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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1250, 20 April 1880, Page 2

The construction of the WindsorrLivingstonerail way line is, it appears from advertisements in another column, to be re-commenced without further delay, and work is to be provided for the unemployed. But at what terms J To quote the advertisement, payments will be " at q, rate per cubic yard that will (Enable single men to earn 21s and j married men 2Ss per week - " We are certainly not advocates for the payment of high rates of wages in case 3 like the present, but we certainly think that the Government has gone to excess on the side of economy. The winter is coming on, and it is only reasonable to suppose that the men will not be .able to work on an average more than four days a week, and during this time they will only, in the esse of single men, be able to earn 14s per week, cut of which they will have to pay for the rations supplied to them by the Government. What a commentary is this upon the statements made by Emigration Agents of the plentitude of work and

high wages ruling in the Colony. The remainder of the Bailway Commissioners arrived from the south to-day, and were engaged during the earlier portion of the afternoon taking evidence at the Harbor Board Chambers, A considerable amount of evidence was taken, find the Commissioners then paid a visit of inspection to the harbor works. They Jeft by the afternoon train for Elderslie, and, after inspecting the lines in that direction, they will, we believe, return to Oamaru on Thursday. On Saturday last we stated that persons entitled to vote should endeavor to send their papers to Mr. Filluel on or before the Ist May. We wish now to explain that [ although it is desirable those entitled to vote should seek to have their names placed on

the roll on or before the date mentioned, names may be registered 3JI the year round. But in no ca3e should those, desirous to place j themselves in a position to exercise the franchise defer doing so until an approaching election, because as soon as writs are issued names cannot be registered till after the conclusion of elections. The want of a proper amount of support from the insurance companies and the public has caused the Fire Brigade to get into slight financial difficulties. Liabilities have been incurred in the purchase of plant necessary to enable the Brigade to be of service at fires, and it is only reasonable that those who are likely to be benefited by the gratuitous labors of the firemen should contribute some sh.-.re of the cost of fire- j 1 extinguishing aj.p:i«uc#3, A ft-w have done! 4 their share in this respect, but the larger I £ share of the burden hqs fallen upon the IJ

members of the Brigade, who, to save the j credit of thecorpß and town, have dipped their | hands pretty freely into their own pockets. | It'is unreasonable to suppose that a body of i working men'Cstni sort ot-| thing, and we are not, i'therefore, surprised i toilearn that an. eEforfc is tc^be'made tokaise, by means of.'an sufficient i funds to pay : oif -tbe/'babiHties of „ the Brigade, It -was decided to i course at last night's meeting, and with a view of making the affair thoroughly successful, it was agreedt tQ-'askrither assistanqeof the Dramatic, Glub;. whose': performances are always welcome to the public. We have little doubt" readinsss to lend a'belpiigHand, with-the Brigade's request, for the" objectr is ; one deserving the support of the public. One of the unemployed who attended the meeting at Windsor on Saturday afternoon sends us the following : —" Having seen your advertisement of Saturday evening stating that a meeting of the unemployed would be held at Windsor on Monday, we gathered here to the number of 150, and, to our surprise and disappointment, we found no one present to whom we could state our wants. We happened, however, to see the Government Engineer on the ground, and he informed lis that he knew nothing officially about resuming work, save what he bad gathered from the newspaper, that work would soon be started. We hope that the work will start sfion, and that full notice will.be given by Government, as there is really no work in the district upon which we can find employment to sustain ourselves and families,"

A young man named Robert Dunn was admitted to the Hospital to-day, having been brought in from Papakaio, where one of his legs had been broken by the kick of a horse.

The Rev. S. G. Matthews' lecture on Tennyson last night was, as was expected, an intellectual treat. It is not often that the people of Pamaru are favored with the presence of a lecturer possessing the rhetorical powers of Mr. Matthews or one capable of giving with fee'ing the sentimental parts of the writings of a poet like Tennyson. The rev. lecturer's love of the sublime was manifest in all his renderings last night, and any one who has a taste for the works of the Poet-Laureate could not fail to appreciate his fine style of handling the "Ode to the death of Wellington," "Epoch Arden," apd other . compositions of Tennyson. If the public, when invited to attend a lecture, could always depend upon the same amount of intellectual entertainment as was afforded them last night lectures as a rule would, Ave thiuk, become more popular and receive a greater amount of support.

A concert is announced to be given in the Awamoko Schoolroom on Friday evening, the proceeds from which will be devoted to the augmentation of the school funds.

A special meeting of the Oamaru Fire Brigade was held last evening for the purpose of electing a captain to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of Mr. J. Sinclair. Mr. John Mainland was unanimously elected to fill tlie position, after which some discussion took place with reference to the liabilities of the Brigade, when it . was resolved to write to the Oamaru Dramatic Club' asking asking them to give a performance in aid of the funds of the Brigade, At the Resident Magistrate's Court today, before T. W. Parker, Esq., R.M., Alexander Clark, fpr being drunk and disorderly in Tees-street at 10.30 last night, was fined 7s, with the alternative of 24 hours' hard labor. Alexander Robinson,'for a similar offence at 2.30 this morniug, was awarded the like measure of justice.

A meeting of the committee of the North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association will be heUl on Thursday,.22nd inst,, at the office of the secretary, at 11.30 a.m. We lately wrote of the injustice which Major Kemp has suffered at thehand3 of the Government. We are glad to be able to give the following from" the Chronicle ':—

"Nero dismisses his servant because he is turbulent and insuhoi'dinate ; the servant knows he has been dismissed because he has declined to undertake certain very ungracious pieces of the work.. This is a? little analogue of the GoycvnnientrKemp affair. Major Ivemp was cashiered and unsalaried because he was turbulent and insubordinate ; that; is; he would not fall in with the views of his superiors, touching the leasing of the Murimotu Block and other little land pleasantries. Had lie been faithful to Messrs. Studholine, Moorhouse, and Co., he might have been turbulent to his heart's content. And Mr. Hutchinson, on Wpdnesday night, simply called a spade a spade, which it aj-vpays to bp deprecated and censured in cases such as his.' *