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Cromwell Argus, Volume VI, Issue 310, 20 October 1875, Page 5

■i .■■ " 1 : ‘ ■ I ■ c r Oip Hey Presto I change again! Such seemstobcthe leading characteristic of the Otago postal department.. Within the last.few : months no less than three alterations in the' 1 days 1 of arrival aiid departure of the mails- As aohnsequ'ence, every bodyis^ip,a hsippy:state’oyog!'which is interifeified by, the feeling fjha.fi there’ is ' no saying when another variety in the programme vrill be presented. Ihdeed, we hear that in a week or two more'further *‘ improvements” will be effected.It is said ! to ■ be 'the to run the mail right, through from Bengerbnrn to Queenstown in one day. 'this we wi lbe glad to see accomplished. and rejoice to notice a desire to ! render the service as complete and effe< tive as possible. But for goodness Lake,let certaindays and times be fixed and adhered to,; so that the public can depend thoroughly om this aU-important branch nf the public service. As it is now. every thing is in a jumble, mails are delivered anyhow, andgenerally, postal matters are uncomfortably bewildering. What adds to the confusion ik-that w ith the,main line of service all the local' mails undergo a corresponding change, touch to’the inconvenience of, the . commercial For ourselves, we pray say that to meet , the last alteration, and so-.that ope readers shopld have their papers early after issue,; we shifted the day Of 1 publication, and now we are in a Avorse fix than ever-aa regards' 1 our Cardrona Ond Wanaka constituents. However, no donbti'things will •ooh settle permanently, and until we see some indication that way we think our supporters will agree that it would riot be wise to adopt the present weather-cock policy of the Otago postal department.' < V 1 ,

The present and last session of the existing Parliament closes to-morrow. ' 1 “ Observer’s” report of Mr Inspector Tavlor’a examination of the Gorge School is crowded out this issue.

Report of Municipal Council proceedings, Arrow letter, and other taatter will be found on the third page.

Jockey Club members are invited to meet at Heron’s White Hart Hotel, 6fl Friday right, to consider important business.

The Dunedin gasworks have been purchased by the City Council at a costmf £43,500 Possession is to be taken one Ist January, 1876. Payment is to he made by the Corporation for the gasworks m six per cent debentures,at par.

Tenders are elsewhere invited for laying water pipes for the Corporation. We are glad to see no time is being lost in this important undertaking, and think the promise to have the water available by Christmas is likely to be redeemed. . . ,

Last Wednesday afternoon a well-known and highly respected miner at the Nevis, met w'th an awfully sudden death by a fall of earth in his claim. He leaves a widow and young family, for whom much sympathy is felt. Particulars of the accident will be learned by reference to the ; nquest, reported in another column. .. „

A challenge has been received from the Clyde Cricket Club to play a match on Tuesday, 9th November. A meeting of members of this club is called for this evening to consider the challenge. We understand our Clyde neighbors have set their faces against the established custom of entertaining the opposing team at supper, and have intimated to that effect in the letter to this club.

At a meeting of shareholders In the Heart of Oak Co., held in Dunedin on 12th instant, the following resolution was passed That insomuch as the Manager states there is sufficient assets to meet the current liabilities of the Company if the shareholders paid the calls now due, this meeting is of opinion that it is inexpedient to grant the directors power to borrow money on the security of the Company, but thinks that the manager should take prop Cr steps to recover all calls in arrear.

t 1 /The Chronicle says it, ia rumored that Mr H. Bmythias will woo, the Mount Ida constituency at the enauingigeneral elections.

For the Arrow, Clyde, and Nasoby Gaols the tenders of Kisimgbury.'ahd Powell havp hpen .-accepted 5 the amount respectively being £520, £s2d, and, £540. ” , , : l It will be seen from advertisomentelsowhere that the renowned stud horse Architect” is again placed- at; the service of those, desirous of procuring a fine steam of blood in their equine stock. The pedigree of “ Architect” is unexceptionable, and speaks for itself.

On Saturday a miner at BaileyVfiilly named Skinner -met' with an accident whereby he had one of nis legs broken, ft seems he was clearing out a tail-race when a block of pipeclay came down on him, inflicting the injury named. Skinneri was removed tp the Hospital.

