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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1032, 11 August 1879, Page 2

Mr. -John Douglas, of -Mount Royal, has purchased the Waiiio Estate, consisting of !>,.*)00 acres. This is one of the finest properties in the Colony. The price has not transpired.

As it is understood tiiat the Gas \\ orks are a source of considerable profit to the Corporation, it is desirable that the lamps, from Torridge-street to the Town Belt, should be supplied with gas instead of kerosene. Were this done, a considerable increase in the private; consumption of gas would take place.

We learn from a resident in the northern part of the town that the children attending the various Sunday schools are frequently almst;d and assaulted by Thames-street hobbledehoys. On Sunday last tiie children of two respectable citizens were struck in the face, knocked down, and trodden upon by boys double their size. We would suggest that the police should keep their eyes open between half-past 2 and 5 o'clock on Sunday afternoon. At the li.M. Court, to-day, before W. H. S. Roberts and W. J. Steward, Ksqs., J.P.'s, Mary Wilson, alias I'etherick, for stealing two towels, valued at 10s, from the shop of W. Men/.iorf, draper, Thames-street, was aeateneed to three months" imprisonment. Samuel Smith and .John Class, charged with being drunk and disorderly, were discharged with a caution. I'Jllen M'Cusker was fined and Thomas Miller 10s, for a similar offence. Robert Kccnan, for allowing two horses to wander at large, was fined 10s. Messrs. James Arkle and V* illiam Brown, of Palmerston and Waikouaiti, have been gazetted Justices of the Peace. The usual monthly meeting of the W aitaki Road Board will be held at the offices, Tyne-street, to-morrow, at 11 a.m. A friend of ours has been making an effort to count the dogs in Oamaru, and he has come to the conclusion that the task is too much for hiiji. He has, however, discovered that the number of these quadrupeds is considerably in excess of those bipeds that pay rates. The lover 3of the canine species in Oamaru should furnish a considerable amount towards the revenues of the town.

It would seem that Mr. Wakefield is not going to have such an easy task to perform to get in to Parliament again. He will, it is said, be opposed for the Geraldine seat by Mr. J. Evans Brown. Mr. W akefield would have preferred standing for Tiniaru, but his friends, after two days' canvass, found the Timaru people would rather have their present member, Mr. Turnbull.

The Hon. R. Campbell, M.L.C., and Messrs. Hislop and Shrimski, M.H.R.'s, arrived in Oamaru by a special train about four o'clock yesterday. The Hon. H. J. Miller, M.L.C'., remained at Christchureh. A large number of Southern members proceeded home by the same train.

Ttic Opposition have decided to spend 1/20,000 over the elections, and, judging from appearances, they will need it. If they are on the alert, the friends of the Government are more so. Sir George Grey lias been honored with a requisition to stand for Christchureh, and has signified his intention to do so. This is conclusive evidence that the Canterbury members have not been representing their constituents, and that Sir George Grey is not afraid to " beard the lions in their den." Mr. Stout, too, has been requested to come forward again—and that by a requisition numerously signed by members of Parliament, Seeing that Mr. Stout is one of the hottest exponents of Liberal politics, this fact is a pretty strong indication of how the land lies. We do not suppose that Mr. Stout will accede to the request, but he has signified his intention of delivering an address in favor of the policy of the present Government, and this will perhaps have more weight coming from Mr. Stout as a simple elector than it would have coming from him as a member of Parliament. There is every reason to believe that the approaching elections will result in a great victory for the present Government. A special general meeting of the Oamaru Battery of Artillery will be held after parade to-morrow evening, when every member is requested to be present. A public ball is announced to be given, under the auspices of the members of the Committee of the Maheno dancing class, in the Maheno Public Hall, on Wednesday evening. The monthly meeting of the Hampden Road Board was held on the sth instant, when there were present—Messrs. Culling (chairman), Findlay, Dunbar, Gillies, Munro, M'Kerrow, and Henderson. The Clerk to the County Council wrote, intimating that no further contribution would be given towards Rangers' salaries, and that there were no objections to the closing of the road-line in section 43, block 1., Moeraki. It was resolved to give notice that the district road between sections 42 and 43, block 1., Moeraki, be closed from that date. Mr. M'Kerrow reported that tenders had been called for erection of culvert in Durham-street, Hampden, and that the tender of Jackson and Nicolson, for L 7, had been accepted, and the work satisfactorily completed. Messrs. Culling, Henderson, and Munro were appointed a sub-committee to examine the work done by the Waitaki County Council under contract on Kartigiroad, the embankments having subsided, and if necessary to employ labor to put them in a proper state of repair. The Clerk was instructed to write to Mr. Murcott, member of tiie County Council for this district, I calling his attention to the insufficient watcr- | way across main road for the amount of | water tint comes down Derby-street, I Hampden, and to request him to try and get tlie Waitaki County Council to erect a j stone culvert across main road where Derbyi stn et joins it, to cany the water across the road, thence into the creek ; also, to call his attention to the bad state of the road leading to the Waianakarua railway station. Tenders were ordered to be called for the supply of 20 cubic yards of maintenance gravel, to be placed where the surfaceman will point out in Chelmsfordstreet, Hampden. A number of accountswere passed for payment. A letter from James Doreen, n: gorsc growing on district road, was taken into consideration, when it was resolved that two months' notice be given to remove gorse now growing on tho district roads in the Hampden Road District, and if ! not removed within that time, that it will j be removed by the Board at occupier s j expense.

