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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 14 December 1880, Page 2

The weekly meeting Of the Directors of the Ca'edonian Society was held Ifist evening, Mr. D. Miller being in the cjiair, Tjie minutes of the last meeting having been confirmed, two tenders were opened for the erection of a grand stand. The amounts being considered excessive, the question of erecting a grand stand was referred to the Ground Committee with power to act. Mr. Fleming, on behalf of the Committee appointed at the last meeting to inquire into the complaint of Mr. Blair with reference to the short return of chairs on the occasion of the Society's concert, reported that the missing chairs had been found in the Volunteer Hall, and had been hapdedto Mr. Blair, The sale of booths was fixed to take place on Saturday next. It was decided that the two next meetings should be held on Tuesday evenings instead of on Monday. Some matters of detail were settled, and the meeting terminated. On Monday next No. 1 Company will resume class firing at the rifle range, when the gecond class firing will be taken. The corn-

petition will be continued on Monday-after-noon and on Wednesday and Friday mornings and afternoons. - _ i4 | " ? The weekly practice of the Philharinonic' Society wilt be held on Friday evenjng,' in consequence of the hall being; engage® for; Wednesday. We are requested to state that it is expected the full, band parts'will j then be available, and to invite alfiiistrumentalists who desire to take part-in the concert to be present. To-morrow evening, Professor Haselmayer, one of the cleverest prestidigitators that has. eyer visited the. Colonies, and an accomplished musician," assisted by 'Madame Haselmayer, will appear at the .Volunteer "Hall in one of their. ,entei> tainments. Those, who saw the Processor on the occasion of his previous:: tour through the Colony do not require to be told that his entertainment is an excellent one, and those who have not yet seen him should avail themselves of the opportunity of doing so. The monthly meeting of the Waitaki Road Board was held to-day, when there -were present—Messrs. Coniiell (Chairman), Johnston, Procter, Schluter, Wilson, Duncan, Dennison, Hall, and Oliver (Enginecg).. The minutes of the last meeting having been confirmed, a letter was read from the New Zealand Mercantile Agency Company stating that the Board's request for-the paymentof; the Company's share of the cost of works on the Phoenix Mill Road had been submitted to the Board of Directors. The Engineer reported having forwarded plans of road-line in blocks 2 and 3, Awamoko, to be taken under the Public Works Act. A letter was read from the Treasury announcing the pay ment of L 206 12s 2d, being, the subsidy, of 7s 6d in the-£ on rates collected during the past year. The Engineer reported on the proposed road from Mr. Grant's farm,, in block 13, Oamaru, to Horse Gully-j-giyi'Jg an

estimate of the cost. The matter was referred to Messrs. Borrie and Wilson to interview the proprietors of land with reference to the land required. Tenders were opened and the following accepted : —Embanking lagoon- on the road between the farms of Messrs. Westlake and Hay, Mr. Thos. .L 39 ; fencing and draining roadline in. block -2, Awamoko, Mr. Thomas Kerr, L2O 2s Sd.; It was decided to call the attention of .the members of the House of Representatives for. the district to the necessity for Hav'in'g facilities provided in the shape : of crossings on railways in cases where the department take, advantage •• of the provision of section 10. of the Public Works Act, 1880. f The. Chairman and Messrs. Johnston and Duncan were appointed a deputation to the -JEton. the Minister for Public Works with reference to

the erection of cattle yards on the Duntroon railway, and with reference to the construction of a siding at Peebles. ' The snb-Com-mittee reported having appointed Mr!. J. Bee as valuer. It was resolved to call upon the occupiers of the education reserve on the Main Nox-th Road to have the gorse removed from Redcastle Road. Accounts to the amount of L3l 0s 2d were passed for payment, and the Board rose. . On Thursday, at three o'clock, Mr. Haselmayer will give a performance to school children, and the schools will be closed for a

half-day in order to afford all /the children an opportunity of being present.' The charge for admission will be sixpence,. Commodore Cheyne says : —" It was not the Arctic region that sent Franklin's men to the next world. They were murdered by the contractor who supplied the expedition with preserved meats. Everything, belonging to the animal except the horns, hoofs, andhides, was put in these tins— entrails, and bones."

Preaching at Melbourne the other day, the Rev. Rabbi Davis, of Sydney, expressed a firm belief that Queen' Victoria was a descendant of a noble Jewish family of antiquity, and he supported the theory of the Anglo-Israelites, who believe - that the English people are of Jewish descent, Manchester has found that the draining and paving of twenty streets diminished her mortality more than one-sixth; ■ Out of 200 young trout sent from- Christchurch to Waimate, for liberation on the Waihaorunga estate, only 20 survived the trip. " The Herald says Mr. Wm. Bolt, of Purakanui,. has become the purchaser of Messrs. A. and J. M'Farlane's first prize two-year-old Ayrshire bull Douglas at a big figure.

According to a return published during the last session of the J egislature, the number of breweries in New Zealand was.lOS, and the number of barrels brewed .as registered under the Distillation Act, 1868, ISG,OSG, in the manufacture of which the following materials were'used Malt, 504,144 bushels ; hops, 622,6551b ; sugar, 2,481,5851b; glucose, 42,3961b ; isinglass, G72lb ,• corriander seed, 3001b. The Canterbury Times says that the wool clip on a large station in the Waimate district averaged 71b per sheep.; and that Mr. Allan M'Lean will export fully 100 bales more this season than he -did last. The crops in the Waimate district are looking well, notwithstanding the dry weather, and owners of those sown early expect nearly 50 bushels of white velvet and red chaff to the acre.

