The Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JULY 28, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 84, 28 July 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JULY 28, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL

The Kngtish mail, via Suez an.! Brindisi, will dose at the Pfist-ofUce. Oainani, to- ' morrow morning, at four o'clock. A aup- '. ptementary mail, p«r steamer Beautiful Star. wilt Fie dispatched the same day, closing at t).r>Oa.m. A solitary "drank," and four eases in which the defendants had committed breaches of the bye-taws, constituted the busiuess at the El. M. Court this morning. Owing to the tedious delay* which have occurred in the departure of, the City of New York from Port Chalmers with the outward English m*tl, we wo«ld suggest for the consideration of the Government that in future the through boats should only ntn as far as I.yttelton. and then the mails for Duucdin should be forwarded overland. The same course might be adopted with the outward mails, and thus avoid a delay of two day* inside an unsafe and perfectly unsuitable port for large steamers. If the authorities object to the overland route, let a small steatnen* convey the mail.-* to Lyttelton, from which port mid Wellington a steamer of any tonnage- can leave, no matter how much ■" roll there is on the bar," or what sea there may be at Timarn. We have thrown out the above suggestions, as they appear to us the only way in wh eh the 'Frisco service, so far as Pnnediii is concerned, can be properly and efficiently carried out. On reference to our advertising columns it wilt be seen that a sale of Municipal leases will take place on Monday nest, in the Council Chambers, at twelve o'clock. It is notified that a general meeting of the members of Xo. I Company. O. R. V., will be held in the Volunteer Hall, this evening, at eight o'clock. V>ur advertising columns contain an intimation from Mr. Anthony Rodgers. addressed t> the ratepayers of Severn Ward, bearing on tho ensuing Municipal eleut : o:i. At one time, at Hobart Town, writes ".Kgtjs," the majority of the publicans were retired prize-ttghters. Their noses were of various patterns. Some trended east, some west, aud some brighter organs looked heavenwards. On one occasion a meeting was convened to discuss some question affecting the licensed victuallers interests. In the chair was an ex-champion, and when he put the question, requesting those in favor of the motion to "put their hands ttpin the usual way," his words were »a the trumpet to the old war-horse. Every man sprang to his legs, and indistinctively put up his guard as he squared at his neighhour. That was the way of putting up their hands. This is what a Home vorres|>oiident of the ; •' Argus " thinks of the sea-serpent story : j •* The sea-serpent has been seen again, and j nev t -r have the details of his appearance been > ' worked tip in a more striking fashion. 'lt I raised itself np 40ft. out of the water, and - with a frightful bellow ' (now most snakes, < with the trifling exception of the rattlesnake, are dumb) ' struck the mainmast of the V. < and O. steamer Hyda pes with its tangled 5 head *•■> that it .dvook the vessel.' The t writer des.-ribe* the whole ship's company t and all thv passengers as having witnessed 1 this, except the captain, who remained lielow, f obstinately bent upon not seeing it. "Punch' r ji took up one captain for seeing a sea-serpent. \ and that captain never got over it, so remem- ' a ber I didn't see this one. There is every I detail that can be desired in this agreeable t

narrative. Eut there are two drawbacks, to ray mind, to it 3 pretensions to truth—first, the narrator is a missionary; and, secondly, the " Daily Telegraph " believes the story. When the Hydasdes reaches Southampton we shall know more about it. In the meantime it appears to me—that is, not the animal, which has never appeared to me, but the circumstance—to be a whopper."

A correspondent of the "Mount Alexander Mail," writing from Newstead, relates an incident which occurred at the Newstead Cemetery on the sth instant, which he believes u unparalleled in the history of the colony. Some five years ago the wife of a fanner named Taite died and was buried in the Newstead Cemetery. Since that time the title deeds of the farm were found to have mysteriously disappeared. Latterly Taite had a suspicion that his stepdaughter had buried the document in the coffin, and in order to test this he caused the grave to be opened and the coffin examined. The suspicion was found to be correct—the deeds were along with the remains, but so obliterated and defaced as to be literally useless, it appears that the farm formerly belonged to the first husband of the deceased, and her had enclosed them in her mother's coffin so that her stepfather could not sell the land.