The eight o'clock service in the New Teesstreet Hall was well attended last evening, when addresses were delivered by the Rev. Mr. Barley and Mr. Milligan. As usual the choir rendered the services attractive by singing some sweet melodies in their usual excellent style.

The farmers in some parts of Canterbury arc playing sad havoc amongst the sparrows. The I'ress says : —"The Sparrow Club at Waikuku has been very successful of late, not a day passing without the several fanners collecting bucketsful of poisoned sparrows.

We have received the August number of the "New Zealand Press News." It consists of eight pages of demy 4t0., and is printed on white paper in black ink. We have scanned its contents, and have coneluded that it might with advantage be introduced into the nursery. It tells us of a circumstance so shocking that we would not harrow the feelings of our readers by reproducing it were it not for the great moral lesson it teaches. Let all printers take warning, and walk in the paths of strict rectitude pointed out in the "gospel according to" the Typographical Journal. That authority remarks : —"Mr. William Bright, who is at present ' farming' the Asliburton Mail, paid Dunedin a flying visit during last month. We should have been more pleased to see Mr. Bright in better company than that of one Duvally, whose name appeared in a ' rat list' in connection with the Otago Guardian, and issued by us some time ago.' Poor "Mr. William Bright," you cannot have been reading your Typographical Journal lately, or you would not have fallen from grace so sadly as to associate with "one Duvally," who is one of those who had the impudence to come from the North and work in the preserves of the Otago compositors. The sin is reckoned amongst those that are unpardonable. "One Duvally" is, therefore, locked out of what are called Society offices, and if he cannot find employment in those offices where there is an honorable understanding between employers and employed that will brook no Society's intermeddling, he must starve. We happen to know that he is out of employment now. The Society is hunting him down admirably. It will not be the Typographical Society's fault if he, and those who were associated with him in committing the gross sin of being connected with the Otago Guardian, should have either bread in this world, or peace in the world to come. This is the man with whom Mr. William Bright was seen in the streets of Dunedin by the guardian angel of the Typographical Journal. By-the-bye, who is this " Mr. William Bright" whose moral character is guarded so religiously by the Typographical Journal^

He cannot be John Bright, because his name is William, and he cannot be Charles Bright because his name is not William. Then, who is he ?

We understand that the adjourned meeting of the Benevolent Soqiety, which was to have been held this evening, will not take place. It will be seen by our advertising columns that the annual general meeting of the F.0.P.8.5. will be held at the Mechanics' Institute on Friday next, at which four directors and an auditor will have to be elected. We understand that the balance sheet shows that the last year of the Society's operations has been a very successful one. The Wellington Post says : —"A ' Punch' is about to be started in Wellington in the interesis of the Liberal party. One of the cleverest artists in the Colony has undertaken the management of the artistic department, and it is said that there is both money and talent in it. The first number will probably be issued next week.''

We have not heard (writes the Melbourne correspondent of the Maryborough Advertiser) so much of late about the "magophone " as about the telephone, phonograph, aud microphone, but still it appears that the first-named instrument is much used in America. Its inventor claims that it is superior to the telephone, in that it (the magnophone) is complete in itself, requiring no electric battery or other generative power to work it, and an ordinary smallsized one will, in American phraseology, "operate" aline eight miles long, whether the wire be slack or tight, straight or bent in any number of curves or angles ; in any case, "the slightest sound, vocal or instrumental, is transmitted with increased volumn." A pair of magnophones, with 500 feet of wire, insulators, &c., &c., can be obtained in America for about L2, which is not an immoderate price for so useful a means of communicating rapidly between distant places. The above-named length of wire is found sufficient for communicating between diffierent parts of offices, manufactories, &c., but it can, of course, be lengthened to any desired extont.

"H.M.S. Pinafore" lias itaken'' America by storm. The San Francisco Post says : "Slowly, but surely, the epidemic that has musically ravaged the East is enveloping this fair city of the West in its fatal tentacles. One by one households and individuals are being drawn into the musical maelstrom, to be whirled around for a while in a maze of melodies, and then stranded on the wreck-strewn shore, with only enough of consciousness remaining to spasmodically shriek 'Hardly ever,' or gabble vacantly ' And so do his sisters and his cousins and his aunts' through the long hours that precede recovery.'' The ingenious Yankee journalist has brought his peculiar talent in that direction to bear upon travesties of its jokes. Here are two samples from dozens that appear in the American papers :—No. 1 : "Now the winds that softly breathe, and the flowers that garlands wreathe, a gentle hint of summer in the mind implants ; and so do the beetles and the spiders and the ants.' No. 2 : He looked up very humbly, and said he was sorry to be found in such a place, but he could assure the Court that he was never in the prisoner's box before. "Never?" asked the Court, with some severity. "Look a-liere, Judge," said the culprit, "name the fine, but for heavens sake don't spring that ' Pinafore ' gag on a follow."