The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1185, 3 February 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1880.

The Suez mail arrived at the Bluff at six o'clock this morning. A special train will leave Danedin at 0 o'clock this evening with the Northern portion of the mail, and -will reach Oamara about 10 o'clock. The correspondence will at once be sorted, and placed in the private boxes. The trial of reapers and binders under the auspices and in connection with the North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association, which is to he held on Thursday next, sth inst., promises to be a very interesting and instructive event. Tiie situation of the field of trial is pleasant and easily accessible to visitors, being near the mouth of the Awamoa, on the beach road to Kakanui. The crop of oats is of sufficient strength and bulk to prove an admirable test of the comparative efficiency of the various machines that are entered. These are—first, those entered for exhibition at the late show, the M'Cormick, Osborne, and Gammon and Deering. The judges—the bona jidt farmers present—will in the exercise of their important duty have to decide which of these are entitled to be placed first and second, the first prize being a gold medal of LlO 10s, and the second a gold medal of L 5 ss. For the special prize of L 5 5s offered for general competition, whether the machines use wire or string, there are tour entries—the Deering and Johnston, string binders; and the M'Cormick and Osborne, wire binders. There will also be on exhibition a Wood's string binder, worked by an expert from America. In view of the unsc'tled question whether wire or string is the better material tor tying the sheaves, it is desirable that the fanners of the whole district should be well represented on the occasion.

Some short time since a wail was sent up against the Benevolent Society for the delay occurring in the settlement of accounts, but from what transpired at the meeting of the Committee last evening it would seem that some tradesmen at any rate are equally to blame for tiie delay. It was stated that very great inconvenience was experienced through tradesmen not sending in their accounts regularly every month, so that they might undergo proper cheeking at the hands of the Visiting Committee fur the term. Some members suggested that the only way to overcome the difficulty wa3 to avoid dealing with those tradesmen who did not promptly forward their accounts. A hint to the wise should be sufficient. A Ngapara correspondent write 3 : —The crops, with one or two excejitions, are looking well. There are a few blighted patches here and there, but nothing serious. Thereis also a little rust in the crops, but with a little hard fair weather it will not do much harm. One complaint is made, and that i 3 that there is too much straw, especially in the oats, and large patches here and there are laid. Every shower we get makes them larger. Several fanners have commenced harvesting, but harvesting will not he in full swing for another week yet. We have had two frosty mornings within a week. Onr Duntroon correspondent writes: — The fir3t meeting of the new school committee here took place on Friday evening. .Mr. K. C. Smith was unanimously elected chairman, and -Mr. 11. M. Sunley, secretary. There was very little business for transaction. Messrs. Ftdton and Clark were nominated for the seats in the Education I'xiard. There is not much stirring in our little township at present. The crops throughout the district are looking splendid, though some of them have suffered a little from the late bad weather, more especially Mr. John Lewis' crop of oats near TokoRahi. large patches of which have been knocked down. Our youngsters here had a great treat on Saturday last. The Hon. R. and Mrs. Campbell having very kindly invited the whole of them up to Otekaikc to spend the day, Mr. V>~. Goddard kindly turned out with his coach and six greys gaily decorated. The youngsters all came home laden with sweets and pre sents, and j highly dalighted with their entertainment. At the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning, A. M'Corkimlale was fined 5s for allowing a horse to wamler at large. Two .small hoys named Alexander Lamont, 13 year?, and William M'Cansland, 9 years were charged with having, on the 20th Jan., stolen apples to the value of 2s or thereabouts from the garden of Charles Gifiord The evidence of an elder brother of the hoy M'Caualaud was taken to the effect that the lad Lamont had insisted upon hi 3 brother going into the garden with him, and that they both went in and brought out their hat* full of apples. Mr. Moore stated that orchards in the neighborhood were frequently tioing rohljcd, and said that lie knew the loy Lamont to hi a " bad lot," but that he haul not a bail opinion of the boy M'CausInnd. The case was adjourned until Tuesday next.

