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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1189, 7 February 1880, Page 2

I Besides the retiring members of the Education Board—Messrs, Fulton and Clark—the following gentlemen are candidates Mr. E. B. C'argill and Mr. Thomas Fergus, of Dunedin, Mr. Adam Johnston ami Mr. W. D. Morrison, of Clutha County, and Mr. S, F. Shriinski, of Waitaki County. As Dunedin and the Sonth are already well. represented o'i the Board, and as North lias never been represented at all, it vonM be a fair and gracious proceeding on the pvirfc of the Southern Committees to vote for the- gentleman who has been put forward by the Northern Committees. Mr. Shriinski has always been a keen supporter of education, and by introducing and getting pajwed the Waitaki High School Act gave : of his still being willing to help it an. For tijrep years he gave a scholarship for competition at ouy Qyammar School, and I

we hope that he will be triumphantly returned. It will be observed by an advertisement calling for tenders for the work that the directors of the Public Hall Company have determined to proceed with the erection of a public ball and corn exchange. o.f the necessity for such a building we need saynothing, for it has long been apparent to everyone. For over twelve months; public hall erection schemes have been periodically brought before the public, elaborate plans have been prepared, and patrons of .amusements have been gladdened with the intelligence that there would ere long be a respectable hall in the town ; but all these projects have for some reason fallen through, and we had almost been forced to the cpnclusion that we were never to have a "respectable hall. . The directors of the present company , have been working quietly, and, liayiug their plans of operations matured,'now sec tlieir way_to proceed with the erection of the building. The partial filling up of the lagoon, does not appear to have had any beneficial effect so far as concerns the mitigation of the nuisance arising from it is concerned, while the notification of the Corporation that dry rubbish may be deposited in it would appear to have induced people to make the lagoon a receptacle for all manner of filth, including the festering carcases of dead dogs, cats, tie. As a consequence of this and the warmth of the weather arising from the lagoon is most foul, and well calculated to breed a pestilence in the town.' In view of the present impoverished state of the Municipal and Harbor Board exchequers, it is impossible for those bodies to complete the work of filling up this sink of iniquity, but surely some means should be adopted for abating a dangerous nuisance. The first instalment of the fund being raised in the district for the relief of the famine-stricken Irish, amounting to L2OO, was forwarded to the Lord Mayor of Dublin to-day. A meeting of those interested in Pastor Chiniquy's work, to arrange for the reception of the pastor, was held at the Young Men's Christian Association's rooms last evening. The Rev. A. B. Todd occupied the cliair. The following gentlemen were elected a Committee : —The Revs. A. B. Todd, H. Dcwsbury, C. E. Barley, and J. H. Lewis, Messrs. Hood, Stevenson, Mirams, Falconer, Jeffreys, Moore, and Bicknell, with two from each of the congregations of the Revs. Messrs. Dewsbury, Barley, and Lewis, to be chosen by those gentlemen. Mr. Milligan was chosen Secretary, It was stated that there was a probability that Pastor Chiniquy would not arrive on the 19th insfc., as previously announced, owing to His having been requested to remain in Christcliurch three days longer than he at first contemplated doing. At the Resident Magistrate's Court to-day, before T. TV. Parker, Esq., R.M., Thomas Robinson was charged with having been drunk and disorderly, and was discharged with a caution.

" How's that for high?' is the inelegant exclamation of the Tapanui Courier in recording the following item A farmer at Crookston, who lias leased a section of land on Broobsdale estate, reckons to reap LBOO worth of wheat off 100 acres of land. Another of the old land-marks has left us, Mr. John Sangster Macfarlane having just died at his residence in Auckland after an illnes3 of several days. Mr. Macfarlane was a man of very strong feelings. He was a .trior to his arrival m New Zealand, in the early days, he was a merchant in Sydney, and, as such, cultivated trade with the Islands. At this time the conduct towards Mr. Macfarlane of one of his compeers brought the two into legal contact. Time after time was Mr. Macfarlane beaten; but, when apparently beaten beyond recovery, with the pecuiiiary assistance of one of the largest Jewish firms in the Colonies, which placed implicit confidence in Mr. Macfarlane's judgment, honesty, and tact, lie was enabled in the end, to change places with his opponent. New Zealand was the scene of his next law suit. But few of our readers will forget it. It was the celebrated case in which Craig, the Native Molii, and Macliattie, were concerned. If we remember rightly, this case dragged on for years, and was at length decided in Mr. Macfarlane's favor. We need scarcely say that he was a Scotchman, and never knew when he was beaten. When any other man would have been affrighted into subsidence he renewed the vigor of his attack, and was nearly always victorious in the long run. He dabbled in newspapers, too, and was one of a number of capitalists who started the Auckland Echo in opposition to the Star, partly as a counterblast to its political influence and partly to punish the Star for the continual and severe strictures it passed upon him as a citizen. By this venture he lost LISOO, half the entire amount which was sunk by its promoters. But he was irrepressible, and would have established another paper for the same purpose and at the same cost immediately on the demise of the Echo, had it not been for the difficulty of securing a man able and willing to undertake the thankless and unsatisfactory position of manager of what was certain to be a losing game. At the time of his death several imI portant Supreme Court cases were pending, in which Mr. Rees (his bete noir) was the defendant. It is not unlikely that the harassment .of this continued litigation accelerated }iis death. He was apparently a man of strong physique, and a careful liver, and. his death whilst little beyond his prime —his age being only 55—will no doiibt surprise those who knew hiui. He was for some; time a member of Parliament,' but was unseated by Mr.' Reader Wood during last general election.

