The Oamaru Mail FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 8 October 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1880.

Captain Sampter, who has, since the departure of Major Steward, been in command of the North Otago Battalion of Volunteers, has been gazetted major. This honor has been well-earned. Major Snmpter has been connected with No. 1 Company for nearly sixteen years, and has gradually worked bis way np from the ranks. He is, and always lias been, one of the mo3t enthusiastic Volunteers of the district, and ths present state of efficiency and strength of No. 1 Company is greatly attributable to the lively interest he has always displayed in the welfare of the corps, the members of which, we feel sure, while rejoicing to hear of Major Sumpter's promotion, will regret to lose so excellent a captain. Major Sumpter, during his probation, has given strong evidence of his fitness for the position of commanding officer of the district, and has shown the greatest interest, not only in the company with which he hr.s so long been connected, but in the whole battalion. The suspicion that was entertained when the illicit still was found near Palmerston last week that others were connected with the matter was brought to a conclusion late yesterday afternoon, when Philip M'Carthy and Daniel M'Cartliy, his son, were arrested for having rendered assistanc-2 to Martin Power, who had the still in hi., possession. They were bronght up before. Mr. Parker, R.M., and remanded to Palmerston, whither they were taken this morning, Mr. M. Cunningham's hotel at Windsor, had a narrow escape from fire on the night of the 2nd inst. The weatherboards outside liad been set on fire, but fortunately not so successfully as was evidently intended by the would-be incepdiary. The matter has been placed in the hands of the police, but up to the present no arrests have beep made. The insurances on the building, stock, furniture, &c., amount, in round numbers, to L 1.300. The' Citizen Cadets had an interesting drill on Wednesday evening. After having been told off by Lieutenant Spence, the corps was handed over to the drill-instructor, who exercised them in advance and rear guard, skirmishing, and the duties of patrol, with a view of preparing them for the part they have to take in the sham fight on the loth inst. The drill was gone through in a highly creditable manner, the lads showing the liveliest interest in their work. The Excelsior Cricket Club will continue the match first eleven against next eighteen, on the Old Cricket Ground to-morrow afternoon, commencing at 2 o'clock. "A good muster is requested. The Oamaru Cricket Club 'will play a match to-morrow afternoon betweeu tlje world and the Australian Colonies. Play will commence at 2.15 p.m., and members ara requested to attend punctually. The match to be played to-morrow by the Union Club will be an alphabetical one— A to K and L to Z. Members are requested to appear in uniform and punctually. The following are the sides : —A to K—R. Aimers, J. Aimers, Brockett, Berry, Church, Earl, Grey, Gardiner, Hook, Hart, Hendry, Hewat, Harris, Hartley, Jones, JSLite, and Keith. L to Z—Marshall, Maddern, Maw, Matthews, Newey, Ogilvie, Pallant, Risdale, Rube, Slater, Sinclair, J. Steele, T. Steele, W. Thompson, H. Thompson, Waterworth. The Committee of the Oamaru Athenreum held their monthly meeting last evening, Mr. T. Forrester occupying the chair. The usual preliminary business having beep disposed of, it was resolved that Mr. Shirley be wn'tten to with reference to leasing laud at Wvndliam. A report from the Building Committee was read recommending the adoption of a plan of buildings to occupy the whole of the Thames-street frontage (06ft.), the entrance to the institute rooms to be in j ! the centre of the block, and the spaces on ! either side of the entrance hall to be devoted ! to shops or institute rooms as might be found ; expedient, with an upper story over same, j ; The report recommended that the new | building should extend back to the partition- | wa!i between the library and the subscribers' reading-rcom. This would give the shops a length of 32ffc. in the clear. The upper" floor should be divided into readingroom 36ft x 32ft; library-room 26ft x 18ft; ladies' room 15ft x 13ft; and referencelibrary and committee-room 12ft x 13ft; the stair to the upper floor to be placed at the rear of the building, and to communicate with the rooms at present used as readingrooms, which the Committee advised should be used aa public reading-rooms and chessrooms respectively. It is estimated that such a building, constructed of Oamaru stone, would cost LIBOO to L2OOO, and would provide ample accommodation for the purposes of the Institute. The above arrangement would admit of the erection of further institute-apartments to the rear of the proposed building at any future time. It was resolved that the recommendations of the Building Committee be approved of, and that the matter be submitted to a special meeting of subscribers at an early date. A man named John Cunningham, alia; John Sullivan, recently discharged from Dunedin gaol, where he had served a term of penal servitude for garrotting, has again come within the clutches of the law. He has been arrested at l>untroon by Constable Livingstone on a charge of stealing L 6 10a from a cash-box at Rosa* hotel, Upper Waitaki. At the Resident Magistrate's Court to-day, before T. W. Parker, Esq.. R.M., Harry Danby, charged with assaulting his wife, was sentenced to two months' imprisonment with hard labor. John Allen, charged with using obscene language in Thames-street on Thursday night, was fined 20s, with the usual alternative, A preliminary meeting re the holding of a Friendly Societies' picnic on the Prince of Wales' Birthday was held in the Oddfellows' Hall, Coquet-street, hist evening, when representatives from the Foresters and both Oddfellows Lodges were present. Mr. Blair, who was voted to the phair, explained the object of the meeting. After soipo discussion, it was decided to adjourn until Tuesday evening for the purpose of acquiring the co-operation of the Good Templars and Sons of Temperance. The meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to the Chairman. The proprietors of the Saturday Advertiser have reprinted in book form 92 " pomes, tiligrams, an' ipistols" fro/n the pen of the notable, genial Paddy Murphy, tl?e literary myth who is said to haunt Lambton Quay to study Jiuman nature, and possess a key to every lock in the Government Buildings. The first batch of the work i 3 only just published, and the country newspapers have not yet, therefore, h,ad the pleasure of indulging in a hearty laugh over the quaint pleasantries in which " Paddy" never fails .to envelop the most scathing lectures. But we £iave seen the covers. Upon the front is a comical representation of " Paddy" in con?

