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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1205, 26 February 1880, Page 2

These are days of startling doings. "With meteoric suddenness. and , brilliancy, Mr.' Oliver flashes from , one end of the island to the, other, and we know where he has settled by the changes which are being wrought in the railway or some other system. We have so much faith in Mr. Oliver's nbiquitariness that if we were told that he would be here to-day, in Wellington to-morrow, and goodness knew where the next day, our immobility would be undisturbed. Government officials never felt so thoroughly miserable since they abandoned the lacteal fluid as they do now. At any moment the Minister for Public Works may catch them nappiing. To avoid such a contingency, they keep their eyes open during office hours. The very name of Oliver haunts them during their sleep—it causes .them discomfiture during their waking hours. They are living on the summit of a volcano which may at any moment swallow them up or scald them with its liquid fire. Butchers, bakers, grocers, tailors, &c., are watching them with a peculiar and breathless interest. It is a fact that in these days of violent retrenchment not a single ci vil servant knows how soon he may be sacrificed to purchase ministerial popularity—even at the expense of the country. They have no appeal. If the Hon. Richard Oliver, in the exercise of his mystic, superior, and suddenly-acquired knowledge of how every department should be worked, gives them tlieir walking-ticket, they must march. Cromwell was not, noi" has the Czar of all the Russias been, more autocratic • than is Mr. Oliver. Even the Commissioner of Railways dared not to leave unlocked the doors on one side of the railway carriages on the Dunedin and Port Chalmers railway, without consulting the Government, which is Mr. Richard Oliver. When Parliament meets the Government should be able to announce that they have reduced the annual expenditure by at least a few hundred thousands, judging from the fuss that has lately been made over retrenchment and reforms. If they do not make snch an announcement everybody will be dissatisfied.

We have received a copy of the catalogue of Messrs. Fleming and Hedley's great disr plenishing sale, to be held on the 13th of April next and as: many days following as may be necessary. It is quite a small volume, and gives evidence of careful and systematic compilation. . It bears, the imprint of the North Otago Times general printing establishment, and is admirably brought out. For the enlightenment of those who live at a distance, and who may not have had the pleasure of beholding Messrs. Fleming , and Hedley's celebrated stock, no less than eleven chromolithographs have been inserted throughout the pamphlet, illustrative of some of the finest, of the firm's horses and cows. These were executed at the 0 tago Daily Times Office, D unedin, from drawings on stone by Mr. Foder, who has achieved quite a success as a delineator of animals, and several of them are as truthful representations as it is possible to secure by the aid of the lithographic art, whilst all of them are most creditable productions. However,. if we contemplated investing in any of these animals, we would prefer to inspect the animals themselves. No representations, however faithfully executed, could, give any correct idea of their valuable characteristics. "We understand that catalogues may be had on application to Messrs. Connell and Clowes or Messrs. Fleming and Hedley. Mr. Conyers has acceded to the request of a deputation by agreeing to leave the doors on one side of the carriages on the Port Chalmers railway unlocked. The request, was a foolish one, and, if Mr. Conyers had informed the deputation that, as he was not only entrusted with' the conduct of the railways, bnt was expected to take every precaution to guard against accidents to passengers,. he could not entertain it, he would have acted in a manner consistent with his position. There ■was no necessity to ask for such a concession. The guards, on account of the limited time at their disposal at each stopping place, are compelled to release passengers with a celerity that should be satisfactory to ordinary human beings. But, even if it were necessary to subject passengers to a little delay through locking the carriage doors, the risk incurred by leaving them unlocked is so great that they should be made to suffer it. It was never intended that carriages constructed as those on the Port line are should be left unlocked, and we would not be surprised to hear of accidents of a serious kind as the result of the new regulation. It would have been better to have altered the carriages or to have changed them. - ■ The band of the Philharmonic Society will meet for rehearsal to-night-'at the Volunteer Hall, at 8 o'clock. We remind our readers that voting papers from School Committees should be in possession of the Education Board on or before the 29th inst., and that the declaration will take place on the 10th of March.

I Yesterday's meeting of the Dunedin Harbor Board was characterised by a •warm discussion as to the merit of the dredging operations of the Board. Mr. Fish advocated the dredging of a basin, at the Dunedin wharves for the accommodation of large steamers, whilst Mr. Mills expressed an opinion that th.ft' Board. was so ; damagmg the, &>t&tha& of Oamaru andTEinuiru. Mr. Fish, itowever, carried the day. i A?!e supposertnat; now that the Board hasiexpended so many hundred? theMlarbor tESy feefihat th§yonustgo on to the bitter end, come what may. They are ruining the harbor nevertheless. That appears to be the universal verdict outside ! jp -f T" T Serious complaints come from farmers at Seaffieldrthat th<? tusfJias the' wheat :on light lands as .to , make.it hardly ivoirtli reaping. One" large proprietor bushels'tO^the"£cre,- ! ; and burning off-the--crop - as—worthless.—Crops- -in the Seafield district looked so well until recently, that the rapid progress of rust in the wheat is a deplorable surprise. A traveller writes :—ls it a part of the Hon. Mr. Oliver's cheese-pai-ing policy to provide so few second-class carriages on the Oamara-'Dtfn6din liri6'thaVthtey :are-neces-sarily dangerously "crowded ? On several occasions lately I have noticed that not only is all seat room, but standing room also, most uneonif&tably 1 crowded, ihd, notwithstanding the notice cSver the door warning; passengers against---standing on the platform; when the train is in motion, and stating that; the railway authorities" will not be respon-! sible for any accidents that may occur from' j such a cause, so insufficient is the accommo-! dation .that, travellers .have np choice, hut; to; submit to such dangerous over-crowding,? take a first-class ticket, or refuse to go at all.-