A novel use of flowers is now vogue in

Paris. . It is the wearing of a small bunch of natural flo * ers on the shoes, in place of the lace and ribbon rosettes of a few seasons ago. The favorites are primroses, yellow on one shoe, purple on the other, or mixed on both ; violets are much worn, and dasies are justcoming in." The following is the population of the Colonies :—Victoria, 889,000 ; New South Wales, 734,0fi0 ; Queensland, 218,000 ; South Australia, 290,000 ; New Zealand, 464,000 ; and Tasmania, 112,000; the aggregate being 2 710,000, . ' '

The Canterbury Times says j—lt is really disgraceful the way the public funds are squandered. The breakwork at Lyttelton is another example of this. ,So insecure is its foundation, and so unworthily is it constructed, that it is feared that if people in anything like numbers assemble on it during the regatta the whole structure will give way. To keep the numbers down as much as possible it has been wisely, determined to charge a shilling a head for persons going on to the breakwater on the regatta day; It has not been finally decided whether any charge shall be made on spectators who take to the hill.

It is not commonly known that General Burrows, the commander at Kushki-nakud, is a humorist, but the Simla correspondent of the Englishman tells the following story about his joking propensities : —" You must know that in prder to ' intelligence' and ' survey' the country accurately and elaborately, several'camel loads of pencils and paper were sent up with Burrows to the Helmund. One day, on the retirement cf the forces for want of : Supplies, there were no rations at all for the troops; so the General, recognising the extreme gravity of the situar tipn, assembled them, made a speech, and then ordered each man to be supplied with a lead pencil and sheet of paper. He said that, as General Primrosehad disappointed him in sending up the provisions he had weeks before ordered for the troops, the pencils and paper were intended to enable them tp draw their rations as usual." J

The unfortunate young lady who was so barbarously murdered by Tuhi near Opunake had visited Parihaka, and Te Whiti had been quite charmed with her winsome manner. After taking sketches in the paji, she asked to be allowed to ascend the 'hill oyer? lpoking Parihaka, to draw a, sketch of the whole place from that point. The. prophet said this was impossible ; the hill was tapu to the pakeha, and no whiteman or woman had ever set foot upon its summit. Miss Dobie, however, was not to be baulked, and after a few minutes persuasipn she got Te Whiti to yield. Nay, more (says the Kangitikei Advocate) the old prophet grouped his people and himself in ■ picturesque positions, and they remained thus whilst the fair artist took the coverted sketch from the hill top. ' At a recent meeting of the Kaiapoi Farmers' Club, Mr. • R. Coup, who, in the ftbpepce of Mr. James Hurse, hftd beep asked to read a paper, stated as time had not been given to prepare a subject for debate, he had to thank Mr, W. Bateman for a copy of an article on co-operation, being one of a series presented by that gentleman before the farmers of South Canterbury. The paper referred to the present position .of farming matters in connection with the markets of the world, explained the salient principle of co-operation, and set forth the advantages of amalgamation on the part of farmers in disposing of their produce to the best advantage. The writer went into the question of merchants' profits on their trans-

actions in grain, and referred to the accumu- j dating of wealth at the expense of the farmers. success of various co-operative schemes "Was alluded to, and the manifold advantages 'of amalgamation set forth in its brightest phase. 'A discussion followed, in which Mr. Wilson defended the merchants by pointing out that they were better qualified to manage the commerce of the country than the farmers. He pointed to the non-success of several Farmers' Unions, as showing what a difficult task was before those who propounded'the scheme of cp-operation, which was said to be running like wildfire through South Canterbury. The real ground of complaint. made by farmers seemed- to be' that they, considered the charges on seiidihg grain to England too high, and as a remedy they ought to look more carefully into their account sales, and check the alleged unfair or excessive charges. The views set forth in the openers' remarks were, however, most in favor among the members present. On- September 29th there was sent out by the Nelson, from Glasgow, for the Hon. Mathew Holmes, Otago, Glenbarry, one of the bulls used for some of the highest-priced cows-at'Tillyfour last season, and Knight of the Thistle, a bull calf out of Pride sth, the 135-guinea. cow, and a heifer in calf to the Heir of Glory, purchased from Mr. Auld at Bridgend. The bulls are to be put to wellbred shorthorn heifers at Castlerock, and it is anticipated that the cross will succeed there, as it has succeeded in most place. However much breeders may differ on many points, they seem to agree in holding that no better animal can be obtained for feeding and early development than a cross between the short'horin and the Angus.. In the same ship are five Cheviot ewes and two rgms, purchased from that celebrated breeder, Mr; . Elliot, HindthorpeV - They were' successful prizetakers both at Carlisle and Kelso, are splendid' specimens of the breed, and should be highly advantageous to the -large flock of Cheviots now at Manipori that have emanated from seven ewes . sent out to the Colony'about 25 years ago from Moodlaw. There are also eight shearling Lincoln rams, five of which belong to the New Zealand and Australian Land Company. They were bought from Mr. J. W. Kirkham, Cadesby Hall, Lincolnshire, one of the best breeders in that county. They are magnificent sheep, weighing about 401bs a quarter, and carry a splendid - fleece of long, bright, lustrous wool, so much sought after by New Zealand breeders.—European Mail. 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 o£ which close on the 15th inst." — [Advt.]