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Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 766, 25 September 1878, Page 2

It speaks well for the management of the affairs of the Oamaru Post, < flice, to be able to say that there is seldom or never cause for comolaiut. The greatest praise is due fc ) Mr Bicknell for the care and attention which he has bcetowd upon the performance of the duties of his office. We are, however, about to make a suggestion—not in any spirit of censoriousness, but with the object of, as we think, making another improvement in the working of the postal department. The mail arrives from Dunedin at a quarter to nine p.m. each day, and as it brings communications which, in many cases, it is important should be replied to by the morning train, it is desirable that it should be sorted immediately on its arrival. All mails should be placed in boxes without delay, and it should be a generally recognised principle not to allow mails to lie idle for hours after their arrival. We are not t ayiag that the officials here are to blame. : They are most courteous and assiduous. But we are merely urging upon the department the necessity tor promptitude in the sorting of mails on every occasion, knowing, as we do, the commercial advantages that would accrue from the adoption of such a course, and the disadvantages of the present system of delay. If the department is shorthanded, it believes the Government to grant assistance. Po't Offices, like everything else, must grow, and their inanagen",ent improve with the place in which they exist. In consequence of telegraphic communication, with the north being; inte rupted througout to-day through some defect in the lir.f, no northern telegraphic news has come to hand.

Sittings in St. Paul's Church will be let between 7.30 and 5.30 this evening at the church.

A special general mooting of the North Otarro Turf Club, to take into consideration

f inability of changing the datt of the i.n .a) race-meeting, wili be held this < . ening, at eight o'clock, at the Empire Hotel. The business to be brought forward is very important, and it is desired that tii ere will be a full attendance of members.

The North Otago Horticultural Society's Spring Show- is announced to be held on Thursday and Friday, the 2lst and 22ud of November next. L3(5 will be offered in money prizes This is a new idea so far as the N. <\ H. Society is concerned, and it is expected that its operation will befavorab'e Heretofore cottage gardeners have been afforded no incentive to go to the expense and trouble in ordsr to compete with those in better circumstances. Under the new arrangement it i-; confidently antiidpat'-d that no liortieulturi-t will hold aloof, and that, as a natural consequence, competition, to which the success of such exhibitions are mainly due. will be keener. It is with regret we learn that the almost unuradieable weed Ccuoh-gras;} has found a congeiiiat flabitatm some of the choicest soils iu this district. It will be found by the farmer a serious and expensive enemy to contend with in the profitable cultivation of the soil. How the seed came to be imported and sown i-, not known, but it is probable it I has come along with some Knglish grasses to which it bears a strong likeness. The practice of continuous grain growing, with short intervals of pasturage, very quickly leads to its spreading over the ground. To get rid of it at Home is a very tedious and expensive process, and it will be much more so here, as we have not a supply of boys and girls to pick it up after the ground is ploughed and harrowed. Thi- only hope of checking its spread is to adopt a system of rotation of crops and a system wherein the growth of root crops occupies a prominent part. It is to be hoped our agriculturists will take prompt steps to prevent its development, a?, if allowed full sway, this abominable weed will prove a murii more serious obstacle to the profitable cultivation of wheat than the remission of the protection duties mi wheat and flour. Those having j experienc!" of its b nah.l effects in the <dd Country will know and appreciate the value of the hint now giv-n. I At a meeting of the Waitaki Road Board i held last night at the Pukeuri Schoolhousc J to decide >■"■ adoption of the Regulation of I Local Elections Act, Mr. ,1. T. Evans in the j chair, the following resolution, moved by j Mr. Borrie and seconded by Mr. Gray, was I corned :—"That in the opinion ,-,f this ! meeting it. b desirable to bring the Local Kleetions Act, IB~t>. into operation in the Waitaki Road District, and that this meeting do hereby request the Board of the said district to get the necessary proclamation gazetted." A meeting of the members of the Chamber of Commerce was held at the Mechanics' Institute this afternoon. Mr. Humphrey in the chair. The report was read, and, after one or two alterations had been made, one of which was including Palmerston in the district, was approved of. '2~> members were enrolled. The entrance fee was fixed at LI is, aud the Mima! contribution ?.t L2 is, payable in advance. Mr Smnpter was asked to allow himself to be elected as Chairman, but that gentleman declined on the ground that he was Chairman of the Harbor Board. In doing so, he said that, although he believed both institutions would work in harmony, he thought it would be better that they should have separate Chairmen. Mr Steward, in moving the appointment of Chairman, said that it would only be an act of courtesy to appoint the fatiier of the institution as its first Chairman. He moved, therefore, that Mr. J. T. Evans be elected Chairman. This was seconded by Mr. Reid, and carried. Mr. Sumpter was appointed Vice-Chairman, on the motion of Major Steward. The recommendation of the Committee as to the number of members of Committee being eight, and that five form a quorum, was approved. The election for members of Committee rpsulted as follows: Messrs. Church, J. Reid (ElderslieV Meek, Dunlop, Humphrey, Gibbs, Steward, and Connell. Messrs. Lemon and Church were appointed Auditors. The rules and regulations, as amended, were approved and ordered to be printed. A vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated the proceedings. A meeting of Committee was appointed to be held in the Harbor Board othce on the 27th inst. at 2 p.m. A most lamentable affair has taken place in London. According to the police reports, it would seem that a woman, having gone into the yard at the back ot her dwellinghouse in pursuit of a supposed hen-roost thief, was a:cidentally shot dead by her son, a lad of seventeen, who, being a Volunteer, had a rifle and ball cartridge in his possession, and, firing out of a window at the robber, killed hzs own tnotherj

Mails for the United Kingdom and Australian Colonies, per Ringarooma, close at the Bluff at 11 a.m. to-morrow.

■ The Dunedin Age says :—''There is no accounting for telegraphic eccentricities. A few days ago a telegram was forwarded to Mr. Gustave Maurais, at Oamaru. When it reached its destination it was found to he addressed "Gustavus Maories." The recipient is indignant at the nickname." We rannot understand why he is indignant. Perhaps the above is the first telegram he has received. Had it been otherwise, we are sure that he would have become resigned to the inevitable mutilations which messages undergo in their progress from one uffice to another. We think that the attempt at the name was very creditable indeed to the telegraphist. Monsieur Gustave Maurais will have to be reminded that he is not now in France. He is in New Zealand, where telegraphic operators find it difficult enough to wire English, and as he has brought a h'gh souudiug French title with him, it is 01115- natural that it should in this Colony become Maorificd. We would remind him of the saying of a Northern member of our great and glorious Parliament, "When you are in Turkey yo« must do as the Turkeys do."