■As ;{ihuf 5s r not a matter <}f'-'to-day, the-sobnerj it''is looked 'to the belter." 'Though' the' authorities-disclaim responsibility,' I very much doubt if,- in the' event of an accident' occurring, the magistrate or a jury would not view the matter Very differently, and oonsider it a piece of culpable' mismanagement. ■: •: VI V.

;; Our. Inch. Valley correspondent, writes.as follows The farmers-are now busy leading in and' - stacking, . most . of;'-them. ;having finished cutting. A threshing mill passed up the road on Tuesday," and I hear that one of the settlers, intends threshing the grain as it, comes from the stook. ' The gale ;on Sunday week did a deal of harm ■ in : the Upper Shag "Valley, particularly to the barley, off one crop of which the heads are so shaken that it is not worth reaping ; but with the exception of that one boisterous clay the weather has been very favorable for harvesting. The School Committee, met in the school on Tuesday evening (Mr. D. Ross presiding), when the vote for members of : the Education Board was in favor of Messrs. E. B, Cargill, W. D. Murijson, and S. E. Shrimski. ' After some discussion regarding the boundaries of the school district, it was resolved that the Chairman communicate with Mr. Pryde on the subject. A resolution was passed deciding to have the annual examination of the school before breaking-up, the teacher to give a week's notice to the Committee before closing. A letter was. received from Mr. Selby, and the matter of fencing, the residence was held in abeyance till the Committee have sufficient funds in hand. At the previous meeting the Committee granted sundries applied for by the teacher. The teacher was also requested to. take charge of the public library, a resolution being passed affirming the anxiety of the Committee to see it set upon a proper footing. Pastor Chiniquy (according to the Otago Daily Times), met with a hearty reception at Otepopo last night.

At the sitting of the Waste Lands Board yesterday, Messrs. Connell and Moodie, on behalf of Mr. W. J. Cain, applied to purchase about 50 acres, of land adjoining his previous purchase on run 23, section 7, block 5, Kurow. ■'The application* w'as "referred to the Chief' Surveyor to report as to whether any objection exists; -. :: I »*. i

The Otago Daily Times says; ments having been repeatedly made that the Ngapara Hne ought to have been extended through Jessep's' Gully towards Livingston? instead of making the_ Livingstone branch from near Windsor, a flying survey has been made, 1 with-the following results The line, t'o get through Jessep's Gitlly woul& have haij to rise at a grade of 1 in 50 for two' and a quarter miles, then on the same grade pass {through A tunnel a mile and a quarter, long ; the line /would, then have to Ml; on. a. sharp descending grade for about two miles to'cross the Awamoko Plat. The cost of the tunnel alone would be a bar to proceeding with svich a wdrk, aMtSvoyildVbe the second largest',tunnel in New Zealand. C>urown impression is that the Livingstone _ljne ought not to have been made at all; but if it was to be made ithe present * r route appears to be the" only available one. " ■

In an article strongly denouncing .Pastor Chiniquy the Rangiora Standard makes the following remarks :—" In one of his maniacal ravings f Pastor' Chiniquy told the following ' tale '•' Shortly after my conversion I was nearly ruined, all my things' had been sold by the sheriff, my library and my furniture, I lay down on the bare floor r to sleep .with only a bag for a pillow, and expecting in the morning that the slieriff wouldcome to irie for "a note of L 25, which I could not pay, as a man who owed me the money could not pay me. Mrs. Chiniquy was weeping, but I told her it was wrong, as I had laid theS'inatter beforethje Lord, and that He would make it all right.; I said it, and-1 believed it, but. my. faith was weak: -But in the morning, about two hours before thesheriff came, I went to the post office 'jsiui.l'bUND' k tETTER .FROM , NEW ZEALAND, i WAS SURPRISED, AND HARDLY KNEW WHERE New Zealand was ; but on opening the letter I found L 25. It was only last week .that I [shook the hand of the,.gentleman.,w;ho 'sent it. I thank you all kindly for your-cordial and if our worthy, friend will read the 103 rd Psalm it will express whait I feel. The Revered Mr.-Evans then read the 103 rd Psalm, after which three cheers weregiven for the' Queen, and three for Mr. Evans:'—Now, would the Rev. -W. Evans be 'very much astonished-to hear'-that iii a Queensland newspaper we find that the very self-same 'leetle yarn,'told in exactly the same words, appears in one of the many utterances of 'Pastor' Chiniquy, with this single ' remarkable', exception, that instead of the words capitalised 'by lis above, the following . appear ' and' .a . letter from QUEENSLAND. -- I . WAS. SURPRISED, AND HARDLY' KNEW WHERE QUEENSLAND WAS.'?'