The Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JULY 8, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 67, 8 July 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JULY 8, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

In ottr issue of Thursday we alluded to .1 statement made in the " Tiiapeka Times"— and copied into the Dttncdin "Star" and other journals—that a Catholic clergyman had shaken off the trammels of the Church and been united to a Sister of' Mercy, and in doing so we ventured to give the assertion a Hat contradiction. OnrTeaders have only to tarp to our "Special Telegrams" to find that we Were pretty correct in our assertion, and the awkward predicament in which both those napers have been placed by the lively traaguuHiiton of the paragraphtsts. The latest thing in Dnnedin is a Top and Marble Chtb. From a Dnnedin paper we learn that the meeting of gentlemen favourable to the formation of a Marble and Top .Glttb, held at the Occidental f|ptel, was well attended. It was decided that the name of the Club shonld be the "Marble and Top Club," and a committee i of .three gentlemen was appointed to wait npon the committee of the Shinty, Hnrley, or Hockey Club to confer a3 5 1to'*thc desirability of the Clubs amalgamating, and in that case the name of the" CJab to be altered to the " Dunedin Marble, Top, and Shinty Club." It has pained us very- much to see the following announcement in the columns of our contemporary this morning:—"A scratch match will be played by the Oamaru Football Clab, on the Cricket Ground, to-morrow afternoon. It is to be hoped that there will be a full master of menders to take advantage of this for practice for the match shortly to take place with the Dunedin Chtb." We hope that members of the Football Club will, by their aftsence, show their regard for the Sabbath-day ,_ and not take advantage of this opportunity for practice. Surely six days in'the week are sufficient for practice, without desecrating the Sabbath. We are charitable enough to suppose that the paragraph in question is a contributed one, and the writer not being used to newspaper parlance", has forgotten that "today" with an editor means "to-morrow". with the public.

Mr. and Mrs. JVL. Byers -will appear at the Masonic Hall this evening, in the German play of "Ingomar." The comedies of "How to Rule a Wife" and the "Lancashire Man " will conclude the entertainment.

At the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning, Alexander Mee, remanded yesterday on a supposed charge of lunacy, was brought up and discharged.—A man named Henry, remanded on a charge of obtaining £2 under fake pretences, from John Mortimer, of Hampden, was sentenced to two months' imprisonment, with hard labor. Mr. T. W. Parker, R.M;, presided. If the old saying that " Charity covers a multitude of sins " be correct, the members of Lodge Waitaki, 1,111, E. C, should be gaining absolution rapidly. It is not so long ago that this Lodge generously voted £lO towards the. - Waiareka. Belief Fund, and now we are pleased to state that the members have given £5 to the Hospital. The Waitaki sets an example worth following by other lodges. The New York papers of March 23rd devote considerable space to the description of a prize-fight, which had long been anticipated, and which was fought at Delamore between two men—Cleasy, of Baltimore, and Wceden, of Philadelphia. Special trains were run, and enormous crowds assembled to see this combat, which lasted an hour and a half. Seventy-eight rounds, were fought with great determination, and both men suffered terribly, a fearful blow on WeeVlen's forehead deciding the fight in favor of Cleasy. . . : '

Roberts, the champion billiartLpiayer, appears to be causing some little stir in Victoria, where he is exhibiting his skill. The Sandhurst correspondent of the "Argus," telegraphing on Monday, says : " On Saturday Mr. Roberts was received by the Mayor and several of the city councillors at the Town-hall, and under their escort, vis ted some of tne principal of the district." "yEgl'es," in the' "Australasian," does'not believe in this ..hero-worship, and writes as follows: —"Xow v -what were the personal claims of the gentleman thus honored ? Was lie it patriot or a philanthropist:? Was he famous in literature, or had lie achieved renown upon some stricken tield ? "So, my dear hero-worshipper—he was none of these ! He was a respectable young man who, more skilfully than any other young man of his day, could push about round pieces of ivory with a pointed stick ! When next the cine authorities of Sandhurst seek to do honor to some celebrated visitor, the celebrated visitor will be able to accurately measure the vafue of the compliment. "

It is not often that the Court of Chancery lias so little difficult}- in giving its consent to a ward's union as in the case of Miss Dickenson, who by the time Colonel Valentine Baker has left prison will be married to Lord Howa-d de Walden—a bridegroom six-and-twenty years older than hi 3 bride, but one of the richest noblemen in England. It is said he has £IOO,OOO a year, and also great expectations from his uncle, the eccentric Duke of Portland, so that the happy pair will have enough to live upon. The Kev. P. P. Agnew delivered his fourth lecture in the Masonic Hall last evening, before a crowded house. The subject selected Avas " The Deeds of Women," which was handled by the rev. gentleman, in the" most eloquent and masterly style. The lecture was interspersed with several anecdotes of a very interesting character, the audience testifying their approbation by frequent rounds of applause. We may here remind our readers that it is, Mr. Agnew's intention to conduct Divine Service in the Masonic Hall to-morrow morning and evening, at the usual hours.

