North Otago Times . SATURDAY, JANUARY 18,1879.

North Otago Times, Volume 2094, Issue 2094, 18 January 1879, Page 2

North Otago Times . SATURDAY, JANUARY 18 ,1879.

At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, in the case Williams v. Moore, an action for trespass, judgment was given for L 3, and L 4 costs. Owing to the absence of the pastor at the Presbyterian Synod in Dunedin, the usual sabbath services in the Waiareka church will not take place to-morrow. " Fatima " will be on view to-night for the last time in Oamaru, and those who have not yet witnessed the exhibition will have but this one opportunity o£ doing so. The illusion will be explained and described. An interesting cricket match is announced to come off to-day between 15 of the Excelsior Club and 11 of the Oamaru, C.C , on the eround of the la ter, North Road. Play will commence punctually at 2 p.m. Ratepayers in the Kakanui, Waiareka, and Waitaki Road Districts are reminded by advertisement that their rates are overdue, and are requested to make payment of the same. As will be seen by notices in another ! column, Windsor House School {conducted by Mr Ansted) will reopen on Tuesday, January 28th ; and the first quarter of 1879 of the ladies' school conducted by the Misses Cole in Old Tees street Hall will commence on Monday, January 27th. A trial of the MiCormick reaper and binder is announced to com.'c off at the farm of Mr Henry Mitchell, We ston, on Monday next, at noon. Farmers wi 11 do well to be present, as Mr Newell, fro m the American factory, will be present, to take the machine to peices and explain ever *y part. As the M'Cormick has been again victorious at the Canterbury trial, great i interest will no doubt be evinced in its opi srations *t Wea- | ton. The valuation lists of the-, city of Christchurch do not give anythin; ; like an idea of the steady progress of the place. The different valuers have e\ 'idently different opinions as to what it sho uld be, as will be seen from the following :-— In 1875, when a, Mr Huddleston acted as city valuator, the