The* Tuapeka ■ Times remarks Some idea (if the'extent to which coaching traffic has developed Under the new mole of locomotion provided by the railway, maybe gathered from the fact that no fewer then 36 coaches arrive at find depart from Lawrence during the Week; viz., thirty running in conjunction with the train, the other kix going to and from the interior in connection with thethrough lineto the Dnnstan and Wakatipu. The drivers, who 1 are closetimed, are provided with bugles, 1 with 'which they announce their approach!' n The Northern Escort conveyed to Dunedin last wepk -the following quantities of gold itiw v-n ! ■ ozs. dwts. ■ Alexandra • » - 404 0 Arrow • . 390 0 Cardrona * *■.,*. - 667 9 Cromwell- * * - ~1733 0 1 Queenstown • . '1266 4 - Teviot ! • , . * .616 o .','i

■•' ■: Total - - 5076 13. , ’ On the occasion last Wednesday of the first coach coming through to Cromwell under the pew system of coaching, whereby this town is made the terminus of the second day’s journey from Dunedin, some energetic citizens determined to mark the event by presenting the driver with a memento of the occasion. The i lea was quite impromptu, and was peedilyput into practical shape." A sufficient sura was quickly collected to purchase a handsome gold albert chain and locket, which the Mayer, Mr Jollv, by request, handed over to Mr Hugh Craig, the driver, at the same time expressing the satisfaction of the Cromwell residents that a boon long asked for was at length Conceded. Mr Craig suitably acknowledged the gift, and with three cheers the crowd who had been awaiting the arrival of the coach dispersed.

The shooting of Cyfus Haley has given rise to a considerable amount of newspaper wrj - ing, in which the question pf whether or n>t Warder Miller was justified in the action 1 took has‘been pretty.fully and warmly discussed. We have no intention of entering into the controversy inf/its; legal aspect ; but cannot help thinking that a great deal of maudlin sentimentality has been imported, into the affair. Had the notorious Sullivan had the courage to tempt a similar fate and -met the same end, we question* whether the unanimous verdict would not have been f ‘ served him right,” and the count y have congratulated itself on so cheaply' getting rid of him. Arid yet there was scarcely any difference in the degree of criminality between Haley and Sullivan—indeed, the former seems to have been the most desperate and bloodthirsty of the two. It was not the want of will that prevented Haley from murdering in cold blood an unprotected female and her family in Auckland, walking around the house of Mr Russell at midnight firing a revolver five times into the dwelling—he had the will,'and Only wanted more favorable opportunity to carry out his attrocious design. The whole career -of Cyrus Haley was a chapter of crime, and he evident y was a man who wpiild. stop at nothing to attain his object, accounting even human life a very little thing. In attempting to escape from custody he was fully aware of the risk he ran—he staked his life on liberty and paid the penalty. To our thinking Warder Miller simply performed his duty, and there can be noquestion that to him it has proved a duty of a mo it painful nature. He has not only been exonerated from blame by a jury, but commended for his prompt action—which probably was the means of saving innocent lives—and we cannot see the justice of holding the man up to approbrium as though guilty of a crime. It is sickening to read the namby-pamby nonsense .some writers pen about Raley’s death. For instance, the Dunstan Times devoted a leading article to the subject in its last number an extract from which will pretty well show the calibre of a column and a half of what can only be characterised as twaddle : “ Can it possibly be believed that in Christian Dunedin, with its many churches and ministers of religion, who with their large and highly respectable congregations of worshippers, always zealous and liberal in the cause of Christianity, a man, even allowing that he was a monster in crime, should be butchered and his life blood spilt in one of the leading thoroughfares of that city ; and what is more, in the very precincts of the First Church, two bullets being even fired at him in the garden of the Manse itseT, where at least all should be peace and quietness, and while, perhaps, the minister of Rod was sleeping after the fatigues of the arduous duties pertaining to his hdy office on the previous Sunday? Such a terrible occurrence is almost too frightful to contemplate, and we hope, for humanity’s sake, that even the possibility of anything approaching to such a revolting circumstance wilt never be permitted to occur again. ”