The Evening Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1870.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 847, 2 January 1879, Page 2

The Evening Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1870.

It was rumored in town this morning that the supplementary English mail, which it was announced would leave Oamaru at a quarter past 11 o'clock to-morrow, would not be despatched in consequence of the damaged condition of the Rangitata bridge. This created great disappointment and annoyance to a large section of the public, who had reckoned upon that opportunity being afforded them of sending away their correspondence. Greatly to their credit. His Worship the Mayor and Mr Evans, Chairman of the Chamhcr of Commerce, telegraphed to the Chief Secretary of the Post Office Department, representing in a strong light the inconvenience and hardship that would be suffered by the people of this district if the promised supplementary mail were not forwarded, and pointing out that the steamer that is to carry the English mail North might, deviating slightly from her conrse, come ; sufficiently near to Oamaru to allow of ! oar supplementary mail being put on j board in one of the Harbor Board ! boats. We have just been informed | by Mr Btcknell, who also has busied himself ! in making the matter right, that a supplc- : mentary English mail, via San Francisco, j will be despatched from Oamaru on Friday j next at 11.15 a.m. This is satisfactory ; but we are surprised that it was ever contemplated to deprive the people of this district of the opportunity of sending away their Home communications, the promise of which had caused them to miss the ordinary means of doing so.

A supplementary English mail will be forwarded by express, per Tararua, on Friday, at 11.15 a.m. Passengers can now cross the Rangitata bridge on foot. All the trains connect at the bridge. Only very light passenger luggage cam be taken over. We have been compelled to hold over a large amount of interesting matter until tomorrow. Sparks Sew from the funnel of the engine of the express train which left Oaroani for Chmtchorch this morning, and ignited a quantity of grass in the railway reserve near the town boundary. A woman seeing that her house, which is situated close to the railway line, was in danger, seized a bucket of water and threw it on the flames with such promptitude that but a small patch of grass was consumed. Had it not been that the woman and the water were on the spot, we would probably have bad to chronicle a far more serious destruction of property. It would be well if tho Government were to adopt measures to present the occurrence of these fires ; or, how would it answer to p'ace men every few yards with buckets of water handy to extinguish them as they occur ? ■ Spark catchers are in favor with us. | Messrs. Ronayne and Cottrell have sup- | plied a want that ba3 afforded a solution to ; the noir pretty general query'. " Where mn j x .»_,_ miormatton regarding the arrival and departure of trains ?'* At considerable expense this enterprising firm has published in a convenient form a railway time-table, containing every particular in connection with our railways, and these useful little sheets are to be distributed monthly gratis to the public. It will be seen that private enterprise has done what it was the duty of the Government to do. If a company or private firm were running railways, tramways, or coaches, for the benefit of their business they would publish the fullest information regarding their operations and scatter it broadcast. There is no information circulated in this district to any appreciable extent regarding the running of the trains, with tho exception of this useful little sheet of Messrs. Ronaync and CottTcll's, and we hope that, if the Government continue their neglect to advertise full railway information in one or more of the daily newspapers—say is the M.ut—Messrs. Ronayne and Cottrell will receive such benefit from the publication and distribution of these time sheets as will enable them to scatter them far and wide. We suppose it would be the correct thing to say that this time-table is nicely printed, but it wilt be only necessary to say that it was printed at the Mail office; to add more would be superfluous.