The Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1876.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 76, 19 July 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1876.

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

W© learn from the Telegraph Department that mails for the Australian Colonies clo3e at the Bluff at on Thursday, the •2%nh iast. -Telegyamk-will be received at this office ttp to 10.30 a.icn. on the 20th inst.

The Suez moil arrived at Adelaide yesterday morning with London letters of June 9tJt- It b due at-Port Chalmers on August Ist. but if she has'an average passage round tt> Melbourne, the letters shonld be delivered here on the 2tHb inst. at the latest.

We are requested to draw attention to a post oftiee notice. intUcatitig the time for closing of British and otlAmiails. The postmaster informs «s that the public have been led astray by not noticing the "a-m.," or may be, in many cases, not knowing its meaning. Hundreds of letters have been posted for the foreign mails too late, through this misapprehension. A correspondent at Wellington wires us that a severe shock of earthquake was'felt at a quarter-past four this, tasted fcit'teen seconds*. •' '.."..-

The Australians must have read the_itcm regarding'Trickett's victory over .Saddler for the championship of the Thames with great Sjtetf. The r«s«lt shows that the Australian beat hia Kngliah rival by four beats' lengths. The time was 24jnins. 30steca.

The Christebttreh correspondent of the " Daily Times " telegraphs yesterday as follow* : in a late telegram of mine that Brighting. ex fish-hawker and bottle epitcctor, had come into an enormous fortune, ha* been t'hlly substantiated. With tomparattv-ely unlimited credit at every business establishment in town, both he and Mrs. Brighting are not slow in leaving behind them substantial reminescences among their ottJ friends in the form "of costly presents, several of which I have had the'distinguished honour of inspecting. They and family leave for England by the next mail steamer." The Globe Variety Troupe gave their third entertainment at the Masonic Hall last evening. The reserved scats were well filled, while the second seat 3 and gallery were uncomfortably crowded. A very enjoyable programme was submitted, and carried out in the moat sneceaaful manner, each performer receiving a large amount of applause. An excellent bill will be presented this evening, and a* it will be the last appearance of this talented company, > those who have not yet seen them should avail themselves of this opportunity.

A Westport telegram informs us that the crushing of the Alpine Company yielded 130 ounces of gold to 130 tons of stone. Several shocks of earthquake have been • felt at Marion, Westport, and Patea, at 17 this morning.

In a telegram in the " Timaru Herald " we notice it is stated that Dr. Featherston died of consumption, hastened by malaria fever, caught during his visit to Italy last year. The " Wanganui Chronicle" is rather jubilant about the cadet corps in that place. In noticing the " Gazette " returns, our contemporary remarks : —" By a published return of the number of competitors for the Cadet district prizes, scores, and averages, which appears in the latest issue of the "Gazette," we find that our Wanganui youthful warriors have made by far the highest average per cent, of any other Cadet corps in the Colony. The recorded average is 44 "62, the next highest being Oamaru, with a score of 42 09. None of the other districts come near these figures. We can congratulate our juvenile force and their worthy captain upon their very creditable performances, and beg to impress upon them the necessity of keeping tip their efficiency."

Touching the immunity from caterpillars possessed by Norwegian oats, the "Bairnsdale Courier" has the following:—" Mr. Stratham, of Gelantipy informs us that last season lie planted similar quantities of Norwegian, Tartarian, and potato oats in one paddock, and while the two last named returned no yield on arriving at maturity, being entirely gutted by the caterpillar, the first mentioned, which had been sown in the middle of the other samples, was not oidy completely untouched by the pest, but gave an extraordinary yield. Mr. Stratham is of opinion that for straw and prolific yields there is no seed of its class which may be sown with as much certainty as the Norwegian oat.

At Rangitikei, a few days ago, Mrs. J. F. Sehnltze had a very narrow escape from being burned to death. Mr. Schultze had been reading while sitting before the fire, the night being an excessively cold one, and having finished, in putting the book on the table, which was draflfn up close behind liim, he Jipset the kerosene lamp, some of the contents of which felt on the upper part of Mrs. •Schtiltze's dress, who was reclining on the sofa. Her dress was_ immediately in flames, but Mr. Schultze succeeded in smothering them by means of an overcoat.

A narrow escape from aishocking death occurred at Charleston last week to a child of tender years, a son of Mr.. Fielder, of the Bank of New Zealand... The child was riding on a draj", and one of his legs became entangled in the wheel, and, but for the presence of mind of Mrs. Kelly, who witnessed the occurrence, there is little doubt the poor boy would have been_killed; as it was, the child was seriously hurt. The "Fiji Times" reports a sad state of affairs. Old mm is so scarce in the islands that men cannot afford to get drunk upon it. Our contemporary says : —" New rum in small quantities, that is five gallon kegs, can be purchased in several parts of the group at a moiety of the price at which imported liquor can be obtained New mm and fever are often each the complement of the other, and those who meditate a few days' square drinking should communicate with the manager of the cemetery beforehand."