The members of the Invercargill Chamber of Commerce are not well pleased with the abolition of the express train between Dunedin and Invercargill, and despite the fact that the train has from the outset been run at a loss, are endeavoring to raise some opposition to the wise decision of the department. They appealed to the-Duneflin Chamber for support, but the v - members of that body, a3 sensible business men, have expressed approval of the action j of the department, but have agreed to see if steps can be taken to give to the train subi stituted for the express a little more speed. There can be no doubt that residents in every locality will suffer some amount of inconvenience by the economic changes made in the running of trains, but' they'can better undergo these little annoyances than pay. the. additional taxation thnt would become necessary to maintain trains that did not pay expenses. This is the proper light in which to look at the matter. As men of business, the momhers of the Invercargill Chamber of Commerce should know that it would be akin to madness to endeavor to carry on any business that cannot be made to pay expenses, hut then the money necessary to pay for the luxury of an express train does not come directly out of their pockets. Mr. A. H. Maude will offer for sale at 12 o'clock to-morrow the salvage stock and furniture from the Queen's Hotel. The usual monthly meeting of the Kakanui Road Hoard will be held in the oilices, Tyncstrcet, to-morrow, at 2 p.m. The monthly meetings of the North Otago Permanent Building Society and the First Oamaru Permanent Building Society will be held this evening. The following members of the Excelsior Cricket Club have been chosen to practice for the second eleven match with the Oamaru Club, to be played on the 7th inst., viz. : Messrs. Bannerman, W. W. Cook, Church, Davis, Ferens, J. Hartley, Ham, Henderson, C. Moore, A. M'Lcod, Robinson, Robertson, Spence, Thompson, Williams. The above players are requested to meet on the old Cricket Ground to-mor-row evening for practice. The final eleven will be picked on Wednesday evening. The ITobai-town Mercury, writing of Mr. Weld, says the present year is "the last of his term of office as representative of Her Majesty the Queen in Tasmania. Each year Mr. Weld has been in the Colony has increased our appreciation of his interest both in the material welfare and in the pastimes of the colouists, and his departure, should it be decided on, will be sincerely regretted on all sides."

How much do we waste in powder ? A writer in the Whitehall Review says :—"I am told that eacli time that the ' Woolwich Giant' is fired, every shot costs the English taxpayer as much money as would feed and house, clothe, and educate one or even two families of the working class for a twelvemonth." An immense sensation has been caused in Paris by the assertion of M. Humbert, the returned Communist, that in the penal colony where he was a convict, lie had seen men held up by the legs, and in that position flogged ; that he had seen men beaten with the knout, and after every blow a hot iron passed over their wounds; and fingers cut off by torturing pincers. When these things had been said in the tribune of the Chamber they had always been denied by the Ministry, but lie could bring overwhelming proof that they were true ; he had not only seen the wounds caused by torture, but had tended the victims. An unusual notification appears in the Arrow paper this week. It is in connection with an insolvent estate which pays a dividend of lis in the £. The Observer pertinently inquiries what have the lawyer's been about? A commercial traveller arrived at Napier the other day (says the Telegraph), a case of dutiable goods having preceded him. After securing the case and getting it put on the express cart, he was accosted by the wharfinger, " Heigh ! what are you doing with that case ? There is 14s to pay on it " " Oh, that's all right; here you are." And traveller and box went on. Then the wharfinger remembered something, and sung out again, "Heigh! there's 3s Cd wharfage on that." The money was paid, and again the cart drove off; but he had not gone far before a commission agent called out, "Heigh ! where arc you taking that case? There's receiving and delivering, 5s 6d, to pay on it." Said the traveller with a sigh, and paying the money, "I suppose it's all right, but while I've got my hand in my pocket docs anybody want any more ? Do you want to buihl a quay or a wharf, or maybe you want a breakwater : just say the word before I go." And everybody looked injured like, and the case and the traveller departed in peace.

