The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 1877.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 394, 2 August 1877, Page 2

The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 1877.

The Customs duties collected in Oamaru during the month of July amounted to L 763 17s. We understand that at the meeting of the irectors of the Oamaru Permanent Buildg Society, held a few days since, the annual balance-sheet and Auditor's report were submitted. The success ot the Society during the year was found to be so great as to warrant the Directors recommending the payment of a dividend of 12 per cent, to all paid up shares, and the addition of 1 - per cent, to all current shares. A general meeting of the Society will, we believe, be held ou Tuesday, the 14th instant, for the purpose of electing directors in the place of those retiring, and receive the report.

At the Resident Magistrate's Court, this morning, Henry Broadkurst, charged wii.h the embezzlement of the money of Messrs. Reid and Gray, 'was committed for trial at the Supreme Court', Dunedin. The case- will be found reported pretty fully elsewhere. Vie are glad to leara that the Oamaru rhilliarmonic Society is likely to renew its practices. "We, and and all who were fortunate enough to be present at its last concert, must look on this as go.id news. We trus: that many possessor of fine voices anir-rg us, who only need the admirable training of the Directress of the Society (Mrs. Kew.-liam) to achieve success, will be added to the number of members. The members of the House of Representatives are not willing to be robbed of the proud privilege which they have hitherto ci joyed, of being able to talk as long as tliev liked. It will be remembered that Mr. Curtis, the member fur Nelson, immediately after the opening of Parliament, gave notice of motion for limiting the duration of speeches in the House of Representatives to twenty minutes, unless by permission of the House. That motion came before the House yesterday, and was negatived, as almost everyone expected it would be. Mr. and Mrs. James Thompson, the newly-appointed warder and matron of the Uainaru Hospital, entered upon their duties yesterday. As we have before stated, Mr. Thompson has been connected with the Dunedin Hospital for many years, and has been highly recommended by the medical men attending that institution, alike for his care ;md attention towai'do the pat encs. and his ap.itude to act promptly in cases of emergency. Mrs. Thompson was a'so for some time connected with the Dunedin Hospital, and is spoken of very highly. Under the care and management of Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, we have no doubt the Oamaru Hospital will be made more useful and more successful than it has been of late. "\\ e congratulate the Committee upon having succeeded in obtaining a warder and matron possessing lecommendations of so high a nature.

We notice that Mr. Eees lias, in his p'ace in the House of Representatives, asked the question as to who is to pay the costs of defending the action against the M'aka Maori 11-Wfpap;er, now proceeding in Napier. Int the A tton:cy~(ione. 1 al has vouchsafed an evasive nihwiT, spying that in ali pro'abiii'y the plaintiff would have to defray the costs of the case—a siaixmcntfor which Mr. Whitaker was taken to task by Sir George Grey ;:iul the Speaker (>ir "William Fitzherbert). As lve pointed our some few days ago, the Government are the real defendants in this libel case, and if t hove relict in the case gees against them, the country will Ie a iked to pay the costs. Mr. llces has given notice of motion strongly condemning the Government for the action they have taken with regard to this precious Maori journal. The young man John Madden, who figured rather prominently in the notorious Craig case, and who was charged a few days ago in the Resident Mag'sfcrate's Court with Laving robbed a man named Henry Uhl of L 9 in a house of ill-fame, has oifce more escaped from the clutches of the law. I his time, in doing so, he has had a very narrow escape from being sent to gaol. His \\ orship the Resident Magistrate ill discharging him from custody to-day, remarked that there was 110 doubt he had taken advantage of the prosecutor being drunk to rob him of whatever money he possessed, but the evidence against him was scarcely sufficient to warrant prisoner's committal. He read Madden a severe lecture with reference to his present mode of life, and cautioned him that sooner or later it must icsnlt in serious consequences. Id is to lie hoped that Madden will take his Worship's advice to heart, and seek to follow some honest occupation.

ill*. A. If. Maude will continue the p-de of Messrs. Lees and Moore's plant, etc., at 110011 to-moirow. en the premises behind the Post Gliiee.

