North Otago Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 1890.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 6953, 31 January 1890, Page 2

North Otago Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 1890.

At a meeting of the Oamaru Naval ArtUUry Band, held but night, it wu decided to hold a concert early in March. Maili for the United Kingdom and Europe, per Rimutaka, via Rio and Teneriffe, oIom At Wellington at 1 p.m. on Thursday, the 6th February. * Mail* for Australian Colonies and China, per Wakatipu, olose at Wellington at noon on Saturday, 1st February. Mr H. Grooott, an Oamara cyclist, rode through from Dunedin on Wednesday on his bloyole, the n«t riding time being ff hours 35 minutes. Since the Payne Family were in Oamara last they have introduced bellringing into their performances. One of the features of Monday night's entertainment in Oamaru will be selections on the silver-toned handbells. In connection with the New Zealand University examination the following local can* didates have qualified for matriculation : Alice Meredith Burn, Ernest Edwards, W. G. Grave, Gertrude M'Gresor, F. M. M'Kay, Marian Thompson. W. J. H. Hislop has pissed the medical preliminary examination. " Bruni," in the Australasian, writing of the hedges on an estato in Victoria, says : "On KldersHe and Windsor Park, two estates near the town of Oamara, New Zealand, they use a butchtr's knife set la a twofoot handle for trimming the hedges. The •iuwa wildlife** J»dfw nitty.

and I never nw io any other place, «ren in England, hedges kept in such admirable order. Such a mode of hedge trimming might be practised at Caldermeade with advantage. There are about IS miles of hawthorn hedges on the estate, and they are so useful ana so beautiful that all the neighbors should follow suit and plant hedges freely." Harvesting has (says the Advocate) been commenced at some farms at North Taieri. i If it had been delayed any longer *bere 1 would have been nothing but straw to cut —the small birds having commenced the threshing some time ago. At the New ZeaUnd University examinations Emma Rainforth, of Teaneraki (a pupil at the Girls' High School, Dunedin), gained a junior scholarship with 3072 marks ; and W. White, of Herbert, passed the junior scholarship examination with 3276 marks. A Mr Hutcainson, of Auckland, has a method of his own for treating flax fibre, and produoes clean and soft samples. He has also tried cabbage tree fibre, and is inclined to think a greater weight of dressed fibre per acre would be yielded by the cabbage tree than by flax nnder cultination. On the suggestion of Mr Sumpter, the Borough Council, at its meeting last night, decided to instruct the engineer to have the reserve at Bushy Beach fenced, so as to, prevent cattle destroying the trees. Mr Sumpter said that large numbers of the citizens found a pleasure in visiting the Busby Beach, and it would be a very desirable thing to have this favorite spot protected. A paragraph in the New Zealand Times of the 29th instant refers more clearly than the telegram lately received by the southern a pen to the disposal of lands in South nterbory. The paragraph says that: " Over 200,000 acres of land in the South Canterbury district will be thrown open foe sale and for selection on the deferred payment and perpettul lease systems, in two or three months time." The Melbourne Leader of a recent date contains a very interesting article on the rise in the price of wooL Our contemporary calculates that the advance means a gain of five millions sterling to Australia ana New Zealand, the total output being set down at 1,400,000 bales and the increased value at L3 10s per bale. The estimate is based on Melbourne values last year and the prices ruling this season. The following, moved by Mr Sumpter, was adopted by the Berough Council last night; "That the Council desires to pis ce on record its appreciation of the valuable services rendered to the Borough by the Ute Mr Procter, who occupied with credit to himself and the town the position of Mayor and Councillor, and that a copy of this resolution be presented to Mrs Procter, together with an expression of sympathy with her in her reoent lost." Mr Straford, Resident Magistrate at Oaraaru, will (says the New Zealand Times) act as supervisor in connection with the police exarottvtth'n, the lii«i of which has just been concluded. A successful candidate in the junior examinations will be qualified for promotion to first-class constable, and those who pass the senior examination will be entitled to promotion, in order of seniority, to a sergeancy. It is the intention of the department to in future only promote men Who have passed the ex* animations. At last night's meeting of the Borough Council a knot of councillors got entangled in a discussion as to how many corners a oorner section had. One held to the opinion that it had four, another that it had only one, while the Mayor suggested that it might be a three-cornered section, and asked councillors to go on with the business of the Council. Whether the point was settled after the meeting adjourned we do not know, as our reporter had not time to go over to the Star and Garter with the disputants. Yesterday evwning about 5 o'clock a stable and buggy-house belonging to Mr W. J. A. Sanderson were destroyed oy fire. A buggy and a quantity of hay were also destroyed. It is not known bow the fire originated. Mr Sanderson about a week ago had a new lock put on one of the doors of the building to prevent boys entering, and the door was supposed to have been locked at the time of the fire. There was an insurance of L40 on the buggy and building, which were valued at a good deal more than that amount. An amusing story of a number of land sharks being trapped through the rapacity of one of their own number is told by a correspondent of. the Canterbury Times. " A sale of a valuable section of Crown land near Woodville has just taken place," he says, " by which a considerable number of speculators have received a severe and welldeserved rap over the knuckles by the Minister of Lands ordering the forfeiture of their deposits. One of these gentlemen, throigh his agent, objected to another of the same class having the section, on the grounds that he was already *n owner of land to the legal amount. This objection seems to have caused enquiry, the upshot being that the whole of the batch have lost their deposits, to the tune of something like L300 in the aggregate."

Harvesting Requisites. — Binder Twine, Lubricating Oil*, Hay Forks, Plough Lines, Knires, Forks, Spoons, Pannikins, Plates, and all other Harvesting Requisites, for sale, at exceptionally Low Prices, by W. J. A. Sanderson, Importer, Thames street.— Advt.] Tbuuuc can be no doubt bat that the goods which our Woollen Factory is turning out are of urpassiog excellence. We hare seen nothing, however, to equal the quality and finish of the Tweeds which have been manufactured to Mb Jambs Gxmmsxls special order. These are, indeed, par excellenoe, and are made up in the Latest Styles: Workmanship and Fit being Guaranteed." [Advt.]