The Melbourne " Argus" learns from a communication sent to the Colonial Secretary, Sydney, by Mr. Augustus Morris, Executive Commissioner for New South Wales at the Philadelphia Exhibition, that "the commis" sioncrs of the Australian Colonies have agreed to join in having a large map made of all the territories coining within their group—Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, New Guinea, Fiji, and all the islands west of the 180 th parallel of longitude, exclusive of New Caledonia. This map is to be suspended over the front of the New South Wales court, and a flag will float high over the centre of all our courts with 'Australasia' inscribed on it. We wish to show our American friends and their visitors how extensive and varied are the territories of the great western portion of the British Empire. We claim to be not so much colonies as a part of the empire." The following act of courageous self-control and presence of mind may be compared with advantage to the honors won by deeds of daring on the field of battle. Two workmen were engaged fixing a lightning-conductor on the summit of the steeple at Ville-sur-Ourthe, in Belgium. To accomplish this somewhat difficult and delicate task it was necessary that one of the -workmen should stand on the shoulders of his companion. While in this position a violent gust of wind made the topmost man spill some molten lead, which fell on the hand and forearm of his friend. Notwithstanding the sudden intensity of the pain thus inflicted, the victim of tiiis accident had the courage to remain motionless while the lead burnt its way into the flesh. He knew that the slightest movement might suffice to precipitate his companion from a height of seventy feet into the street below, and lie bravely endured the pain rather than imperil the life of Ins fel low-worker. A telegram through the Press Association states that, in answer to a request for Her Majesty's patronage for a bazaar in aid of a Wesleyan Chapel at Kensworth, near Dunstable, the following letter -was received by the applicant from Sir T. M. Biddulph. The application had been addressed to the '' Empress Victoria":—"Buckingham Palace, May 17, IS7(J.—Sir T. M. Biddulph is desired to acknowledge Mr. 's letter ad dressed to the Empress Victoria, and to say that the title is not applicable to the Queen. The Queen is unable to subscribe to purely local objects." A London correspondent of the "Argus" writes : —"On Saturday, May 7, there was a meeting at Bushy-park that was really astonishing—no less than 500 bicyclists came on their two-wheeled steeds to 'witch the world ' with hobby 'horsemanship.' Some of them came from Portsmouth (sixty-eight miles) that very morning, which very few real horses could have done, without a mouthful of corn or a drop of water. Most of this great gathering was, however, from the meI tropolitan counties, and a very creditable ! one it was.- The pace at which they all took their three miles' ' spin' was something marvellous, and as their indiarubber tires made the machines noiseless, it was literally 'a moving spectacle.' One could not help thinking that some military use might be made of such an invention. One has heard of horses shod with felt; but here were mounted men going swifter than cavalry, and without the glwat of a sound. Why should not our gallant volunteers start a bicycle battalion ! The recruits, however, must be taught young, for—the Right Hon. Robert Lowe excepted —I never saw a good bicyclist over fifty years

ol age. It is refreshing occasionally to hear some of the genuine Yankee vernacular spoken l»y £t&ymgh hard-headed, self-assertive repreof the Western World. The monocharacter of the proceedings at a Resident Magistrate's Court -was recently, for a few minutes, pleasantly varied by the appearance of an American skipper in the witnes3-box. He appeared to defend an action to recover a balance of wages brought by a seaman who had shipped in Ins vessel, the Argosy, at New York. When asked