ference with Sir George Grey, Mr. Macandrew, and Mr. J. C. Brown. We presume that it is intended to depict a Cabinet meeting. or something of the sort. But the author, in very questionable taste, to our mind, is calmly drawing clouds from a "churchwarden," and coolly puffing them forth in wreaths as though he knew so much of their inner lives as to possess but little of the conventional regard which is usually extended to Cabinet Ministers. We predict a large sale of this first volume of Paddy's able efforts. Sir E. W. Stafford, has joined the Board of Directors of the New Zealand Loan swid Mercantile Agency Company, as the successor of Sir James Fergusson. It is stated that a wide-spread feeling of satisfaction exists among the officials of the railway at the appointment of Mr. W. Hannay to the position of Assistant General Manager, as Mr. Hannay has been connected with the railways for some time, and has secured the esteem and good wishes of those with whom he was associated.—Lyttelton Times. Professor Proctor, the astronomist, appears to have that rare faculty of taking trouble. In preparing for an American course of lectures once, he found that in the photograph of his charts of the heavens the stars were not "brought out" to throw them with sufficient distinctness on the screen. He, therefore, sat down with his pen to make every one of those stars distinct, and he did it. There were only 324,000 of them to go over, and (with reasonable intermissions for eating and sleeping) he accomplished the work in just 76 hours of continuous application.—Wellington Chronicle. Tl>e Otago Daily Times says : —lt is rumored that the following changes of District Judges and Resident Magistrates are contemplated by the Government : —Mr. Beetham from Timaru to Wellington, Mr. Mellish from Christchurch to Timaru, Mr. Whitefoord from Kaiapoi to Christchurch, Mr, Beswick from Lyttelton to Kaiapoi, Mr. Watt to Oamaru, vice Mr. Parker, Mr. Wood to Invercargill, vice Mr. M'Culloch ; Messrs. Parker and M'Culloch retiring on pensions. Many other rumors are afloat as to impending dismissals for retrenchment sake, Notwithstanding the notification that no more passes would be issued for the railway works, occasional applications are still made for passes at the Public Works Offlco, but of course nothing can be done for the applicants.—Lyttelton Times. In Scotland there are ten electors to every 72 of the population ; in England the number is ten to every OS. If there were equal electoral districts in tjie United Kingdom, there would in round numbers be one member for every 5000 electors. The counties in the Kingdom are better represented than the boroughs. Boroughs having leas than 2500 electors, return 105 members to Parliament, fa those small electorates, the Conservative party find their strength. Says Truth How scrupulously exact the English l»w is—especially the bankruptcy law. Not ever, the fractional part of ft penny can be diverted from its proper channel, The other day a friend of mine in the West received by post a sheet of foolscap, informing him that a doctor's estate had been realised, and that a first and final dividend of llrlGths of a penny in the pound was payable to him in London ! Who shall say ttyat the bankruptcy law needs amendment ? The latest suggestion for the use of eleotricity as a motive po'-ver is to have the streets of cities paved with iron, either in blocks or so arranged that the pavement will form continuous electrical conductors, divided into suitable sections to be charged with electricity by a tjationary steam-engine and dynamo machine of proper size. On the electrical pavement thus provided, waggons, carriages, fire-engines, omnibussea, and other vehicles, each provided with an electrical driving wheel, and taking electricity through the from the pavement may be run, in any desired direction, with more ease and certainty than by the present system of horse locomotion, although the system would not necessarily be interfered with, as those who preferred to use horses could of course do so. Iron pavements should doubtless be made that would be quite as serviceable as the present stone blocks. The subject prer sents a fine opportunity for students of electricity to exercise tljeir head gear.— Scientific American,