LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 6, 28 April 1876, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

We don't wish Mr. James Reid, the Town Crier, any harm, and we should not like him to catch cold sothat he couldn't speak, but it does rile us to hear him shout out notices that might, with advantage, be inserted in an evening paper for the small sum of Is. for sixteen words. Then Mr. Reid always will begin to ring up just before our very door, and tliis is annoying. It makes one's hand reach naturally towards a large stone-inkpot on the desk. In our opinion a man who docs all his advertising verbally is as bad as the mean cuss who writes his own billheads. The ordinary fortnightly meeting of the Municipal Council was held last evening, in the Council Chambers. A considerable amount of business was transacted, which oui readers will find fully reported in another column. To " B.l'V : The next time yon address a letter to the Evening and We(a)kly Mail Company wc should advise you to clear out ,<harp before the Editor proves to you, in a summary manner, that the Editor is strong if the Company is "weakly." Wa shall insert y..ur letter this time ; but hunt up a dictionary before attempting to address another letter to us. It you don't, there will be (.rouble. Mr. Clement Jones, one of our late runners, writes to us stating that he did not leave this oiliee because he thought his services were no longer required, but owing to the incivility of one of the clerks. The incivility consisted in asking Mr. Jones for some money due to us. There are a good-many persons who consider it uncivil to ask them for money ; but, unfortunately, it is one of the inci\ilities in life we are all obliged to be. guilty of if we wish to get on in this world* , Our morning contemporary —no doubt unintentionally—in his report of last night s meeting of the Council, says : —" A letter was read from the Manager of the Evening Maii- newspaper company, applying for a share of the Council's work." Now this is incorrect, for, as a matter of fact, the Manager of this paper has quite enough to do without applying for any of the Council's work. What the Manager did ask for was a share of the Council's advertisements, which request was on the motion of Councillor Faleourr, and seconded by Councillor Sinclair. —agreed to. And for which wc say "Much obliged, gentlemen." The Proceedings of the Borough Council were enlivened a little last evening by a little discussion which took place between two of our municipal representatives as to the delay occasioned in not going on regularly with the business of the Council. One of the worthy Councillors charged the other with wasting the time of members in dilating on matters ( |uite irrelevant to business connected with the meeting. There was a nice little bit of word-sparring between these two gentlemen, which was rendered all the more amusing from the fact that the gentleman who laid the charge of wasting the Council's time is a '.ilrict business man, and is never known by any chance to be away from his post during business hours. It might not be out of place to mention here that the punctual attendance of members of the Council is desirable, with a view to forwarding business. The Lynch Troupe of 13el!-ringcrs will positively appear at the Masonic-hall this evening. The.se popular artists have issued a very attractive programme, which will be TT.und in our advertising columns ; and we expect to see a crowded house. A special meeting of the Tailors' Operative Society was held hist night at the Queen's Hotel. The business brought before the meeting was purely of a routine character, and there was a moderate attendance of members. A correspondent of the "Guardian," in notifying the burial of young Jcnkinson, says: —"The funeral took place yesterday, at which a number of very old colonists attended. The weather was very nnpropitious, otherwise the cortege would have been consi.'.crably larger, Mr. Jcnkinson being a very old and much-respected settler. The action i>f the neighbours on the occasion, and especially the plucky efi'orts of the surviving boy to rescue his brother, and also that of the lad Shields, deserve to be mentioned in soincnmre than terms of praise." The " Timarti Herald" of Tuesday says: "About 1,00!) bushels of threshed wheat were destroyed by fire at Messrs. Quinii Brothers, Makikihi, on the night of Friday last. The wheat was in bags and covered with straw at the time of the lire. From inquiries made it appears that about eight o'clock in the evening of Friday, a carter named Jack Burns, while feeding his horses on the Great South Road, at a point about twenty-four chains from where the wheat was, saw a man light the straw that was covering the wheat, and make off. Every effort is being made to find out the incendiary. The wheat was uninsured." The following was the tender of Messrs. Guthrie and Larnacli for supplying timber to the Duncdin Harbour Board, at per 100 feet: Red pine, 10s. 6d. ; black pine," 14s. Gd. ; totara, 14s. 6d. ; blue gum, 16s. 6d. ; Oregon, 235. ; ironbark, 375. ; kauri, 15s. 9d. The Dunedin Harbour Board has a proposal under consideration to build a concrete wharf, and the City Council have now an offer _to lay down concrete footpaths at Bs. per su-

perficial yard, and guarantee them for fiva years. . •• " A Press- Agency telegram from v Wellington informs us that it is understood that the Provincial loans mentioned in yesterday's Sydney cablegram refer to loans for special objects (not given) such as harbours, &c., on special securities, and will not, therefore, be taken over by the Colonial Government on the Abolition of the Provinces. The following account of a death in London from poisoning by a lead pencil will probably astonish some people : —" Dr. Hardwicke recently held an inquest on the body of Mr. Joseph Smith, stationer and newsvendor, whose death was occasioned in a very singular manner. The evidence of the widow showed that deceased was lately hurrying along the street, near Temple Ear, when a lead pencil, which had got into the skirt of his coat, pricked him on the right in-knee, piercing through the skin. He thought nothing of it, but went about his work as usual, having dressed the wound frequently with linseed poultices. The pain increased. lie continued to get worse, and died 011 February 7. The jury found a verdict of ' Accidental Death.' " The " Wellington Argus" understands that Mr. Cisbornc is not likely to resume as Commissioner of Annuitie : on his return from his present mission, as he intends to retire from the Civil Service and visit England. He will be succeeded as Commissioner "by Mr. Jonas Woodward, who will add the duties of the Assurance Officer to those of Public Trustee. The " Argus" in Wellington is rather rough on it 3 morning contemporary : —"The man who ' does' the blunders for the ' New Zealand Times' is to the fore again. It' must be refreshing to Sir' D. Munro to be told that he has just travelled from England, via, Melbourne, with his family. The worthy Knight may regard the trip as a consummation devoutly to be wished, but it is -nevertheless a stubborn fact that he lias been rusticating about the environs of 'Sleepy Hollow' for the past twelve months. One would think the blunder man had been there too." No mau ever spoke more truly than did Cardinal Manning when ho said that poverty is a holy thing—pauperism is a hateful tiling. Poverty and innocence go together, but pauperism and innocence do not—the former springing from crime, and drunkenness, and all manner of social evils.