LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 190, 29 November 1876, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The services of police magistrate, officials, reporters, &c., were not called into requisi tion to-day— a clean sheet being again pre> sented.

We find that we were incorrect in our local as to the time of the running of the special train to-morrow. It should be "it will leave Oamaru at 6 p.m., instead of a.m. as previously stated.

We understand Mr. Conyers, the General Manager of Railways, who arrived by the Waitaki yesterday, made an inspection this afternoon of the Waiareka line. He was attended by Mr. Smith, Traffic Manager, Mr. Amos, and other officials. The sale of the leases of Municipal sections took place to-day at noon in the Council Chambers, the auctioneer beiug Mr. A. T. Clowes. The competition was not very spirited, section 21, block LXXV., Town of Oamaru, being knocked down to Mr. William Barry, at the upset price of £2 Bs. per annum ; section 18, block XXXIX., the upset price of which was also £2 Bs., realised £3 per annum, and became the property of Mrs. Mary Jane Smith at that figure; section 5, block LXL, brought the highest price of the lot, realising an annual rental of £3 45., the purchaser being Mr. E. P. Simcock.

Another case of burglary—or to speak more correctly, house-breaking, for we believe the robbery was effected before ten o'clock occurred on Alonday night, at the house of a man named Powell, residing near the Town Boundary. As the police are strenuously engaged in following up some, clue which they have got, we refrain from giving more of the particulars, than that while the master of the house, who is a railway employ 6, was absent at a meeting, his wife was disturbed by the noise of some person in the house. Being of a timorous disposition she made no alarm, but on the arrival of Mr. Powell it was found that the prowler had removed some hams to an unknown place and position, beside taking with him a good stock of other edibles.

With regard to the cricket match which takes place to-morrow between the Palmerston and Oamaru Clubs, we have been informed that a telegram was received this morning from the former place stating that the team will arrive to-night by the train, instead of to-morrow morning as originally intended, so that play will be commenced at 10 sharp. The following are the names of the players :—Oamaru —F. Fen wick, J. C. Marshall, W. Maude, G-. Millington, J. Millington, J. Nichols, A. Y. Smith, D. Snodgrass, G. Sumpter, C. E. Tempest, H. Hombersley. Palmerston—W. Cobden, R. H. Cathcart, T. Wilson, S. Moore, M. Fagan, J. D. Kett, J. Everest, T. W. Bellett, H. M. Spencer, Ri Nelmes, E. Bradshaw; emergency, W. Everest.

An accident happened either some time last night or early this morning to one of those very useful but highly inodorous vehicles whose rounds are made under cover of darkness. Through some mishap a portion of the contents got scattered on the roadway opposite the Police Court, and notwithstanding no time was lost in procuring a deodoriser, throughout the day there was a Cologneish fragrance in the vicinity more pungent than refreshing.

We imagine there are very few who will have forgotten the opening of the MoerakiOamaru line, when the engines, with the estimated load of somewhere about 100 tons, was unable to ascend a gradient of 1 in 50. The following taken from a Queensland

paper shows how they manage things in that Colony" The Fairlie engine brought out by Mr. Royce 'has been tried on the little Liverpool Ranges, Queensland, in the presence of the principle officers of the railway department and some members of parliament. Thejnaximum load of ordinary engines over this part of the line is eighty tons, but the Fairlie took 100 tons with great ease. She was stopped on a gradient of 1 in 60, but she started again with her load without difficulty. Her weight in working order is eighteen tons, while that of ordinary engines is thirty-four tons. The trial was a complete success. The chief engineer expressed the opinion that this class of engine must be adopted for the new cheap lines about to be made."

The gentlemen who grace the Bench in the capital of the Colony and the gentlemen of the long robe who practice before them come in for some plain talk occasionally at the VinnrU of the local Press. In last Friday's issue we find the following dressing-down to both Bench and Bar :—"The learned counsel in the case of Hoskins v. Aldridge again to-day converted the Police Court into a bear-garden. The amount of evidence taken was very small, most of the sitting being occupied by the squabbles of the learned counsel, who, we suppose to save delay, insist on speaking both at the same time, to the edification of Justices Moore and O'Neill, who try to look wise, but who evidently have very little idea of the order and decorum usually prevailing in a Court of Justice, or they would not for a moment tolerate conduct calculated to bring the Court into disrepute, and utterly subversive of the dignity of the Bench."

