The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1117, 17 November 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1879.

\Vt knew that Mr. Omrgo M'Lean was the victim of hallucination when lui so loudly declaimed against the advertising and printing policy of the late Government. However, fuj could not be persuaded that he was in the wrong, and nothing bnt an investigation into the matter could allay hi* suspicions. That investigation has been held, and the result is that a return of the amounts paid to paper by the late Government during their tenure of otlicc has been laid upon tho table. This return tells a tale, in some instances, the reverse of what Mr. M'Lean expected ; at least we should think so. The amount received by the Otago Daily Times is L 2219; that received by the Dunedin Morning Herald is U97. These are the facts that Mr. M'Lean particularly wished to elicit, in order to show that the Times had been the recipient of undue Government patronage, as a reward for its advocacy of the principles of its patron, whilst the Herald had punished for its opposition to those principles- Had the return stopped at thesw two items, Jlr. M'Lean'* contention might have had 3ome weight, but, unfortunately for that gentleman, a statement of how much has been received by the two Christchnrch morning papers is next given. Mr. 31"Lean Otago Daily Times has been iavorcd with more patronage than the Herald because it was a creature of the Government. Bnt when he is asked to explain how it is that the Lyitelton Times (the most staunch Gnsyite piper in the Colony) received less Government advertising and printing than the Press (the most abusive opponent the Grey Government had), a poser is presented to him, the amounts being, Lyitelton Times, Li WO: Press, L 1920. Yet the Press did everything but weep at what it somehow believed be a hard fate, and for months inserted certain Government advertisements gratuitously. We do not wish to burthen our readers with a host of tignres, or we might have gone through the whole list given, and demonstrate that the advertising syata;;? of the late Government was characterised by more disinterestedness than that of any ft its predecessors.

We have just learned that Messrs. Koyse. Stead and Co. obtained the champion cup at the Sydney International Exhibition for wheat grown by Messrs. Fleming and Hedlev on the Seadown Estate. New Zealand, therefore, has beaten the world, and we feel prond that an Daman: firm was the means of iter doing so. Now that the world's judges j ive decided that New Zealand has exhibited the best wheat, perhaps the bias which grew so strong in favor of that of Adelaide will die out, and give place to a condition in which ottr -wiie.it will be judged on it* merits against this moat formidable opponent. Mails for Sydney, per Zealandia. due from San Franotio on Tuesday, ISth. close immediately after arrival. An accident, fortunately not so serious as it might have proved, occurred shortly after eleven o'clock this morning. Dr. Carlaml had just started from the Post Otfice with his buggy and pair, wh«,u one of the wheels « off; and the horses bolted. The groom jumped out, but Dr. Garland retained his seat, and endeavored to pull up the horses. Finding he cotdd not do so, he abandoned them, either jumping or rolling out of the buggy without hurting himself in any wav. The horses then travelled at a rapid pace along the street, making fl fine sweep round the Colonial Batik corner into Itchcn-atreet. At Spence and Isee's corner they ran into and knocked down a horse belonging to Mr, M'C'ready and drawing a load of earth from the new railway siding. The horse was slightly injured and one of the shafts of the cart wast broken. The driver was al*o knocked down and one of the wheels of the buggy passed over his legs, but fortunately without serious injur}". The rnnawav pair continued their headlong course along Tyne-strcct, turning round to the Immigration I Arracks, and eventually cams to a halt in a road leading to the street at the i'.v-k of the barracks. Strange to say, neither the horses nor the buggy were much injured.

The New Tees-street Hall w»« very full last night at the S o'clock meeting. The Rev. fieorge Lindsay, of Watmate, gave an address on "The love of God." The opening exercises were conducted by Mr. J. 11. Milligan. Hie choir was rnttch smaller than nsaaL bnt the singing was good and well join«d-in by the andience. Mr. K- MeaEorc, of Windsor Park, bought ea Saturday last, in I'hriitehnrch, three of Mr. ilorwards youngjsbacfe of the shorthorn breed. We learn that they will be a great 3«->[twitton to this district. Mv. Mcnlove is | wotthv of compliment for his enterprise, i We are pleased to observe that a concert ! is to be given on Thursday evening next, the i tirst of the show days, in aid of the tunds of the Oamarn Volnnteer Fire Brigade. We iiave previously mentioned that the Brigade is greatly in need of funds to meet liabilities incurred in the purcnase of the nccessarj pfcuit, and we therefore hope that the public will cheerfully respond to tiie call for assistance. The Brigade has shown that it can do gwod service in staying the progress of a lire, aa.! is deserving of the heartiest encouragement.

