LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 189, 28 November 1876, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A meeting of the Tradesmen Cricket Club was held at the Queen's Hotel last niglit, and among other business it was resolved to play the return match with the Grammar School Cricket Club on Thursday, at Mr. Lane's paddock, Town Boundary, at 10 a.m. The Telegraph Department intimates that telegraphic messages, to catch outgoing Australian mail, which leaves the Bluff by the Ringarooma, will be received at the ofnee, up to eleven to-morrow. With a view of giving the towns-folk an opportunity of seeing the country and enjoying the holiday, the Railway Department notifies that" a special train will be run 011 St. Andrew'* Day, leaving Oamaru for Moeraki at six in the morning, and returning to town at eight in the evening. The usual weekly meeting of the directors of the Caledonian .Society was held last night at the ltoyal Hotel. There was a full meeting. the Pre-ident (Mr. W. M'lntosli) in the chair ; there being also present: Messrs. H. i Aitken (Vice-President), 11. L. Rule, T. Kennedy, Pratt, Miller, Taylor, Rowlands, Fleming. Rc: l. Munio, 1 awson, Bee, Hook, and the IJon. Treasurer (Mr. James Martin), and -Secretary (Mr. William Aitken). The biuinevi wa* of a very unimportant character, being confined to the acceptance of the term* upon which the Show Grounds will be ln.Tined on Xcw Year's J)ay ; and the appointing of Messrs. Miller and Rowlands as a committee to sketch out a plan for a grand stand, same to be submitted at next meeting. Tenders for the supply of the supper were opened, when tiiat of Mr. Peter Coekburn, at Si. per 1h ad, was accepted, and it was determined to fix the price of double tickets for ball and supper at i'l ; single tickets, 15s. The Colonial Treasurer of Tasmania, Mr. Meredith, in endeavoring recently to exhibit his facility of scriptural illustration, fellrlntjan amusing error. "He desired,' 1 states the Jlobart Tov:n Mr.rcury, "to compliment his faithful supporter, Mr. Pillinger, on the ability with which he had urged a subsidy for a steamer to New Zealand, and said that though 011 principle he could not . support such a voto, Mr. Pillinger had so impressed him with the necessity of compliance, that he felt himself in the condition ' of Jonah in the whale's belly, and compelled to exclaim, ' almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." The incongruous confusion between Jonah's hiding-place and Paul before King Agrippa and Festus was too much for the House, and the Treasurer sat down amidst a roar of laughter he had unwittingly caused, and apparently did not understand." j We understand (says the Nehon Times) t that it has been agreed by the General Asi sembly to " wind up " (if this term is admisj sable) the Agent-General's department in | London, and that is has been a positive in- | srtruction to Sir Julius Vogel to get things in : order to close by the end of September, j 1579. Whether the ex-Premier will take | the slightest notice of his instructions is | " quite another matter," but i£ it suits his own private views he will no doubt do so.

A very pleasing experiment has been recently started at Sydney, with great promise for success. A suitable basket is placed under proper charge at the terminus of the railway,' and the residents in the suburbs are requested to bring into town with them bouquets of flowers from their gardens, and to deposit them in it. The basket is then, at a stated time, conveyed to the infirmary, and the flowers are arranged in vases, in different wards, where they gladden the eyes and cheer the spirits of the patients. The idea is an admirable one, and from all accounts it seems likely to be carried out with a hearty goodwill that is creditable to all concerned, Might not the experiment receive a trial here ?

A wonderful phenomenon is related to have | been witnessed on an Australian station; It j is stated that at Canowie station a lamb has been born with a lizard on its back, and it is perfect as any of its species. Its head and legs are at liberty, and the tail hangs down by the lamb's flank, and when the lamb runs it will work its legs. It is about 16in. in length, and it opens its month when any person goes near the lamb, and it evidently derives its sustenance from the lamb. Sir William Stawell generally hits the right nail upon the head (says the Melbourne Punch), and he did so the other day in summing up the libel action Broadbent v. Small, when the Chief Justice is reported to have said that "Public men and public measures were public property, and it was the privilege or the public to discuss those men and those measures, as it was termed, without actual malice. This was a privilege which they all must cherish. No doubt, these criticisms were occasionally not pleasant. Courts of Justice came in occasionally for attack or censure—whether justly or unjustly, it was not necessary for him to say. Judges were censured, and even learned counsel did not escape. Perhaps when those attacks were first read in the morning, they were not very agreeable. If they were deserved, why, they must be borne; if they were undeserved, they could do no harm, and they probably served to amuse some people. Unless public criticism was allowed on public men and public measures, the community would lapse into a condition which would be exceedingly irksome to the public generally. If discussions were not allowed, why, the community would be in a state of perfect slavery." Tin's i 3 the language of common-sense and of sage experience. And none but fools and knaves stand in dread of honest criticism, of just censure, and of fearless satire.