We understand that Mr Brewer intends to start iu business again at Balclutha. A MEETING of members of the Tokomairiro Jockey Club will be held at the Commercial Hotel at eight o'clock on Monday night. Mb John Mosley, of Warepa, while engaged harvesting the other day, put up a covey of about twenty partridges, in a field of oats. He also informs us that he has seen Californian quail in the district. A WRITER in the ' Dundee Advertiser,' after protesting ngainst the destruction of small birds in Scotland, refers to the trouble that lias been taken to introduce insectivorous birds into this Colony. Mr M'Donald, baker, Balclutha, whose bakehouse is on the north side of the river, is, we no^ige, Jhaving a shop oxected on the main steeet, Adjoining Mr Smith's property. ' Majob Joxes inspected the EastTaieri Volunteers on Wednesday evening, bub owing to harvesting operations the attendance was s'raall. On Tuesday lust, he inspected the West Taieri Company. There was a fair muster, and after company drill, &c, a number of recruits were sworn in. ; -"Harvesting is now well advanced In the Cljutha district. We observe that Messrs Tosh, dnd- Cossens commenced thrashing yesterday, and the returns compare very favorably with that of previous seasons. There is every likelihood of the thrashing season being a short one, there being so many mills in the distriot. We are informed that there will ba eight steam threshing mills at work between Wuipahee and Balclutha. Mb J. P. Maitlaitd disposed of the following cases in the Resident Magistrate's Court, Milton, on Tuesday : — Philp, Henderson and Co. v. Thomas Kirby, £22 Is on a dishonored promissory note. Judgment for plaintiff, witli costs. Richardson v. Holt, £2 ss, gqods supplied. Judgment confessed. M-Laren >. Curren, £29 Is 3d, goods supplied, Mi 1 Iteid appeared for the plaintiff, and judgment was given for the amount claimed, with costs. M'Laren v. Cassely, £23 Is lOtl, goods supplied. Mr Reid appeared for the plaintiff, for whom judgment was given. On Thursday only one case waa heard — M'Laren v. Lowden, a pja^m fqr £33 i6s lOJrd, for gpods supplied. t\v Reid appeared far the plaintiff, judgment was' given for ££4 iOd, with costs. The Combination Company appeared at St. George's Hall, on Wednesday n'ghfc, and played to a very small audience. The Company, consists of Miss Polly Leake, Miss Rosa Willis, Mr A. Power, Mr J. Hoyio, Mr J. Laverach, Mr U. Lines, and Master ilavry Roberts. The iirst piece played was tho well-known farce " Bstsy Baker," and if Iheris had not been, here and there, a slight taint of vulgarity, this would have been amusing enough. The equally well-known farce " Nan, the Grood-for-Nothiug " was also played, and — -with the same reservation — we may say tha.t the Company acquitted themselves/well. Jf some of the male members of the troupe did rsQt make such a liberal use of expletives, not to be found in the text, their efforts to please would, no doubt, be better appreciated. There was to have been a "musical melange," but, unfortunately, it was found impossible to oarry out this portion of the programme. The reason was, that no one could sing to an accompaniment played on the wretched instrument that had been hired for the occasion. When the pianist struck the first few chorda in the overture, two or three sensitiye. occupants of the gallery were seen to wr]the as if in bouily agony, and, for our own part., we pan that the -concord of sweet sounds" that might have been produced from a kerosene tin arid an old banjo would have been in,finitely preferuble. Mr Austin Power recited Tennyson's " Charge of the Light Brigade," in a Vfuj that would have made the hair on the venerable Laureate's head stand on end, had he been present. Mr Power appeared in ordinary dress, and sought to add to the effect by holding a sword — as sword .was, never yet held by soldier, A gentleman behind the scenes banged away on the big drum, at intervals during the recitation, and the audience Vere left to imagine that they heard the booming of the cannon as the- gallant six hundred rode .into .; , ,the /valley ; of death. Mr Power has many difijculfcies to . .master, before ,he will make his mark' as it reader or reciter. For : instance, 1 Tennys'oK did not ■write— :> :..„ , Arf a loagrue, Arf a league • •;■.. . " * Arf a leagu6 onward ; and we^believe it was : the poet's intention that tife aspirate showW . be used in the word V^fl - C|redi» ■•■*' ! " - ■