amount of the valuation li*t was L 150.626. In 1870, when Mr Cuff prepared the list it was L.147,711. In 1877, M. Flockton's list showed it to be L 173.559 ; and in 1878 Mr Cuff reduced it to L\ 70,59(5, which the Court further diminished to Ll(>8,080. For the preaent year" Mr -Leach estimates the total value of rateable property in Christchurch at L 215.702. , - - The' Canterbury teim has not m any way enhanced their fame as cricketers since they made their .debut on. Australian soil. They have beaten the Ballaratand East Melbourne Clubs, but the former munt be reckoned as v Club of mediocre attainments. We must ulmit, however, that their victory in playing with the latter Club was of a different order. But their defeats by the other Melbourne Clubs have beeu accomplished with so much case tuat we can only form the conclusion 1 that Now Zealand is not sufficiently strong m cricketing science to beat those on their own ground who have beaten England's best teams. "The Only Leon," in conjunction with the clever troupe of negro delineators, is mnouneed to open for a short season of three nights at the Volunteer Hall, on Tuesday next. Kelly and Laon have secured for themselves a high American and colonial reputation, and in their o\\ n particular line can scarcely be said to have their equals, fho female impersonations of Leon are spoken of as something marvellous, and Messrs Kelly, Read, and others supply vocal music of a high order. A feature in the peiformance is the dwarf Japanese Tommy, ' whose antics are simply inimitable. Above .all this, the entertainment is, we are assured by those Who have seen it, entirely freej from anything approaching to vulgarity, and can be visited without scruple by anyone. The report of Mr Kidd, the Corporation Gardener, which we published in our local columns yesterday, contains a very valuable suggestion, which the Council, in its wisdom, would do well to take into consideration. After referring to the satisfactory nature of the plantiug on the Cape reserve, Mr Kidd goes on to express the hope that the success achieved in this instance will encourage the Council to proceed with the planting of other h'gh ground on the public reserves. We are inclined to fall in with the remark made by Cr. Liddle, that the planting of the reserve at the back of Aln street and others on high ground would confer far greater benefits on the town, iv a sauitary point of view, than the introduction of water carts. There can be no question about it, the planting of trees is a work that has been stupidly neglected, while the attention of the local authorities seems to have • been directed solely to the carrying out of what people are pleased to call "reproductive works;" as though measures taken in the direction of promoting and conserving the public health could be considered as any other light than as being reproductive. The day is fast coming — nay, it has already come, when it is evident that the few paltry pounds which have been expended npon our public gardens are not at all commensurate with either our status as a town or our needs, and the sooner this knowledge is put te some practical u^e the better. We understand that the munificent sum of L 5 has been expended in the purchase of trees by the Council during the past year. It is fortunate that we have amongst us some gentlemen possessed with the desire to see something more than a garden upon paper. A curious story is related by the Albury Banner, a Victorian paper : — At an early hour on the morning of Dec. 28,- a man rushed into the house of n Mrs Everitt, ou the Albury Flat, and announced that he was Kelly, the bushranger. At this time the only persons in the house were Mrs Everitt and her sister-in law, who, naturally enough, were somewhat alarmed at the announcement. The intruder, after announcing his uame, seized hold of one of the two womeu, and, it appear?, attempted violence. Just then, however, the husband came in, and the bushranger ran off. In the meantime, the other woman, fcarmg to be robbed bv the man, had carefully secreted several LI notes in the ashes on the hearth, and there, m the excitement of the moment, they were allowed to remain till they were destroyed. The soidi\ant bushranger is described as having carried two Wellington boots in his iielf, one strapped on each side, so arranged as to represent revolver holsters. On the subject of the crops at Ashburton the Lyttelton Times says : — The welcome change in the weather has been the means of making the feed in our burnt-up paddocks look something like what it ought to have been during the greater part of the summer, had there been anything like genial weather. The late sown cropa present a marked improvement—and it was hardly thought possible by many of our farmers here, that they would recover from the recent drought, were any quantity of rain to fall. There are, of course, a great many acres of both wheat and oats that are too far forward for the rain to 1 elp materially, but in the majority of cases a considerable acreage of grain is fortunately rather backward this season, and the recent change will be beneficially felt on these lands. Large quantities of oats are now being cut, and were in a great many places safely stacked previous to the late rams. Thequality of the grain is very good, though the yield will be very light indeed. The turnip sown lands have bow received a splendid start, and though sown late, will soon grow, and come into use for our winter-fed sheep. Several thousands of acres of turnips were sown this season, and consequently their yield is looked forward to with some interest, as affecting the winter feed for the flocks of a large number of the sheep farmers in this county. The potato crop will be much better than was expected a short time back. All that is now required to complete our harvest operations in this county, is a few weeks of fine dry weather. Regarding the Maritana affair at the Mar-ton-Rangitikei race meeting, the Wanganui Herald has the felloAving :—": — " A transaction took placp on Thursday in connection with racing matters, which proves that the morai lity of the Middle Island racing world is not to be admired. " Mr Delamain, of Canterbury, a magnate in the sporting circle of that district, was a visitor to the Rangitikei race meeting, and he had in iiis charge the mare Maritana. It is not his fault that the mare was better than anything else on the course, and no objection can be uttered against the clean sweep he made of the stakes he went in for. feuch is the fortune of war, aud we can only hope to bring out something bettor in future. But Mr Delamain's conduct in other matters does not appear in so creditable a light. In Mr J. W. Jackson's sweep Maritana was drawn by Messrs Bush and Thane, both of them absent from Rangitikei at the time of the drawing Mr G. Nathan represented them, and with him the negotiations commenced. In the first place Mr Delamain in conversation with Mr Nathan spoke of having a doubt whether he should start Maritana or not, and that as a matter of profit it would pay him just as well not to stai fc. We need not go into the conversation at length, suffice it to say that Mr Delamain induced the drawers to lay him L4O to nothing (L5O was first spoken of, but afterwards the smaller sum was agreed upon), against the mare. This sort of bet of course simply means that the owner of Maritana required to ' stand in ' with 'the fortunate holders of the lucky ticket. It is argued that such a proceeding is quite usual ' down South, where racing in its worst aspect has been reduced to a fine art To give a douceur to a jockey is not unusual, but for an owner of the standing of Mr Delamain to levy black mail ou an* utter stranger is a novel experience for the settlers in this, district. Wo desire to emulate the Canterbury district in turning out goo.l horses, hue we prefer to race them according to our perhaps oldfashioned ideas of honor."