The Oamaru Mail. MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 6 December 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1880.

Mr. Parker, by a decision in the Resident Magistrate's Court to-day, .upheld, the Corporation bye-law determining that hawkere of milk should pay a license fee. It will be rembered that some days ago Mr. William Brodie Robb was charged with having, on the 9th November, hawked milk without 20"ol~ fhe"Uorporation of Oamaru. Mr. Balmer appeared on behalf of the Corporation, and Mr. O'Meagher for the defendant, and a considerable amount of argument took place. Judgment was given this morning, when the defendant was fined Is and ordered to pay 21s and costs. Captain Edwin telegraphs as follows : "Bad weather approaching from any direction between north-east and south. The

glass will fall, but will rise again within six hours."

The Ardentinny will, we believe, leave

Port Chalmers to-morrow for Oamarn, and will commence loading wool for London daring the week. The unpleasantness of the journey by "special" from Palmerston on Saturday night may be viewed as the fruits of severe retrenchment. The railway staff has been no reduced that it is barely sufficient to perform tjTe duties of ordinary traffic. The stationmastej- and porter, upon whom the whole responsibility of making the arrangements regarding the Saturday's special devolved, evidently had so much work to perform in connection therewith that it could scarcely be expected that they could perform it well and up to timo, We are not excusing the inconveniences that passengers were called upon to suffer. It is bad enough for men, many of wjjom were doubtless strangers to each other, to be huddled together in a Becond-class carriage without a light, notwithstanding that some of them had paid a first-class fare; but it is worse when a lady has to suffer the fumes of tobacco, and that other concommitant of smoking, as well aa language that, although, perhaps, by a stretch of conscience, is permissible in a company consisting solely of males, is unfit for female ears. We think that these things should not be allowed to occur. Surely a hand, or two from elsewhere could have been pressed into, the service to assist in performing the additional work entailed in connection with the "special," so that everything might have been " done decently and in order." A short staff may not only be productive of public inconvenience, but it may be the cause of accident. The two officials who were called upon to perform, by the uncertain and meagre light of bulls-eyes, the responsible task of setting everything right for the journey, no doubt stretched every muscle and nerve to avoid mistakes, but they were harassed by an excess of work of a multifarions kind, and, if they had left something important undone, we should not have been surprised, although the public might have been shocked by the occurrence of some fatai disaster, and those officials entrusted with two much responsibility, disconcerted to find themselves out of employment.

Hia "Worship the Resident Magistrate j gave judgment in the case of Wait v. Collis, | a claim for L 8 ISs Cd, for professional services and medicines. The case was heard some weeks since, and the evidence was published in full in our columns. His Worship gave a long decision, going pretty fully into the evidence, and concluding with giving judgment for Ss, in addition to the amount paid into Court, being the total amount of the claim for medicines, &c., supplied, but declined to give judgment for the sum claimed for professional services. He also ordered Mr. Collis to pay costs amounting to LI lis, including LI Is professional costs. Mr. Xewton gave notice of appeal. While to-day's express was travelling up the incline in the locality of the Evansdale station, a horse-box, the position of which was about three trucks from the engine, got off the rails. A man who was in charge of one of the horses in a horse-box immediately in front, saw the stray horse-box bnmping furiously, and gave warning, the train was stopped, and everything "was righted. It is considered singular that such an accident should have happened, as the train at the time was travelling but slowly. There is wrong somewhere, and, whatever it is, it should be rectified. Such mishaps are calculated to shake public confidence more than .ever in the solidity and security of our railways. Supposing that such a casualty had occurred on the Blueskin cliffs, or on some awkward embankment, the result /night have been §epous.

