The Oamaru Mail TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 26 October 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1880.

During the hearing of the case \\ ait v. Colli* vesterday. Dr. de Lautour, in explainin- to' Mr. Hislop, by whom he was being examined. the teat applied for the detection of fractures of the hip joint by Dr. Nelaton, of Paris, used eeitain anatomical terms. He was requested by Mr. Hislop to use langnage tiiat ths? Court could undersrand. Dr. tie Lautoat- then lirscribed tilt' as a line drawn from the edge of that bone upon which one sit 3 round the outside of the thigh bone to n prominence at the ritn or the hip. Mr. Newton, in his desire for extreme accuracv, demanded an exact description of the I test. He was then informed that it was a I line drawn from the edge of the tuberosity of the ischium, crossing tin! margin of the : greater trochanter of the femur to the anterior .superior spinous process of the ilium. As these terrible words rolled rapidly from the doctor's mouth, great consternation was observable not only on the countenance of the counsel for the plaintitl but on that of the worthy R.M. The reporters were paraly.-cd ; in the Court reigned temporary silence, the outcome of the profoundest admiration and amusement, and then followed a literal roar of mirth. Had the counsel for the plaintiff not been speechless, he would have cried " Hold, enough," long before the doctor had finished, and when he regained his speech, at the end of the doctor s examination, he suggested an adjournment, remarking that he should like a little time to prepare for entering the lists against Dr. de Lautonr. Mr. Hislop here interjected, '• Perhaps my learned friend will not care to cro3s-examme Dr. de Lautour at all ■ Mr. Newton rejoined that he would "do so if he broke his back over it," and Dr. de Lautour kindiv proffered a litt!e plaster-of-Paris to strengthen him on the trying occasion. Today Mr. Newton entered upon hi 3 desperate task, and wrestled manfully and bravely with the tetanus-inducing anatomical terms. Aide-1 by several medical works he carried on the warfare f<-r some time, and when, at the close of Dr. de Lautours cross-examina-tion, he resuni'.d his seat, he heaved a sigh of relief, but gave no evidence of having sustained any seriou3 bodily injury.

The annn.il meeting of the AA aitaki Sunday School Teachers' Union was held last evening in AA esley Church. The Rev. Mr. Barley (president for last year), occupied the chair. Mr. J. H. Milligan (hon. sec.) read the report and balance sheet. The report showed that during the year a number of papers bearing on Sunday School matters had been given, and that the outgoing Committee recommended the attention of their successors to the following items : Bands of Hope; Scripture Examinations and Rewards; and Teachers Training Classes, Bv the balance sheet it was seen that the total receipts of the Centenary meetings were L4l 10s 4d, and the total expenditure L3S lis sd, leaving a balance of L2 183 lid. The election of Officers and Committee for : the ensuing year then took place, with the following result:—President. Rev. J. Foster; Vice-President, Mr. J. H. Milligan ; Hon. Treasurer, Mr. W. H. Cottrell (re-elected); Hon. Secretary, Mr. A. Davidson. Committee :—Presbyterian^—Messrs. J. H. Cunningham and J. 1 lenders on : Y\ esleyan Messrs. T. Fe ens and W. Pernor; Teesstreet Hall—Messrs. W. B. Bust and AY. Pavev : C'oncrecrational —Messrs. D. Ferrier and R. Peloid: Primitive Methodist— Messrs. A. R. Amies and V\ . Ri.sbatch ; Pouth Oamarn —Mr. Crombre ; Greta-street School- vessrs. W. H. Cottrell and J. Fulton ; North Oamarn —Messrs. E. Jones and I. Matthews. It was decided that the following subjects be discussed _at the next quarterly meeting:—Bands cf Hope and Scripture Examinations and Rewards ; Mr. Mirams introducing the former and Rev. Mr. Cramp the latttr. j A novel application is likely to be made to the North oWo Agricultural and Pastoral

Association. Mr. Jeffrey intends, we believe, seeking permission to have a stall on the show ground for the sale of bibles and other religions books on the days of the show, but the carrying out of this intention -will greatly depend upon the amount of snpport he receives in the first purchase of a stock-in-trade. Subscriptions in aid of the purchase of a stock of books will be sought, and a correct account of the transactions will be kept. This is certainly a startling departure from the usual routine of Agricultural and Pastoral Shows, at any rate in the Colony.

Dates fixing the sittings of the District Court at Oamarn have been gazetted as foliows:—Civil and criminal business, 28th of March, June, Sejjtember, and November in every year.