The Inspector of Nuisances at Wellington would appear to be a character in his way, and his reports are somewhat of a curiosity. In his last he told the Council how, in his official capacity, he had peregrinated the town in search of smells, and that at last he had found one—a fearful thing—on the Thorndon beach. It seemed to him (these are not quite Mr. Pilmer's words, says the ji'rtjus) to be the double-distilled essence of ten thousand dead dogs, and so potent and all-searching was this smell that it had brought to the scene all the dog-fish within a radius of some hundreds ol The one supreme stink of Cologne faded into nothingness compared to it. That was very good # but the point of Mr. Pilmer's joke was the mot upon the relationship of the dogs and the dog-fish. Mr. Pilmer's weekly report is the City Council Punch.

It may not be generally known that the late Julia Mathews has a niece in Ballarat who has shown considerable histrionic ability. From the local paper we learn with pleasure that Mrs. Scott-Siddons has promised to take the young lady under her especial care whenever the great tragedienne gets a company together.

In an article in the "Wellington Argus, which is generally attributed to Mr. C. E. Haughton, late Under-Secretary of Crown Lands, the following remarks appear: — " Look at the Estimates just passed, and the most curious anomalies will strike you; and it does not certainly appear upon the face of things that the hardest worked men are getting the best pay, but rather, on the contrary, that the hangers on to the Ministerial skirts—the odd men who do little in the office, but make themselves useful in Ministerial progresses, always ready to carry the sacred carpet bag and oilskins, have the largest salaries, in common with that special breed peculiar to Wellington, more remarkable for physical than intellectual development, and great in the mysteries of archery, and 'tip-cat,' elegantly denominated 'lawn tennis.' The new Disqualification Act has freed Ministers from one form of persecution—the personal botheration of impecunious members of the Assembly on their own behalf. Such a system as we have indicated would free them altogether from the horde of officeseekers who throng the Government lobbies and infest the' streets of Wellington. It would further effectually put a stop to a vast amount of irritating correspondence with constituents, influential or otherwise, who invariably have friends or relations they are anxious to palm off on the service, and whose qualifications, nine times out of ten, are confined to powers of absorption, skittles, and Yankee-grab."

An extraordinary flight of birds recently noticed at Brisbane, is thus described by the Courier :—" They (the birds) consisted of greenleeks. blue mountain parrots, and leatherheads. They can only be described as in myriads, and so dense that they completely darkened the sky, and they flew so low that numbers were caught in the branches of the trees about the residences in their line of flight which the cats in some instances caught and properly disposed of, and the noise they made was something to remember. They came from the north-east, and were travelling in a south-westerly direction, and must have taken about fifteen minutes at least in passing over. In former years, in the case of long-continued dggtights* we have known the same thing "to ijoeur, but from all. we know there has been no such drought to account for this flight of birds. About twenty years ago we remember Brisbane, was visited with such a flight, p,ad thousands alighted at the water-holes and even at the river, and drank, but the salt-water sickened them, and

the small boys might be seen going about the streets in all directions with strings of thenx on sticks. What has given rise to this may be known hereafter, whether it be they are driven before any severe hurricane, or whe« ther they have arrived from the far interior where there may have been severe drought, and come in search of water. Be it what it may, it was certainly a sight that is not often seen in a lifetime."

From a private telegram received, wc learn that the Palmerston Times was sold to-day, at auction, for the sum of £1.050. That amount includes the freehold property upon which the office stands, plant, and bookdebts. The purchaser is Mr. F. Davis, the present editor, and there can not be the least question that in his hands it must eventually become .a payable property. _ Mr. Davis is a thoroughly practical man, understanding every branch of the profession, an able and versatile writer, to all which may be added untiring energy and sound business habits, so that being now untrammelled, the high position which it has gained in the ranks of journalism will undoubtedly be maintained in the future. We offer the new proprietor our heartiest congratulations, and we are quite sure we will be joined.by every Pressman' in wishing the Times a loijg and prosperous career. '

Maories have among them some strange stories. One of these (says Letter) has just been revived in a rather curious manner, a large eel being the cause. Maoris say that in the Forty-Mile Bush, not far from Tutalkara, there is a largi| Materi tree, and if anyone pulls or cuts a Jtiece off it, a tremendous storm will immediately come on. , All Maoris are therefore earefil never to go near it, lest by some accident they should touch it and spoil their joupey. Part of this tree is doing strange things in Hawke s Bay, while another has taken up its abode in the Wairarapa Lake. Attempts have been made to get it ashore, but the log always resents the interference by giving a. jerk and then disappearing under the water, often upsetting the canoe.. The other day it was seen to have come ashore, for a fishing party which had caught a large eel (report says a. conger eel, although the lake is f :esh water) and could not get it out, tied the line to a tree, intending to return, t Next morning, tof their surprise, the tree was floating far outin the Lake ; ahd they at once knew that they had interfered with the famous log of the lake. We give the recent part of the story just as related to us, and are unable to say whether the eel is still in tow of the log or not.