Joseph Smith, n sou of Mr William Smith, of the Clubha," fractured one of hia arms a few days ago, by falliug while engaged in some gymnastic exercises. ■■■ : ■■-•■-•■• A speoiAi. general meeting of the shareholders in the Kaitangafca Kail way and Goal Company, will be held at the Newmarket Hotel, Balclutha, on Wednesday, March. Ist. The rails on the Kaitangata branch, line have all beon laid, and an engine is now beiug used, for ballasting operations. The line will probably be open for the carriage of coal in about three weeks, and for passenger truffle shortly after. Al/EEADT the names of three candidates — Messrs H. W, Farnall, J. M. Clark, and B. Tonka (Mayor of Auckland) are mentioned for Auckland West, which it is expected Sir Goorge Grey will vacate in order to represent the constituency of the Thames. The Kaitangata Coal Company's new shaft is now down over one .hundred feet. Several seams of coal have been struck, but the quality is not good. It is expected that a seam of good coal will be struck when the shaft has been put down another twenty feet. The several Australian Governments have agreed to request the Bank of England to inscribe their stocks the same as arranged for New Zealand. Information has been received at Adelaide that the Imperial Government have assented to the request having reference to inscribed stock, and will make the Bill apply to the colonies generally. Lettees patent, under the hand of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Ancient Fraternity of Freemasons in England, have been received by this mail, appointing SirDaualdM'Lean, K.C.M., District Grand Master for the North Island of New Zealand. Sir George Gbey is, of course making as much political capital as possible out of the "unemployed" at Grahamstown. These poor fellows were sold, however, the other day. A telegram from Grahamstown, dated Feb. 21st, Bays — " A large number of unemployed assembled at the wharf, to meat Sir George Grey. A banner was stretched across the landing, in calico strips, with the inscription, 'Welcome Sir George Grey. We want work.' Sir George did not come." One of the master-carpenters of Balchitha called the men in his employment together a few days ago, and proposed that they should submit lo a small reduction of wages, as work was slack, and people were not willing to pay a high price for building. He asked the men to accept ten shillings per day instead of twelve, until business became brisker, and promised to find them plenty of work. They would not agree to the reduction, and he gave them until Saturday to consider the matter. A ckicket match will be played on the Dunedin ground to-day between the Bruce and Albion Clubs. The Bruce Club will be represented by John Lane, John Grant, Gibson, Barclay, James Grant, Ness, D. Reid, Mathieson, Dicksou, Win. Nome, and H. M'Eeehnie. The Albion team will consist of — Shapere, W. Huchinsou, T. Hutchinson, Buchanan, B. Gouclie, J. Goudie, Gratei 1 , Shepherd, Rowe, Adams, Miller. Me John Domiage 'delivered his promised lecture at St. George's Hull on Tuesday night, in aid of the funds of the Milton Fire Brigade. The hall was scarcely half filled. Mr Dolmage selected as his subject, " Personal Recollections of the Indian Mutiny," and the lecture was an interesting one. The Milton Brass Band was in attendance, and played selections of music during the evening. At the close of the lecture Mr Dolmage was accorded a hearty vote of thanks, dipt. Fred. Bastings, of the Milton Volunteer Fire Brigade, presided. A meeting of the Cattle Board was held in Dunedia, on Tuesday last. The following report, dated Feb. 22nd, was read from Mr B. P. Bayley, chief inspector : — " I have the honor to l'eporfc, in accordance with clause 4G of the Diseased Cattle Act, 1871, that during the last six months there has been no infectious disease among the cattle of this Province. Since August, 1875, 22 head of cattle have been imported from Great Britain, 20 of which, after having been quarantined for thres months, and showing no signs of disease, havB been released. Two are still in quarantine, and, up to the present date, healthy, One hundred and twenty-three sheep have been imported sinca the above date from Great Britaiu. These proving healthy, have all been released with clean certificates." Is the Resident Magistrate's Court, Balclutha, on Wednesday, Samuel Carswell was charged with having stolen a number of shirts from his employers, Messrs Scobie Bros. It will be remembered that the accused had been committed to take his trial at the District Court, but as that Court had not jurisdiction, the proceedings ha,d to be commenced auew. The evidence taken on Wednesday was similar to that published by us some weeks ago, and the accused was committed for trial at the Supreme Court. In the following cases judgment was given for the amount claimed, with costs ;— rßamage v. Dalgety, £4. 