The Oamaru Mail SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 21 August 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1880.

Members of Parliament give strange reasons at times for supporting particular measures. Captain Fraser has lately shown that he is not above stooping to find any small reason or argument why he should support a Bill. While epeaking on the Oamaru Waterworks Bill the. other day, the hon. gentleman complained that the mover of the second reading had not stated " Whether the waterworks would be placed under a different engineer in future." The Hon. Mr. Miiler replied that the then engineer had got notice to quit, whereupon Captain Fraser said, that being the C»se, he would support the Bill. The nor'-west gale continued throughout last evening with slightly diminished force, but ahnGst entirely subsided about midnight. To-day, wind has given place to rain, and in all parts of the town men h&ye been busily engaged repairing the damage done by rude Boreas.

Telegrahic communication is still interrupted north of Chrjstehnrch. In future the telegraph stations at Hastings. County of Hawke"'j3 B&v, ?n/i Hastings, County of Thames, will be known as Hastings South and Hastings North respectively. It is requested that this distinction be made on all telegrams to these stations.

We need scarcely remind our readers tliat Thomson's Confederate Diorama .of the American War •will open on Monday evening jjt the Volunteer Hall, and will be exhibited every evening during next week. We might mention that the diorrima has had a most successful run of seven weeks in Dunedin, during which time the number of p.izes given away was quite astonishing.

The house of Mr. Samuel Holmes, Rich.mond, was totally destroyed by fire yesterday morning. The fire appears to have originated in the chimney, from which it was quickly carried to the main building by the high wind, blowing at the time. The building was quickly reduced to ashes, and none of its contents were saved, V'hile Mrs. Holmes, who is an invalid, was only just removed in time to save her life. Mr. Holmes will be a heavy loser, as the building was worth over L2OO, while the furniture, See., including a large sum of money, increases the total loss to something like L3SD. The building had been insured in the New Zealand Company, but the policy was allowed to lapse. Singularly on the morning of the fire Mr, Holmes despatched a son to town to renew the policy for LIOO, which was done, and directly afterwards news was received of the destrucr tion of the building, which had actually been completed before the insurance premium bad been paid. We mention this as a singu* lar coincidence and as showing the wisdom of paying up renewal premiums promptly, and not in order to cast any suspicion upon Mr. Holmes, for the fire is known to have been purely accidental, Mary Mitchell was charged this jnorning, before T. W. Parker, Esq., R.M., with that she did, on or about 16th instant, feloniously steal, take, and carry away from the railwaystation at Oamaru, one black ostrich feather, one velveteen skirt, one pair of gloves, and various other articles, value L 9 7s 6d, the property of Martha Jjenih&n. The prosecutrix gave evidence that she was a domestic servant, living at Kakanui; that on arrival of the express train at Oamaru on the 16th instant she left her box on the railway platform ; it was then locked, and contained wearing apparel; she returned about six o'clock, when she found that the box had disappearedshe inquired for it, but could not find it; she returned at noon next dqy, and found the box in the parcel office; the lock was broken off, and the lid nailed down; on opening it a Dumber of articles were missing ; she laid an information to the police, and secured a search warrant, and proceeded with Detective G'leary to the house of g ip.np named M'Cusker, where she saw accused ; the accused nnlocked her box, the detective searched it, and found the articles produced. The accused was then arrested, and on her being searched by the female searcher at the gaol, a pair of gloves was taken from her pocket. At this stage of the proceedings the accused was remanded for further examination till Monday. Frederick Griffin and John M'Donald were e»cji fined ss. for drunkenness.

The Australasian saya that on the Saturday upon which the deciding course for the Waterloo Cnp was ran rumors were abroad to the effect that Bashful Maid was the winner, and upon making due inquiry it was found that the message received by the usual pigeon express gave "Bashful Maid beat Spring water." Throughout the meeting, until this particular occasion, the messages were forwarded with due accuracy, and it is not the blunder on the part of the " pigeon," strange though it way appear, that we are concerned with ; but we arc informed that, as quickly as the bird with the false message reached Melbourne, certain clever people, before thjj news became general, rushed off with all eelpfity, and backed the Maid, she having, according fp the information supplied them, already beaten Springwater, As it turned out, however, it was a case of " biter bit, .or diamond cut diamond." The names of persons holfLing responsible positions in the coursing I world are mixed up in the affair.

The football match between the Timaru and Oamaru Football Clubs Was played On the Old Cricket Ground this afternoon, and resulted in a draw. The, , weather was wretched, and after playing for forty minutes the game was stopped, team having obtained one force down.

