LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 238, 26 January 1877, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At ttu> Felice Court this moraing~Walter t/lmer was charged with stealing from Richmond's Hotel. on the 2Sth December, a watch the property ot Jarnci Boyle. The accused wad arrested yesterday by Constable Donovan, having the watch in lits possession at the time. The case was remantled for seven et.iys for the purpose of procuring the at t :ttdance of the prosecutor, who is at present somewhere at Papakaso. — Tho*. Barrett was charged with violently assaulting John Henderson. Mr. Hislop appeared for prosecutor, and Mr. 0 Meagner was to have appeared for the defendant, hut in consequence of serious illness in his family wa.3 unable todo>9». The case wa-t therefore adjourosd until Monday to allow of defendant Wing repr«.»jnfca»l l»y coaiwel.

If evidence were wanting of the pro_cress of the town, proof tui Jit he obtained by reference to ottr advertising co'uton' T an* noitnuing the permanent settlement ol Mr. t*. F. Thonia.it. surgeon-dentist, among t«s. Hitherto we have had to resit satistbd with the periodical visits of Dunedin practitioners or submit to tfas manipulation of local chemists, who, no matter how great might be their skill, could not be expected to operate in ths same manner as gentlemen whose experience were exclusively dctOwcd to the teutb. We have little doubt Mr. Thomas will secure a lucrative business, besides proving an acquisition to the district.

We arc given to nndcrstsnd tbst Mr. I*. W. Cary. who it will be remembered was tbe t)£t33o in the lydia Howarde 1 roupe, lifts organised a company, with which lis intends to open at the Masonic Hall on next Thursday. We have seen tbe names of those who form thj company, and in addition to many who* belonged to the Howarde Troupe, there are afao several names well known in Australia. During his short stay in Oamartt Mr. Cary was a geueral favorite, and from the experience which he has had in his profession we are sure he will not only secure the best talent, bat also submit programmes worthy of patronage.

Yesterday a carrier named Fergusson started with his team with the intention of going to Kakanui, bat late in the evening the horses and vehicles were brought back int© town by a man who found them on the road at the Totara without any person in charge. Immediately on receiving the information, Mr. Smith, brother-in-law of the missing man, started towards Kakanui in search, but up to the time of our going to

pre 33 no tiding 3 had been received of Fergusson, and it is to be feared something serious has happened to him, a3 he was a particularly sober man, and one not likely to leave hi 3 horsej without reason.

The excursionists by the Wanaka appear to have had some hard times. The special correspondent of the Dunedin Times, tele* graphing from Nelson, says: —" A pretty big sea got up, and squall followed squall. Mr Cargfll, jun., of Dunedin, who was sitting alongside the wheel at the stern, was, by a violent and sudden lurch, thrown partly through the poop railings ; however, he kept hi 3 hold and got inside again. Some of the younger members were last night mistaken here for the English cricketers, and champagne wa3 freely shouted to get information from them. They maintained an impregnable reserve, and said they left business to their agent."

According io a telegram from Blenheim every arrangement had been made for the execution of the unfortunate convict Woodgate on Wednesday morning Sam Chandler had been engaged as hangman, but he has been driven out of Pioton. The condemned man received the sacrament yesterday, Archdeacon Butt and the Rev. Mr. Eonaldson being prewnt. He maintained his innocence until tlie last. Both the sheriff and gaoler have refuse ! to execute the sentence of the law, and failing to find anyone else the man remains unhung. It is not known when or how the sentence will be carried out. The telegraph wires were engaged until midnight in attempting to obtain a hangman from Wellington, but without success. [Since the above was in type we learn thattheunfortunate man has been executed.]

We arc authorised (says the Olcigo Daily

Titw-*) to state that the directors of the New Zealand ami Australian Land Company have now determined to cut up several of their fine stations into suitable-sized farms, which will be let somewhat after the Home principle. The Company's representatives here aro now maturing the scheme, and will shortly advertise the farni3, which we have no doubt will let readily, as the Company is known to hold large blocks of the most fertile land in New Zealand, and it is with pleasure we look forward to see them occupied by an industrious and thriving tenantry. It i« well known that the Csmpany has carried out their extensive cultivations without deteriorating the soil, a3 their aim has been to produce good pastures by growing green crops, and consequently the land retains its virgin strength, whilst it is in a state that yields a full and immediate return. All the improvements effected by the Company arc of the most substantial description, and what additional improvements may be required in the shape of buildings and fences will be of a like character and erected by the Company.

In Wellington a man has been "pulled up," ancl thereby arrested in au extraordinary undertaking upon which he had entered —that of passing his house down his wife's throat. Mould—that was the gentleman's mm?—;th jX >c Zri' m l Tim.?» state 3) lived in a home of harlsmd mu l; and being de-,ir >tu of iniliuting mig'ity chaitUemint 011 hi* wife, hi ra.'l J-ie 1 th.i l . tii3 crusl laws of his country were agiiait viotame. By way rf splitting the differ, nee therefore, and leaving no marks of di.screut correction, he bethought himself of a process at once injurious and refined. J:.very night, before seeking repoic, he rammed down the throat of his gentle part tie- one or two handfuls of the mud wall, until at last, as Mrs. Mould protested to an official in the I'.esident Magistrate's Court, she felt small boulders growing out of her neck. Kotwithstanding the trouble Mould took to work out this receipt for the correction of his wife, she has been inconsiderate enough to get tired of the inud treatment, and has laid an information against her liege lord.

Spsaking of the sentencing to death of the unfortunate man Martin Cuitin for the murder of Denis Shanaghan, the JYew Zealand Herald says :—"'lhe occasion was invested with unusual solemnity by the firmness with which the prisoner asserted his innocence, and charged the principal witnesses with falsehood, saving even that the verdict of the jury was scarcely ' honest. > One is accustomed to observe in prisoners so situated, over whom the doom of the last dread sentence of the law is impending, a sense of restraint imposed by their fearful position. Judges hesitate to impose upon a man speaking in the presence of death any limit to the effort to palliate the nature of his crime, and mitigate, if possible, its punishment. But the manner in which the prisoner scattered about him charges of falsehood without distinction of persons, afforded an additional proof of his headbtroDg, impulsive, rash, and violent disposition, which acted upon by a brooding isolation has

brought him to judicial condemnation, with the forfeiture of his life. The words addressed to the prisoner by Mr. Justice Gillies have a special import beyond their application to the unfortunate man in the dock. The Supreme Court was densely crowded, and one could hear a pin drop during the scene which concluded the trial. Curtin was in due form sentenced to death. The day of execution will be fixed by the Government."