The Evening Mail. SATURDAY, MAY 13, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 19, 13 May 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. SATURDAY, MAY 13, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

lit our advertising columns will lie found the programme tor the series of concerts annwiniritl to he given t>y Mdllc I 'e Murska on Thursday and Friday It include--; .several pieces of a funnst brilliant and attractive eliaraeter. which, wc feel snr<% will draw a targe ami appreciative audience. It is computed, according to " Cassett's Technical Kdueator." that there are no fewer th.ut !."»,<)««» steel pens made in Birmingham every week. It the "gray goose quill " were still the universal instrument for recording |,the written thoughts of men, what a stnpend- ; orta army of geese we should require to maintain. in order to furnish a like quantity. Ttiis etiaswlwation aetrf tu s-peculating on what >v»«td have l»jeti the possible eonseqitence if that nameless artisan of Sheffield, who. it issaid. made "the first steed pen, hail not hit itpon that ingenious and happy expedient. There is a story of an impecunious [li.tEiKv.ltt. who. having been fortunate enough to Htut a ha£c*w»>wti, immwlisteiy expended in womforts tor Biddy and the " ehih(he:y wan gleefully expatiating on his good Inch, when he *v;w e«t short l»y his I Hitter half uxclaiming. i.feek id it —ve omadhat'ii ! Surra the htyk in it —what -should we ha' done without it What should we have done without t coal, gas, anil railways, and Inciter matches, and the peyny pr>stSomehow. the-jc discoveries have seemed to tit in ■to exactly with the sitcoasivc stages of [undent progress - the invention helping the advance. and the advance making the invention a necessity—that we are struck with the same sort of admiration as that which led the simple youth to wonder why great rivers* always ttowed past populous cities. ISnniiigbw consumes fifteen toi» of steel per week in the manufacture of steel pens, probably a larger quantity than is used in that armoury of" the world for the making of warlike weapons : so that, in this sense at tws*t. "the pen is mightier than the sword.' A gentleman resident in Melbourne has .submitted for the consideration of the South Australian (iovemmeut a plan for planting the shores of the Northern Territory with about a half-million of cocoanut trees. He state;! that these trees after live years begin to yield nuts in considerable iiundtvrs (averaging from s<eventy-tive to one hundred on each tree}, and when converted into cocoanut oil s,-r copra will represent in value ahout 3d. each. The eo»t of planting these will l>e comparatively light, and the nuts specirdly adapted to the purpose grow oil certain islands in the South Pacific, and are known to many navigator* as the dwarf cncoanut tree. They scarcely ever reach to aliove 1 lift. T and are {consequently easily gathered l>y Europeans. The usual well-known tree reaches t»i>ft. or Tt'tt.. so that the services of a good etimtier are called in to pluck the nuts, hence the superiority of the dwarf tree. A constant revenue wo::Id arise from the plan proposed to the extent of i.'7-VKX) annually, no inconsiderable sum when the outlay iu planting is taken into consideration. The plan has revived very favourable consideration from the South Australian i • ovemment, and the Government gardener afc Port Darwin has been directed to report «]>oii it. The idea, wc think, will admit of an extended consideration, and may lie worth the attention of