A terrible, but as yet not fatal, accident happened at the Greenstone on Friday (says the " Grey River Argus "), by which a miner, named Phillip Barber, has sustained very serious injuries. Not far from the township a party of men are working a terrace claim on the east side of the road, and their tailrace is carried in a culvert underneath the road, thence for a short distance to the edge of a deep precipice, down which the tailings fall into the flat below. It appears that, on the day mentioned, this culvert got ..stopped up at the face, and one of the men went up it from the lower end with a the stoppage. Of course it was known that as soon as the obstacle was removed the accumulated water would ran irresistibly through the culvert, and another man, the man Barber, stood at the lower mouth ready to catch his mate as the water swept him before it. What was expected happened; the man in the culvert was washed to the mouth, and caught and pulled out by Barber, who, however, in doing so slipped into the race himself, and was carried away like a straw by the torrent, right over the precipice. From where he fell to where he was picked up is 150 ft., and he fell at least 50ft. perpendicular. It is a wonder the man was not smashed to atoms, as large boulders and masses of debris were carried along with him by the stream. He was badly crushed on his head and sides, but hopes are entertained of his recovery. A'-West Coast paper states that another suspicious phase of the Piako Swainp transaction is the fact that the purchase money was only paid on the 14th Juner-one day before the opening of Parliament.

We ("Daily Times") are glad to be able to state that our appeal on behalf,of the nine' orphan children of the late Dr. Van Hemert has met with at least two generous responses. Last evening we received from Oamaru a cheque for £lO, being £5 from Mr. M. Walkem and £5 from Mr. A. Peyman. The butchers of Nelson—at least nine of them—advertise cheap meat, the tariff being —mutton from :3d. to 4d., beef 3d. to od., arid pork and veal at proportionate prices. Webley's Cloth Factory at Nelson has been closed, and two. of • the firm of Webley Brothers are now engaged at the Kaiapoi Woollen Factory, in Canterbury. D. and L. M'Lean report the sale of the Eskbank Estate, Otaio, to Messrs. Fleming and Hedley, of Oamaru, for the sum of £25,000. This, we ("Timaru Herald") believe, is one of the largest freeholds that have changed owners in this district, and the property is unquestionably a superior one. It was the property of Mr,T. H. Murray. The "Journal de Paris" contains the following particulars of a fearful massacre committed in the oas/s of Feriana, regency of Tunis, and close to the French frontier. A young Arab, by name Ahuied-Bou-Merzan, belonging'to one of the best families of the Aghalik of Eez,, had, for some time been enamoured of the eldest daughter of the cadi or judge of Fez, and having demanded her lfand in marriage had received her father l s consent. Bou-Merzan made his appearance at Feriana with great pomp on the day appointed for the nuptial ceremony, accompanied by a great number of friends and servants, but for some unaccountable reason was refused admittanpe.into the house of the judge, with a notification that he should not count any longer upon the hand of his daughter Meryem. Bou-Merzan, furious at this sudden-destruction of his projects, and monfified by the humiliation he was subjected to^before the eyes of his friends and followers,

after exhorting them to aid him, led them, forward, and, forcing an entrance, killing everybody he encountered, carried off the young girl Meryem, making his escape to the south. The number of slain amounted to thirty-two. The Governor of the Pro~ vince, on being informed of these facts, sent a troop of 600 horse to search the districts of Djebel-Mandra and Naftar, near Chott-el-Djerid, where'.-Bou-Merean is supposed to have taken refuge. The " Star " says -that the trite old adade of its being " an ill blows nobody good " was amply verified in Eiyerton in the beginning of the week by the arrival of several dray -loads of rabbitsi which, driven from their holes by*"the* recent floods, had taken to the' high where they were slaughtered ih~a -wholesale manner by-the settlers and their canine assistants. In consequence of this-great massacre of bunnies, the price of these animals in Eiverton was reduced to tho low figure of fourpence per pair.

Here is a vivid illustration of the parched condition of some squatting country. A bushman who was lately riding down the Paroo (in Queensland) found that his pipe (like certain theatrical stars) wouldn't draw. He looked about for a straw of grass with which to clear the stem. For five miles. of his journey he failed to-discover any, and gave up the' search —wondering as he did so in what kind of condition the sheep about that neighbourhood must be, presuming that any survived.