LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 203, 14 December 1876, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

We are glad to sec that Mr. Brindley, of the firm of Brindley and Stewart, of thi3 town, is the architect 01 .Murphy's newliotel, Princes-street, Dunedin. As this building will, when erected, ba the largest of its kind in ew Zealand, there was naturally keen competition amongst tue artchitects, and it speaks well for Oamaru that a local firm should have carried of!" the prize. We have been informed that the interruption of the cable between Lisbon and Vigo and Lisbon and Falmouth docs not stop communication, as there is a route via Marseille?, and also a land line from Lisbon to V'gfSomething like a picnic. We learn that the children attending the Dunedin District •Schools, and numbering about 2,5U0, will proceed to the Forbury Park to-morrow by special trains, which will be run on the Peninsula and Oce.m Beach Railway. The Committee in charge of the affair derided that the children should bring their own mugs with them.

It would appear we were in error yesterday with regard to the English cricketers having won the match with the New South Welshman. A Sydney cablegram in the Dtincdin SUtr announces the defeat of the English cricketer* by the 2Cew South Wales team. The statement in last night's paper that the Englishmen were victorious occurred through the foggy manner in which the message was forwarded. Instead of the Syrl. ncy playew beihg all out in the second innings for 1*23 as stated, the message should have read that when stumj>3 were dr-.ivn at G p.m. they had lost ten wieket3 for that number. Yesterday thej' put together the requisite: nnmbar, 143 with the 1033 of three more wicket 3, thus winning with two wickets to spare. Gentlemen who occasionally allow their tongues more liberty than in their cooler moments they deein wise, often find the Knights of the Pencil very inconvenient recording angels. " Reporters are a nuisance in a room," was the remark recently made at a certain Town Council in the Southland ,

district, and the sentiment was given practical effect to in the form of a motion that they be thanked for not attending the Council meetings. A bird of the air (Minerva's) carried these particulars to one of the "nuisances" on our staff (says the Neivs) with the further information that the worthy Councillors in question expressed themselves as feeling more at ease when their eyes did not light upon a jotting pencil. The motion was unanimously agreed to. This is a genuine compliment, and one or two more such from certain other quarters would most certainly be highly appreciated by tha reporters, if not by the ratepayiug public. In liis farewell speech at Queenstown, Mr. "Warden Beetham bore the following testimony to the high character of the miners—a class of men often under-estimated, and too lightly spoken of by persons who have no real a quaintance with them : —" This being a goldfield community, I have necessarily been brought into intimate connection with the miners, and I rannot allude to them without stating my conviction —derived from a long and extensive intercourse with them—that, in many respects, a nobler, more manly, more intelligent, and more harcl-working class of men it would be difficult to find. The isolated and independent life which they lead seems to generate a more than ordinary amount of self-reflection and self-reliance. I have frequently been astonished in Court at the acuteness—l might almost say subtlety—of their remarks ; and I am not ashamed to confess it, I have on more than one occasion been put right by them." , A good story come 3 f■■ om Takapau. A few days ago tli3 landlord of an hotel in that part of the district was playing at quoits with a few friends in front of hi 3 hotel when a swagsman came up and asked for lodgings. He was told by the landlord to go to the taproom, where he could obtain refreshment. When the tramp entered the bar, he found it unoccupied, and perceiving the till-box, he stealthily attempted to draw it out with the object of counting the landlord's takings. Fortunately for the landlord, but unfortunately for the swagsinan, the till was an American Patent Alarum one, and when taken hold of by the tramp, gave vent to a sound similar to that of an alarum clock. This was heard by those who were with the landlord, who, on being informed of the circumstance, rushed to his bar, where he found the inquisitive individual standing aghast with wonder and alarm, with his hand still on the handle of the till. The landlord soon recovered him from, his stupor by administering to him a lesson which he will remember for soma time, and then bade him depart from his hospitable threshold. He left a wiser, but a sadder man. The Guardian of yesterday has a telegram from its Livercargiil correspondent to the following effect : —"lnformation has been received here that the barque William Ackers, which left the Bluff on Monday for Lyttelfcon, with a cargo of 185,000 ft, sawn timber, struck a reef off Waipapa Point early this morning, and drifted on to the beach and is a total wreck. Seven of the crew are said to be drowned, including the captain, and three were saved. Another account says the crew is supposed to be saved. So far as can be ascertained, the cargo is uninsured. Our Port reporter supplies the following relative to the abo%'e : —We are indebted to Captain M'Callum, Deputy Harbor Master, Port Chalmers, for his kindness in supplying us with the following information (received by him per telegram from the Bluff) of the totel loss oft Waipapa Point of the barque William Ackers, which left the Bluff on Monday for the north. Up to the time that Captain M'Callum's telegram was despatched three of the crew had only turned up, but judging from the fact that two of the vessel's boats were found on the beach, it is hoped that Captain Lindsay and the remainder of the ship's company are safe."