Mr, Firth, of Matamata, Auckland, has over 1600 acres of wheat, which is said to be the largest quantity of grain on any single estate in the North Island, It is understood that next season he proposes to lay down double the quantity, 3000 acres having been ploughed and made ready for sowing. The Argus says that of late Kate Kelly and her sister, Mrs. Skillian, have been seen ip Jfelbourne. The object, of their visit is not known, but it is stated that their excuse for visiting the metropolis is the desire to secure the presentation to Parliament of a petition praying for the release of their ijiotlicr, who is now undergoing a sentence of three years' imprisonment fpr assaulting Constable Fitzpatrick, when he attempted to arrest a member of the outlawed Kelly 'gang. ' - - The Canterbury Tirhes of to-day says: A report by our b\vn r 'correspondent on the crops in South Canterbury lias reached us, but unfortunately too late to 'be published in full in this issue.. We give, however, the estimated yield in the respective counties. 'lhese are as follows : —Geraldine—Wheat, 34 bushels'; oats, 45 bushels'; barley, 34 bushels ; potatoes 1 , ' o . Wheat, 32 j 40bushels; barley, 35 bushels; grass seed, from 25 to 28

bushels ; potatoes, from 4 to 5 tons. The report will be published in full next week. There is now exhibited in the shop window of Mr. Falconer, a purple top turnip, 3ft. 4in. in girth, and of 3241b. weight. On the agricultural situation in Great Britain, the New York Tribune writes : —The anomaly of the English agricultural situation m.the factt;hat, with alniost linpre-: cStlented failure in': yield, comes an extraordinary decline in price; The law. .of .supply | and demand wcrks : compensation, in a'dyancq of price • proportioned to decline of prpduc-' tion. - - But free trade and steam power are levellers, adding to the meagre garner of Britain the lavish produfctof interior America, and leaving her grain growers in the condition of a farmer whose field has been swept by a flood while those of his neighbors are waving with abundance. . .Virtually^.in days.Vthe wheat products of the natibn's ate pooled ""in one grand crop. Now "it is the turn of British and. French farmers tojmffer... Let the season'be again propitious, and full crops of grain be harvested on that side of the Atlantic, and the turn wiUconre to out -farmers, who- may. mourn, over-large crops sold at less than cost. Yearly repeated reports of a " large 'increase *of wheat acreage'" are pointing inevitably to that -result, which is as likely to occur in 18S0 as at any later date. It is a long lane of success in which the American grower lias been travelling, and he may come to think that it has no turn. The following letter, which may be of some interest to our readers, appeared in a recent issue of the Lyttelton Times : —;'.A great deal has been said about shipping corn to England, and it is well known that no merchant will ship a large quantity unless he can see that it will pay him. Now, I happen to know something of the requirements of England, both for seed and consumption, having been a miller and farmer for nearly 20 years before I left, and my opinion is that the greater part of New Zealand wheat, if true and clean, might be sold in London and different, parts of England for seed, if it went into the right hands, and the proper way to do that would be to appoint an English agent that would be competent-to receive any. New Zealand corn or produce that might be sent to him,' and place it in the best market. When in England I have bought in London and Gloucester wheat and barley from nearly all foreign ports, and I am prepared to say there is very' little wheat equal to English, except the New Zealand, the Adelaide, .or ,the French, that will make as good flour, or is so fit for seed. Now, seed corn is. a very particular object and most :of the English farmers, and all who have:.'tried it will do it again if possible, that is to have a change of seed. Now what can be such a beneficial change as New Zealand wheat? It is well known the Gloucestershire farmers often , get their, wheat off the chalk hills of Wiltshire, and the tip country farmers get their wheat from the deep land in the vale, and it was easy to perceive the benefit there was in the change. I once bought a lot of raw imported Italian rye grass seed to plant, and I grew such a crop that is seldom heard of, over G4 bushels to the acre, but it must be remembered it was not on shingle. I think it is too often the case that farmers here don't change their seed often enough. Let those interested ask those gentlemen who are here ; from Lincolnshire, and if I am wrong, I shall be pleased to be put right.

A letter, of Hobart Pasha to Mr. Brassey, M.P., is published in the London Times, reiterating the opinion that small vessels are best' for fighting -purposes:—"What we want are small, heavily armed, fast vessels, that can, as it were, ' hop round their enemy like a cooper round a cask,'hitting him in every vulnerable point, shelling his decks at long range, and worrying him to death. Of course, the small vessels would be liable to a hard knock now and then ; but you cannot -go to war in kid gloves. As to bombarding forts, rely on it, in these days of 35 tons in masked batteries, or batteries caused with 30 inches of iron, the idea is obsolete—no sane man would think of such a thing. Fleet's guns can only be used against land defences in making a diversion while landing troops. Remember also the immense cost of losing by torpedoes or otherwise one of the new monsters such as Italy has built."