Aii Old Farmer," writing to the Timaru Herald, says :—"Last year I was offered by the representative of a large firm here 3s 4d per bushel for my wheat. I shipped it Home, and find my account sales, recently received, that upon a produce of some 230 acres I have made a clear profit of over L 450 over the price offered me on the spot. I find, upon taking out a calculation, that my wheat cost me last year about Is Sid per bushel to ship Home, including all charges. Taking the freight this year at 50a (which, although very high as compared with last year, is really not exorbitant, comparing the relative value of wheat in England) the outside charges will not exceed 2s to 2s Id. This means that Now Zealand wheat at 56s to 5Ss per quarter will leave a margin of 4s lid to the Xew Zealand shipper, so that if the merchants mean offering 3s 6d to 3s 9d as opening prices, it means that they intend making a similar ' ring' to the one already started in Christchurch, and to fleece the grower by making enormous profits out of him. There is one thing I can assure the merchants of, we are not nearly so hard-up as they imagine, and the monopolies of buying they are now creating will work their own cure." A writer in the Ashburton Mail tells a story which is as true as it is good :—" An tmfortun&te drnnk yesterday could not raise 10s to save, not his life, but 4S hours of his liberty. I admired the innocence of his answer, and it reminded me of a similar ease up north a good many years ago. The then stipendiary magistrate, not longgoneto where drunks are unknown, was a huge portly man with f-«t rubicund visage, portly appearance, and gruff" voice. Old John, as lie was familiarly known, never wasted many words on drunks —his convictions were very summan' —but he sometimes was had. One of his most frequent visitors at Court, was an eccentric old gardener, who religiously tried all the taps in town when he did his marketing, and very often got run in. On pjie occasion when brought up he was duly fined 10s or 24 hours, and replied, in answer to the question if he was going to pay, 'Well, my lovely old boy, you pan fine me if you Jike, but .you'll have to take it out in apples/ and the bargain was struck.'

I The weight with which the present tariff comes down upon particular people may be shown by this fact. A purchaser of a plug of tobacco was grumbling at the price the other day. when the shopman said, "We sell that stick for Is 2d, and of that amount Sid goes for duty to the Colonial revenue." It is ( quite, extraordinary, when one thinks of it, how people will _ smoke at such a figure. Politicians are .said to/be' /utterly"' selfish and self-seeking, and the more we know of them the- more do we suspect that therte is truth in the remark. . Canifcbe (says the New Zealand Herald) that 'Ministers have pounced upon tobacco because none of them smoke ? They are not addicted to the smaller and more social vices. Neither Hall, Whitaker, - Rolleston,-.-Atkinson, .or,Oliver, a /pipe-or. cigar Jiji mouths, so that they are free to come down upon unfortunates* who"do." Cff~~the~*"lSt'e'"; Ministry, .'the. Premier'gave an example of abstinence, but Sheehan and Whftmore were very much addicted to the weed. We have no other guide to what Macandrew's weakness was but his nationality. - It is generally said that smoking, as a pernicious vice, should be taxed as heavily as possible—that the lino should only be drawn at the point when smuggling would render it a disadvantage. We are not quite sure of this. Smoking is the poor man's luxury, and it is rather too bad that the smoker should simply be victimised. Some men (says the Herald) are said to be too big for tlieir boots, and others are too sharp for their trade. On Monday, Manaena, the well-known native chief, came into Napier, and of course' wanted his boots jjolished. He grunted out a something to the boot-black in the vicinity of the Masonic Hotel, and putting his foot on the box, operations at once commenced. One boot haying been polished, the proprietor of the industry demanded cash before proceeding with the other foot. "Native's nobleman" resented the idea of his credit being insufficient to meet the liability of a 6d, and sternly commanded the wiolder of the brushes to go on with his job. The order was' met by a refusal unless the: utu was forthcoming. A native chief is not proud where money is to be saved or made. Manaena walked off to another " black" with one.boot polished for nothing, and then paid the opposition man 3d for brightening up the other foot, thus saving 50 per cent, by not paying cash on the half completion of a contract.