RABBIT COURSING.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1279, 13 May 1880, Page 2

RABBIT COURSING.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE OAMARU MAIL. Sir, —Might . I suggest, through the medium of your columns, the desirability of forming a Babbit Coursing Club. in Oamaru. We have plenty of real good dogs in the district, and, unfortunately, too many rabbits. I think a club could easily be formed, and the matches could be held on the Racecourse. This would give to the townspeople a fine opportunity of having a good day out, and would conduce to the breeding of dogs, which would be valuable to farmers and gardeners in keeping down these destructive vermin. lam quite certain that it would not be diflicult to get up a series of coursing matches for trophies, and that from gate money and entrance fees the expenses would be more than mot. In Victoria and New South Wales,-in districts where rabbits abound, coursing clubs have been formed, and many persons belong to them who could not spare the time nor expeuse incidental to hare coursing clubs. Rabbits are undoubtedly a thorough pest when wild. The formation of a rabbit coursing club would certainly directly tend to the destruction of these vermin, by increasing the breed of the only dogs which can successfully cope in speed with them. If any of your readers would like to join me in the formation of a club, I would be happy to receive letters from them directed to me at your office, and will then call a meeting.—l am, &c., Courser. Oamaru, 11th May.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE OAMARU MAIL. Sir, —There is a report in town that Mr. Roberts is about to retire, and that a meeting is to be called for the purpose of bringing Mr. Jones forward. Be this as it may, one thing is certain—that the Liberal electors of Waitaki are determined not to jeopardise the return of a Liberal member for the vacant seat by bringing forward two candidates. Unity is the watchword of the Liberal party, and to this end the minority must give way to the majority, who are in favor of Mr. Jones.—l am, &c. ; An Elector. 0 TO THE EDITOR OF THE OAMARTT MAIL.

Sir, —I know that your ear is ever open to the cry of wronged ones—to the voice of those who, by demigods dressed in a little brief, authority, are " sat upon," and wlien the people—the people, Mr. Editor, are thus vilely treated—what paper like your own lifts up its voice? Thus emboldened by an inward assurance of sympathy, I make known my wrongs. The Committee of the Athenaeum did, not long since, invite the ladies of Oamaru to contribute to a bazaar, and afterwids did invite the public to patronise the same, saying at the time of invitation that they wanted the money to build a ladies' reading room (a thing much needed by the way), also a hall or large lecture room. How liberally the ladies first, and tho public afterwards, responded to this call, we all know. But at this point the beauty of our story ends, and tho evil which is ever but sleeping appears. How have the Committee responded to this liberality ? Have they, in a fit of mistaken generosity, given the money to the promoters of the hall that is to bo in Tynestreet? or have they put it in an old stocking, and forgotten its hiding place ? Hardly can I suppose that they grimly hold it for the benefit of future generations. I pause for a reply, and while I pause, let me bethink myself. The Committee have done something. What ? Now guess. Ordered a ladies' paper, Tho Queen, or one as good? No. A gentleman's paper, The Field, or one liko it? A hoarse voice shouts " No !" Some good dailies, such as the English New York Herald, Age, or Argus ? No, no. Some nice books, then, auch as " Our Village," by Miss Mitford, or Captain Barnaby's "Ride to Khiva," or Trollope's, or Black's, or George Eliot'a last works ? No. Peradventure some of the standard works they have wanted so long, such as those of Charles Darwin, or St. Ale and his seven wives, or Arnold's poems. Still no. Perhaps they have had a naughty fit, and are to gloat over Ouida or Swinburne j or, like John Heads, to tempt the fair readers with sophistry, to Take but a glance at the old tale, And taste the music of tint vision pale. Oh, no ! None of these things can bo laid to their charge, Mr. Editor. What then 1 Does your soul conjure up the vile possibility that they have within those walla his works whom the people of tho town of Chinon is now delighting to honor ; that, having quite accidentally taken a glanoe, they straightway "grovel hand and foot in Belial's gripe ?" It cannot bo. So well eaoh Sunday are the laws and the prophets dinned into their oapacious ears. Do not they know " that there's a text isy the Galatians whioh entails distinct damnations," of which " one wiU hold if t'other fails ?" No, sir, nona of those things have they done; none of these looks have they got, or aro they likely to get. Their purchases are mostly of thaft safe and solid description, which, when waste paper, is badly needed and can bo, sold for fourpence the pound in London., No doubt the sellers of salt butter and tallow candles deeply curse them for their insane competition, but what of that $ Shall this hinder thein from sending another hundred pounds to Dunedin and getting in return a half cart load of thrica sorted trash, but I am afraid that I have forgotten the original question : As to what tha Committee at the Athenseum have done. I will tell you. They have boarded up the latter half of their reading room, and nailed a notice on tho door, "For subscribers only," and shall tho liberal and pliable public oomplain so long as the old dailies and the stools are left for their benefit ? Shall the stranger or sojourner rest his weary limbs and spend his idle hours on the cushioned seats of a

billiard-room, or patronise the commercial room, the illustrated papers, or the spring sofa of some bloated hotel? The gods forbid. Can you imagine it 1 Have not the Government and the pablic been liberal to avert this end 1 Have they not entered for the wayfarer and wanderer, and after this, think you, will those idle ones and those youths who wish to spend an hoar in interesting and improving their minds, refuse to sit on a stool and amuse themselves with dailies a week old ? Once more I pause for a reply. Let the Athenxeom Committee give it, not in wordy professions, but in the irresistible and unanswerable logical form of deeds. ; -I am &c., Msemostxe.