LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 63, 4 July 1876, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

It is intimated that the Municipal Council will sit as a Court of Revision of the Citizen's List, on Wednesday, the 12th instant, at ten a.m. Members of the First Oamaru Permanent Building Society are reminded that the first monthly subscriptions are payable this evening, at the office of the society, Thamesstreet, and eight o'clock. The Melliourne correspondent of the "Pastoral Times" is very hard upon a celebrated singer who recently visited New Zealand. If his statement is correct, she must be a Hen rietta the VIII. Alluding to a late union which she contracted, he says:—"This marriage brings the number of her ventures in wedlock up to cither six or seven, I am not sure which. There must be some mysterious influence, when a woman who i 3 nearer fifty than forty years of age can so glamour young men. As a business speculation it should prove a very lucrative one for him.'*

We learn from our correspondent at Dunedin that E. G. Bickerton, charged with embezzlement, was acquitted yesterday at the Supreme Court. The prisoner made a capital address, appealing strongly to the sympathies of the Jury. He said that when he came to Dunedin it was at Dr. Wait's advice, who bad recommended change of air for his wife, and he was arrested two hours after arrival. He had been in gaol since, and had been deprived of the opportunity of defending himself. When in the Police Court at Oamartt, he had given Mr. O'Meagher £25 to sec him through the case, but when Mrs. Bickerton wrote to his solicitor, asking him if he would be in town during the hearing of the case, Mr. O'Meagher coolly replied that if she would send him £3O more, he would be happy to come down. It is notified that a summoned meeting of the Loyal' Alfred Lodge, 1.0.0. F., will be held tins evening, at 8 o'clock sharp. There was a very brief sitting of the Resident Magistrate's Court, this morning. James Little, for allowing one horse to wander at large, was fined 3s. 6d. Mr. T. W. Parker, R.M., presided. We are requested to intimate that Mr. Charles Russell has been compelled to postpone hi 3 concert announced for to-morrow evening, until Monday, the 17th, the Masonic Hall having been previously engaged. The Shelby (Ky.) Sentinal gives the following account of a dance and its results in the county of Anderson :—"A dance was given at the house of a man by the name of Redman, to which he invited all his neighbours Dancing was at its highest point, when Redman asked the men who were dancing to dance like gentlemen, and not like horses, as they were doing. After Redman had concluded, a man by the name of Morgan, who was drinking very hard, rushed in and said that he was managing, and in fact bossing, the dancing part. In the meantime Redman

had retired to' another room, in -which he: armed himself with a pistol, and returning to the room where the dancing was going on and where Morgan was, commenced firing at Morgan. . He fired twice at Morgan, wounding him, from which he died the next day. While Redman was firing, other men produced their weapons and joined in. During the shooting some blew out the lamps, leaving the participants to settle Or in total darkness. When the shooting ceased, and the smoke cleared away, and half of the invited guests had repaired to. their homes, it was found that two young ladies and a gentleman had been fatally injured."

The following account of a curious accident to a crane on the North Shore wharf, at Auckland, last week, is taken from the "Star": —"About half-past ten o'clock three or four men were employed at the fiveton crane of the Harbor Board hoisting up two timber piles weighing 1£ tons. The men at the wench had already raised the piles the height of the tee, and were just about to swing them round on to the wharf, when suddenly something at the head of the crane gave way, and there was a momentary check. The men had scarcely time to look up to see what was the matter when suddenly the whole machine collapsed with a run, the logs fell with a mighty splash into the water, and were followed by the greater part of the crane, including the jib, stays, and chain. Luckily, all was clear below, and no damage was done to life or limb. The dingy of the steam launch Transit had a bit of her gunwale smashed, but this was the only property that was injured besides the crane itself. The wreck of this was most complete; scarcely a cog-wheel was left whole, and the huge solid iron frames were broken like so many pieces of stick. The cause of the accident can only be guessed, as no flaw appears in any of the ironwork to explain it. It is surmised that the chain must have got out of gear on the jib-head, and in some way brought an undue strain to bear on the stays. Whatever the cause, the accident was of such a nature that it is a wonder that a serious calamity has not to be reported. The crane was bought at Wellington, and was thought to be a cheap bargain at £125." The Wellington "Argus" states that in the Legislative Council on the 20th inst. the Hon. Mr. Mantell presented the following petitions :— From nineteen members of the legal profession practising in Dunedin, praying that the circumstances attending the suspension from practice of Henry Smythies be considered by the Council, and that if it should appear that wrong has been done, the Council will please to grant such relief as shall be right. 2. From Henry Smythies, of Dunedin, praying that the Council will take the circumstances of his case into consideration, and grant him such relief as shall be just.