We have been requested by the United ■ Friendly Societies' Sports Committee to state that Mr. M. Taylor has given a handsome work-box as an additional special prize for the second highest scorer in the Friendly Societies'" Cup Handicap; • ■ i ■ The cricket match between the second elevens of the Oamaru and Union Clubs terminated on Saturday afternoon": _in a victory for the Union team, with five wickets to spare. J n their first innings the Oamaru Club team made 46 and the Unions followed with 74. "With 28 to the bad the senior club started their second innings, and put together 66, Finch heading the list with a well obtained 32, while A. 0. Hardy put together' 13. " Having only 39 to get to win; the Union team found little difficulty in scoring a victory, and the task was made much easier by the good -batting of Hook, - who scored 22, not out. At the Resident Magistrate's Court to-day, before T. W. Parker, Esq., R.M., Jane Paul, for' having been drank: And disorderly, was fined ss. A charge against the same person of being a common prostitute and behaving in an indecent and 'disorderly manner was withdrawn, Peter Russell, far tethering a horse so as to permit it to encroach on a public street, was fined 10s. Edward Sincock, charged with neglecting to place a light on building material in Teesstreet after sunset, was fined ss. William Aitken, who had been fined os_on the 22nd August, not having paid the fine, was summoned by the Inspector of Nuisances on the same charge. Defendant did not appear, and his Worship raised the amount to 10s. Henry Richards, for allowing a horse to wander at large, was fined 4s ; and Charles Mathews, for a similar breach of the byelaws, was fined 3s. John SullivpJi was charged with, having, at Dimtroon, on the stli Debeinber, stolen a quantity of cherries of the value of 10s, the property of B. W T . Welsh. • Evidence having been taken, accused was convicted and sentenced to four days' imprisonment with hard labor. John Hamilton, alias.. Halinden, alias Robert Muir, was charged with having, at Oamaru, on or about the 25th November, forged and uttered a cheque for'l/2, purporting to be 'drawn by John Hunter on the Bank of New Zealand. George H. Amos deposed that accused was in his house, the Northern Hotel, on the 25th of last month, and had a drink, for wljicli he .tendgred a cheque in payment. Witness asked him whose cheque it was, when accused replied that it was John Hunter's—that he had been working for himi He called for three more, drinks, which witness gave him and LI 18s change. The cheque was sent to the bank and returned. John Hunter, a farmer residing at Aredale, said that accused had been in his employ for two or three months. The cheque produced did not contain his signature, anil lie had never given ftocuged authority to sign his signature. Jolin A. S. Wait, ledgerkeeper at the Bank of New Zealand, proved the cheque to be a forgery. This was all the evidence, and the prisoner was committed to take his trial at the next sitting of the Supreme Court at Dunedin. Almost everywhere but in Oamaru steps are being taken to prpvide prizes fqr presentation to deserving girls and boys in our public schools as a fitting accompaniment to the " breaking*up " for the holiday. Even little Livingstone is ahead of ■ Oamaru. in this matter, whilst the Chairman of the Tiinaru School Committee has addressed a circular to the public, appealing for subscriptions to the amount of about L4O to effect this worthy and old-established custom. We believe that the people of Oamaru town and district are not less liberal than the people of Timaru and elsewhere in the Colony. It is only necessary for someone to make the appeal to "ensure a hearty re : sponse. We have not a Sir Julius Vogel in pur midst, but we have those who are quite as much interested in the cause of education and the happiness and encqunvgemenfc of otir school children, and who would contribute to a fund for the presentation of school prizes from motives quite as pure as those to which the Colony owes pfesents of books, :toys, and figs, from the great financier.- - Do not let us send our deserving boys and girls about their business for the Christmas vacation without giving them something by , which they will be reminded that; merit receives its just reward. If the Oamaru Schools Committee were to interest them- ; selves in the matter of raising funds for the purchase of prizes, their efforts would, we are sure, be crowned with success.

Tambetff, Alderman M'Arthur, is a. most influential member of the VVesleyan denomination, and a liberal contributor to their church building fund. The increased duty which the Victorian Ministry contemplates imposing on foreign grain will have the effect, if made law, of raising still higher the barrier that exists against the exportation of oats from New Zealand to that Colony. The present duty of Is in the lOOlbs has been found to be sufficiently prohibitive to quench business in this commodity. . But if the Victorian Ministry gets its own way this rate will be doubled. A duty of 2s on a cental of oats (2J bushels) means rather more than p-Jd per bushel. When to this embargo are added freight, charges at ports of shipment and delivery, and commission, it will be seen how effectually New Zealand oats will be barred out of Victoria. It is high time that, if possible, arrangements were made with Victoria to admit its wines, &c., free of duty, provided that it removes its restrictions from from our oats.

Between the cow and the butter-maker there is a point which cannot be too carefully guarded—the way in which the milk is drawn from the cpw and handled before it reaches the milk-room. A very large part of the poor butter made results from the milk being spoiled before it is even strained. One lot qf butter examined at the fair showed this at once; it was not fit for any use as food. Some, on tasting it, would have said "animal odour," Perhaps so, but not from the cow. If the cow is healthy and has good food and pure water, there can be no odour or taste to the milk in the udder at all objectionable. Nor will there be if the milk is drawn from a well-cleaned udder by a clean milker, in pure air, and kept away from all sources of taint. Others would have said this butter was " cowy," Don't lay such a oharge to the poor cow ; she did her part faithfully. The butter we complain of is not cowy ; it is horsey or piggey, or, worse yet, filthy. The cow keeper and milker are the persons to blame. Let every butter-maker who has any regard for the reputation of his or her product insist upon every possible precaution being taken by the milker to keep the milk pure and clean. No really good butter can be expected if the milk is taken from an unclean bag, or by a milker with dirty hands or clothin?, or if the milking is done in a filthy or ill-ventilated stable, or the milk allowed to stand, evert a short time, surrounded by impure air. It is the greatest mistake to suppose that if dirty or foreign matter gets into the milk, careful straining will remedy the evil; the object may be removed, but the taint remains. It must also be remembered that there are invisible things as sure to spoil milk as those we can see. There are now improved implements which greatly protect the milk, guarding against carelessness and accidents, but nothing will tftke the place of careful, cleanly milking. of Hampshire Committee on Butter and Cheese. On reference to our advertising columns will be seen the Abridged Prospectus of the Caswell Sound Marble, Portland Cement, and Mining Company (Limited), the share list of which close on the loth inst."— [Advt,]