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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 1 September 1880, Page 2

Mails for Australia and Tasmania, per Kingarooina, will close at the Bluff on Friday, 3rd September, at 11..'10 a.m. Telegrams will be accepted at the Oamaru ollice accordingly. {t is announced in our advertising columns that the quarterly Communion service in connection with St. Paul's Presbyterian Church will be held on Sunday next, and that a preparatory service will bo held npxc Thursday evening.

It seems that we did Mr. Ritchie Young an injustice by mentioning his name as that of a probable candidate for electipn to the Bdeottgh Council. It was that he would come forward, but HjNrotikyippear that those who emulated tne, refjprt did so without authority, for though Sir. Young wa4 strongly solicited to become a candidate, he informs us that he declined to comply with the njfany requests made to Mm. Captain Edwin telegraphs that there are indications that the glass will fall with 12 hours, and of strong winds between east aud north aud north-east. We have been requested to call attention to the advertisement in another column notifying that the annual meeting of the Oamaru Jockey Club will take place at 8 p.m. on Friday, and not at 3 p.m. as previously announced. The next educational term at the Orakanui College will begin on Tuesday, the 2lst September next. Particulars in connection with this admirable institution may be gleaned from an advertisement in another column. A lecture was given last evening in St. James' Hall, Tees-street, by the Rev. S. Slocombe, of Christeljurch, the subject being " Sharps, Flat, and Naturals." There was a large attendance. After the opening prayer, the chairman (Rev. J. Foster) introduced the lecturer. The Rev. Mr. Slocombe commenced by saying that the terms which formed the title of his lecture, though orisinating from the steps of the ladder of musical sounds, had acquired a figurative meaning, which meaning he would point out. Commencing with naturals, he said that this term, usual y applied to idiots, was a misnomer, unless it implied the mind had remained stationery from the time of nativity. were regarded in former times as the refuse of human life, and wandered at large, the target for the weak wit of ignorant persons. Now, advanced civilisation had taken care of them by placing them in asylums, and the natural's condition was thereby improved. Yet, said the lecturer, idiqtij had nov? lost that halo of romance which of old surrounded them, and the half-witted hero immortalised by Walter Scott, Thackery, and Dickens, had become a thing of the past. Speaking of flats, the rev. gentleman said this class comprised those who seemed by their actions to be a little below the average intellectual standard, though, as in the drunkard's case, they sometimes imagined themselves sharps. This last class might be divided in two parts, cynical and fraudulent; one dealing in words", the other in deeds. The laboring punster was a bore, and should not be tolerated, and lawyers were classed as the chief of sharps. Each part of the leetitre was illustrated by appropriate anecdotes, which were told in so happy a style that the andience were kept thoroughly amused for nearly two hours. ' Mr. Slocombe concluded by exhorting the young nqt to make flats of themselves by allowing their wits and facilities to renqaii} dormant, hut rather strive"to develop a healthy manhood and energetic consistency worthy of a true Christian. At the close a hearty vote of thanks waa accorded the rev. lecturer, and the chairman expressed ahope thatthe healthy undertone of morality then given would not be lost sight of by those present. The lecturer has a pleasing voice and clear utterance, and the audience retired well pleased with their evening's entertainment. We think an improvement might bo made in the lecture by a shortening of tho third part, which is apt to grow tedious. The proceeds were devoted to the funds of the Oamaru Congregational Church. The monthly meeting of the Fire Brigade will be held at eight o'clock this evening.

The monthly meeting of tho Mechanics' Institute and Athcn.eum Committee will be held to-morrow evening, at half-past seven o'clock.

A committee meoting of the Oamaru Football Club was held last evening in the Royal Hotel. Present —Messrs. Jones (chairman), Clayton, Forbes, M'Donald, and Snow (hon. sec.) The minutes of the previous meeting having been read and confirmed, the following were selected as a second fifteen to play against Orakanui College next Saturday Back : l'\ Forbes ; three-quarter-backs t A. B. Church, Clayton; half-bqcks : D. Moore, Jones ; forwards ; Snow, Robinson, M'Leod, Ridsdale, W. (ironfell, A. E. Hardy, Balmer, Williams, H. Moore, and D. Church ; emergencies : Ham, M'Donald, Johnston, and J. Walls. The above are requested to meet on the Old Cricket Ground to-morrow at 5 p.m. for the purpose of electing a captain. A sub-committee, consisting of Messrs. Forbes, M'Donald, and Clayton, was appointed to ■make the necessary preparations for tho reception of the visiting team. The meeting terminated with a vote ot thanks to the chairman.

