The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 978, 7 June 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 1879.

Arrntatnc information ha 3 reached us that the Resident Magistrate's Court of this town is to he subjected to alterations and additions. There can be little doubt that the Government are in earnest about the matter, for Mr. Low, assistantengineer at Dunedin, w.vt here to-day. ascertaining what should be done, and plans and specifications wsll, it is understood. be immediately prepared. We are U'tad that Mr. Low has come hero to see what alterations are necessary, because if the Courthouse accommodation to be provided now is to be gauged by the necessities of the district, jit would cost more to alter and patch 'up the old building, so as to render ;it anything tike suitable, than it [ would to erect a new one, and Mr. ;Low will see this. 'We are not advocating the expenditure of public 1 money for the sake of ornamenting the town; but the town must have facilities for the conduct of public business. i'he*e facilities eann.it W provided by resorting to patching up, for patching up is interminable whan once commenced, and is moat unsatisfactory in every respect. Let

those who do not believe this look at the Post and Telegraph Office of this town. It cannot he said that it is handsome, and it is nothing like so useful as it should be for the money that has been expended upon it. Before long the Public Works Depr.. . ment will be called upon to still furt!.. r amplify and embellish thisprincipal public building of Oamaru, and how the mind of the architect will be exercised to know where to slick on the nest lump. It appears it is intended that the Courthouse shall be subjected to the same penny-number process. It is an elegant structure now ; what will it be when several sums of a hundred or two are spent upon it. Then will it puzzle some designers of edifices to discover a name fur its architectural style.

| Mi;. Macaxdkew has promised that I various public works shall be commenced in this district within a few days. The ! work of directly connecting the store sidings with the Breakwater line has been entrusted to the management of Mr. Conyers, and we may, therefore, expect that operations will be commenced on thi3 without delay. If this work be commenced forthwith, and if the formation of two miles of the Livingstone railway, which the Minister for Public Works gave his assurance should be commenced at once, should be started next week, there can be little doubt that the unemployed of the district will have work 3iifticient to carry them well through the winter months. If the Minister for Public Works should carry out his promises with regard to these works, so far he will be worthy of our thanks ; but it is our duty to remind him that his numerous promises to erect a railway station suitable for our requirements remains unfulfilled, and that, as the money has been voted for it, nothing should be allowed to stand in the way of the accomplishment of so necessary a work. It is to be hoped, therefore, that as but one month will elapse before the session of Parliament, the Minister for Public Works will see that the several things we have referred to are fairly commenced. In doing this he would be redeeming his promises, and could not then be considered as an unprofitable and untrustworthy public servant in the disposal of public funds.

" Have you any coals, firewood, or old copies of the Mail to give us ?" This inquiry was made, to-day, by a porson who is not remotely connected with the principal public school of the town. We replied that we never printed more copies of the Mail than we could sell, but that if a few dishonored bills would do, he was welcome to them. What a frightfully impecunious sort of educational system ours must be when, in order to keep school children from freezing the school authorities are compelled to impart warmth to them by igniting the dishonored bills of their fathers. The School Committee never seems to have any money to expend in supplying the fireplaces of the schoothouses with inflammable material. They send a pdtry half ton of coal at a time ti> the High .School, sometimes accompanied by a little wood, by way of a treat for the youngsters, whose red noses gratefully acknowledge the kindness. When the half ton is burnt, it is several days before another is sent. The idea tu'.tunilly suggests itself, What do the O.un.ira School Committee do with all the money they receive from a liberal .School Hoard—do they spend it in comforting draughts to make their meeting together more tolerable? But wherever the magnificent sum of L2SO, or so, per annum may go to, a very little of it iimta its way into the grates of our public schools. The school children have a terrible opinion of the Committee. Those that have not the pleasure of a personal acquaintance witii them believe them to be ngros. The poor little things, they know no better. They, of course, hear everybody denouncing the Committee for allowing them to freeze, and think it no sin to believe that people that could be so cruel must be very ugly. But, to return to the question asked at the commencement Have the public any firing or money to bestow to help to warm the little school children of our public schools? The smallest donation would be thankfully received. The acceptances for the Waimate Steeplechase Handicap, the principal event to be run at the meeting to be held on Wednesday next, are published in another column. It will be observed that nine of the thirteen horses entered have accepted, the malcontents being Te "Whetumarama, Eversley, Loyalty, and The Moose. It is somewhat that Eversley did not accept, as he should have had a good show in the race. At present, the race looks very much like a comfortable tiling for The Agent, and of the others the best are Loch Lomond and Silverstream. There are sufficient horses in the race to make the chase an interesting one, and some good sport may be looked for. We have been favored with a perusal of the otlicial return of the number of men in each of the volunteer companies forming the North Otago Battalion who attended the class-firing lately completed. From the Artillery there were 35 competitors, 12 of the number passing through the classes and becoming entitled to fire for marksmen's badge, Captain Morton being the highest aggregate scorer of the company with ICO. No. 1 Company, 0.R.V., sent 40 competitors, 13 of whom became entitled to the rank of n arksmcn, Quarter-Master Sergeant King heading the list with an aggregate of 167. Of the Hampden Company 36 competed, but none of them got beyond the firafc class, the highest aggregate score being 10S, made by Sub-Lieut. Young. The Otepopo Company showed up remarkably well, no less than 53 competitors having attended the class-firing, 13 of whom passed through into the marksmen's class. The highest aggregate scorer in this company was Corporal Gillies with 165, being only two points behind Quarter-Master Sergeant King, who headed the list for the battalion.