| The "Alpine strawberry," exhibited at the Hokitika Horticultural Exhibition (says the " CJrey River Argus" turns out to be nothing more than a line specimen of the fx-uit of the Rubus] Australia, oc "bush lawyer." It is closely allied to the bramble and raspberry family. The Welsh colonists in Patagonia are almost in a starving condition. The Colony is on the I'ivcr Chaput, and the land, like that of Egypt, dcj>eitds for its fertility on the rising of the river. The past season the Cliupat did not rise, and there was no crop. It is expected that the Argentine Government will help the Oloni'-.ts to title over their troubles. Writes " .T'glos " in the " Australasian'': —" Time, eleven o'clock, place, Greig and Murray's. Occasion, a wheat sale. Enter a policeman with a driving-whip in his hand. • Is the owner of this here?' ' 1 hanks, constable, that's mine,' said Millstones. ' I hen you will plase to give me your name, sir, till [ summons you. You've left your horse and butrgy outside unprotected, against the byelaws. I took the whip out of the socket. Millstones didn't mind the summons so much —but to be done by a policeman !" The blacks (says the " Brisbane Courier" of April 15) have perpetrated another most daring outrage on the Normanby Ilivcr, within a mile of the township and of the police camp at that place. A packer named •lames M'Xamara, while loading for Edwardstown, camped there one evening last M eek with thirteen horses, and on proceeding to round them up in the morning found several Iving on the ground killed, and three otheis with spears still sticking in their bodies, while one had been killed and carried away bodily to a distance, where it was skinned, cut up into joints, and the meat removed. The whole of these were valuable animals, while the three which were permitted to escape were but scrubber.-; in comparison "The police arc in pursuit," to use the stereotyped phrase, but bitter complaint is made by the packers of the apathy of the police fore,'. A short time ago the Queensland Government advertised in Melbourne and other newspapers inviting tenders for the construction of certain sections of the Dalby and Roma Railway. Two members of a wcllknown and thoroughly trustworthy firm of Victorian contractors proceeded to Brisbane, went over the ground, and tendered for the ; work. Their tender amounted in round • numbers to £142,001), and was the lowest. Rut the Queensland Minister of "\\ orks ac- : .-.opted a tender from a local firm amounting to £15(>,00l). Astounded at so singular a proceeding, the tenderers justly entitled to the contract inquired why they had been thus treated. They were told that one item in their schedule was much too high. But, sjaid they, "even with this error, were we not .fl-U>oo under any other tenderer?" The fact was admitted, but no further explanation was vouchsafed than the one named. The tenderers thus ill used had paid the necessary deposit, and could confidently refer to the chief unginecra.of Victoria and South Australia as to the fidelity with which they had carried out large contracts under them. The firm has, of course, sniVei cd a loss, but the Colony of Queenshind will lose more. Not only the £14,000 in this case, but in the absence of future competition from contractors residing in other colonies. Men of this class cannot ail'ord to be fooled by invitation to compete when there is a foregone conclusion not to accent tiie !owe.-;t tender, unless the lowest be local. A locomotive tender converted into an aouarium is a somewhat od.l and startling idea (remarks the " Ballarat Star"). Still, th.it lish do travel up and down on the Ballarat and (ic'jloiig Railway line, and seemingly enjoy the dull routine of tender life, has long l»een an ascertained fact. Some time ago several pel-sons were not a little bewildered at being told that perch had been taken out of the water-tanks of the locomotive tenders at the Rallarat terminus, and clever penple affected to pooh-pooh the statement as sheer, nonsense. However, but a few days since, Hr. Troup, locomotive inspector at Lydiard-street, himself took from one of the tenders a live, and apparently healthy, English perch, which he presented to Dr. King. The lish is now in that gentleman's possession, and occupies a tub on his premises. The perch is certainly not the gay, bright-coloured lish we are accustomed to see taken from Wendoitrce, the rust-charged water of the tender-tank having had a great effect upon its scales, but as far as health goes, it is all that could be desired. The extraordinary part of the ailair is, that the water in these tanks is always warm, and sometimes so hot that its contact with one's hand is the reverse of agreeable, yet out of this water are taken live lish. The presence of the perch in the tan!;s is easily enough accounted for. A quantity o: S ii-sli are to be found in the railway dam at Lai Lai station, and at- the station a steam-pump draws the water from the dam to supply a tank from which the tenders are fed. Spawn and very small lish are thus frequently transferred from dam to tender. The strong " homing" instincts of pigeons were well known to the Arabs, who, before the general adoption of the.mariners's compass, used these birds to fm<l their whereal >outs during their voyages to Madagascar and the East. " Messer Marc Pol," through

his French amanuensis, tells lis, in his voyages written during his captivity at Genoa, hew these oriental navigators took the birds to sea with them, .and when they were far out of sight of .land, and wanted to know which way it lay, how they tossed up a bird or two, and judged from the line of thenflight the course they themselves* ought to steer. A friend travelling in America writes to us ("Gippsland Mercury"), and, after describing the comforts of Pulman's sleeping car« he says " There is one thing against them you can hear the other passengers talkin" 'ln the car I travelled in there was a new married couple, and it appears they had a tiff and the husband, not wishing to go to' 'sleep' until he had made friends with his wife, begged of her to kiss him ; she was oostinate raid would not, and all tiie rest of the i passengers were 3cept awake by healing "kh® | poor fellow imploring his Alice to forgive linn with a kiss. It was a continuation oi Alice do kiss me ; oh, Alice dear, do kiss me It was fun for a time, but wc got tired of being kept awake, so an old military ofheer put his head through the curtain and sang out lustily ' For "oodness sake, Alice, do kiss your husband, and let's go to sleep.' We got to sleep after that." Th n following card has been issued from the office of the "San Francisco News Letter,' 1 which has devoted itself to the exposure of swindles, quack doctors, &c. : ''Special Notice.—We have found it absolutely necessary to establish the following rules and regulations for the conduct of the " News Letter " office, and to which tne attention of the public is earnestly mvited. Stockbrokers can interview the hgntmg editor of this paper hereafter on Mondays only, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. _ Tuesdays will be devoted exclusively to tiie medical profession, would-be members of which will he slaughtered precisely in the order of thenappearance. There will be 110 partiality shown in this respect wliatever. Wednesdays, members of the Board of Supervision will lie killed, as well as politicians generally. Thursdays, adventurers, beats, and all other frauds will be attended to. Sundays will be assigned entirely to ladies wno have been mentioned in the 'Lies of the l>;iy, and otherwise lacerated. No calls will be rereceived 011 Fridays and Saturdays, as iu is imperative these days be reserved foi the purpose of editing our slanders. Otu Gaitlin" Gun will be in a position in a few days, when all aggrieved parties will be accommodated singly or in lots. Parties desiring to avail themselves of the beautiful 'rvew ].[ear.se,' which will hereafter be an adjunct of the " News Letter," which call at least a few minutes before four o clock, as all coipses on hand after that time will be sent home m a push-cart, as heretofore.