LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 155, 19 October 1876, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

There was no business at the Resident Magistrate s Court this morning. The town wore a peculiarly holiday-look-ing aspect to-day, most of the places of business being closed in compliance with an invitation to that effect from the stewards of the Oamaru Steeplechase Meeting.

No surer index can be prodnced of the i rosperity of a town than the erection of new places of business and the increase of its commercial establishments. It is gratifying, then, to note the rapid strides which Oamaru is making day by day in both these respects, giving pleasing evidences of its march on the road to prosperity. Within the past six months buildings have been erected in every portion of the town, which, for size and architecture, would be a credit to any city in Australasia. For beauty of design and as specimens of ornamental workmanship, few buildings can surpass the Hai* hour Board Offices and the business establishments of Messrs. J. K. Biowne and Milligan ; while the massive stores erected for Mr. A. H. Maude, and those in course of erection for Messrs. T. H. Brown and Anderson, cannot be equalled out of Duuedin. In addition to all these, dwelling-house 3 are springing up with mushroom celerity, and the outlying portions of the town, which a months since were perfect wastes, are now dotted with neat cottages. The decided advantages obtained for the loading and discharging of cargo by the erection of the Breakwater, has given a wonderful impetus to the shipping, and on the completion of the railways now in course of construction, Oamaru, with four different lines running into it, has a glorious future before it.

We would draw the attention of the person in whose charge the Corporation lamps of the town are placed to the disgraceful state of the majority of them. As the posts are far from ornamental, the presumption is that they arc intended for use, not embellishment, but m the state in which they appear at present that pre.-umption is a fallacy. Were a solar eclipse expected, the glasses might certainly be utilised, as there would be a plentiful supply of the smoked material on hand; hut failing such an application, they remain nothing more nor less than evidences of dirt and neglect. We cannot s.-.y whether the fault Him in the fact that the lamps arc never trimmed or the glasses never cleaned', but whichever be the reason, they are but of little benefit for the purpose for which we suppose they were erected.

Wc do not know who 13 accountable for tlie unprotected state of the Thames-street UriJ"!;—whether it has passed from the hand* of the contrnctors to the Corporation or not —but certainly it remains at present in a very dangerous condition. Why the parapets on both sides of the bridge are not extended to their full length, or a protection placed in the different gaps, has been a matter of surprise to a good many, ourselves amongst the number. Bishops are scarce in the vicinity of Oamaru, and there is little chance of the seriousness of the danger being proved by the sacrifice of an episcopal life; but should the work be left in its present accident inviting condition, there is every probability that some one will pay the penalty of the neglect. The notorious Doctor Turner seems determined to rival Jack Sheppard in the number of his escapes. It is not so long since he managed to decamp from durance vile, and was recovered with some difficulty. This time, it would appear lie was on bail, charged* with stealing a coat at Christchurch, but when called upon there was "No appearance," the doctor having taken his departure per steamer, dressed in female attire.

The French Champion Billiardist plaj'ed hU last match in Dunedin on Tuesday night, his opponent, M. Tondtit, receiving 400 out of SOO points. The play on both sides was far better than in any preceding matches. In chronicling the match the Guardian states that M. Carme" made a fine break of 310, and another of IS 1 .). Hi 3 opponent made two breaks of 38 and 36 respectively. When the champion had reached SOO, M. Tondut was only 534, and was therefore beaten by 26G points. The champion plays his next match at Invercargill, which will probably be at the commencement of next week.

The Auckland correspondent of the Dunedin Time* furnishes the following spicey bit of chit-chat: —" Mr. Lusk's meeting was a great snccess. It was chiefly 'devoted to showing why Otago and Auckland should work together, and every allusion to the noble and loyal conduct of your members was vociferously cheered. Resolutions of confidence were telegraphed to Sir George, who replied simply, ' Eely on our doing all tl*!it men can do for the common good.' How is it that the Irishmen in this Province are all Provinciaiists and for selfgovernment; while the Scotchmen are the other way ? Sonje one has started the theory that Irishmen'must improve and Scotchmen deteriorate by Eut then that would not apply <to yo.ujr Province, where Scotchmen eem to like self-government too. However, I can ronly stale facts, and leave someone els2 to account for *^ em ; assuredly our Scotchmen, and notabgj&yMi

wealthy among them, are the chief stay of the Government and of the Central party here."