By to-day's express train from the South there arrived a grand Clydesdale entire horse named Sir Walter Scott, well known in Southland,''where he was never beaten; save by the redoubtable horse Prince of Wales. Sir Walter Scott is a grandly-built dark dapple brown, with a fine head, wellshaped limbs, and stands IG£ hands high. He is by Ivanhoe out of Beauty, by Thane of Clyde. Sir Walter has been brought here for sale.

A curious contributor (says the Lyttelton Times) has been working out the number of combinations possible with the blocks of the Fifteen Puzzle. The result is, he says, that they may be put into the box in 1,307,674,36S, 000 different ways. Going stilj. deepey into the mystery, he finds that a "man who lived 100 years would have tq make 414§ of these combinations each second, or 24,880 eacji minute, of bis ] on g life to get through the list. Here is a prospect of em : ployment for the idlers of future ages. Why, the very method of reading the figures above is as susceptible of as much discussion as the puzzle itself.

A well-defined gold-reef lias been discovered in Wicklpw, and is probably the source from whence the grains and small nuggets obtained by stream-washing some years ago (in ISG4) were derived. The peasant who has made the discovery has lived amongst the mountains ever since the time of the gold excitement in Wicklow. He has now. brought down some pieces of quartz with email liiuips of gold embedded in them, and says that he broke them off from large rocks of similar constitution, which were exposed to view this spring by the falling of a mass of the superincumbent strata. If his account be true, and if he can be induced to point out the locality of his discovery, wg may yet (remarks a Home paper) see a sudden change in the aspect of Irish affairs. Capital would at once be forthcoming to develop the mineral resources of the country, and the ownership of land would become invested with a new importance. A pew application of the garotte (says the Melbourne Age) has b.een adopted by some of the criminals of this city, if we may rely upon the statements of a correspondent, who has furnished us with the following particulars for the accuracy of which he vouches. He states that on an evening recently a gentleman was going up Latrobe-street, on his sray home, about eight o'clock. He was walking carelessly Ejlong with both hands in his pockets, when suddenly, as he was passing a lane near the corner of Swanston.-street, a rope was thrown lasso fashion over his head, and he was dragged to the ground and pulled up the lane as quickly a3 possible for about thirty yards. Fortunately for hipiself he was strong, and catching hold of the rope he braced his leg against a stone and was pulled to an upright position. By a sudden jerk he got possession of the rope, and finding himself attacked by from twelve to twenty of the larrikin class, he turned the rope's end to tin effective weapon of resistance. By swinging the rope round his head he succeeded in keeping the ruffians off, and regaining the street, took refuge in the nearest publichouse.

An eipincnt physician says lie cijres 99"out of every 100 cases of scarlet fever by giving the patient warm lemonade with gum ara,bic dissolved in it. A cloth wrung out in hot water and laid upon the stomach should be removed as rapidly as it becomes cool. The Hawke's Bay Herald, in the course of an article strongly attacking the Audit Department, tells the following story :—"A tradesman in Napier had an account for about L3O against the Government. After waiting some time, as is the usual experience of those who want money from the New Zealand Government, a cheque for the amount came down. It was duly countersigned and paid. The surprise of the tradesman may be conceived when, two or three months afterwards he received a severe letter from the department concerned saying that on several items of the account there had been an overcharge, and that this excess woult}. be deducted. Enclosed was a second cheque for the second amount less the deductions. Hp was ljonest enpugh tp return the Gheque a,t once pointing out that the account had already bepn p&id in full, He has not since heard anything about the overcharges." An extraordinary occurrence has taken place at Egremont, a populous suburb of Jjiyerpool, on the banks of the Mersey. It appears that fjho supposed dead body of a man was found lying on the sfyqre, and was in due course conveyed to the dead-house, the supposition being that the man had been drowned. Having been deposited in the dead-house, the body was left for some time while inquiries were made. The police then returned, and one of them commenced to search the clqtfoes of the supposed corpse. Scarcely had he begun to do gp, fjowever, when the "corpse" came rapidly to life, and rising up on the table, called out in 3 somewhat vigorous tone, "What are you doing ? " It is stated that the searcher was so astonished and alarmed at the spectacle of the "dead " JTian thus coming to life, that he ran away from the chamber in terror, whereupon the "corpse" began to follow. lp was ultimately found that instead of having been drowned the man had simply got very drunk flijd had fallen helpless on the beach at the spot where lie 'Vfas found. He had had, however, a narrow escape of liis life, for had the tides been spring instead of neap he would have been covered at high water.