Amongst the numerous pleasant Incidents that relieve the monotony of parliamentary life, is one in which Mr. Vincent Fyke was the chief actor. That gentleman was sitting in his place in the House, thinking upon the " utter demoralisation" of the Government, and the "absolute ruin" that they were about to bring upon the country when a messenger handed him a large official envelope. He received the document with evident satisfaction, and muttered audibly that he had been expecting it. It ran thus : —" Portfolio. —To Vincent Pyke, Esq.— His Excellency has been pleased to offer you the portfolio of Minister of Mines and the position of Sergeant-at-Arms combined," &c. The corner of the document was turned down, and the following added by way of postscript :—"Attached to this portfolio is the very delicate and difficult task of Acting Prima Donna Protector [an allusion to the interesting event which was recounted in Parliament by Mr. Wright, a member of the Railway Commission]. (Signed) 11. R." When the messenger handed this to Mr. Pyke, that gentleman's face beamed with satisfaction. He appeared as though he was the recipient of some long-expected favor. (This was before he broke the seal.) When he had opened out the document and saw the heading, he could scarcely believe his own eyes, and he impatiently adjusted his spectacles to remove all doubt. It certainly was not what he had expected—it was something better. A complacent smile overspread his l-übipund and ample features. But it was of short duration. He carne to the words " Sergeant-at-Arms." This was bad enough ; but the prima donna business was more than he could stand. A hasty glance at the signature, and a gruff "messenger" rang through the House like the belching forth of a hundred-ton gun. The unoonsclous offender appeared, and, with fear and trembling, asked, "What's the matter, air?" " VVhat's the matter, sir?" roared the lusty Pyke. "I'll show you, sir. Where did you get this, sir?" The reply meekly came, " From the messengers' room, sir." " I've been grossly insulted," said Mr. Pyke, "and if you bring me any more of these things I'll report you to the Speaker." Mr, fyke had evidently forgotten that it was not the province of a messenger to ascertain the contents of a document before delivering it to a member ; but he gradually restored his wonted complacency, and prepared his next bomshell for the Government °n their financial proposals, The Berlin papers which arrrlved by the last mail contain accounts of a rather novel attempt at suicide which was made in that city. One of the metropolitan police in pursuing his usual rounds on a certain night, found a man suspended from the branch of a lofty tree by 5 a cord tied round his arm. On cutting him down, the mystified constable naturally askod for an explanation of matters, when tho half-fainting Fenton replied, that being wearied of life he had endeavored to cut it short. " But why, then,'" queried the official, " did you not tie the rope round your neck?" "Oh," retorted the would-be suicide with a convulsive shudder, "that would have choked me."

The Ago, writing about Mrß, Greer, the heroine of the Melbourne Opera House catastrophe, says the expressions reported as used by her indicate such a total absence not only of all wifely sympathy, but of womanly feeling, that it is impossible to believe her free from a species of insanity. It must rest with pathologists to locate and describe the disease, which perhaps has a physiological basis for its mental manifestations. There is a petrifying coldness in her reported references to her husband, whom she had driven into crime, which it is scarcely possible to reconcile with his endearing tenderness for her. By her undisguised devotion to the man who had wronged and destroyed him, she exhibits a spectacle of spiritual distortion which it is repulsive even to glance in thp most superficial ' manner Either by some misfortune the sense of iqoral distinc-

tion in her has been obliterated^'or else we have discovered a woman without - purity, without the dimmest desire for decency, or the faintest tinge of shame—a creature of lawless Inst and reckless hardihood of sin. It ia just possible that there may be at intervals in the moral as in the material spheres, misshapen births, in which the purposes of beneficent nature are set cruelly away ; but nofvdwarfed or deformed body, be it ever so urifeightly, could awaken in the beholder such loathing and abhorrence as this mockery of womanhood. It would hardly be supposed that amongst the numerous inventions in machinery for the especial benefit of the agriculturist there would be one for cramming poultry. Yet such is the case, and a very ingenious machine it is. To get the benefit of it, the fowl that is about to be crammed is taken out of his box by the wings, and placed on a platform; the head is held in the right hand, and the forefinger and thumb, pressing at the side of the mouth, open it. The head of the bird is raised, and a tube slips down the throat. A pedal is then pressed by the foot, and the charge enters the crop of the bird. The plunger then returns to its position, and another supply of food enters the tube. The quantity discharged is regulated by a lever.