The Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 60, 30 June 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

We have heen reqnestcfl l>y the Post Otliee attthorittea tr> notify that a Supplementary Britbh Mail. %ia Snez, will be despatched tomortow minting, per Samson, at ten a.m. We are glad t<n> notice that the kerbing and channetliHg of the eaat side ft Tync-dtreet has bee« commcncctl. The sun-eyor was bmy lining *>nt the work to-day. This, it is needless to say, will be a great improvement t»> this portion of the town, more especially as the leading plaees of bttsijieas are situated in this street.

The Bev. P. P. Agnew, according to announcement, delivered his third lecture in the Masonic If all, last evening, before a large audience. The subject chosen was "The Bushrangers of New South Wales." The reverend gentleman succeeded in riveting the attention of his listeners through his discourse, interspersing hi* subject with anecdotes of the most humorous and descriptive character, which were received t>y marks e-fc' approval. At the close ok" the lecture, Mr. Agnew stated that he intended to hold FHvine Service in the Masonic Hall, on Sunday nest, morning and evening, and that during the ensuing week he would deliver a fourth lecture, specially addressed to ladies. Bather a singular question cropped tip at last Wednesday's meeting of theOtago Waste Lands Board. Messrs. Council and Moodic asked the Board whether in the case of a deferred payment selector l>«ing a femme sole. and afterwards during the currency of the license marrying another deferred payment selector whose allotment is not contiguous, personal residence on one of the allotments

toll be dispensed -with ? Mr. Conriell stated that he knew a femme sole who is engaged to be married to another deferred payment selector, whose allotment is twenty miles' away. It would be rather hard for the Board to make them live apart for three years. The Chairman stated that the regulations were very specific, and if the Board once opened the door there would be an end to it. It wa-s resolved that Mr. Connell should bring the matter definitely before the Board at the next meeting.

The report of Mr. Torrance, Chaplain to the Duncdin Gaol, the Hospital, and the Lunatic Asylum, concludes as follows : —"lt may not perhaps be out of place to say that, in connection with all the institutions, but chiefly the Gaol and Hospital, a considerable number of those I had to deal with were new arrivals, some of whom had shown themselves to be unfitted for Colonial, life, and in some instances had manifested from the first a criminal tendency." The Melbourne correspondent of the "Guardian" writes ?—" A Chinese gentleman has entered a horse, Big Ruby, for the Melbourne Cup. The- owner is one of the young half-castes who move in fashionable circles. The Chino-European develops into a Spanish-looking gentleman or lady. John Chinaman is getting well abused just now, Melbourne being in sympathy with San Francisco on the yellow agony." Things in the news line must be getting pretty slack in Dunedin, for we notice that the "Daily Times" gives full partieidars of a pot.it> which is to be seen in the window of Mr. Melville's shop. It weighed 41b. lloz. In very truth the " big-gooseberry season" lias commenced.

Another "new chum" lias fallen an easy prey to some of the sharps of Melbourne. A young man named Henry Templeton, who arrived in the Colony by the last trip of the steamship Northumberland, has reported to the police that on the night he reached Mel-. liournc he got into the company of some susr pieions characters, and was robbed of £235, consisting of ten. £2O notes and thirty-five sovereigns, English' mintage. He guarantees a reward of £10!) for the recovery of the money. The "Bristol Times and Mirror" tells the following curious story : —A somewhat eccentric old lady recently died, leaving a considerable amount of property, amongst it being a very valuable collection of studies from the nude by well-known artists. A married nice, in the house at the time of the death, thought these were higldy improper, and as soon as the breath was out of her aunt's body, consigned them to the flames. Imagine her chagrin when, on the will being read, it was found that these very sketches were all that her relative had left to her and her children They were worth about £S,W!O.