Another instance of the poorness of the harbour at Port Chalmers has arisen. This mornii g"s Timaru Herald says : —'' Tlio s s. Wellington did not arrive from Dunedin yesterday, as she was unable to cross the bar at Port Chalmers." And yet the Dimediti papers—the Times iu particular— are everlastingly rpenking in terms of derision about the port of Oamaiu. Such a thing as the detention of a vessel owing to being unable to get out of the harbour never occurs here. These little stoppages to the pivgress of steamers are of frequent occurrence ;l6 Port Chalmers, notwithstanding the loud trumpeting about the excellence of their harbour indulged in by our Dunedin contemporaries.

The vital statistics of Dunedin for the month of July are :—Births, 139 ; deaths, 59 ; marriages, 32. Mr. J. L. Hall and his comedy and bfCr-. lesque company are now playing in the Princess Theatre, Dunedji, to very good houses. When firing a blast at the quarries near the Lunatic Asylum, Dunedin, on Tuesday afternoon, a man named Barrett was rather severely injured, and it is feared that his eyesight "will be permanently affected. Mr. Giilou, late editor of the Evening Anjvs, has cau-ed a writ to be served on tlie proprietors of that journal, claiming dam ges in consequence of his services having been summarily dispensed with. " Augur " predicts that the winner of the Melbourne Cup will be found among the following : —Uobinson Crusoe, The Painter, Aiding;!,, Jiaiicot, Yolo, King Winter, Artful Joe, Sultan. The Yagabond, Watcrford, Bella, Uas, Salisbury, Device, and Piuto. Mr. 11. Foster, of St. Alban's, near Christehureh, met with a seiimis accident tiie other day while roping a heifer. The rope became entangled round his leg, and the animal rushing away, dragged him along the ground, and broke his leg above the knee. A domestic servant, named Ellen Couzcns, resident ia a country district, and who lately was a patient in the Dunedin Hospital, has presented to that institution a ton of potatoes, in recognition of the kindness and attention she receive! while she was an inmate of it. The Wellington correspondent of the Timaru JL-rulU telegraphs that Major Atkinson's proposal to supplement the deficiency of Ll9o,oiio by direct spoliation of the Canterbury and (Jtagy Land Fund, was received wii.li derisive cheers, and a strong Opposition is likely to be consolidated. The Ti easuror's proposals are said, to be quite i.legal. The Wellington correspondent of the Press tele-graphs that there is no truth in the rumour that Mr. Stafford has been offered the appointment of Ageut-Ueiieral on the termination of Sir Julius Yog<l's term : but there is a strong inclination among members to oppose any continuance of Sir Julius Yogel's services after December il xt. Wo (Pauii'.-rdon Time*) arc pleased to Lear that the proprietors of the Shag Point Coal Mine have managed to sink another shaft an I thereby obtain supplies of coal, ai.lioiuh in only small quantities. Steps luivo been taken, during the past week, to extinguish the iiro which caused the stopcage of operations, but it seems doubtful

whether the proprietorj have, iu that ve-.-.•peet, been thoroughly successtY.l. At the i'Uiiotliii City Police Court on Tue-d y, a youth, apparently not more than iG years «f nynamed -Alexander Loekhart, wa-i scut to gaul for thive months with lianl labour, in default of a line of Lo, for getting drunk and using profane language in a lane oil' V.Ydkor-struet. Ho had been before the i.'eneh on a previous occasion for a similar oU'jinjc, and ho was described as an incorrigible. A corro<p">iid.-nfc of the Arjus writes, wic.il receronee to tha naval engagement oft ■ hj.! Peruvian e.>a -fc, that neither of the v..st,-cls nieiii iuiied are iron .-lad as the term is generally undjrstoo 1. The Amethyst is an aeiua! si.ster of the .Sapphire, familiar to us t'lvm her vi.<ife ia September la-.t. The Hull: is an iron vessel with wood. This is a new ela-s of ship, built for speed."' jS'o doabt it is the circumstance of two unarmouiv.d vo.-sds having engaged an ironclad turret ram which gives spee'.al intarest to the,event. 'The Guardian, writing about the Financial says : —We would particular! v diivct the attention of the advocates of the Abolition of the Provinces to the Colonial Ti easui'cr's neat definition of the ■ i'• localisation of the Land Fund," and i.:„- mamic-v in which the Land Fund of Otago and Canterbury is to be dealt with. Tuey will be deiigiited, we are sure, with the chamiing simplicity of the Government in this trilling matter.