10s, gqods supplied ; Stewart and Gow v. Maher, £70, amount of dishonored acceptance ; Stewart and Gow v. Ingles, £34- 15s 2d, amount of dishonored acceptance ; Stewart and Gow v. Lattiinore, £40, amount of a dishonored bil} j Stewart and Gow v. Crawford, £fiQ 10s, amount of a dishonored bill, The case Gordon and Young v, Ebhat was adjourned. I?? ouy last issiie we mentioned that Sir Julius Vogel had brought from England a number of struck cuttings of the cork oak, which had been planted in the Wellington B:tanica.l Gardens. It is to be hoped that this valuable tree will flourish jo New Zealand. In connection with this matter, the following paragraph from tho ' South Australian Regieter' will be read with interest : — "We have beon shown by Mr A. Hardy, M.P., a sample of a cork, nearly an inch thick, stripped from a cork tree grown by him near Mount Lofty, at an elevation of about 2300 feet above the sea level. In 18G4 the then Government obtained from Spain a number of acorns of the genuine oork tree of commerce. Many of these were distributed through Dr Schomburgk, nnd MiHardy obtained twenty^six plants, of which twenty are now in a nourishing state. The tree from which the bark referred to was taken is over twelve feet high, and is eighteen iuches in circumfereuce at oue foot above the ground. The. sample will be sent to Philadelphia, and no doubt form a noticeable addition tQ the list of our products. It is evident, trto, that the cork tree could be profitably cultivated here on a larger, scale," Ii? the ' British Trade Journal ' for October, in an article on potteries, we find the following paragraph ? — " What appears lo be a successful Venture i.u this trade i3 the floating of a pottery company iu New Zealand. The capital is £30,000, Mr White, who is connected with the company, has devoted a considerable portion of his time to the preparation of the necessary buildings and plant for the manufacture of all classes of Staffordshire ware upon the most approved principles and latest improvements in machinery used in Staffordshire. It is of sufficient interest to our home producers to mention that the promoters have every confidence that they will be enabled to supply the whole colonial' market with any article in pottery ware, at a figure sufficiently low to compete successfully with the home artiole, while securing a larga margin of profit to the company, who have secured the service, as . manager, of f Mr Chetham, for thirty years pj*o- ' prietor, we. believe, of .a . large pottery in Com-. ! merce-st., ; Lpngton. Thirty experienced hauds . from the potteries, hftye b^een, secured." Weave sorry that { W p contemporary will not h^e an, onportu.nity of congratulating us an th,3 'fbWll of fcj*e Mil ton, ?<?ttery Worfo ,

Sections 6 and 7, block XXX , in the township of Kaitangnta, have been reserved as a site for a telegraph station. Mb PfIOTJDrooT telegraphs to the ' Southland Times,' that the information re the Western railway?, supplied to that journal, is entirely incorrect. The works have never been stopped, therefore they do not require re- commencing Further, no arrangement has been made to take over the works. The ' Times ' makes answer that ifc had its information on such high authority that there is no reason to doubt its accuracy, but supposes that the condition with regard to the claim, for damages has prevented the arrangement from, being carried into effect, and adds that Messrs J. aud N. Campbell, the well-known contractors, are about to send in a claim to the Provincial Government to take up the contract for the Western Railways. It will be remembered that their contract was the lowest when Mr Proudfoot's "was accepted, and that it was sent in two days before the time.