The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 149, 12 October 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1876. LOCAL AND GENERAL.

♦ " Wv>«U are thine*. and a drop r»f ink fallinsc upon a {hott;ht may jifpiiusa that whit-h makes thousands think."

The " Man at the Corner," in the Greg* mmiti Errniny Slnr says :—" Tradespeople at the Kumara know how to sell their goods and not get sold. A Iwkcr down there does a largtt business, yet never shows a loaf of bread on his shelves. His mode of procedure is this : A customer comes in for bread, and, seeing none, asks, ' Have yon any bread left ?* The baker watches his customer for a moment or two, and seeing him bring forth a shilling, replies Til see.' He looks under the counter, where -100 loaves are stored, brings forth one, hands it to the customer, and takes the cash. Had the customer been a credit man this baker would bave been out ol bread. This is not a bad dodge."

Oitr contemporary the Christchurch Star says : —" The telegram received vid San Francisco, ami forwarded from Auckland, reinjecting the prices of New Zealand securities, is manifestly absurd. The price for Five Per Cents may be right. There are no Fours on the market, and this should probably read Four-and-a-halfs, the price of which stock at last advices was 95£ to OG£. The quotation for the Sixes should clearly be 113 to 116. Their quotation was, on July 29, from 112 to 115, according to the proximity of a dividend on the different issues. These quotations were given by the Economist.

In compliance with a numerously-signed requisition presented to his Worship the Mayor, asking that to-morrow (Friday) should be proclaimed a public holiday on account of the Oamaru Steeplechase, it is notified elsewhere that the petition has been granted. It is somewhat a matter for regret that the trial trip of the Waitaki should take place on the same day, as it is very possible the success of the race meeting will be very much jeopardised thereby. This is the wa\' in which the editor of the L>ldl Arrfu." informs his friends that the paper hai just completed the first twelve months of its existence. We reprint the article exactly as it appeared, which runs as follows: —" It is just twelve Months to-day since we launched our tiny bark on the waves of public opinion, and on calmly reviewing our share in the trials and troubles common to each, in every-day life in a small community like Lyell, during the Twelve Months last past, we candidly acdnowledge that we sec much that we may regret, but nothing as Journalists to be ashamed of. We have kept our motto steadily before us, and although sorely tempted on many occasions, we have nevertheless firmly adhered to, and acted up to it, for we remembered that Scriptural saying, viz., ' What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole World, and lose his own Souland we hold that an Editor has a Soul and a Conscience as well as any other man. If not, the sooner we join The Lost Tribe, the better. As we have acted in the past, so shall we continue to act in the future, knowing full well, that by so doing, we shall win the respect of every honest right-minded man, and in due time we shall also ' increase in stature,' which next to 'growth in grace,' we most tarncstlv desire."

The Tim■--« publishes a letter from Mr. Nees, in which he plainly states that it is inijuwsible to continue the working of the Terrace End saw-mill owing to the present prohibitive carriage charged upon the railway to Fostoi:. Alter having cost that gentleman an outlay of £5,000, his mill, like Messrs. Brogden's, is now to be closed, and can we predict that oilier mills in the district will not follow suit, if this insensate system is to continueTo say the least, there is comparative ruin staring the district in the face, for not only is it deprived of a large amount of the revenue which should flow into :t from the export of timber, but if its ir.w-miils one after another are compelled to suspend operations, numbi_rs of hardworking men will be thrown out of employment. Why does the Government coolly contemplate this state of things without otiering to relieve it ? Why does it not assist this district by reducing the carriage upon its timber export, and thereby relieve the present depressed state of the labor market, and to some extent augment its own revenue '! It is surely the duty of our hou. member, Mr. W. Johnston, jt» use his powerful influence in this matter, and if tha railway authorities will not listen to reason, bring the matter before the House. It has now become an absolute necessity that Mr. Pa.-;.-ijkire's wings should be clipped, otherwise the country will rise en- mu-sse against the desolation he is creating.