One of the latest authenticated instances of the murderer Sullivan's defiance of public opinion is narrated by the Bev. Mr. Edgar, minister of the Methodist Chapel of Inglewood. He describes how when preaching at Wedderburn he was not aware that Sullivan was present in the congregation, but he was not only at the service, but stayed for the prayer meeting, and began to pray openly. Mr. Edgar describes how this was too much for the congregation, who showed "evident dissatisfaction and dismay. Several left, and those who remained seemed so thoroughly surprised as to be unable to determine how to act. I (Mr. Edgar says) closed the meeting, and afterwards the members of the church signified unqualified condemnation of the act." Mr. Edgar prohibited (from respect to public opinion) Sullivan from taking any part in the church meetings. We clip the following from the Masterton "Newsletter": —"The party who was so eagerly peering into our sanctum about six o'clock yesterday evening is quite welcome to come inside, and we can assure him that he will be treated with the greatest hospitality, and allowed to read oar 'copy,' so that he may have something to show to the public in the morning." According to the law in this country (says the " Guardian") it appears that a man may' hire a horse for a day ostensibly to go a certain journey, and then make use of the animal for a much longer time, and make it perform half-a-dozen times as much work. In New South Wales a law exists which makes it an indictable offence to do this, but there is nothing in New Zealand law to make it a criminal offence.

The Byerstown correspondent of the " Cooktown Courier " writes :—"I regret to have to report the death of a fine-looking young fellow named Thdmas Kirkpatrick Donaghey. He and hismatesifere returning from the Hodgkinson, and on coming to the Mitchell they saw two tracks branching off; being undecided^whichj^fcotake,..Donaghey told his mates to tracks and he would look at the other, and see if there was a good crossing. Donaghey went along for some distance, and was returning, when he received a spear in the left side of the head just behind and over the ear. He

rolled-and fell, and-on coming to- his 'senses he felt for his revolver. The spear had broken off, leaving about an inch buried in his head. Looking round.he saw some blacks scampering off into the bush, andfired two shots after them, singing out' for assistance j his cries were heard by a number of men who were near, and on their coming to his help they saw a mob of about twenty blacks in front of them, who immediately cleared, seeing the whites. The poor fellow gradually sank and died. Deceased and his brother left Ireland on the 29th of May, 1866, for the Colonies, bearing a letter of introduction from a clergyman named Carroll, in Glasneven, to a Mr. George . Surname unknown."

Travellers on the road between Timaru and Oamaru have observed with some interest the spectacle of a dog chained at the intersection of a dividing fence with the main road. Only a few, however, have been able to appreciate the important services performed by this lonely inhabitant of the plains. The dog, a collie, is actually employed as a boundarykeeper on the extensive station of Mr. John M'Lean, and his duty is to guard the main road, and prevent the stock on the run from wandering through the opening between the dividing fence which the road necessitates. That he does his work of sentry efficiently is shown by the smooth way in which the ground within the area of his chain has been trodden. The circle is worfl as even and almost as smooth as the top of a billiard-i table. To shelter the faithful keeper a couple of barrels are placed end to end, so that when the wind is blowing into one the dog can make himself comfortable in the other. One of the station hands provides him with his wages —an occasional sheep's head. Probably, if this system of guarding main roads from becoming outlets for discontented stock were more generally adopted, the existing hindrances to traffic—squatting" gates—which, form such a prevalent feature in the ways of the Australian Colonies, might generally be dispensed with.

A skating rink has been started at Auckland. The "Cross" says:—"On Saturday evening about fifty persons assembled at the skating rink to try on the patent skates. As they were miostly amateurs they succeeded in doing this to perfection, and loud and long was the laughter that greeted the unfortunates, who, forgetting for a moment the necessity of keeping their heads before their feet, paid for the mistake by being forcibly compelled to do a skate on their backs. It was amusing and very instructive to watch the various attitudes assumed by the different performers. The cautious man might be seen carefully piloting himself along by means of the wall, while his more reckless companion,. scorning any such artificial aid, dashed boldly into the sport, and after performing some extraordinary evolutions, ended by coming into collision with another amateur, and precipitating both on the floor. The greatest good humor, however, prevailed throughout, and as the evening wore on, the reckless individuals, becoming more accustomed to the use of the skates, managed to navigate themselves across the floor with comparative safety."

Afearfid case of burningoccurred in Sydney on the evening of June 13. The " Herald " relates that about seven o'clock the alarm was given that a fire had broken out in the back room of a house at Wooloomooloo, occupied by Mrs. Maria Garner, a widow, aged-seventy-jfive years, who sublet the house to various lodgers, occupying herself the room referred fto. A lodger in the house, named William Coghlan, perceiving the smell of fire, sought ascertain from whence it proceeded/ and led to Mrs. Garner's room. On entering 3ie noticed that there was a good deal of Jsmoke, which at first prevented him from Noticing distinctly the state of things in the room. He at last observed a number of small articles burning on the floor, and in one corner of the room, near a table, lay a. smouldering mass, which he had some difficulty in recognising as the body of his .landlady, Mrs. Garner. The clothes had been burnt off the unfortunate woman, but she was still alive. The upper part of the body "was fearfully charred. One eye had been Completely obliterated by the action of the fire, and the bone of the left arm was exposed. The unfortunate woman would apfear to have sustained these injuries, which iave since terminated fatally, through some I Occident with a kerosene lamp, the exact Jaature of which is not apparent. The broken remains of the lamp itself were found on the pfoor, after Mrs. Garner was discovered in the condition described, and the oil had apparently burnt itself out. The lamp chimney was, however, found intact. The supposition is that the deceased had taken off thechimney with the intention of regulating the lamp or trimming the wick, and had in doing so (being, it w said, under the influence of liquor) knocked it down, the lamp or oil setting fire to her dress in descending to the floor. No one in the house appears to have heard either the noise of an' explosion or of Mrs. Garner falling to the floor. ' . 4--.-iThe ordinary fortnightly meeting, of the Municipal Council will be held- to-morrow evening at the usual hour.

The usual monthly inspection parade of the Head-quarter's Companies will take place this evening, at half-past seven o'clock,