The Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 46, 14 June 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tfie Tovm Coancil of Greyrooath has gone in for a singular investment. Tlie "Star 9a y» :—"Tlie Town Bawl is now«lefunct, the Council having honghfc their instruments for £-20, which amount will he handed over to the Hospital. The instruments are twentyseven in number, and originally [cost £147, besides £3O worth of mnsic Councillor Hamilton, in proposing that the instruments should be bojight, stated that by this means the Council could give the property to some responsible person who would undertake the formation of a Kind, and in the event of disagreement they could step in and take them back. By this means the town woidd never be without a band."

The following extract from the "Evening Argus " will probably interest those of our readers interested in Building Societies. Our contemporary says :—"Amongst the Bills prepared by Government for introduction during the coming session is one to amend and consolidate the law relating to Building Societies. The Bill is not a very lengthy one, and the chief feature in it seeni3 to be the facility offered for taming all Building and Land Societies into corporate bodies, if they wish to be s«>. This will entirely obviate the evils and inconveniences now experienced daily in the management of these bodies, under the existing system of Trusteeship. Very plain and precise rules are provided for securing the fidelity of officers, ensuring the dtte keeping of accounts and their proper audit. The new Bill seems a wellcmutdered, practical measure, from the working »t which great good may be expected.'"' A man, whose name we ("Tttapcka Times") will not mention, played a most despicable trick up>n a party of miners in Gabriel's Unity on Wednesday. It appears that the fellow was found lying on the ground, and when rptesfioned stated that he had fallen and broken his leg. With the natural good feeling.of miners, a party of men shouldered the pretending sufferer, and carried him up the steep 'hill t» Hinde's Hotel, where the first request lie made was for a pint of beer. The liquor disponed of. the supposed broken leg became instantly sound, and was immediately made use of for the purpose of "-skedaddling" beyond the reach of the enraged miners. Should this individual again make his "appearance on the Spur there will be a row. and there is a probability of tarring and feathering being resorted to. It may not be generally known (says the '•Southern Cross") that highway boards taking legal preceding* to recover rates, evert though they fail to sustain their claim, are not liable to pay Court costs. This was declared to be the case by Mr. Barstow, in the Resident Magistrate's Court, Auckland. Mr. S. E. Hughes cited an instance within ids own knowledge where this rule had not baen followed. Court costs do not include fees to connsel or witnesses.

A correspondent at the Bay of Islands telegraphs to the " Daily Times " on the 10th iust. as follows : —"Captain Marvin, of the American whale-ship Coral, has been tried and sentenced to forty-eight hours in gaol, with £\ coats, for committing a violent assault on one of his men—kicking him about the head and body whilst on Eussell Beach. The Resident Magistrate called the captain's attention to his being in an English port, where men are not allowed to be treated as brutes."

An evidence of the popular feeling upon the subject of the Queen's new title was seen at a public banquet given by the Corporation of London to Lord Chief Justice Sir Alexander Cockbuni, in honour of his receiving the freedom of the city. With very ba«l taste, the Lord Mayor, in proposing the Queen's health, attempted to force her proposed new title of Empress upon his guests, but they refused to have it, and both net'ore and alter the toast was drank, loud cries of "The Queen! the Queen!" were raised. The Lord Mayor caught it warm in Parliament afterwards for this piece of " municipal toadyism," .is Mr. Anderson, o:ie of thu members f>>r Glasgow, called it to his face.

Lord Cockbuni. in his "Memorials," say 3 : —" L»>rd I'raxrteld died in George Square, tvlinburgh. and was laid in his cottin without the attendance at that ceremony of any relatives or friends. The chief parties present were two undertakers—a man and a boy. The latter, very many years later, wa3 our informant. When the 'chesting'had been performed, great was the lad's horror and astonishment to see his elder companion draw from his pocket the cud of a rope, which he hitched into a noose, and put it round the neck of the eoq>se. With many an oath he feigned to Lang the dead judge, shouting with ghastly glee into the listless ear, 'Monie a »ne ha'e ye hangit T ye anld sinner ! an' noo ye "re hangi't yerset', hoo d'ye like it, ye auld deevil?"" Count Paul ite Gombriac publishes in his trav«,'fs the following:- reminiscences of Lima : —"One day, when dining with the French ConsttL * tiie man with tfie silver head' was announced. He was a Frenchman, owning a small property near the city. While taking a walk some months ago, he heard cries of ngoay, and, hastening in the direction from which they came, surprised three

brigands, one of whom held a traveller's head between his knees while another cut his ears oft, and a third stabbed him. The undaunted killed one of the villains, where-3 upon the two others fled. At this moment, and while attending to the dying traveller, Peruvian gensdarmes appeared upon the scene, one of whom, thinking the Frenchman a murderer, with a powerful horizontal blow s-of his sword, cut the top part of his bread clean off, laying the brains bare. The Frenchman, after lying an hour unconscious, revived, picked up the upper part of his head, walked home in the broiling sun, and had a silver plate made in lieu of the original scalp, which had "shrunk too much."