The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1878.

Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 617, 25 April 1878, Page 2

The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1878.

A meeting of the Committee of the North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association was held at Mr. Church's office, at 11 o'clock this mornimr. Pre-ent—Messrs. M'Lennan (in the chair), Hedley, Gillespie, Spcnce, Little, and Chnrcli (Secretary). The minutes of previous meeting were read and confirmed, and outward and inward correspondence was read and approved. The Secretary was requested to draw up the report to he submitted at the forthcoming annual meeting of the Society, and to embody in the same a suggestion that a Middle Islam:! Agricultural Society should be formed. It was resolved that steps should be taken to procure a piece of land as a Show Ground for the Society, consisting of not less than 25 acres, the present one now being too small for that purpose. In the absence of the Treasurer, the Secretary stated that he had drawn np an approximate statement of a.-connts, which he read, and which showed Miat there w.s a balance of L2lO 11?. to fc>-e credit of the .Society. The Secret ry was instructed to ord«- the gold and silver medals which were offered and won at the late reaper and binder contest. A number of acconnt3 were passed for payment. j On referring to our Christchurch ex-! changes we find that the reported winning of the President's Cnp at the Canterbury Rifle Association's annual meeting by ColorSergeant King, of the Oamaru Rifle Volunteers, is perfectly correct. The match was tired on Monday, the conditions being—2oo and 300 yards", eight-inch bull's-eye, any position, and seven shots at each range. There were over 40 competitors, and some very good scores were made, Color-Sergeant King heading the Jist with 49, closely followed by Sergeant Berckley, of the Christchurch Engineers, with 4S, while two of the other competitors made 47 each. In the other matches, however, Mr. King seems to have been "all at sea," as he did not get anywhere near the winners, while he was pretty low down on the list as regards the aggregate scores. We must, however, congratulate Mr. King upon his courage in going to Christchurch and tackling the crack shots of Canterbury, as well as upon the manner in which lie in one of the matches at any rate succeeded in upholding the honor of Oamaru by carrying off one of the principal prizes presented for competition. With reference to this matter, we must certainly express our surprise that the Press Agency should have neglected to telegraph a single line- about the match to Oamaru. The fact »s, as we notice by our exchanges, it was wired to otlic-r portions of the Colony, while the Oamaru papers were entirely overlooked, notwithstanding that i their readers were perhaps more interested I in the results of the competition, more • especially with regard to the success of one ■ of our l'ieal marksmen, than those of any j other portion of the Colony. Truly the j ways of the Press .Agency are extraordinary i in the extreme, and beyond the ken of any one not intimately connected with the con- | duct of its affairs. :

I The usual monthly meeting of the Waiareka Eoad Board was held yesterday, when there were present—Messrs. -T. Reid (in the chair), Meek, Jackson, Rainforth, Menlove, Todd, J. T. Evans. Dr. Webster, and Oliver (Engineer). The minutes of last meeting were read and confirmed, and the outward correspondence was read and approved. Two letters were read with reference to the road to the Municipal quarry—one from Mr. W. Fenwick, and one from Mr. L. Morton, the latter pointing out the injustice of his being called upon to pay rates while there was no road to his property. The Engineer was instructed to see the proprietors of the land with a view to making arrangements for a transfer of land for road purposes. A letter was read from Mr. Elder with reference to his rates, stating that a portion of the land for which he wa3 assessed had never been in his occupation, and adding that he had failed to notice the advertisement notifying the holding of the Assessment Court. It was decided that the assessment could not be altered now. A letter from the Kakanui Eoad Board, drawing attention to the state of the Adelaide road near the Kakanui district, was submitted to the Engineer for report. A letter having been read from Mr. M'Donald with regard to the state of the ford over the Kakanui | river, known as Webster's Upper Ford, the j Engineer wa» instructed to get daymen to i remove the bonlders. and to report as to the advisability of ejehanging the present road for the track leading oyer this ford. Mr. Meek's motion for the rescinding of the resolution exchanging the road through the Whitstoue paddock lapsed for want of a seconder. The Committee appointed at the

last meeting of the Board reported having completed the negociation with the Hon. K. Campbell for the necessary land for a siding. The report was adopted, and the thanks of the Board were accorded the SubrCommittee for their action in the matter. It was resolved, with referencs to the same matter, " That the Engineer prepare plans, and that the Clerk instruct the solicitors to take the necessary steps to get the titles exchanged ; also, that the .Railway Engineer be written to, asking him to have the siding constructed as soon as possible." The necessary arrangements were made for the annual election of members. The Clerk having read the defaulters' list for the present year, it was , decided to allow 14 days for defaulters to j pay their rates, proceedings to be taken at the end of that time for the recovery of rates remaining unpaid. The draft balancesheet for the year ending 31st March last j was read and ordered to be audited, Mr. [ Church being appointed auditor. The ' | tenders of Mr C. Shine for contracts 59 and' * | (»0 (IMS Os. OVI. and 1.93 15s. respectively) ,

were accepted. Mr. T. A. Giowes, the Acting CoioTuiv at the inquest on the body of Mr. Kogers, who met his death from the late accident at Teaneraki, by direction of the jury, waited upon the Board with reference to the removal of the gates on road line at Friston. It was resolved, "That the occupiers of land be instructed to remove all gates by the Ist May prox." The Clerk was instructed to write to the County Council, asking that LlO should be contributed towards the ranger's salary for the past halfyear. Accounts to the amount of L 321 15s. Sd. were passed for payment, and the Board adjourned.

Mr. R. Peattie, M.A., Rector of the Oamaru Grammar School, read an able and exhaustive paper on "Some of the Effects of the Education Act," at a meeting of the Otago Educational Institute, held yesterday at Danedin. Mr. Peattie has set a good example by studying the Act, and making known his views therein from a Rector's point,of view. It would be well if others occupying similar positions did likewise.

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

The postponed meeting of the OamaruNaseby Railway Committee will be held tomorrow morning at 11 o'clock, at the County Council Chambers. We would remind our readers that Ben Aliah, the ventriloquist and illusionist, will give his first entertainment in Oamaru this evening at the Masonic Hall.

The following unique advertisement appears in the Riverine Grazier : —"I, Thomas Naughton, hereby publicly acknowledge that I wrongfully blackguarded my wife, Mary Naughton, for which I apologise, and beg her to think no more of it." Some of the County Councillors of Westlaud appear to form pretty high estimates of the value of their disinterested services to their country. Referring to a notice of motion re travelling expenses tabled by Councillor Sedtlon, the West Coast Times says : —" Mr. Seddon, who lives about 20 miles from Hokitika, would be entitled to payment at the rate of 40s. per day, aud 15s. fid. for hotel expenses. Reaching here at 2 o'clock in the afternoon and returning the same evening, ho wonld thus draw the tidy little sum of Lls for his week's labors ! If a Hoard of Education meeting was held the same week, he being also a member of that Board, the amount would bear considerable increase."

In a private letter to a Christchurch friend, Mr. W. H. Liugard says that he thinks of returning to Australia and New Zealand in July or August next. He was at the beginning of March in Canada, where h and his wit- had been playing a very sne '.si'ill engagement. Some additional evidence inculpating the accused will he presented at the next trial of Ryan, on the charge of murder at Kumara. The Grey River Argus states that at the fiwfc trial the jury would have agreed to a verdict of manslaughter had such a return been legally possible. Sixty persons have been summoned as jury, the panel for the second trial which commences on the 29th, and, should it result also in a non-agree-ment, fifty more have been summoned for May 5.