A deputation from the United Friendly Societies Committee having waited upon Mr. John Reid, of Elderslie, for the purpose of obtaining a piece of ground whereon to hold their picnic and sports on Boxing Day, that gentleman has, with Ijis wonted generosity, not only given them leave to hold their games on his property, but also placed his pleasure-boat at their disposal for use on the beautiful lake at Elderslie. The beauties of Eiderslic are so well known that the holi-day-keepers are likely to spend a pleasant time of it, provided the weather should prove fine.

A special meeting of the Benevolent So? ciety Committee was held last evening in th-j Secretary's office. There were present: Messrs. J. H. Milligan (presiding), Falconer, M'lntosh, Mirams,"Ogilvie, Stevenson, and Hardy secretary). The draft report and balance-sheet was read, and was ordered to lie on the table until the usual monthly meeting which is to be held on Monday next, and afterwards to be submitted at the annual meeting on the Bth November.

Mails for the Australian Colonies, per Rotomahana, close at the Blu£f to-morrow, at S p.m. Telegrams will be accepted at the Oamaru OiTice accordingly. At the Resident Magistrate's Court to-day, a first offender was fined as for having been drunk and disorderly. Martin Taylor for allowing a horse to wander at large was fined 33.

Mr. 'Newton has peculiar notions as to the duties of a debtor. Daring the hearing of a judgment summons, Nelson v. Burr, the defeudent pleaded that he was unable to comply with the demand of the plajntifif that he should pay 10a a week until the debt was extinguished. He admitted that he was in receipt of LI a week in addition to board and lodging, and said that his washing and clothing did not amount to 103 a week, but an occasional glass of beer and a pipe swelled the sum total of his weekly expenditure to beyond 10s. " Oh," said Mr. Newton, "You indulge in luxuries." "Yes," responded the debtor. To this Mr. Newton remarked that lie must do without his pipe and beer, and therv followed these memorable wo-ds, " Payment of debts come first, and pipes and beer afterwards." ■ At the close of the case Mr. Newton said he supposed his Worship would make an order for the payment of 10s per week and deprive the defendant of his pipe and beer. "It is no doubt vcrf hard," aaid Mr. Newton, "to depriva the'unfortunatc man of his luxuries." His Worship agreed with these remarks, and made an order for the payment of 40a per rn /iith. Anil so the unfortunate debtor's pipe was mercilessly extinguished at the auggcHtion of a solicitor having peculiar notions aa to tho dutiea of debtors towards

their creditors. The Otago Daily Times says'Wc understand that Mr. iW-tie will takd dhar|c( of the Dnncdin workshop# under Mr. Alison Smith, whose duties as lowrflotive /super' intendent are now extended over section from Amberley to Bluff.' The Workshop* will be at once enlarged and rearranged, aud further machinery will be erected to enable the department to. cone with the work of those sections of wbieff Dunedin is the centra, Mr. Hannay will, for the Jjcstftttotwd jn .Dnncdin. J

