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Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 289, 27 March 1877, Page 2

Nearly the whole of the day's sitting of the Resident Magistrate's Court was taken ■ tip with the hearing of a civil action brought l>y Dr. J>mith against Mr. Culling for the recovery of the m:in of t'3.5 13.5. (id. for medical attendance upon a boy whom Mr. Culling had taken out of the Industrial School, and who became -ill while in that gentleman's employ. Mr. O'Meaghcr appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. Fraser, of Paltnerston, for the defendant. The defeuce was one of nonliability, the defendant urging that as the boy had been taken from the Industrial •School tiie claim should be brought against the body controlling that institution. After hearing the evidence, his Worship gave judgment for £3O 13s. 6d., with costs, £4 14s. The only other case wa3 that of Burgess v. Hebberd, in which judgment was given by default for £4 45., the amount claimed, and costs. Mr. Parker, P.M., was on the bench.

The announcement - that the Order of Knighthood has been conferred upon the Hon.' Win. Fitzherbert, Speaker of the House of Representatives, will doubtless be received with pleasure. Mr. Fitzherbert is one of the oldest of the members of the House, and has served the Colony in various capacities. Although he has his faults—and who has not?— Mr. Fitzherbert has done much good service for the Colony, and is well-deserving of this mark of Her Majesty's favour. May Sir William Fitzherbert live long to uphold the dignity of the new title that has been conferred upon him.

It seems that Oamaru, like many other places, is not exempt from a number of petty thieves. We hear that a clothes line was last night stripped of a large quantity of linen. Housewives should take warning by this, and leave nothiug about for these light-fingered gentry to practice upon. A meeting of the Waiareka Road Board will be held to-morrow at 11 a.m. The Municipal Council Bye-laws Committee will meet this evening at 7.15 o'clock. A meeting of the Committee of the North Otago Turf Club will be held at the Empire Hotel to-morrow evening, at 8 o'clock, for the transaction of general business. The great boat race between the Oxford and Cambridge Universities has this year resulted in a dead heat, being the first time that such a thing has taken place. The hearing of the libel case of Reed v. Sherrin will commence at the Resident Magistrate's Court, Waimate, on Thursday morning, and is likely to create considerable stir in our neighbouring township. We would again remind our readers that the annual so!rc>: aud public meeting in connection with the Wesleyan Church will take place at the Volunteer Hall this evening. Tea will be on the table at half-past six o'clock. We understand that the exhibitions of skating by Professor Taylor and Lillie have come to an abrupt termination, as the "professor " and his fair companion left for the North to-day, to seek " fresh rinks aud patrons new," And yet two more Majors ! A General Government Gazv'te to hand to-day notifies the promotion of Captains W. D. H. Baillie and E. Pearce to be Majors in the new XewZe iland Militia. Truly,' New Zealand is endeavouring to rival the United States in the number of its citizens bearing military honors. Thank goodness, the titles are only honorary, and do not cost the Colony anything.

A meeting o£ the Fleming Family Relief Fund Committee was held last evening at the Mechanics' Institute, the Ecv. Mr. Todd being in the chair. It "was reported that the sum of £ll4 still remained in hand, and it was resolved that a section be leased, on which to erect a small house, Mr. Eonaj-ne being appointed to look out for a suitable piece of land and report to a future meeting. It was also decided that the weekly allowance should be continued as at present until such time as the house was ready for occupation.

The Skating Kink, as we suppose we must for the nonce designate the Volunteer Hall, was again very well patronised last evening, and the performances of Professor Taylor and Lillie were very much admired. The part of the entertainment, if we may so call it, which seemed to please the audience most was Mr. Taylor's performances with the Indian clubs, for which he received a wellmerited round of applause. During the evening a number of amateur skatists gave exhibitions of their powers, and although many came to grief in their attempts, others showed th«it the skates were no novelties to them.

Some of the inhabitants of the little townships surrounding Dunediu seem to have been raising a storm in a teapot, and have, in consequence, made laughing-stocks of themselves. The Guardian contains the following account of the petty proceedings of these self-conceited humbugs :—" Under the auspices of the Suburban Council's Conference, a poll of the various municipalities and Caversham was taken on Saturday at the Forbury schoolhouse, to protest against the formation of the Forbury railway line. Mr. Dodd, clerk to ;the Conference, was in attendance, but the laughably small number five only out of the required half of the population of the district recorded their protest against the extension of the line. These five were the disappointed dogs in the manger, who want the line to run to their d00r.3 and through their property at a cost of £50,000 to the promoters, and because the company can't see it in the same light, with a ridiculous display of childishne33 set the •law in motion to stay the extension of the line, with the amusing resultabove indicated."

A meeting of the St. Paul's Church Young Men's Association was held last evening, the chair being occupied by Mr. David Fleming, the Vice-President. After the transaction of the usual opening business, it was decided to appoint a committee to draw up the syllabus of the Society's proceedings for the ensuing quarter. The adjourned debate on the Turkish atrocities was then resumed, and was taken part in by a majority of the members present. The discussion lasted the whole evening, and was without exception the most successful that has . taken place since the formation of the society. Mr. Stephens opened up the debate, taking the conservative view of the subject, namely, that the means that would be necessary to alter the present position of Turkey would lead to results too serious to contemplate. Messrs. M'Pherson, M'Farlane, and others nobly supported Mr. Meldrum in the opposite view of the matter ; and on the vote being taken, the majority were for the popular side of the question. Next Monday Mr. A. W. Cottrell will read an essay, and Mr. R. H. M'Pherson a paper on the leading events of the late war in Servia.