A fellow who professed his ability to rival the swallowing feats of Cabriolo has recently found himself caught in the meshes of the law in a country town in New South Wales. His name was Charles Legarde Redman, and on the 6th of June he gave an entertainment at a public-house at Wombat, near Yass. During his legerdemain performance he asked one of the audience to lend him a watch, and a man named Charles Howard unsuspectingly lent him a watch and chain, which he apparently swallowed. He lay down on the floor while some man broke a stone with a hammer on his stomach, and then retired to his dressing-room. At a subsequent part of the evening, Howard asked the conjurer for his watch and chain, and the reply he received was, "I can't give them to you, they are in my stomach ;" but he offered to fight the owner for them, a proposal which was declined. The next morning the conjurer, in reply to another, demand, reiterated his statement as to the resting-place of the watch, but Howard refused to be fobbed off any longer, and gave him into custody on the charge of stealing the watch. On his way to the lock-up, the conjurer bent his head forward, and to all appearance vomited the watch, which was found to be going, and in same condition as when taken. He was committed for trial at the Court of Quarter Sessions. We ("N.Z. Times") learn that it is the intention of the Government to introduce a bill next session appointing a commission to value the carrying capacity of the Canterbury runs, with a view to their being offered to the licensees at increased rentals when the present term expires. The Carterton correspondent of the "Wairarapa Standard" says : —" Many of our oldest settlers have for a long time past asserted that the ranges in this neighborhood are auriferous, and this has lately been shown to be the fact. A party of four last week made a prospect over the spurs towards the sources of the Makahika and Marigatarara, and found ample evidence of the existence of gold. This should be followed up." Sir C. G. Duffy has picked up at Home, and told in a lecture at Melbourne the following morceau of trade information respecting Scotch and other champagnes:—"l learned from excellent authority in France this significant fact—that of the wines of that country ninety-five per cent, are drunk at home, and only five per cent, exported. When England, Russia, Germany, and the United States, the old established customers, are supplied out of the limited exports, it is ,

scarcely reasonable to hope that any considerable*share_of the five per cent, will find its way to us. I" had another fact on the same authority, that 40,000 dozen of champagne are manufactured every month in Glasgow from petroleum." What gratifying intelligence this must be to our " light wine" and "champagne" drinkers. A serious accident (says the "Taranaki Herald" of Saturday last) occurred to Mr. John Mace, of Omata, on Tuesday. A largetusked boar which had been purchased was being taken from the cart, with the intention of placing it in a strong sty on his own farm, when the animal made a rush at Mr. Mace, and succeeded in driving one of its long tusks through the flesh and under the sinews of the lower part of one arm. The tusk, which had got hooked under the strong sinew of the arm, could not be at once withdrawn, and on the animal shaking its head to get free, the flesh of the arm was ripped from where the tusk entered to the wrist, about six inches. Mr. Mace, after bandaging the wound to prevent too much bleeding, rode into town, and on arriving at Williamson's Medical Hall, was fortunate enough to find Dr. O'Carroll there, who attended to the wound. The pain was frightful. _,

We ("Wellington Argus ") have no doubt that the seats in the House of Representatives are very comfortable, but we. are sure they would be rendered much more enjoyable during the coming session if members collectively would only agree to sit on Mr. Rees. His manner of addressing the House is highly offensive, being the style usually considered appropriate only in the Old Bailey or a Police Court. He is rude and bullying, and will evidently develope into a bore of the first water if the House does not put him down. It will probably not be easy to do this, for his own good taste cannot be appealed to. His questions last night as to Dr. Pollen and Sir D. M'Leau were of that offensive class which Mr. Collens some few years ago acquired unenviable notoriety for putting. As soon as the official " Gazette " of Vienna published the authentic text of the Andrassy note, the Khedive requested that it might be telegraphed to him. The despatch sent to Cairo via Malta, giving the note in extenso, consisted of 3,818 words, the cost of the whole, at seventy-seven kreutzers a word, being 4,898 florins, or about £490. Something like a camera must have been used in the following case. The "Waikato Times " says at the Hemuera sale yards there is being now exhibited a life-sized photograph of a Spanish merino sheep, named Green Mountain, from Alameda. This fine woolproducer gained the first prize at the last California Show, besides several other prizes at inland cattle shows. Its last yield of wool sheared, six days less than one year's growth, was 35£lbs. The picture, which has attracted general attention amongst the dealers on market day, was brought from the United States by Mr. E. Perkins.