Mr. Horward's (Bridgwater Park. Melbourne) famous cow, the Duchess of Bridgwater, that was otTcred by auction on Saturday, elicited a bid for L 750, which was refused. As she had never been lieaten in j the Colonies nntil she was awarded 4th prize [at the late Christ church nhow, her owner I was wise in refusing such an otter.

We would remind our reader? that Mr. Alfred Brnnton will deliver the second of his course of lectures on " The Great Pyramid " this evening, at the New Tees-street Hall.

The usual weekly meeting of the Directors of the Caledonian Society will be held this evening.

To-morrow ev»jiiiir' a »*omo *rt will be given in the Pukeuri schooler.'. for the purpose of raising fund-- for the purchase of prizes for the school children. A very excellent programme will be presented, and we anticipate a large audience. ltil.y Knight, the celebrated shorthorn bull, tin: property of Mr. J. F. Hitching, of Moa Flat, was sold by auction on Saturday to a settler of the North Island, for the sum of SOO guineas.

The following is Major Atkinson's Land Tax Bill Notwithstanding anything in the Land Tax Act, IS7S, the land tax in and for the year commencing on the first day of .lanuary, IS7'.», shall bo deemed to liayo been [Kiyable in one payment on October Ist, 1579, and payment thereof may be enforced accordingly. All proceedings taken and acts done under the said Act, for the purpose of collecting or otherwise obtaining payment of the said tax on the day aforesaid, aujl a)l other acts, matters, and things done in connection therewith, or in relation thereto, shall be deemed to have been and to be good and valid in law to all intents and puqjoaes whatever, and to have been taken and done in strict accordance with the provisions of the aaii] Act.'' The following startling item appears in the news from China, supplied by the Press Agency to its clients "At Aningho a junk, ostensibly carrying grain, but landing tea at a lively rate, was surprised by a Govcrnment crniser, but the junk managed to escape. The tea, however, was traced to a merchant, and he was ordered to be beaten on the mouth and detained till the appearance of a gentleman who managed the business. and who absconded." There is an amount of indefinitencss about the extent of the punishment inflicted upon this unfortunate tea merchant that is perfectly astonishing. He is to be beaten on the month until the appearance of the person who managed the business. Now, as we arc told that this manager had absconded, and no information is given as to whether or not lie has yet been found, we presume the merchant is still being beaten on the mouth. If so, what a pair of lips he must have by this time. I lis month must have become a startling picture of ugliness even for a Chinaman. Who will kiss the place and inak-j it well ?

i " Silver Pen," a lady writer well known 'in this Colony, and now residing in San . Francisco, writing to the Herald, says ! of San Francisco :—ln fact, it is hardly safe hero now-a-days. Every day brings a shooting-match, and the people begin to stir in the matter. Unless a little lynching is resorted to I do not see where it i 3 to end. It is wonderful to see how many murderers arc walking about with tiie most approved unconcern, who in any other country would swing beneath the gallows. Laura D. Fair is making quite a | good living east by lecturing, she being the woman who shot down Crittenden in the presence of his wife and family, of whom I told you long ago. To become popular in this land you must be a trifle dyed in blood, or else make a reputation in an immoral sense, then go into the lecture field. I presume you have heard of Victoria Woodhull and her sister Tennie Claiilin, two notorious free-love women, whose lectures ware too indecent for women to attend, and who had lovers by the score. Well, these two womon are now in London, and on the point of marriage with two members of the English nobility. It would appear that things arc badly " mixed/' like Buttercup's children, anil that honest virtue is at a miserable discount.