We take the following from the Christehurcli Evening Star: —"According to a Wellington contemporary, it has been decided by the Resident Magistrate atMarton, that a man who lets out a horse on Sunday cannot recover damages if the horse sustains any injury. The ground of the decision is stated by the Wanganui paper to have been that defendant was not bound by a contract made on Sunday. This would be comprehensible enough, however pitiful the plea, if plaintiff had sought to recover horse hire. But we are not aware of any law which either expressly or impliedly permits one man to injure the property of another on Sunday, although the former may be temporarily in charge of such person with the owner's consent. It is hard to believe that i\xe case had been correctly reported."

Judging by recent occurrence?, we should think that the Municipal Council of the Empire City is greatly in want of a little common sense and practical knowledge. It has plenty of fire and energy, if the reports which reach us of the very animated discussions which take place at its meetings are to count for anything. The latest instance of it 3 bungling is supplied by the Argus. That journal says, in a late issue : —There is a screw loose somewhere m reference to the plans for wharf extension. Tenders were advertised for some time ago, and there are now in Wellington contractors from IScw South Wales, Auckland, Dunedin, Christchurch, Westport, Greymr.uth, Wanganui, and Hokitika, who have come for the purpose of ascertaining particulars and tendering. At the last regular meeting of the City Council, attention was drawn to certain facts connected with the specifications, and a committee was appointed to examine the plans and specifications. We believe we are correct in saying that this Committee, on looking into the matter, found both plans and specifications utterly unreliable and impracticable, and consequently decided on throwing them aside altogether, and employing an independent engineer to draw fresh ones, if the City Engineer was unable to do so. Yet no intimation of this has been given publicly. The date for receiving tenders has certainly been extended, but intending tenderers are hard at work taking out quantities, &c, according to the old plans. Some £19,000 of the ratepayers' money is involved in this matter, as well as the commercial interests of the port. The intending tenderers complain loudly of the treatment they have experienced, and say that they cannot find anyone to give them information on the subject, the City Engineer being absent. A considerable waste of money has, we fear, already taken place, and Wellington civic affairs gained a further unenviable notoriety at a distance.

The New Zealand Cross (says the Anjus) has been presented at Wanganui to Major Kepa Te Eangihiwinui, N.Z. Militia, and Sergeant Samuel Austin, late of the Wanganui Native Contingent. The crosses were presented to Messrs. W. H. Watt, the wife of'the Mayor, who on each occasion made very appropriate and neat speeches. The recipients were lustily cheered.

Inquiries have been made at the Colonial Secretary's Office in reference to a person named Annie Jennings, who emigrated to New Zealand about 18G3. She is a native of Ballina Tieraly, County Mayo, Ireland, and is a daughter of James and Annie Jennings. When last heard of, in March, 1563, she was settled in the neighbourhood of Dunedin. Similar inquiries have also been made regarding Frank Willis Stea"ns, who left London on the 22nd January, 1876, for New Zealand, in the Fernglen. He is about 21 years of age, single, and by trade a harness maker.

.' f The New Zealand Gazette of th"vJjSd contains a notification of the appointment of W. M. Hodgkins, Esq., as Revising Officer for the electoral district of Waitaki.— His Excellency the Governor has been pleased to appoint James Pillans Maitland, Esq , to be Commissioner under ' The New Zealand Company's Land Claimants Ordinance, 1551,' and Commissioner under ' The Lost Land Orders Act, 186'1,' for the Provincial District of Otago, in lieu of John T. Thomson, Esq., resigned.

We clip the following from the Guardian of yesterday:—"Twelve months have not yet elapsed since the Awamoko branch line of railway beyond Oamaru was thrown open and already a goods and pessenger traffic has been developed second only, it is said, to that on the Port Chalmers line. The railway has proved an immense boon to the Maerewhenua farmers, and has done much to bring into thorough cultivation some of the most fertile agricultural table lands in Otago. It is intended as speedily as the necessary grant of money can be obtained, to extend the line up the Waitaki River. The crops this season at and around Papakaio, Awarnoko, and the Canterbury border lands have been above the usual average. New townships have sprung up in different directions, and the effect of the railway has been to give an important impetus to settlement, and to largely incrc.se the value of value of property between the Waiareka dis trict and the river flats of the Waitaki."

The Guardian says :—" Au amusiug story in connection with the Lynch Family of Bellringers, and Messrs. Verten and Margetts who, by-tho-bye, are nearly all bachelors — recently appeared in the Lantern, a comic joirrnal piintcd in Adelaide. At the time the company were drawing very large houses at the Town Hall, and several ladies (yourg ones, we presume) wrote under assume I names, advising them to exchange the ;i.igle state for married blessedness. As the epistles were very laughable affairs, one of the company, at the evening concert, read them (amidst roars of laughter) to the audience. It so happened that the writers, with some friends, were present, and, as may be guessed, were thunderstruck at hearing their productions read. Standing it, however, as long a; human patience could, and fearing, perhaps, by some mishap, their names might be appended, they, with some confusion, hurried to the door ; but not before the audience, noticing how matters stood, and guessing rightly they were the authors of the letters in question, had givejn them such a round of applause ims- mee& that considerably heightened their confusion and quickened their departure. So much was the incident enjoyed by those present, that several minutes elapsed before order was restored."