"We deem it expedient to direct the special - attention of formers and others to the faefc that all entries of exhibits for the forthcoining t-how close on Thursday, 4th of November, and that it is desirable as many as possible should ' e made previous to that date. The Secretary of the Association i 3 prepared to give every information on the subject. The Committee of the Oamaru Jockey Club have decided to alter the <?ate for the declaration of weights for the Cup, Publican's Handicap, and Hurdle Race, from the sth to the 15th November. This will give the handicappcr an opportunity of watching the performances of the horses at Christchurch and Duncdin, and the arrangement will no doubt be pleasing to owners of horses generally. The "Wellington Chronicle says that Sir Arthur Gordon intends to take up his residence at Auckland during eacli recess, and will, in all probability, make occasional visits to Fiji for the purpose of exercising an administrative check upon the affairs of that interesting colony, and the initiation of which was entirely his owu work. During the session of l'arliament, of course, Sir Arthur will reside at Wellington. The Immigration Officer, Duncdin, received advices by last mail of the sailing of the ship Dunedin from the Clyde to this port on the 2(j;h August with souls, equal to IS/5.J sta-ute adults. Of this number 177 souls, equal to l-'-.Si adults, were nominated by friends in the Colony. There are 149 single females aove fifteen years of age, of whom 112 are nominated, and 37 not nominated, tiie latter being open for engagement as domestic servants. In addition to the Government immigrants, the Dunedin carries 22 saloon and 76 steerage full-paying passengers. The ship is due about the ISth of November.—Otago Daily Times. The new patent carriages, constructed on Mr. Cleminson's principle, which were recently placed on the Wellington and Masterton railway, are now in regular use, and do very good work. Their special feature is their flexible wheel-base, which enables them to round the sharpest curves with ease. They run on six wheels, and the middle pair is attached to a sort of sliding frame, which moves laterally, and so adapts the wheels to any curves. On those of five chains radius, which abound between Upper Hutt and Cross Creek—that is to say, in crossing the R.imutaka, on both sides of the hill-the Cleminson carriages run with excellent steadiness and absence of the sharp jolts which used to be so distressing in the- old carriage, while on the "straight" they are equally steady, and free from the oscillation experienced in the old vehicles. This is especially noticeable when travelling in a Cleminson carriage if the next one is of the old kind, as the Cleminson is perfectly steady, and the other can be seen to sway about in an apparently quite dangerous manner. The vertical jarring is caused by the lightness of the rails, and can only be remedied by laying heavier ones. Successful as the Cleminson "coaches" have proved, however, opinions seem to be unanimous that they do not come up to the double-bogie cars for comfort and ease on the rails.—Evening Post. The New York Herald says : —A sea captain is to be placed on trial in New Brunswick for losing his vessel without any assistance from storms, rocks, or other legitimate causes of marine disaster. It is even alleged that the captain, by the aid of a chart, showed the boatswain the locations of the rocks that would attend strictly to business if any ship attempted to be familiar with them. The reefs were missed, however, and the boatswain tells of a large auger being procured, and ljow, by the captain's order, he bored numerous holes in the vessel's bottom. Then the crew was ordered to the pumps : they pumped until they said they could work no longer, so the boats were lowered in water which was perfectly smooth, as it naturally would be under the circumstances reported, but as the barque did not sink promptly, men went back to bore a few more holes, pour kerosene freely about, and light it. This simple story has prejudiced several insurance companies ijg.iinst paying the risks they had taken on the ship, and it also explains how easily a shipowner can turn a poor craft into cash if insurance, offices happened to be at all careless.

The breakwinds on the Rimutaka Incline (says the Post) are making rapid progress towards completion on the more exposed side of the line. Massive timber piles are being driven vertically into the bank by the aid of, a pile-driving "niorkey," the portion left out Qf t])e ground being about the height of a railway carriage. To these are being strongly bolted longitudinal Vails, partially let into the upright posts, the whole forming a very substantial barrier to the fiercest gale, the force of which would be so completely "broken up" by the posts and rails that there is no danger of any repetition of the l.te sad accident at that point. Two Fell engines are now almost always used on the incline, one being placed in the middle of the train, behind the. passenger carriages, and in front of the goods waggons, the other bringing up tbie rear. This is found, so far, to answer very satisfactorily, It is feared that if one engine were to be placed in front of the passenger carriages, the passengers would be stifled in the tunnels, with the volumes of smoke and vapour ejected by the large engines. For it unluckily happens that the Fell locomotives give forth exceptionally enormous volumes of smoke and- vapour, while the tunnels arc so small a? only just to permit the passage of the i ngines. All the heat we experience here (says a writer in G'oulbura's Monthly Magazine) lies dormant in the atmosphere, and is raised to a higher or lower degree within it, up from a certain minimum, by the light of the sun. Should we ascend from the earth to the sun, in rising up through the veil of atmosphere, every step higher as it became thinner, the cold would increase up. to vacancy, and wo should find no heat there. Continuing to come nearer ihc gun ; the intensity of his light would be increasing, the nearer the approach, but still there would be no heat, and if he is, what is most likely, without an atmosphere, we should discover that instead of being on aball of fire, his whole surface would consist of endless regions of cold desolation. How does this agree with Mr. Proctor's theory of the fiery youthfulness of the centre of our solar system ? The multitudinous hypotheses with which astronomical science abounds leaves one in a fog as thick as that of abso'ute ignorance concerning the wonders of the reputed worlds that stud the heavens. It is only now necessary for a scientist as clever as Mr. Proctor to treat us to arguments diametrically opposed to what we have just heard from that gentleman, and we would feel that the last exponent was correct, and Mr. Proctor wrong unless some other candidate for public ere-" dence entered the field, when the two first exponents would be wrong, and the third exponent right. There are numerous astronomical theories, the whole of which are so equally feasible that the mind is prone to accept the whole of them in its dilemma as to which is the right one. After all, no one can be quite sure whether or not the right one has yet been found. At best, there are but comparatively few facts connected with astronomical science of which savants have as yet been able to make sure.