The Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 58, 28 June 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

There ivii a clean sheet Jit the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning. The Post Other authorities intimate that British and other mails. via Suez, will close atOamaru, "» Saturday, July the Ist., at 4 a.m. 'Hit; Baltaratjeorrespondent of the Melbourne Argus" writes :—liope-walking must wither he an accomplishment easily acquired, or our Australian youths must he wonderfatty precocious and daring. Till Blondin came t»» Victoria he hail no imitators: at least no successful ones. Since he has been here imitators have sprung up like liiuslioomsr after art autumn rain, and some ot these have even out-Jilortdined the rope king himself. The Htondin followers have hitherto hcett of the mate persuasion only ; l>lit unless I am misinformed there is a girl expected to make a public exhibition of her powers on the rope or on a wire —it is all one to her—which is likety to tftrow all previous ropewalkers into the shade. Her parents strongly object to her exhibiting in public, and it is doubtful if she will be able to overcome their scruples in that direction. She is said to have a wonderful faculty of balancing herself on even a single wire, without using a pole, or anything but her outstretched amis, and rarwtv lias she t<> resort to them for aid. -She van walk. run. hop. or dance on the wire, and carry a weight e>[ual to4olb. on it. with as much apparent confidence as it she was on the floor of a room.

The *' S'ortthlatul Times " is informe>l tli.it Professor Henri. of Jnvercargill, has iiintitnte<£ criminal j>r.xwling3 against the proprietors of thf "Southland Xew>'° for publishing a totter stgtie«l " Busybody." insinuating that Mr. 11-nri has misappropriated tin: money received at his '• half-yearly demonstration " t.-> his own personal use, instead of applying it to the purchase of prizes for the pttpils of his school. Mr. A\ ado lia-1 been retained for the prosecution. \\ e understand that it the name of the writer of the letter is given ttp. he will take the place of Messrs. Craig and Feldwiek. lawyers occasionally receive substantial proofs eE their clients' gratitude, but it is

seldom that gentlemen of the medical profession meet v. ith patients who act as liberally as in the following instance :—The " Auckland .Star" states that Te Hemara Panliia one of the most enlightened Maori chiefs of Malmrangi, has given one hundred acres of

the finest land in the neighbourhood of /VYaiwera to Dr. Mohenbccr, for having cured his son of a ■vvheiohc (or boil), which he had contracted on the

Mr. 11. 11. Lusk, M.H.R., is a chess [ilavcr f>t some repute, and when he arrived at Wellington from Auckland he challenged the Wellington player who had distinguished himself most during tlic recent contest to meet him. The "Xcw Zealand Times" says that Mr. P.enbow, of the City Team, who w»n every match which lie played against the Civil Service, has accepted the challenge, and tiii* having been intimated to Mr. Lusk, an interesting contest may shortly be expected.

Burglars in America use the blow-pipe, the air-pump, sand-blast, and many other appliances requiring study and deliberate application in order to accomplish the end in view. With the blow-pipe acting upon a combined llame of the most powerful gases known to science, the hardest metal is made stiliiciently soft for the action of the drill, or destruction of fastenings. With the air-pump, atmospharic air is drawn from the safe and explosives are passed into the vacuum. The i-.t-e f.-i.-t in the case 01 a Bank in the Lastern ■State) is then covered with material to deaden the sound ; electricity applies the ■paik, and what were considered impregnable : ai\;.-> are riven to pieces. The district between Eiverhead and Jleleiisville. in the Province of Auckland, possesses abundance of pheasants, but it is also infested with wild eats. These animals arc the progeny of tame cats brought into the district by settlers, who, after living in the neighbourhood for some time, t<>o!c their departure for other places, leaving their feline friends behind them entirely unprovided for. The cats being thrown upon their own resources, however, proved themselves erjual to the emergency, for making the discovery that young pheasants (of which plenty are to lie found in the proper season) were agreeable and nutritious food, they took to living 011 them. Gradually becoming bolder and more skilful, the hunting cats made the older birds their prey, and now even the cock pheasants arc pounced upon and killed with great facility. The "Herald" understands that a tabby was shot the other day which would in every respect have compared very favourably with any other in the Colony. It was like a small tiger.

It is notified that the general annual meetin;' of the North Otago Horticultural .Society will lie held in the Mechanics' Institute this evening, at eight o'clock. The "Rev. 1\ P. Agncw will deliver his third lecture, 011 " The" Bushrangers of New South Wales/' in the Masonic Hall, tomorrow evening, at eight o'clock.