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Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 276, 12 March 1877, Page 2

Wo are haj>py to say that Oamaru lias come to the front in making an investigation as to the truth of there being a madman afe larstf ou the udartd in the Waitaki. Yesterday two men named Charles Bentley and John Razant determined to go to the Waitaki and exptore the island. With this object in view they procured a canvas boat and a and left Oamaru at seven o'clock in the morning. Arriving at the Waitaki. they crossed the river in the boat, and made a thorough search of the inland, but without any satisfactory results. They state that there is no man at present on the island, but that there can be no dotibfc he was there, as they fottnd foot-prints in the sand. evidently made by someone who had been there very recently. What has become of him. or who he was. is enveloped in mystery: and we call upon the police to make a thorough investigation of the matter, and to do their best to ttnd the man if still alive, or hts body if dead, which really seems to be the most probable snnniste. The Hoctwattttrat Show was brought to a successful termination at a late hour on Saturday night. A large number of people attended during the evening, and everything weut otl smoothly and pleasantly. The proposed auction sale was not held.

The usual monthly meeting of the Mutual Benefit Building Society will be held in the Mechanics' Institute to-morrow* evening.

One of the runner boys in our employ, named Patrick Vaile, while proceeding on his rounds with the paper on Saturday evening, was savagely attacked by a large black dog and severely bitten in the leg. Mr. O'Meaghcr, who was passing at the time, kindly had the boy conveyed to Dr. Fleming's, where liis injuries were attended to, and on inquiring this morning we are glad to state that the little fellow is, with the exception of being a little lame, nearly all right again. We have to apologise to a number of our subscribers for the non-delivery of their papcr3 in consequence.

A man named George Taylor, a groom in the employ of Mr. Cormack, had one of his toes and the top of the remainder on his left foot taken off by a railway engine on Saturday. It seems that Morrison, the driver, and a Mr. Powell, were on the engine when Taylor tried to join them. In doing so, however, he slijiped, and one of the wheels of the engine went over his foot, inflicting the injuries above described. Dr. Garland was speedily in attendance, and the sufferer was removed to the Hospital.

Considerable amusement was created at the Flower .Show on Saturday evening, the occasion being the exhibit of a carrot, grown by Mr. O'Meaghcr. It had the appearance of a human form, possessing arms, neck, and head, with well cut out features, carved by the owner. It attracted more attention than any other exhibit in the room, and Mr. O'Meagher deservedly obtained first prize for his curiosity—the judges in this case being the public. Mdllc. Franzini is to perform on the bicycle at Timaru this week. We hope she will visit this town, as her performance is a really marvellous and pleasing one.

Two tine specimens of tlie frost tish were found on the foreshore near the centre of the town la-»t week hy Mrs. Hannigan. Whore is the Sun ? Is it still an embryonic form. ready t«» quicken into life ; or has it been stitlcrl in its conception ? But a short time ago a new evening sheet, glorying in this title, was to have niaile its appearance in Cbristchurch, notwithstanding the existence of two others of a similar character. W\: imagine that tiie idea has been abandoned ; at least, we hope so, for the sake of everybody concerned. \\ hat would C'hristchunrh do witii live daily papers —two large morning "tid three evening? Kitherthe political or the commercial requirements of C'hristehtirch must l.c far in excess of tlio.se of any othcr citv in New Zealand to call for the establishment o: another paper.

The Mayor of Xnpier must be a vcrj - nice ginti'-ntan. and very popular with the fair sex if we may judge from the following advertisement which appears in a recent issue of the ll' rch!:—" Letters for Miss Taylor ami Mi.-s Penfold at iiis Worship the Mayor's office." Now it is very kind of his Worship to allow his oliice to be converted into a podc but what will Mrs. Mayor say to this? Surely the green-eyed monster will exert its sway in the breast of the Mayoress when she sees that Miss Taylor and Miss Penfold are requested to call at her husband's office. We" have heard of flat-irons tlying round for less provocation than this. T3ut it lias just occurred to us iliat probably his Worship is a bachelor; if so, "what a splendid idea to gather the ladies together in order to make a selection. Looked at in either light the chief citizen of Napier must be pretty wide awake. It does not appear to be generally known that, under the G4th section of the Counties Act, the members of the County Councils remain in ofiice for a year and ten months, and after the next general election (unless the Act is amended in the meantime) for three years.

At the Ball.irat swimming matches recently one of the competitors in the smoking race created great amusement by appearing in the water with a cigar two and a half feet long. Mr. 11. J. Creighton and Mr. Dalzeil (who is better known from his connection with the Sydney press, and by having married Miss Dickie Lingard) have started a newspaper in San Francisco.

The new grammar school being built at the thriving town of Lawrence is progressing favourably. The building is of blue stone with brick facings, and is expected to be completed in about two months. As Air. John Southall, formerly one of Cobb and Co.'s well-known drivers 011 the southern line of coaches, was on his way to Lawrence on Tuesday morning last with Mr. George Reed's racehorse Darkey, he lost his pocket-book, containing fifteen £lO-notes, and a deposit-receipt on one of the Melbourne Banks for £IOOO. Mr. Southall has just returned from a visit to Tasmania.