j The Waitaki branch of the Educational i Institute held its monthly meeting in the High School, this afternoon, Mr. M'Lymont in the chair. The business was of little importance, and the members present (all teachers) entered into the discussion of knotty grammatical points, which in the end proved so interesting that the meeting was adjourned with the understanding that each member should return to the discussion next month, with a collection of difficult sentences.

The monthly meeting of the Hainpden Road Hoard was held on Wednesday, when there were present—Messrs. Culling (in the eh ir), Hrernner, Andrew, Fiiullay, Gillies, Seddon, M'Kerrow, and liiddell, The minutes of last meeting having been read and confirmed, correspondence was read as fol

lows: —From the Public Works Office, Wellington, stating that the Government did. not deem it necessary to cause repairs to be made on the Kartigi road. From Mr. E. R. Ussher, Resident Engineer, Dunedin, stating that he could not comply with the request of the Board for,the loan of the boring rods, as they are all out on loan. The sub-Committee appointed for the purpose reported that they had examined the timber growing in the bush west of section 53, block 1., Moeraki, and had sold it to. Mr. Frame for the sum of L 5 10s, the money to be paid before falling the trees. It was decided that tenders should be called for gravelling a portion of main district road to quarry, commencing at the end of the present gravel in Stafford-street, and extending as far as the west end of Wiuterbourne bridge; the gravel to bo 12 feet wide by 9 inches in depth.

In our last evening's article, in stating the amount of wheat that has been exported this season, Oamaru was inserted instead of New Zealand. A meeting of the Oamaru Fire Brigade was held last evening at the Alliance Hotel. The captain (Mr. Sinclair) occupied the chair, and there was a fair attendance. It was decided, after discussion, that the necessary helmets, belts, axes, hose, &c., should be sent for at once. A few accounts were passed for payment, and the meeting terminated. The nominations of candidates for the various sub-divisions of the Otepopo Road District were made on Thursday last The results were as follow :—All-day, Mr. Alexander M'Donald (re-elected); Copmanhurst, two members, Mr. Angus Ross (re-elected), and Mr. Henry Watson ; Sydney, Mr. James Ketchin. For the Chelsea sub-division there were no nominations. The Hampden Volunteers have decided to hold an annual ball again this year, and at a meeting of the company on Wednesday evening the necessary steps were taken to have the affair earned out with the greatest success. Mr. William Dennison has been elected member for the Weymouth Sub-division of the Waitaki Road District, and Messrs. Robt. Stewart and Wm. Smillie were reelected for the Papakaio Subdivision of the same district. It is notified in another column that a special service for the young will be held at St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, to-morrow morning. Parents and children are invited to attend.

For many years reports of discoveries of gold have come from various portions of the Wellington Provincial District, but so far none of the discoveries have led to a payable field being opened up. That gold does exist in that part of the Colony there is no doubt, but that it will be found in payable quantities is problematical. The following telegram announcing another discovery was received from Wellington last evening : Mr. George Knight, manager of the Lowry Bay property, came into town yesterday with some excellent specimens of gold, both alluviel and quartz, which he had found 011 the property in the country, somewhere back from Lowry Bay and Pencarrow Head. Mr. Knight, who is an experienced gold miner, states that the locality where lie found these specimens, the situation of which lie declines at present to disclose, bears every appearance of being auriferous, and is strikingly similar to the formation of other districts which have proved to be auriferous, such as Colingwood. It is understood that the place is somewhere near the Wainuiomata Yailcy, between the Hutt and the Wairarapa Ranges. Mr. Knight has a party of miners now out prospecting the neighborhood, and is sanguine of favorable results.

