Sir F. D. Bell will be called to the Upper House "when Parliament meets. The Star of the 20th instant says :—"An interesting match at draughts is now progressing at Watsons' between Mr. Eamage, of Kaitangata, and Mr. T. Eeid, of Dunedin. The stakes are L2O, and the conditions are the first six games out of eleven. Both gentlemen are experienced players, and a close contest is anticipated. Play commenced at four o'clock this afternoon, and at six o'clock there will be an intermission of j an hour.

In the course of a case in the Supreme Court on Saturday (says the Southland Times) Mr. Harvey was laying it down to the jury that a husband who assigned property to his wife could not afterwards compel her to dispose of it in any way, whereupon his Honor Byronically remarked—" Compel her, Mr. Harvey 1 Certainly not; but he may soft sawder her." i

under which they play, and have,, with an amount of wisdom which we did not give footballing barbarians credit for, determined that no hacking, or backing over, tripping up, wrangling, rabbiting, or butting, shall be allowed under any circumstances whatever. It is gratifying io tind that the Auckland footb llers are not altogether devoid of common sense, though it is a matter for regret that nothing less than a fatal accident was sufficient to set their intellects in motion. We have not yet heard of any movement having been made by the local devotees of the game towards modifying their rules. Possibly, however, they are waiting for a fatal accident to occur to one of their number before taking any action.

The Star says :—" Dr. Gillies met with an accident on Monday afternoon. While riding quietly along the Halfway Bush road his horse shied so suddenly as to lose his footing, and fell on his side, the doctor's leg being under him. The result was that Dr. Gillies had his right leg fractured and his back severely hurt.