Untitled

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 892, 24 February 1879, Page 2

Th;' Assessment Court for the town of Oamuiut was commenced at the llssidtutt Magistrate's Court this morning, before T. . W. Parker. Ks<c.. Judge of the Court. There *e*e 4ome 3-TS appeals against the assessiweute o? 3»fr. Clarke. Corporation Vainer. no less fciiaa 3tf»-oS which were lodged by the Mayor, on. behalf of tfcs Corporation. Mr. rUbutT appeared on behalf of the Coiporation. wfcife Mr. ffist'p appealed on behalf of several ratepayer*. There was » targe, ntimher of ratepayers pruauut,. iiud great interest was manifested iu the proceedings. Nrariy e very corn mission agent and had valuer in town w:ts in Court to give evidence one way or- the other. Messrs. Church and Hardy Uinjf engi»g«d by the Corporation as cspcrts. Judging by the manner in which the eases were disposed of, there seems every probabt* lity of the Court sitting fo>- some considerable time. The Court opened a* I*? o'clock. but up to- I to-day only sis, appeals ft.ut disposed of. ivad if tfw same teugth of tiuie is jfiven to- eacb of the future eases as was eccupwi by each of the first sis-., it will take ovpr iv month ti> ,get through the work.. Thus t there are 3>i cuties ; these disposed of at the rate of two. per hour gives 19-f.f hours i say tho Court sits sis hours a Any. it will take "I days I!Is hours to-get through the whole of the objections. Jfot at alt a rosy prospect it,!- the unfortunate ratepayers who are put to th<« inconvenience of attending reguhn-ty at tho Court in eonSeipumee of the inabitily of the CorporaJioiV* V*h«»tnr to fiiake a satisfactory valuation of the tow;-.. At - o'ctoek. the Court was adjourned uutit to-ni'vrrsw at ti> iv,m., his- Worship taking time to consider a law pMia-ll raised by Mr. Itistop with reference to the fo*w* of notice given So< the ratepayers by thebe ruled in Mr. Itistop's bv&r, Jhe whole of this Corporation* appeals wilt be rendered voml.

Complaints having- teer* made by a (mmbev of the m«mbi!W oS this com-m-antty S>vuause tl>o Oamam porti'm <*f the tast vrsaeta immigrants were forwarded 6<,> Oamarn r>ni Sunday i't-P VValtakr. the msmtavs oE Parliament for this district represented the matter to the Hon. Mr. £tout. A reply ha* been received to th» «F*ct that they were forwarded by steamer in order that ttw immigrants might bo- taken direct frern the ship. In the reply another matter w also dealt with. It will he remembered that we g»w» the puttie the onpatatabte information that a anmher of the young men engage"! to a drunken row ots their arrival. It is explained, as th» resntt of entjniries. .that no drinfe was served by the officers of the steamer, hut that a passenger t>y the ship. who paid his* passage, bought two bottles of whisky on board with which to treat fits companions. This was the fuel for the disgusting drunken demonstration. Yesterdays nwnting in connection with the evangelistic services, was conducted byMr. C C*. Moore and Mr. W. B. Boat. The former giving an address of some length on " What CJod demands of the sinner.'* Some talting anecdotes were introduced in order to illustrate the sunset, and the attention of the- audience fwhich was large) was well abstained thronghoot. The choir led the service of song wttn much taato.

We are requested to state that as the first meeting of tbe Provisional Committee of the Royal Agricultural Society of New Zealand will be held on 6th March, it is essentially necessary tliat all those «vho propose to become members should at once signify the same. Mr. Church, tho Secretary 'of tbe N.O.A. and P. Association, will be glad to «arol names.

On Saturday the members of the Excelsior Gob indulged in a scratch match, sides being chosen by Cooke and Howarth. The former were the first to go the wickets, and put together 66 before they were disposed of. Hartley (15), T. Hcwat (14), and Marshall (II) being the highest scorers. Howarth's side only succeeded in obtaining 17, but on following their innings they were more successful, the total reaching 00 before they were disposed of, farawhiti placing 33 to his rredit, while Howarth and Fenwick made 13 and 10 respectively. The bowling on both sides was good.