The following telegrams from its Auckland correspondent appear in to-day's Otago Daily Times : —A north-easter of more severity than usual visited this port, inflicting some injuries on coasting craft and small boats. The l'onsonby Rowing Club had three boats destroyed, and the shed at the North Shore was lost. A cutter was also lost from her moorings. Damage was done to property by the high tide. Trees were blown down and fencing destroyed at Coromandel, and the sclioolhouse was seriously injured. The Bank of New Zealand premises were partially damaged. At the Thames H. E. Malyn, formerly a compositor on the Southern Cross, was blown over the Grahamstoun wharf at night, whilst going on board the steamer Kuterprise. He leaves a wife ai:.! two children.—Grace Nicol, aged 92, died at Alexandra, Waikato. Grace Nicol once resided at Tullicheltan, Perthshire, and was the mother of Robert Nichol, the young Scottish poet who was designated " Scotland's second Burns " by the late George Gilfillan.—With reference to the loss sustained by the South British Insurance Company in the fire at Eureka, Nevada, U.S., it is stated that the Company had only L4OO at risk on the property burned, and this loss will be the total. The only line on the ship Great Republic, lost at Portland, Oregon, the head office ha 3 received advices of is a risk of LSOOO on the hull of the vessel. Land and Water gives the following instance of remarkable intelligence of a horse:—A gentleman living in Surrey had a very fine horse stolen about six months ago, and tried in vain to trace him. As he

was passing Blackfriars' Bridge, the week before last, a liorse neighed very loudly ; Mr. recognised the sound, and looking round saw five horses tied up, close to the entrance to the bridge. One of tliem again neighed ; it was surely his lost favorite nag, for the animal showed that he knew his former owner, but in changing hands he had also changed color. He had been cleverly dyed or painted a dark brown ; when stolen from the stable he was a bay. The new colour was soon washed off, and Mr. recovered his property, but failed to trace the thief, who had sold him at a fair in Hants to the man i» whose possession his master found him. The horse had always been in the habit of neighing when his master entered the stable, and had evidently seen him as he was about to cross the bridge, and hailed him.

! With reference to the Australian and European Bank, the stoppage of which has been notified by cable, a contemporary has gleaned a few particulars from the Banking Keeord, and from them it will be observed that the operations of the Bank in question were of such a limited nature that its failure will cause but little inconvenience to those with whom it has had dealings, more espe? cially as our telegrams inform us that the Directors hope to resume business shortly, The capital of the Bank is nominally one million sterling, L 600,003 of which is subscribed. The amount called up at the

date of the Bank returns furnished to the Victorian Government on December 31 last was L 150,000. Its liabilities were L 436,527, assets L602,G02. From the investigation made yesterday it appears that the latter have remained stationary, while there is an increase in the former of about L 70,000. The

! immediate cause of the failure was that the Bank held sums amounting to L 200,000 on deposit at call. As the transactions of the institution are almost of an entirely local character, it is probable that its failure will not affect commercial circles to any extent. " in the Austtalasian, tells this story :—" Tail 'em, in charge of a mob of fat cattle, was passing" Nail 'em's selection towards evening, and was offered permission to place the stock in the latter's paddock. The proposal was thankfully accepted. About midnight, the hospitable grazier and agriculturist, accompanied by his nephew, rounded up some of the cattle, and selected a nice little heifer, which he slaughtered. After sinking in the stream the head, hide, and other evidences, the carcass was fairly divided between the relatives. In the morning, the drover counted his cattle, found them all right, and proceeded on his journey. Shortly after Nail 'em missed a heifer of his own, mounting a horse, gave chase to the drover, carefully examined the mob, but failed to find the missing beast. It then dawned on him that he had slaughtered one of his own herd, and on fishing up the hide discovered his own mistake. His cup of bitterness did not overflow until his nephew ignored his melancholy explanation and refused to refund a side of excellent beef."