We have it on good authority (says the Waitangi Tribune) that Messrs. Quinn Bros.' crop of wheat, 300 acres, is likely to return 80 bushels to the acre. This extraordinary yield has not, we think, been excelled in the Colony. The Rev. Lorenzo Moore, incumbent of the Church of England at Port Chalmers, has ventured to pour oil on the troubled waters at the Maori Kaik. He suggests that the jumping of the Presbyterian mission and church was a "mistake," as far as Bishop Nevill is concerned. The reverend pacifi cator is doubtles3 correct; for the Maori claim has never been a paying one, and it was a great mistake to jump it. At the conclusion of the Tuapeka Jockey Club Handicap which was run on Thursday at Lawrence, a protest was entered against Atlas, the winner, on the grounds that the jockey did not declare sufficient weight. The committee met in the evening at the Victoria Hotel, but did not sustain the protest. Atlas, therefore, wins the stakes. Nelson is destined to become a great hopgrowing country. In Waimea, west and south, a large number of gardens have been started recently. The hop gathering gives employment to hundreds of children, many of whom can, in a good crop, make from 3s. to os. 6d. per day. Jem Mace will visit New Zealand after a tour in Australia. As a striking instance of the desperation to which the want of grass aDd water for their stock has driven the graziers, the Hampden Guardian (a Victorian paper) says it has been informed that in the Ballarat market a week or ten days since, one lot of 3000 sheep was knocked down at 7d. per head, and a similar number were bought in at yd.—the reserve being 6d. Information (says the Auckland Herald) is to hand by the last mail from San Francisco that Mr. J. F. Clark, formerly so well known in connection with mining matters in this city and on the Thames Goldfield, has, in common parlance, made his "pile" by successful speculation in a silver mine, next to the Consolidated Virginia Mining Company's property, in California. It is reported that the "rise" is equil to, at the very least, £50,000. We congratulate Mr. Clark on his good fortune. The line between Waicaliuna and Lawrence is now nearly completed, and will be opened during the month. 'I he ballasting is all but completed, and one engine and several trucks are kept busily employed finishing off the places where the ballast is wanted. A telegram from London gives the arrival of the Invercargill, from Port Chalmers, at London on the (jfch March, making the ran home in 76 days. Notice has been given that £IOOO reward will be paid to the person who is found to be the discoverer of a payable gold-field in Taranaki. The Home JVen-s says : —" Dr. Featherstone's successor is to be Sir Julius Vogel who is now in England, having arrived from New York in the Russia. Sir Julius has grave defects of manner, but these defects are only superficial. He is a vigorous man, who has the interests of New Zealand at heart, and let it be hoped that no drawingroom prejudices will be allowed to operate against him in town. The Ottoman Government has conferred the order of the Medjidid, third class, upon Ch<Srife Hanoum, a Turkish lady, who displayed great bravery during the siege of Subinje by the Montenegrins. This is said to be the first time that a female has been decorated in Turkey. Captain Boyton's swimming journey down the river Po, from Turin to Ferrard (a distance of SOO miles), is the longest he has made, and he says that it shall be the last. The following is the copy of a despatch (dated Nov. 28) from Dr. Schliemann to the King of the Hellenes relative to his important discoveries at Mycenae :—" To His Majesty King George,—With unbounded joy I announce to your Majesty that I have discovered the monuments which tradition, as related by Pausanias, points out as the tombs of Agamemnon, Cassandra, Eurymedon, and their companions, who were all killed whilst feasting at a banquet by Clytemnestra and her lover iEgisthus. These tombs are surrounded by a double parallel circle of tablets, which were undoubtedly erected in honor of these great personages. In these tombs I have found an immense archaeological treasure of various articles of pure gold. This treasure is alone sufficient to fill a large museum, which will be the most splendid in the world, and which, in all succeeding ages will attract to Greece thousands of strangers. As lam labouring from a pure and simple love for science, I waive ail claims to this treasure, which I offer with intense enthusiasm to Greece."

At Brighton, in Hobart Town, a man named C. W. Chattertoo has been found guilty of having at various dates defrauded the Hobart Town Gas Company, by consuming gas on his premises in Elizabethstreet, Hobart Town, which he had caused to be abstracted from the inlet pipe before passing through the meter. He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment.

The Darrells, with the Star Dramatic Company, brought a really successful, though short, season of five nights to a close on Saturday evening. For the closing performance the five-act play of "Leah, the Forsaken," was chosen, and was the means of drawing together a good house. The successful termination of a dramatic season in Oamaru, the visit of such a large company as that of Mr. Darrell's, and the production of such plays as "Romeo and Juliet," "Taming the Shrew," "The Lady of Lyons," "East Lynne," "Hamlet,'' and "Leah," mark an epoch in the history of Oamaru, which shows the rapid strides the town has made during the past year or two. A very short time since no one would have dreamt of a large dramatic company having a successful run in our midst ; but now that it has been proved that a paying business can be done in Oamaru by the production of really good plays, we have no doubt that in future the tastes of our amusement-loving fellow-townspeople will be well attended to. Mrs. Darrell, of course, assumed the role of " Leah," and Mr. Darrell that of Rudolph. Mrs. Darrell's Leah was an impassioned and effective piece of acting, and her rendering of the curse scene was so enthralling that not a movement could be heard in the audience. Mr. Darrell's Rudolph was natural and easy, and Miss Willis, as Annah, was well received. The other characters call for no special comment. To-night the company appear at Timaru.