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Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 624, 3 May 1878, Page 2

.Although "U reedV' letter does not mention his name, it so minutely describes the personal appearance and habits of one of our respected townsmen, that we h »ve felt compelled to reject it as scurrilous. After all, it must be admitted that a man has a perfect right to attend what church he likes—or he may not attend any church at all—and he has just as much right to fix his hours of business. In each ease it would be an interference with the liberty of the subject to do more than expostulate. It is unjust to draw attention to and ridicule men's private habits in the columns of a paper. Whether the reference is pointed or not it i.s objectionable ; if it is pointed, it is an insult to the person referred to ; and if it is not pointed, no good could possibly result from the publication of matter in which such reference occurs, whilst our space would bo wasted in inserting it, am! the time of our readers would be wasted in endeavoring to solve its meaning. At the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning, before T. W. Parker, Esq., it M., Matririe Parker, a woman of bad character, was chanzed with having been drunk and disorderly" on the gaol premises th« previous evening. The miserable creature denied that portion of the charge which said she had been disorderly, and added that, having fainted in the street, she took a little drop 'of brandy, and it got into her nead, and ! made her giddy. The gaoler stated that the aceu-ed came to the gaol in a very intoxicated state, and he could get no satisfactory explanation from her as to what she wanted. He told her to go away, but she -vould not do so, and he locked her up. Sergeant JJeatty stated that accused was a baa character, and had been lviug in some of the lowest places in town. But sh>denied that she had ever done anything wron..-. but admitted that she had '-'sought shelter in some low places." She stated her willingness to go back to Dunedin if his \V..:.-hi . woiiH only let her off. ilis Worship n.mailed that as this was the .•lueust'd's ti'st uopearaucc .she would be diMiiis-Ecd with a e'miion, but he advised bur co return to ininedin ;it once, otherwise she would stand a g-od chance »' being accommodated with a tree passage to the metropolis of the south.

A memo, from the Telegraph Office iirff *nw us that the Edinburgh was to leave Singapore to-day to repair break in thp" 3 *na that mails leave Batavia o« the 6th, loth, 20th, and 29th, and Singapore on the Bth, 14th, 20th, and 28th instant. The Msual monthly meeting of the Mechanics' Institute was held last evening, when there were present—Messrs. Sumpter (m the chair), Filieul, Shrimski, Forrester Spratt, Kidd, and Davis (Secretary). Very little business was transacted of any importance. Mr. Shrimski intimated his willingness to subscribe L 25 towards the erection of a new building, provided that Hi other gentlemen would contribute a similar amount. A lengthy discussion took place as to what steps should be. taken with regard to a new building, but\no definite decision was arrived at. The usiijjlvote of thanks having been accorded to t!ie~Tfe«ha|rniau, 'the meeting adjourned to the loiS instant.

The sitting of the District Court appointed to be held on the .7th instant will be adjourned until the 16th instant.

We would remind members of the Northern Agricultural and Pastoral Association that the annual meeting will be held at the Mechanics' Institute to-morrow, at 2 p.m , f.»r the purpose of adopting the annual report, the election of office-bearers for the year IS7S-9, and general business. A meeting of the Committee will be held at the Secretary's office at 1 o'clock. The two men, Michael Malay and James Poison, convicted yesterday of assaulting Constable Smith, having paid the fines imposed upon them, were released from gaol last evening.

There is a splendid story current anent certain medical gentlemen who are not unknown in the Cathedral City (says the Lyttelton Times). As Rogers says, "It may be true or false, but don't forget the picture, and thou wiit not when thou hast heard the tale " A gentleman had met with a severe accident, and when the doctor who had been summoned entered the room, he was lying iu an apparent state of unconsciousness, one eye being fast shut, and the other open. The doctor waved his finger before the open optic, but there was no flinching—no abatement of the glassy stare. " Good Heaven," said he, " he ha« sustained concussion of the brain." A consultation in so critical a case was eminently desirable, and in a comparatively short space of time a second medical gentleman had been summoned to the bedside. A second llngi-r was solemnly waved and flicked, but stdi the fixed look ot a dead brain was there. "Nor to the i'ile orb did sight appeir—of man or woman." After an interval of a few minutes, an intimate friend of the patient entered the apartment, and in response to his anxious inquiiies was ma<le acquainted with the sad facts of the case. Fur a moment his face wore a bewildei ed expression, and theu a new light appeared ti dawn upon him. Approaching the bedside—so it is wickedly said—he gouged out the eye with a rapid movement, and holding it up'before the doctors, said calmly, "Why, gentlemen, the man has a glass eye !" The astounded sons of Galeu formed about as prettv a study as can well be imagined, for they had now fully realised 'he truth and wisdom of Drydeu's truism that "Art may err." Their earnest injunction-; as to secrecy have, as a matter of course, been rigidly adhered to.