The following arc the particulars of exlii bits which will be forwarded from Dunedin, through Mr. J. L. Gillies, to the Melbourne .Juvenile Industrial Exhibition Jessie I'. Scott, St. Audi-'. w-atreet, 1 Minedin, crimson satin eosev. with Ifcnion point lace; bracket, made up on erituson do. Albany-street *cho:.i- .1.-uie D. Hooper, bed-c|uilt; Maggie M'lMugal and Helen Webster, handsome chemises; Helen Webster, hand-sewn shirt; Annie Mitchell, hand-sewn night-dress ; Catherine Mitchell do. chemise; Mary M'Millan, do. do. ; Jane Currie, do. nightdress; Jane Campbell, Margaret Whitwell, Elizabeth Whitwell, knitted stockings ; Jane Campbell, wool antimacassar. John Stone, jun., Mornington, map of New Zealand, showing Provincial districts; Forbes Angus and Joseph Bentloy, nnnrentiee* of Messrs. Loves and Scott, glass emr>:;ss;ng (door panel, vase of flowers, and cMo-.i'iig and gilding); Amy Scott, Princes-street, Ilunedin, t'.vo maps; George M.'Lean, Filleul - street, the Lord's Prayer- in illuminated text, framed and glazed'; Henry Grafton Vine, Mornington, pencil drawing from copy; Kleanor Sperry, Cargill-strcet, two paintings; Charles Bright, Dimodin High .School, map of New Zealand : F. F. M 'Carthy, Stuartstreet, book of ferns, two .specimens of fernwork (in frames), two do. of mounted ferns ; A. M 'Carthy, Stuart-street, two lathes and an electric bell ; A. G. C< rsgrove, Waihola, ornamental iron stand ;K. . Nicholson, Jiussell-strcct, chalk and pencil drawings ; A. Joseph, Waihola Gorge, two pieces of poetry; W. R. Karctai (scholar at the Maori School, Otago Heads), two maps; S. S. George, Upper Walker-street, chcss-l>oard, drawn and illuminated ; John Brown, Dunedin, poetry ; Haig, Timaru, water-color painting.

The own correspondent of the Lyttelton Times at Wellington, writes :—Rather an amusing incident in connection with the Land Act Amendment Bill, and the Waste Lands Committee, occurred to-day. The Bill, it -will be remembered, was introduced by Mr. Thomson, late Minister for Lands, and bore his name on the title page. This Bill was referred to the Waste Lands Committee, of which Mr. Bunny is Chairman. On Mr. Hollcston taking oliice. he fouwl in the oflice a draft of a Bill providing for village settlement, This, which was intended by Mr. Thompson for an entirely separate Bill, he incorporated with the Land Act Amendment Bill, also adopting other material suggestions of his predecessor. He then, on his own responsibility, instructed the Government Printer to remove Mr. Thomson's najne from the Bill, and substitute his. On Mr. Bunny learning this, Jic protested, saying that the Bill having been referred to the Waste Lands Committee as Mr. Thomson's Bill, must be dealt with, and reported to the House as such. Some high words are said to-have passed on the subject, and ultimatclj- the question was referred to the Speaker, who ruled that Mr. Bunny was correct, and Mr. Thomson's name was restored to the title page. Several important amendments in a Liberal direction have, been made by the Waste Lands Committee, On

Mr. Ballance's motion, the upset price of rural land was reduced from 30s per acre to 20s ; also, where there are more applications than one for the same land, in the place of putting it up to auction, occupancy shall be determined by lot. On Mr. do Lu i-.tour's motion, it was recommended that two or more selectors may hold an allotment as tenants in common ; that co-selectors shall have the same right to transfer as ordinary selectors, 'and the Governor may issue one Crown grant for each subdivision, as may be desired'by the co-selectors. It is anticipated that the recommendations , will be accepted bv the House.

Mr. K. M. Ptinicy has been gazetted Registrar of Births, Marriages, and Deaths at Dnntroon, and Mr. W. G. Fillcul as Registrar for Oamaru, according to the altered baundaries. Both gentlemen are also gazetted as Vaccination Inspectors. Mr. J. L. Tait has been appointed Deputy Registrar of Births; Marriages, and Deaths for Oamaru.

Respecting a once famous mine the Auckland Star of the 3rd inst says:—"The Caledonian mine at the Thames was closed tills morning, and all hands were discharged." After Queen Victoria's Ministers had eaten their annual whitebait dinner at Greenwich this year, the waiters were turned out of the dining-room and the door was locked. This unusual seclusion lasted for an hour, and the Ministers returned to London. The rumor that the reason of this singular enforcement of privacy was to afford the Right Hon. W. H. Smith an opportunity of singing, without embarassment, the First Lord's song in Pinafore," is scarcely to be credited.

An exchange says :—" Mrs, C, is a lad}' of charitable instincts, and goes round, making collections for charitable objects to which, by the way, the lady is not herself a strictly constant donor. Mr. C.'s brother, who is not in the same affluent circumstances as his brother, recently had occasion to take the benefit of the Act. Being rather closely questioned by his cruel creditors, he stated he was so stone broke that he had to borrow the money to pay his legal expenses from his brother. It eventually transpired that the money had come from a collection recently made by his sister-in-law, ' to assist a starving woman and her family."' The creditors one and all had subscribed to this fund, and to this hour are wondering to themselves whether, in spite of what we are told to the contrary, charity is not sometimes a bit puiied up." At a meeting of the Committee of the Melbourne Asylum it was shown that the number of inmates was 419 males and 212 females. Also that the quantity of wines and spirits consumed had increased from thrco gallons three quarts per- week in 1577, to eight gallons three quarts per week this this year, and that of ale from 323 half-pints to 352 half-pints per week. The attention of the medical oilicer was directed to this with a view to a reduction. -She Pall Mall Gazette, remarking on the establishment of the telephone exchange in London, says:—"Still more remarkable, however, than the communication thus established was the experiment made with the telephone upon a mechanical type setter. By means of speaking through the telephone a complete series of sentences was set up in type in a composing stick.''

