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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1207, 28 February 1880, Page 2

According to a telegram published in our commercial columns, there is some probability of money becoming easier very shortly. The Wellington Prices Current, a commercial publication that should certainly be well informed, states that bank rates for deposits will be reduced early next month, and that the open money market is less restricted, though short of demand. From other parts of the Colony we have also been informed of very clear indications of returning prosperty, and with an active grain market, such as we hope to see within a week or two, Oamaru should also be able to rejoice over the fact that the turning point has been passed, and a period of a more healthy financial nature entered upon.

Some of our contemporaries and many of the public still persist in the statement that his Excellency the Governor is in partnership with the Hon. W. Robinson in connection with the racehorses Foul Play, Natator, Grip, &c. There is not the slightest foundation for such a statement, and we have the best authority for saying that the only racehorse in wiiich the Governor has any interest is the youngster purchased by him lately from Mr. R. JS. D. Ferguson, of the Waikato. It is, we believe, probable that his Excellency will form a stud in the Colony, but it is not at all probable that he will enter into partnership with anyone,

The band of the Artillery corps are taking steps to place themselves upon a sure footing," and have made the appointments necessary to the proper carrying on of the band's affairs. A meeting was held last night for the purpose, and the following were elected : —Mr. H. Powell, Conductor ; Mr. H. Mansford, Sergeant; Mr. J. Sinclair, Corporal; Mr. W. Couper, Secretary; Mr. D. Treasurer. It is the intention of the band to be present at the Easter Review in Christychurch, and with a view of making as respectable an appearance as possible, it has been decided to increase the number of practices. At the Resident Magistrate's Court to-day, Janet Leitch was brought up charged with being of unsound mind, and was remanded for medical examination.

Our Ngapara correspondent sends the following fuller particulars of the late case of drowning in that district:—lnformation was received here on Thursday evening last about S 30 p.m. that a man iu the employ of Mr. Conlan, farmer, had committed suicide by drowning. The police immediately proceeded to the spot, and found the body lying on the bank of a small pond, with about a depth of eighteen inches of water, and quite de;.d. It appears that the other harvest hands, missing him, had instituted a search, and found the body in the pond entirely naked, and with a blanket wrapped round its head. It has been identified as that of a man named James Geerin, recently a patient in the Dunedin Lunatic Asylum, and only about three months in the Colony. The body was brought into the township a little after 12 o'clock, and placed in Mr. Campbell's stables,' where it now lies awaiting the Coroner's inquiry, which will be held here to-day (Saturday),

Constable Walker, who has for some time occupied the position of Gaoler, is about to quit the position. His successor has not yet been appointed.

This week's issue of the Saturday Advertiser contains as a supplement a wellexecuted engraving of the Rotomahana. and her "grand saloon," "ladies' cabin," "private state room," and "social hallaccompanying which is a notice of the vessel, her sister, the Te Anau, and the Union Steam Shipping Company.

Yesterday we visited the iron works of Messrs. Fraser and Co., with the object of viewing a number of castings which are being executed to the order of Messrs. J. and T. Meek for the Crown Mills. The principal of these are : —S columns (7i cwt. each) and4pans (llicwt. each), which, with other less important atoms, will constitute the framing for the oatmeal and flour stones of the mill. Besides these are a large number of miscellaneous mechanical appliances in hand for the same mill. "We are informed that these are the largest and most important castings that have ever been turned out of a Oamarn foundry, and yet they look exceedingly well—quite as good as anything of the kind we have seen executed in the Colony, and better than the majority of colonial work of the same class. It is satisfactory to know that the fears that were expressed that this work would be too serious an undertaking for any Oamaru fir pi were delusive. Not long since, however, such would have been the case, and the fact that it is not so now proves incontestably that, notwithstanding that a season of commercial depression, severe and loug, has more or less tied the hands of everyone, we have progressed in at least one department of our industries. Our local foundries—those of Messrs. Fraser and Co. and Jack, Steel, and Hendry—ai-e now capable of executing everything that may be required by farmers and millers, and even the Harbor Board. It will not be inappropriate to add that our newspaper printing machine, which our readers will readily understand belongs to the old school when we inform them that it was the cradle of the Otago Witness newspaper, has been quite rejuvenated by the last-mentioned firm, and that it is now greatly preferable to half the new-fangled modern machines. At the meeting of the Loyal Oamaru Lodge, M.U.1.0.0.F., lield in the Oddfellows' Hall on Thursday evening last, arrangements for the holding of the annual! meeting of tlje Otago Distrjpt of the Unity were considered. The delegates appointed to represent the Lodge arc Past Grand D. Miller, aDd Permanent Secretary G. ! Brownlee, and Past Grand D. Henderson, Tyler. The meeting will takes place at 2 jp.m. on .Saturday, the 13th March, in the Oddfellows' Hall. Delegates are expected from the principal towns of Otago. The Marlborough Times has the following: —Mr. Ah Gee, of Maxwell Road, has now on view some very beautiful specimens of ornamental carving in Oamaru stone, which are well worth inspection. Some of the carving will be, we understand, brought into requisition in the adornment of the handsome brick building which Mr. Rogers is building in High-street for his law offices.