Mr. A. JToytc, a carpenter in Mi*. C. D. Berry's employ, better known To onr readers as " Yankee Gus," bad a miraculous escape from a horrible death the other day (says the '•Poverty Bay Herald"). He was riding along the coast in company with a fellowworkman and one or two Maoris, when, whilst coming along the crest of the Anaura hill, at a .sharp curve where the track, only some ten feet in width, is bounded on the one side by a deep gorge, and on the other by the precipitous cliff running down almost perpendicularly to the sea beach below, the horse which Gus was riding " cannoned" against one of the Maori horses, and was thrown over the cliff by the force of the shock. Horse and rider rolled, one over the other, down through the brushwood, and death to both seemed inevitable to his horrified companions. Fortunately, however, the saddle girths broke, and the Yankee was landed some forty or fifty feet down the cliff, with his hands embedded in a patch of soft clay. The horse, a valuable one, belonging to Mr. Berry, rolled down to the beach to a depth of 700 feet, where he still lies, a bruised, shapeless mass, while the saddle was. completely spoilt. Altogether, it is the narrowest escape "Chips" has had since he came into this world, for, beyond a few slight bruises, he was uninjured, and resumed his work in a few days.

The "Budget" is responsible for the following :—"A gentleman on turning out this morning (good-husband, like) to get wood to start the fire with, was somewhat taken aback to find that two loads of short length wood purchased but a few days ago had dwindled down to a few sticks. He began to look round. Seeing a piece lying on the garden path, a short distance from where the load of wood had been stored, and another piece a little further along, he concluded that night-prowlers had been helping themselves. Rushing in the house to tell his wife, he was met in his wrath by a hearty laugh, and told to go down the garden, then he would see what had become of the firewood and the ctutties lines too. He went and discovered his firewood stuck end up all about the garden with the clothes line run along the top of the wood. The children, who had noticed the telegraph poles being put up in town, had been exercising their imitative genius in the same line."

About 27,000 tons of coal was raised at and sent away from the Kawakaw'a coal mine, Auckland, during last year. In the Northern Waiora district, Auckland, lately, there have been a number of

fatal accidents arising through the men at work in the mills there indulging too freely in intoxicating liquors, the last accident being the one by which three men were drowned when returning from the funeral of a little girl. The verdict, of the Coroner's Jury was : << That the deceased, Samuel Woods, was accidentally drowned through the upsetting of a boat on the Northern Wairoa Paver, caused by the carelessness of some of the occupants under the influence of strong drink. The Jury also wished to state that -the licensed sale of intoxicating drinks by the hotels on the Wairoa Paver has caused the loss of a number of valuable lives, stealing away the bread-winners from many homes, and spreading much sorrow and desolation over the district. also wish j,o express their earnest belief that the. Government would very imich promote the prosperity and social well-being of the community settled there, if they absolutely refused to grant or renew any license for the sale of intoxicating liquors on the fiTorthern Wairoa." After the inquest, a public meeting was held respecting the matter, when the owners of three of the hotels in the district were asked to close their houses. One of them, Mr. Dargaville, of Auckland, not only expressed his willingness to close the house he owned (causing great pecuniary loss to himself), but gave one-tenth of the sum spoken of as compensation for closing another hotel. Dr. Campbell, the owner of the third hotel, resolved to leave the matter to the decision of the Licensing Court. A petition, which has been signed by every wife and mother in the district, will be presented to that Court against the granting of a license. We had an opportunity this morning of witnessing a curiosity in the form of a live seal, which is on view at the Swan Hotel, Thames-street. The animal, when fully stretched, measures about five feet eight inches, and presents a very fine and healthy appearance. The capture was made by a man named Nicholas Carney, on the Sandy Beach, early yesterday morning, and we understand that he is desirous of disposing of the seal, not having any suitable place wherein to keep it. It is at present lying on a bed of straw, and cannot long exist unless more favourable quarters are found. Sir Charles Dilke's paper, the " Weekly Despatch," contains the following:—"Our old friend, John Brown, is the hero of another Court story. Prince Christian, who is the Ranger of Windsor Forest, proposed before the close of the pheasant season to have a small shooting party of his own friends. As is the custom in such cases, he submitted the names to Her Majesty, and they were • approved, in the hope that Mr. Brown be included in the number. The Prince politely bowed to this request, but instead of sending out the invitations as he intended, he withheld them, and he and 'Mr. Brown' had the sport to themselves. His Highness has been warmly commended for thus refusing to place this influential 'gillie' on a level with his own guests. The Queen, however, was by no means satisfied with this arrangement; and as the slight came from the one member of the Boyal circle for whom Her Majesty has a profound regard, and whom she consults more than any other member of her family, this little annoyance was felt with all the more acuteness."