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Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 287, 24 March 1877, Page 2

Our Waimate contemporary contains ■■ a paragraph in its issue of this morning, endeavouring to correct a statement made by our correspondent, to the effect that the libellous letter on account of which Sherrin was arrested had been intended for a leader, and that it was altered by the Editor, and inserted as a letter. The correction simply amjunts to nothing after all, for our contemporary, instead of proving that the statement of our correspondent was incorrect, simply confirms what our correspondent telegraphed to us. At the same time the Tribune, gives a fuller account of the transaction, containing particulars which no correspondent would deem of sufficient importance to telegraph. However, as our contemporary seems to be anxious that the world should know all about the manner in which its business is done, we have no objection to giving publicity to its version of the affair, which is as follows : "True, the article was intended by Sherrin for a leader, but we distinctly refused to publish it in that form, and the writer put his signature to the copy. In that shape the article was given to the compositor; but, when the proof came to be read, Sherrin erased his name and wrote ' Auckland' on the margin. For the further information of our contemporary, we may state that Mr. Sherrin obtained a copy of the issue in which his production appeared, marked the article, and sent the paper to the Editor of the Guardian, the consequence being that Mr. Reed, knowing the handwriting, lost no time in taking steps to have hi 3 friend apprehended. " There was no sitting of the Resident Magistrate's Court to-day. • The Hon. C. C. Bowen arrived in Christchurch on the 20th instant, and is expected to address the electors at an early date. At Waihola'on Thursday afternoon, a man named John Nelson had his left leg broken through a kick from his horse. Lovers of a really good cigar—and their name is Legion—will be pleased to learn that Mr. M. Taylor ha 3 received a consignment of the pure weed. We would remind our readers that Professor Taylor, the champion skatist, and Lillie, queen of skates, will go through their performances for the first time in Oamaru, this evening, at the Volunteer Hall. This will be the first public occasion of the lighting of the Hall by gas, the work m connection with the laying on of which was completed yesterday. The anniversary services in connection with the Wesleyau Church will take place to-morrow, when sermons will be preached morning and evening by the Rev. A. R. # Fitchett, of Dunedin, the Chairman of the District. On Tuesday evening the annual soiree will be held, and a public meeting will take place afterwards, at which addresses will be delivered by the Revs. Fitchett, Todd, Armitage, and othe-s. ' The Waitanji Tribune reports that although threshing commenced lately in the Waimate district, and cannot possibly be considered in "full swing," a difficulty has been experienced within the last few days in getting away the grain. Further south we find the same deploiable state of affairs, grain having to be stacked in some places in the open by the side of the railway, for want of tracks. A contemporary says that one of the sporting fraternity who swarm upon every racecourse with tables for "under and over,' roulette, or "Spanish and American silver and gold," was neatly caught the other day at a little race meeting in Wellington Province. He was doing a fine business, much to his own satisfaction, when one of the victims happened to look under the table, and there saw a secret spring, which enabled the proprietor to suit the fortune of the game to his own advantage. In a second the' table was overturned and smashed to bits, the hawk collared by the raging rustic, and a policeman called upon the scene. Upon the swindler's person £l4 was discovered,

— ; Notice is given in another column that a meeting of Justices of the Peace for the Oamaru Jury District will be held on the 6th prox., for the purpose of revising the Jury List. We take the following from this week's Saturday Advertiser: —"At the trial of Christina Clark, at Lawrence, the Grand Jury ignored the bill, and were then ignored themselves by the prisoner being arraigned on the inquisition of the Coroner. Query : What is the -use of summoning a dozen and a half of men from their business to treat them in that manner ? Rather let the farce be dispensed with altogether." The Daily Times says that steam was raised in the dredge Vulcan on Thursday, and dredging initiated abreast of the first red beacon. The steamer Peninsula was in attendance to tow the mud punts. The line of channel to be dredged was staked off by the Harbour Board's Engineer on Tuesday, and work now rests with the contractor. Its progress will scarcely' be very rapid at the outset, as only ordinary appliances for removing and depositing spoil will be used, but by-and-bye it will be otherwise, if all we hear about the superior appliances to be introduced is true. The channel is to be dredged downwards, and we wish the work "God speed." "Frank Fudge" writes as follows in the Saturday Advertiser:—" The good folks of Lawrence must be extremely fond of the law and the lawyers, or they would not insist upon having such an expensive farce as a Criminal Sessions in their peaceful and orderly town, where there is usually such a light calendar. Tommy Pope, Cobb's well known whip, had the honour of driving the entire Court from Havelock to Lawrence a few evenings ago. There was one solitary jjrisoner, a gigantic policeman, the Crown Prosecutor,' and another limb of the law, a hungry-looking reporter, the Judge himself, tin Judge's Associate., and the Judge's Associate's dog. Shades of Coke and Blackstone ! could ye visit this sublunary sphere, how ye would have been shocked had ye peeped into Cobb's coach at Havelock the other evening, and seen this happy, though incongruous,mingling of accused, accusers, peripatetic journalists, and judicial authorities. ' Facilus est decensus, as we say in the classics." The Waitanji Tribune contains the following under the heading of " a novel bet " : '• Some eleven years sine, Mr. George Freeman, while working on the Waimate Station, had a discussion with his employer, Mr. M. Studholme —so the report goes—as to the probability of a train running through this district, and the result was that the spirited employ?, offered to lay a wager of a stick of tobacco (Barrett's twist) that *' a train would run in .or through Waimate before that day fifteen years,' which the employer took up. The circumstance, probably, slipped Mr. Studholme's memory long since, but George proved not so forgetful, for the day after the opening of the Waimate Branch Railway, the 'king of the whips,' seeing his former employer driving a buggy through the town, brought the trap to a standstill, and claimed his stick of tobacco. The loser, on having the little affair brought to his mind, immediately jumped out of the conveyance and went into Mr. Gascoyne's, where he purchased tobacco, and presented the winner with three sticks of the ' weed.' It is said that Mr. Studholme was highly amused on being informed of the bet, and very likely will often enjoy a laugh at his heavy loss. Mr. Freeman purposes, we learn, framing one of the sticks of tobacco.' The Dunedin Ercniny Star says : —"There is a good deal of misconception abroad as to the future position of the police ; and it is as much due to the public as to the members of the force that there should be an authoritative statement on many points in which both are interested. We believe we are correct in saying that the force in Otago do not object to amalgamation with the Armed Constabulary, knowing that such a step was inevitable, but they are anxiously waiting to know in what position they wid be as regards rank and length of service, with their accompanying emoluments. The pertinent question to be answered is, will, for instance, fourteen years' good service in this Province, to say nothing of service in England and Victoria, be subsidiary to seven years' service in the Constabulary, by men who owe their promotion to a commission to accident in many cases, and to favoritism in not a few instances? We have the best authority for stating that the rate of pay will remain as now up to the end of June, or it will be made up by special allowances. All the officers will be gazetted under the Armed Constabulary Act until the new measure to brought down by the Government is passed, | when there will be first and second clas3 | superintendents, and first and second class ' inspectors, but no sub-inspectors,