The Ngapara school will he re-opened on Tuesday next. i_ _ i A staff officer who was present at the battle of Ulundi tells of a curious circumstance which accounts not only for the small loss of the British troops, who were there drawn,up in square, but also to some extent for .the far greater loss of ther,Zulus who armed with the Martini-Henrys talien* at Isandula. These' Veapons" they had" tried; and, .having observed- that -the bullet went farther when they aimed \vith the aght ip, they came to the conclusion' that the'sight was a contrivance. which, when ; raised, made the weapon shoot the harder... Accordingly, on the day of Ulundi, they one and all put up the sights of their MartiniHenrys to the extreme range of 1000 yards, and fixed them in that position with wax. The result was that most of their bullets went clean over the square, and many of them are believed to have reached their, own men who were coming down to attack the other side of it.

' As to cremation, the Bishop of Manchester, England; said in his" address at the Social Science Congress, that, though himself greatly preferring burial, which, among other advantages, restores to the earth her fertility, he regarded cremation as. a system which might ultimately have to be adopted, and repudiated the notion that "any Christian doctrine could be affected by the method in which this mortal body is disposed of." >: In the report of the liquidators of the City of Glasgow. Bank, dated 30th December last, it is stated that that institution holds in its own name L 129,444 preference, and L' 126,444 ordinary, stock of the above Company; and is further interested, more or less directly, in L1G2,945 preference, and L 799.658 ordinary, stock of the same ; and, consequently, that the Bank is interested, directly or indirectly, in about one half of the whole stock of the Company; . The liquidators : consider themselves fully justified in estimating .the preference stock at 80 per cent., and the ordinary stock at 60 per cent, of the nominal value. ■ ,

The family of the famous Irish agitator,' Parnell, appeared in Ireland about the same time that Cromwell ;took his, troopers over there, and it has been: a prominent one ever since. It was a branch of an English stock, but, like the Norman Irish, it has in the course of time become "more Irish than the Irish tliemselvesi" .The last Chancellor of Ireland, previous to the Union of 1800) was a Parnell, his father was a Sir John Parnell, and another,Parnell was a wit and poet of considerable note in Dublin. Mrs. Parnell, mother -of "the Irish agitator, is generally regarded as the leading lady operator in Wall-street, New York. The South Australian Government appeal to be making preparations for a large increase in the agricultural settlement of their Colony. Their land system provides for the resumption by the Crown of the pastoral runs upon due notice being given whenever they are required for the purposes of settlement, and instead* of "throwing the whole Colony open for- selection, portions are resumed from time to time, and disposed of upon what may be regarded as a modified form of the auction system. At the beginning of the present year a large number of squatters received notice that their runs would be resumed, and this land will be disposed of to agricultural • settlers from time to time. Never before in the- history of South Australia has so large an area been resumed at one time. The Commissioner of Crown Lands is evidently looking forward to a large demand for land in consequence of the bountiful harvest. The total area resumed, which is chiefly in the north and north-east, is about 4700 square miles, or about 3,000,000 acres, included in fifty-six leases," on forty-one of which the notice of resumption is at twelve month 3, and on the remaining fifteen leases.six months only.

We are often assured that the standard of denominational teaching is as high as in the State schools, We take the following 011 the subject from the Melbourne Age : "The claims of dismissed uncertificated teachers were brought bifore the Assembly recently by Mr. Casey. The Minister of Public Instruction explained that IS3 unqualified teachers were taken over, by the State, from the denominational system, and there were 300 teachers who had passed their examinations and were compelled to wait for employment, No harsh step was taken in the matter. In 1877 eight months' notice was given to the unqualified teachers that unless they passed their examinations and obtained their certificates, they would have to leave the service,'and in 1878 a number of them got through. About 90 teachers failed to pass, and they were replaced by qualified persons. It was proposed to compensate the dismissed teachers"' by paying them two weeks' salary for every year they had been in the service, which would absorb a,bout L 1125.