A former member of the Legislative Assembly of yictoria, with a candour that is somewhat rare, has been relating his biography to one of the writers in the Westminster Review. As it offers an epitome of the political career, as well as an explanation of the motives and objects of many another public man in New Zealand, it is worth quoting. The ingenious adventureraays: —"l came to Yictoria to dig gold. I prospered but little ; I had no capital; found the shepherd's life too rough, and of clerkships there were none vacant. By a happy inspiration I addressed myself to the electors; made vague promises of what I would do for them shouid I ever get into power. Since then I have been a respectable, member, living oil ray L3OO a year and my free railway pass, ami ever looking forward to turning up some day as a Minister, with ray Li.loo or L2OOO a year, or at all events ill the end falling into some snug berth as one of those land commissioners at LIOOO per anv.um. After all, I could not have done much better in life, certainly not considering the liberty I enjoy in regard to the when, the where, and the how much of my work." Some interesting evidence (says the Daily News) as to the character of modern fighting is supplied by a recently published volume, the report of the .Stafford House Committee on their operations in the lateß.usso-Turkish war. Besides a "record of operations," the book contains some general reports on surgical matters by the chief surgeons employed. In these there is to be found nearly unanimous testimony, first as to the comparative fewness of wounds from the " white arm," ,as swords, bayonets, lances, and such like weapons are collectively termed in French military language. The second point of interest is the greater ease"'with which such wounds healed 1 when they wore not at once fatal. Sword wounds were more numerous in the latter part of the war than in the earlier, says Mr. Barker, and tliey usually healed easily. Bayonet wounds were much rarer. " Among thousands of wounded men," says Dr. Pinkerton, " I did not see more than half-a-dozen suffering from sabre, lance, or bayonet wounds." And he adds that the experience of others whom he questioned was the same. " The number of bayonet wounds coming under obsers-ation was exceedingly small," says Mr. Mackellar, and, though sabre wounds were more frequent is this gentlemen's experience, they were chiefly dne to wanton attacks on non-combatants, not to fair fighting. THe fact seems to be that not only is actual hand to hand fighting very rare in modern warfare, but that modern weapons arc very ill-adapted for it. The lance requires elbow-room and very adroit management; the sabre needs very great bodily strength, and not a little skill, to make it effective ; the bayonet is " a most clumsy weapon." The bowie knife and the short Ghoorka dagger are, thinks Dr. Pinkerton, much more effective than any of our cutting arms. On the other hand, the modern rifle bullet is allowed to be a terrible weapon in its effects, even where it does not kill, and tlie wounds it inflicts seem to be much more serious than the old spherical ball. Canada, as usual (says a London paper), takes the lead in the matter of colonial selfdefence. Her militia organisation, now established some years, is as perfect as needs be, and there can be no doubt that, if called upon, her troops would do excellent service in the field. Now the Canadians have gone a step further, and have succeeded in manufacturing heavy guns. Hitherto, without an arsenal of Woolwich of their own, they have been compelled to come to England to buy. Big guns cost money, and the Canadians are go far wedded to protection that they naturally prefer to manufacture for them-

selves if tliey can. The first gun made in Canada is a 64-poundcr Paliiser rifled gun, which ha-; r uswercd ail the tests, and is proved to be a perfectly satisfactory piece of ordnance. The 'Paliiser principle is in high favor, and deservedly so, at the other side of the Atlantic. The Government of the United States have long since adopted it almost exclusively, and with reason, seeing that although repeatedly tried not a single gun has ever burst. Canada has followed, and ere long the whole of the guns which Messrs. Gilbert, of Montreal, are manufacturing for Canadian armament will be Paliiser rifled guns. Sir William's liberality is well known. He makes no charge for the use of his system, and gives freely all the advice and assistance in his power. The day ought not to be far distant when Australia may set up a gun factory of its. own. It has coal and iron handy enough, and there must be more than sufficient enterprise in the country to deal with the undertaking.