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Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 415, 27 August 1877, Page 2

The condition of many of the private crossings on the footpath in Thames-street is simply disgraceful, if not positively dangerous. Many of them, either from loDg use or the improper manner in which they were formed, have become something akin to a mere heap of large stones indiscriminately thrown together without any regard to the evenness of the surface or the comfort and safety of pedestrians. The Municipal Council is not altogether to blame for this state of affairs. It is the duty of those for whose especial advantage the crossings are permitted to keep them in proper order. We are perfectly aware that the Council has caused notices to be served on the persons interested, calling upon them to attend to the matter, and intimating that in case of default the Council would cause the work to be done at the owner's risk and expense. We are also painfully aware that not the slightest heed has been paid to those j notices, and that the threats used have, I from being oft-repeated, come to be looked upon as so much bunkum. What we would like to know is : Why have not those threats been put into execution ? Surely no amount of regard for the feelings of a few interested parties should be sufficient to deter the Council from performing a duty which the safety of the ratepayers demands of them. Only let the Council commence to repair these crossings at the expense of those for whose benefit they were granted, or else do away with them altogether; and we are perfectly certain that there would be little need to complain of their "condition in the future. Two men named George King and Thomas King have been committed for trial at Balclutha for maliciously killing a. calf by cutting it with an axe. . /■

If there is one thing more than any other itself, it is upon the substantial and elegant nature of inost of its busine s; edifices. To a great extent this is attributable to the fact that we have at our command an almost unlimited supply of the very best stone for building purposss, while not a little of the credit is due to the enterprise of our business men, many of whom have erected premises that would do no discredit to any city or town in the Colony. With very few exceptions the retail shops, more especially those devoted to the drapery business, are equal, if not superior, to those of other and larger towns in New Zealand. Not only is this the case with regard to the buildings themselves, but to the manner in which their wares are temptingly exhibited to the public. Anyone passing along Thamesstreet on Saturday night and glancing at the window of Mr. Cleghorn's shop must have been convinced of the superiority of Oamaru in this respect. The window has just been greatly enlarged, and on Saturday it was dressed for the first time since its enlargement. With it 3 many mirrors, and the artistic manner in which articles of every class and every hue were displayed, the window presented a picture well worth gazing upon. It was unquestionably the most elegant piece of window decorating of its kind that we have ever seen in the colonies, and we very much doubt whether it could well be excelled outside of London and Paris. In this opinion we are not singular, as was fully evidenced by the expressions made use of by many who paused to feast their eyes upon the tempting display on Saturday night. John M'Laren, the notorious, has not met with a very cheering welcome at the hands of the working men of Christchurch. In the first place, they would not allow John to air his eloquence at the meeting of artisans held in the City of the Plains the other day, and when he attempted to remonstrate about such harsh treatment of a "fellow working man," they hustled him out of the room altogether. Then, when, with a flourish of his own modest trumpet, he announced his intention of delivering his lecture on "New Zealand Past and Present," only about a dozen persons put in an appearance, and half of these were "dead heads," being the representatives of the Press. Conscious that his talents and utter unselfishness were not appreciated by the working men of Christchurch, M'Laren has returned to Dunedin with a furious black eye and an action for libel against our respectable and respected contemporary, the Saturday Advertiser. Truly, libel actions are getting plentiful enough in this country, and it is becoming apparent that either an amendment in the law of libel is required, or the Press will have to degenerate into mere recording machines ; more especially when such vulgar "loons" as William Hooper, John M'Laren, &c, take it into their heads that it is possible to say something too bad even about them.

Thomas W. Longuet, postmaster and officer in charge of the telegraph office at Palmerston, is charged with misappropriating the moneys of the department. It is said that the defalcations extend over a period of several years, and that the books in the Post Office show a deficiency of over L4OO.

The Wellington correspondent of the Poverty Bay Herald, in writing upon matters political, says:—"On the whole, I think Ministers are passing honest. They have tried to keep down expenditure and waste. What is most wanting in them is talent. Mr. Whitaker has the ability of a third-rate Colonial lawyer. I would like to say better things of him if I could, but I cannot reconcile it to my conscience. Were Punch or some comic publication to make a cartoon in which our Attorney-General was introduced, he would be dressed as an aged female in a nightcap and short petticoats."