whether he acknowledged or denied the claim he curtly replied, " It's illegal." In the wit-ness-box he produced his log to show that, after reaching port, the plaintiff refused to obey orders, and otherwise misconducting himself. The plaintiffs counsel attempted to cross-examine him, but he "guessed, reckoned, calculated, and supposed" with such "greased lightning" rapidity that the attorney was glad to give up a task which exposed him to general merriment. At length the presiding Magistrate made a somewhat sharp and decisive attack on the hitherto impregnable sea lawyer : " You said you opposed the claim because it was illegal. What do you mean by that?" The Court was hushed in intense silence, and the listening attorneys pricked their ears, expecting doubtless to hear a series of the equivocations to which the Bench is so accustomed. For once they were undeceived. ' ' I base my defence on the 190 th section of the American Shipping Act, which says that a seaman cannot sue in any foreign port before the termination of his engagement unless he can prove ill-usage," was the captain's prompt reply. "Yes," added his Worship, "or unless he has received his discharge from the ship." The plaintiff alleged that he had been turned away from the vessel, but as this evidence was unsupported, and the captain declared it to be imtruthful, he was nonsuited.

Some smart but undistinguished persons seem to have been on board the steamer Kingarooma on her last passage to Melbourne. At Nelson and Wellington the courtesy of Captain M'Lean was taken advantage of by friends desiring to send to friends tokens of regard and good feeling in the shape of pheasants, but when the steamer reached Melbourne it was found that the whole lot had been spirited away, leaving not a feather behind. There is nothing very particular about this circumstance—since pheasants seem to be as favourite game with steamboat thieves as with licensed sportsmen —but some of the " characters" on board the Eingarooma have effected a bolder stroke than usual in the appropriation of property. While Captain M'Lean was on duty on deck during the night some one entered his cabin, opened his wardrobe, and took therefrom his entire stock of shirts, recently purchased, leaving him only one or two superannuated under garments. As his cabin is on deck, with the door facing the steersman, the theft must have been smartly and quickly effected. The captain desiderates a friend for the future in the shape of a good watch dog.

It is currently reported (says the Wei. lington "Post") that Sir Julius Vogel is anxious to obtain the Agent-Generalship. There is much to be said against such an appointment. If Sir Julius Vogel is such a very able man—as his admirers are never tired of telling us he is—then, instead of being made Agent-General, he had better remain in the Colony to assist in getting it out of the difficulties into which he Jias dragged it. Besides,, there would be no trenchment in sending him home to cost ixs £6OO a month, as on his last trip.. Far better would it be to re-arrange the and make it to cost only £I,OOO "a'jljllr, as the Canterbury Government did when they sent home Mr. Marshmanto select emigrants, despatch ships, and execute large orders for railway plant and other material. When the late Dr. Featherston was appointed Agent-General there was a great immigration to carry on, a vast amount of railway material to be sent out, and delicate negotiations required continued attention. A business agency and the Crown Agents to manage our loans are all that is now required. We do not want to make our Colonial Agent a Colonial Ambassador. And as it appears that the Rothschilds have had enough of our loans, that the Crown Agents decline to act with our Premier, and that some influential brokers are said not to look upon him with favor, it would, we imagine, be the height of folly to entrust Sir Julius Vogel with a mission so important as that of Loan Agent or Agent-General. The " Intelligent Vagrant " is responsible for the following:—"Attending a place of worship, by accident the other day, I noticed my esteemed friend, Fipkins Hawyaw, Esq., occupying a prominent position in the choir. Knowing that he had about as much voice as a stewed oyster, and as much knowledge of music as a crow, I took an opportunity of asking him subsequently what he wanted in the choir. 'My dear fellow,' said he ' pew rents are very high, Government pay only £3 a-week; by joining the choir T get an excellent sitting for nothing, and when the singing is going on, I open my mouth and breathe hard, and I get credit for adding much to the volume and tone of the vocalisation.'" —Not a bad story comes from the lobbies. Mr. Eees, whose tendency to open his mouth and talk on" all possible occasions is well known, had just returned from his trip to Auckland. Meeting the member for Gadabout, who supports the Ministry, Mr. Rees said to him, " Ah, now I think I've done it pretty well this time. Made a speech in Auckland that has fixed the election for City West, played a game of foot-ball, and got back in time for the real fight of the session." Replied the member for Gadabout, "Played foot-ball did you? I'm sorry to say yon have got the foot-and-mouth disease."