LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 137, 28 September 1876, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

. It will be seen by a notice in our adver. tising columns that the Municipal Corporation offer the employment of stone-breaking, at the rate of Is. lOd. per" cubic yard. Application is to be made at the Engineer's office, and it is stated that those who* signed the recently-presented memorial will have the preference. We aregiven to understand thatthe steamer Samson, which is due here to-morrow, will bring up a number of female immigrants who came by the ship InvereargiLL Those persons who have been traable for some time to supply themselves with general servants, will thus have a favorable opportunity afforded them of getting their wants supplied. The immigrants' are said to be of a very superior class, and, as a consequence, iwiH nofcesperience much difficulty in finding regular employment. A number have been engaged in* Dunedm at wages varying from £4O to £SO per annum.

Mr. Maca-ndrew is a better actor than we (Wellington A.ryus) gave aim credit for being. To hear him speaking the other night in moving his resolution for the exemption of Otago from : the operation of the Abolition Act, any one would have supposed that it was from the fullness of the. heart that the mouth was speaking, that the indignation was spontaneous, the passion unfeigned and genuine. It rather disillusionises people to I'md that Mr. Macandrew was only deliveringa well-rehearsed speech, carefully learned by heart. So it was, however. The speech was written out carefully, and was, we believe, actually being telegraphed by the Press Agency while it was being delivered in the House. As a histrionic effort the delivery ot the speech was excellent, but the effect is rather spoiled by learning that the effort after all was only an admirable piece of

acting. The Weslpori'Tlms3 is responsible for the following " A visitor to the Ktunara rush, who has returned to Westport, states that the rush looks well both for.gold finding and business: but, both as regards miners and tradespeople there is enough of either class already on the ground, until a better water supply is available, an event which will not ensue for tlires or four months to come. Hokitika, Ross, Keeftnn, and G-reymouth are all largely represented at the rush, and tliere are also a large number of new arrivals from the Buller district.

The Southland News says : "Printers' imps have much to answer for, but. who would suppose one of thenvjras responsible for the* downfall'of'a Government undertaking ? It must be so, though, unce a contributor to the Grey mouth Star writes as follows :—' It's all cleared up ; it's all right; rejoice and let us be glad. The contractor is held blameless, the foundry is blameless, and the engineers are blameless. It has been explained. The collapse of the Grey .Gore Bridge is 110 longer a mystery. The incompetent rascal has been detected. Just fancy, the smash-up being caused through a printer's devil. A mistake in the original specifications. The infernal printer put in a figure '2' for a c 9 the burst up. The mistake was not discovered until last week, when some smart engineers found out the misprint. If this report is correct it speaks volumes for the cfiiciency of the Public Works Department when a poor printer's devil can upset all their engineering labour by the placing; of a wrong figure in a specification.".

Ladies calling at Government House, Melbourne, on reception days, are expected to sign their names in the visitors' book before being ushered into the drawing-room. A story is told that a lady, bent on getting an invitation for the approaching ball, was stuck up by this educational test. She frankly explained her difficulty to the aitle-ch-canip on duty. "I am not a very good scholar," said she, "when I'm-flurried. 33ut if you 11 write my name for me, I'll touch the pen !" The lady was-admitted. The Standard, reporting a sermon delivered by Bishop Redwood ia Grey town oh Sunday last, says :— <: Ke severely censured the practice that prevailed among all, even in the country districts, of reading novels. was not the way to form a man's mind. He himself, when young, had been deterred by his parents from such books, aiid consequently gradually applied himself to the masterpieces of the literature of his own and other nations. He hoped Catholics would pride themselves on not being novel-readers.