THE EVENING MAIL. MONDAY, MARCH 19, 1877.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 282, 19 March 1877, Page 2

THE EVENING MAIL.

MONDAY, MARCH 19, 1877.

Word* are thins*, and a drop of ink falling upon a thought may produce that which mak,es thousands

To-morrow is the last thy ou which the raym mt of rate? in the Waitaki, Waiareda, ant! Kakanui Road Districts will enable voters to have their name! placed on the roll. Several men have been engaged during the day raising the rails on that portion of the line to the Breakwater naar the workshops, which has become considerably l«»wcr than the «»ther parts of the line. The work, which is of a rather difficult nature, owing to the steppers having become firmly cemented, is progressing favourably. We d*> not know to whom the blame attaches, but it certainly seems strange that the mails which arrived by the p.s. .Samson on Sunday morning were not landed until nine o'clock thin morning. It may, for aught we know, be a recognised practice to allow mail* by a steamer arriving on Sundays to remain on board until the following day, and there may be cogent reasons for so doing; but to our minds such a proceeding seems very extraordinary. Owing to some difficulty hating b?en experienced in getting the schooners Pelican and Crest of the Wave out of the Kakanui Harbour, the p.s. damson, accompanied by a surf-boat, proceeded to that port at two o'clock this morning for the purpose of towing them out. iJoth vessels were deeply laden, and it was said that the difficulty in the way of getting them ont of Kakanui was want of sufficient water on the bar. Such, howevvr, does not seem to have been the true cause of the SamsonV services being catted into requisition, the reasons a signed being the roughness of the sea outside, and the want of snttfieient in the port to get the vessels under weigh. There was. we are informed, eight feet of water on the bar, and, although both schooners touched in crossing the bar. no difficulty was experienced in tawing thorn out into the roadstead. which was done by means of a tine conveyed to th.\m front th„? Sam ion on the snrf-b-rat. Some people haw peculiar n>:io:is of tlr? nature of rait way tr.itn-i. and v.v constantly hear o' the most absurd freaks being performed in < , oa-e'tu«'ttee. Vv'e have passed by many s-uch »:\t of pure consideration f.»r the feeling* of the innocent, but no doubt wellmeaning cone Ttird. and have trusted that, as person.-, h r.ime more accustomed to travelling by rait, alt the littl • follies that are of such frequent occurrence would ceasi:'. Hut during the weuk a piece of footijhnoss w;n enacted on the main line that wo cannot allow to sink into the coil shades of obscurity. "From information received," as the guardians of the peace are w© it to say, it Si-ems there travelled on a t-aiu a verdant youth from the fertile plains of Canterbury. liaised in some obsettr.i corner of thi-t flourishing land, the S'.vc;:t youth had never seen a railway train, save from a great distance, and then only to gaze upon it wi:h wonder; but on the day in ftuesttoii— which sttall be nameless —this child of nature w.-.-i induced, by a hope of bettering his fortim •, to leave the paternal roof, and seek *" fredi tidds and pastures now." He hid farewell to his- native home, proceeded t<* the nearust railway station, paid his far?, and took his seat with the avowed intention ih seeing the world. lie was bound for Oamant. At every intermediate station, he stepped foith from tile train to feswt his eyes with the vi ions of fresh sight, and—will it be believed ?— 1» imbibe stimulating leverages. During one of these tittle adventures* in search of information and refreshment he heard She whistle blow, and, rushing forth, he placed two fingers in his mouth in thy orthodox manner, and whi-tted loudly, following it with a cry to the engine driver to stop the train, at the same timo running along-uric the train at the top i,f his speed ; but finding that no heed was paid to his cries, in desperation, he made on«? frantic jump for a passing caemge, and jtut succeeded in landing safely upon it, amid the astonishment of his fellow-passengers. A* a feat of agility his performance' was much to be admired ; but as a display of common a ensc. it is not to be applauded. The trattzrtji Tslb'ene la very severe on the Qhfjo DaHif Thar*. It says:—"The following telegram reached tis last evening : • Will you wire us- on Monday say MX) word* rn opening Waknate Branch railway? Hard fact'.—J. «"'. fcuty Tunc*.' Now, seeing that thu* Dunevtin tUmvUrhoh does not .c.'to condescend to exchange with us, the pe(|tte»t dUpbyi a little too itttteh assurance. Prwbably .Mr. Fraser h A very youthful aspirant to literary fame."J

It is rumoured that Sir G. Bowen goes to India and Lord Normanby to Victoria or Sydney. We direct, attention to Messrs. Fleming and Hedley's sale of ready-made clothing at the shop of Mr. E. C. Lindsay at G o'clock this evening. A serious accident happened on Thursday to a man named William Weston, who was employed on the railway works at Blueskin, near Dunedin, Whilst at work about a ton of earth slipped, striking him on the back. Recent private advices received at Wellington from Australia state that Adelaide will not export this year more than 70,000 tin? of breadstuff's, as against 200,000 tons last year, and that Sydney will this year be a large importer of grain, consequent on a severe drought. The Lake 3 County Council (Wakatip), having adopted the whole Act, have already incurred liabilities amounting to £1,220, and have committed themselves to an expenditure of £2,000, not a bud start.—The revenue, however, is estimated at £6,000 for the current year. Socialism in Germany seems to be progressing apace. An English contempory, in commenting on its progress, says : —" It should not be forgotten that the main idea Oj the Berlin Socialists is not so much the overthrow of private property, as that Government should become the sole employer of labour and distributor of its rewards. There arc secondary ideas enough to frighten any Government, but we understand that to be the main one." The Wail'iiiyi Trihmir. speaking of the man on the island, says : —" It" the man is not on the island, he must have escaped to the mainland or perished in the river : and in either case a careful investigation should be made so a- to unravel the mystery in which his fate is enveloped. Surely the police might to be able to trace the man if he is alive, and if n<>t, a search should be made for his hotly down the; river, or along the co.-.st in the vicinity of its outlet." We cerf cainly cannot underhand the reason that the police have not taken the matter in hand, arid made a thorough search for the man. The ladios of Waimate sc-cm to be of a d vidcdly more practical turn of mind than the me::J.ers of the storm* sex. The following advertisement appears in the WnUnn;/! T>-ifnrn>>:—" Wanted, a man, who is above making hiaiu-if lidieui.-un, as a partner for life. -M'ply "Angelina," Waimate Post i Oi'ice."—Wc daresay that if the sweet ! "Angelina'' would favour Oamaru with a I visit she wo-.d i li-fd plenty of sensible young I men witling to bocuie a partner for life, ! provided she i; pa-sing good-looking and ! p.-..ii-es-red of a reasonable amount of sense ! —and money. I Harry hr;.; lost his he I with the Davcnpirls. After tying the Brothers, Barry said ! he to? confident they would not free them- : selves for :ive we k-, and that if they did it I «';H hopeless for anyone else "this side of I the line" to expect that they would succeed fin securely tying the Davenport's. The i Brothers were then lock'.d up in the cabinet, | and as soon as Ihc doors were locked the | ii.3ts.il noises were heard inside. Nine minutes t after the closing of the doors one hand was I shown at the small opening at the top of the | cabinet, at lt»l minutes two hands, and nt VI!. minutes f.-ur hands. At the expiration of 2uA minutes the. doors were opened, and the Davenports tier; discovered unbound, i a:td the ropes piled up on the lloor of the cabinet.