From a private letter sent to a friend in this district by one who was seized with the Kumara fever we [Southland News) make the following extracts :—" The rush is weil deserving the name, fo- there are hundreds rushing on to the golden field with bright •xpectations, and scores are leaving it with a bitter curse." The writer proceeds to describe the "sinking" necessary, and says that "after all the expense and trouble in most instances there is none of the precious metal at the bottom." He believes that when the water race 3 are finished the Kumara may flourish, but it is all a chance. Meantime he reports provisions and clothing to be "at almost Invercargill prices." In many counties in Victoria the system is adopted of holding the Council meetings alternately in the various towns of the county, so as to give all parts of a shire an opportunity of meeting their representatives. This system (says the Dunstan Times) if carried out in New Zealand would, we think, work well, and would prevent that feeling of discontent and jealousy that is sure to arise if any one town has, so to speak, the monopoly of all the meetings and business of the county. The question with the ratepayers of Vincent County is at all events worth considering. The Guardian has lost a subscriber, and thus pillories the defaulter by taking the public into it 3 confidence: —"Mr. Butterworth has sent to us an intimation, 'Stop my paper.' This is in consequence of our having, in yesterday's issue, reported the narrow escape from a capsize of the Northern coach, the previous evening, owing to a number of his cases being left on the roadway. In consequence of this, we have uothing to do but put up our shutters. Such is the price of what so many speak of as the "independence of the Press." The Press is independent if it points out the wrong-doing of our neighbors, but if it points our own, is ought to be suppressed. If Air. Butterworth's carriage were capsized by cases left opposite some other person's door, we apprehend that that gentleman would regard it as the duty of the Press at least to report the accident, and may be, to add a word of condemnation of the reprehensible conduct of the persons who had left their cases in the roadway; and yet there were persons in that itage-coach—perhaps, indeed, in humbler circumstances —whose lives are just as dear to relations as are the lives of members of Mr Butterworth's family to him. We are, of course-, deeply sensible of the terrible loss incurred in the removal of Mr. Butterworth's name from the list of our subscribers, but yet so infatuated are we, that it will not deter us from doing -what we can to protect the safety of the public from the culpable negligence of either Mr. Butterworth or any other member of society. However, if the world has now the melancholy duty of sorrowing over the sudden extinction ot the Guardian, it will be borne in sorrowful memory that it is all owing to Mr. Butterworth, who has ' stopped his paper.' "

The Melbourne correspondent of a Dunedin daily says : —"Collins-street presents quite an altered appearance ' on the block,' through the erection of W. H. Glen and Co. 's immense new music warehouse. The cost has been mentioned at £19,000. The other fashionable music shops, all close together on the block, are Allan's, Lee and Kaye's, Paling's, and Nicholson and Ascherberg's. There is a keen competition in* sdpply-ing-pianos on time payments, about twenty firms being engaged in this line. Altogether, one has need of little or no capital to set up housekeeping, what with time-payment furniture, time-payment sewing-machines, the building societies, and other developments of the principle. A piano in every house is regarded as the summum bonum. Weber's pianos have lately been introduced from New York, and are thought very superior, as likewise are the Chickering iron grand pianos, from Boston. Makers in Berlin, Dresden, and other German places are quite flooding this market. Kaps, Hagspiel, with more" than a dozen Teutonic names, are quoted, beside Erard, Pleyel, Collard, Bord, and Aucher Freres. Piano-makers here say that protection has done them no good, and certainly the fruits are not evident. Five years ago we used to hear much about the Victo-rian-made pianos, of Victorian woods too, but the manufacture has made little headway, although protected by ten and twenty per cent, duties."