An advertisement in another column an- „ nownces that the " tine iron ban|ue William Wilson" is loading at the Oamaru Brcak- " water for London. This will afford an opportunity for direct shipment to the r "ultimate market" that will doubtless be ' i appreciated. i A meeting of the Philharmonic Society ' will be held to-mf>rrow evening at the Odd- : j fctlows* Hall, at S o'clock. Tlie vocalii'ts * wdl Ivavc the liercnfit of iii.ttmiucntal assist- ' ance on this occasion. A liand has at last ■ hem formed, which—although, wc presume, r they will require a littl? practice to become r ac»tuainted with each other and the music—- * ahonltt hj« of great assistance to the vocaliats ~ and render the rehearsals more interesting. I It is anticipated that the attendance to-mor- , j row evening will lie a full one, as it must be n | apparent to- performing members that it is ! now time that all commenced to practice in I earnest for the next concert. j TTtc Charhfuinet-Hoskiits Company left this Kiorning for Ditncdin, where they will appear to-night. The audience was by no means targe on Satnntay pight, but it was greatly ' pleased with the entertainment. A local brewery tinn purchased this morni tng a large {Kirccl of prime barley at 5s 3d ' . pvr bushel. 1 The usual fortnightly meeting of the Com- \ mercial ttattding Society will Ije held this 'evenirtg at the otiiee of Mr. Church, the Secretary. Those who desire to sec the Thmcdiii Kacea will set. on rvferehcu to an adverttsem«.;i*, apfiears in another column, that mo.it ai'.vaittageuu-i .»rr;itij;priicpts ;ir,vn lj-.-cu made wln-reby theyca.i travel at exceedingly ■ cFteap rate.-", and witness the races without rttuclt f>: time. (>ur .'abtegrams announce the pleasing fact that wheat has risen in jirice in the London market by is per quarter (4501b.». Let us hojit- tl»-i,t litis precnr.HtH' of a more satLractoiy cotiiiition r>: - the grain market. The memU.TS of the 1,-tiid of the Phil- ■ [uitmoniu Society, and any other iii..tr,i-i».critati.-«ts that are desirous of joining, are re<ju»;st«'l t»» KB'vt £•> pt'actu'e * Farmer's Ma.i in "." at the. ll.lli this eveu'tig at S o'etod;. ,\l\ the heads of tli~ lnMtram:r» Cr»mpf.niv.df.iii,' l.;n:;ie.-j in t!i- t'..;.> t iy •.-.-;" ...„et in tonfjrjit'.' • at i.'iir!.i:.:!ii'.rcii >.-: i Wedrie.riay nest to dis-M:..* Mritl's geaeraHy. It the eoruparue:-! e";u".i!t their own interest* th-v will .-'..t re-arrange their eiiarges as to nnl'.e th--u> tiear some prop >rtir«i to ri.4;s. | ,\ siilution has tweu f«"ind for the urobicni I " \\ h -re iter alt tli- railway trucks report' -i in..,-.. i.,;..i. to titn.: to be manufactured in the railway wi>rkshr»p*. « tutstol.tireli. go t'.:" Many do not go anywhere. Heiitg marie of very frayite material, they arc not the rolling. stock likely to l*r of service for the transport of produce. Th-'V are created by the Christchur'jh newsparwr reiiorters. for the purposes of creating m tittleicnsation. " Fifty trucks arw to he manufactured y.ithui til', i.e-t month in the railway workshops " is annoaneed in the Christchtirch paj)-jrs, to the disgust of those in difficulties from want of conveniences of transport, who wonder whether even one oat of the fifty will ever gladden their eyes. The reporters are ei'juai to the occasion. They, though unwittingly perhaps, allay the irritation by ringing the changes on these fifty trucks until they are at length multiplied into a satisfactory number. Hut ail heyond the fifty are. nevertheless too fragile for purposed of transport. They are paper i truck*. J Hiring the hearing of the assessment casr-s to-dr.y Mi\ rhompoii pointed cut to hiWorship that as there -were a larftf number of appeals by the Corporation it mtgtit be wtill to eortie tf» sonic whereby the eoEiVe.ciience of the rate-pavers might be studied. It appeared that the Court was likely to last for some days, and to be forced to attend day after day would entail great loss trpfjn the Kitupaycra. XoitK arrangement might be wme to whereby they might know on what day their cases were likely to be heard, and to obrr-.te th« necessity of their atfeudieg every day. tlh Worship remarked that the matter had not- been overlooked, and an eifojt w;v« Jiving made to devise some means of getting over tite difficulty, ami he invited suggestion* as to the liest method of studying the eonvenienue: of all parties. He acknowledged that the matter was a very serious otic- 6*> those who were forced to l»-pi-iosent at the Court or submit to the appeal. An arrangement was eventually co&e to, and may lie found in our advertising columns. At the- Resident Magistrate's Court to-day. .Joseph Williams, charged with having been drunk and disorderly on Saturday, was fined .">s>. with the altemattve of 2-1 hours' imprisonment. The same prisoner was fined L-. with the option of going to gaol for 14 days, for assaulting Constable Cameron. 'James Nash, for being drank and disorderly on tit-- gaol premises, was fined ss, with the . usual alternative-. Some amusement was created in the Assessment Court to-day, when Mr. Clarke, the Corporation valuer, in reply to some rptestions by the Corporation solicitor, made some peculiar mistakes in his arithmetic. The case in which he was being interrogated was one in which it was sought to divide the assessment upon three sections between Mr. Rodgera and the Rev. Father Coleman. The former had been assessed for the whole, while the latter was the owner of one of them. Mr. Clarke was called to give evi- [ dence as to the respective values of the three 'sectious so that the rates might l>c aptior- ; tioned between the two owners. In reply to the question as to what he assessed the i whole at. Mr, Clarke replied L 33. On being asked to divide this amount between the three sections, he did so in this manner : L2t> for the corner section, and LIOorLU each for the other two, making the total in this case L4O or L 42. Of course the very great difference in the valuers figures caused some amusement, which was not lessened when, cross-questioned as to his statements by Father Coleman, he acknowledged that he could not give any explanation.

Mr. F. Egan, the Secretary of the National Steeplechase Club is now in Oamaru, perfecting certaip* arrangements in connection with the forthcoming meeting. We are glad -to learn that the Hon. Mathew. Holmes has kindly offered a jjece of land on his estate as a coarse for the occasion, and that the offer has been accepted. t

The gopd Oatnarn'will be glad to leard'ttot tiie BSvvJ. another visit oh his waytlijack Those who had: the good'luck to hear Mr) Inglis will not soon .forget ■ the, lecturesjn the V-olunteer whVliave not* heard him should avail themselves of the present opportunity. The subject for the next lecture is " Robert Burns, the poet and the man." All who have heard Mr. Inglis on this subject pronounce it to be hisbest. There is a rich treat in store, and Oamaru should not fail to hear one of the greatest lecturers of the present day. We shall be disappointed if the Volunteer Hall is not crowded.