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Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 299, 9 April 1877, Page 2

Mails for Australia per Arawata will close at the Bluff at 11 a.m. on Wednesday next. We understand tliat an effort is being made to get lip a grand steeplechase, to take place on Queen's Birthday. Several well_ known gentlemen are interesting themselves in the matter, and already a very considerable amount of support lias been promised. In our telegraphic columns we publish a list of the acceptances and general entries for the Canterbury Autumn Race Meeting. Ifc will be seen that Fishhook's name is included amongst the acceptors, but whether lie will be allowed to ran is not certain, as the Christchurch Jockey Club have not, we believe, yet taken his disqualification by the North Otago Turf Club into consideration.

It having become known that Mr. H. Butler, of the Bank of New Zealand, was about to be transferred to Wellington, a large number of that gentleman's friends, consisting principally of members of the Dramatic Club, of which Mr. Butler was a prominent and hard-working member, met on Saturday evening for the purpose of doing honor to him before his depasture. Other business o* a more formal nature having been got through, the toast of Mr. Butler's health was proposed by Mr. Rice, and drunk in bumpers. Almost every.me present joined with the proposer in bearing testimony to the very great regret felt at Mr. Butler's departure from Oamaru. While congratulating him upon his well-merited promotion,and wishing him prosperity ii the future, hopes were freely expressed that, as the whirligig of time moved round, Mr. Butler might once more find his way to Oamaru. Mr. Butler, in feeling tones, acknowledged the compliment, and said that wherever he went he would never forgjt the many sincere friends he left behind him in Oamaru. A number of other to.ists were proposed and duly responded fco, interspersed with sjagj, an.l a most pleasant evening was spent.

A Christchuroh contemporary says that further progress with the Cathedral building ' • has bean hindered by unforseen difficulties experienced in obtaining suitable stone for the columns of the nave." Now, what we should like to know is—What kind of stone is it our Christchurch friends want ? We presume it must be a "philosopher's stone,'' which, according to the lights of bygone days, was supposed to have the power of turning baser metals into gold. We reckon that is about the kind of thing they most stand in need of. Gold, or a sufficient number of Bank of New Zealand notes, would, we think, go a long way to get the Cathedral people over the difficulty they seem to experience in finishing the ambitious task they have in hand. We are very much afraid the people of the City of Churches are attempting something that will have to be left for posterity to carry out successfully. At present the half-erected walls of the grand Cathedral of the future may not be inaptly termed the monument of ambitions grand, but achievements small.

The usual meeting of the Harbour Board will be held on Friday next, at 2 p.m. The Waitaki Road Board will meet tomorrow at oile o'clock at the office, Tynestreet. Messrs. Fleming and Hedley will continue their sale of drapery at the late shop of Mr. Moody, Thames-street, this evening, at half-past 6 o'clock. A special meeting of the Municipal Council, for the purpose of considering the proposed bye-laws, will be held this evening at the Council Chambers, at 7.15 o'clock. We direct the attention of our readers to an advertisement in another colum notifying several alterations in the times of departure of trains. These alterations will come into force on Thursday next. The annual general meeting of the Oamaru Mutual Benefit Building Society will be held at the Mechanics' Institute to-morrow evening, for the purpose of electing the commitmittee and the consideration of the balancesheet. f The total amount of land revenue received for the Provincial district of Otago for the mouth ending March 31st was £18,620 3s. 64.

The charge of libel preferred by Mr. <3-. M. Reid against Mr. R. C. W. Cumming, proprietor and editor of the Waitangi Tribune, for publishing the letter written by Sherrin, comes on for hearing at Waimate on Thursday next. Edward Pooley, the English cricketer, and Edward Bramwell, who were charged with having wilfully, unlawfully, and maliciously committed damage to certain articles, the property of Ralph Donkin, at Warner's Hotel, Christchurcli, have been acquitted by the jury after half-an-hour's deliberation. The Dunedin Star says that under the advice of her medical attendants Mrs. Geo. Darrell has proceeded to Sydney, it being anticipated that the warmer climate of that place will relieve her of the bronchial affection from which she now suffers. But for her necessarily hurried departure, her friends would have been glad to have had the opportunity, by means of a benefit performance, of testifying their esteem for her and appreciation of her merits an actress. We (Guardian) are glad to learn that Mr. Grant's son, who was so dangerously gored by an infuriated bullock, is progressing favourably. The injuries inflicted were of a frightful character, the right lung being pierced, but thanks to the attention of Drs. Burns and Niven, who have caused ice to be freely used, inflammation has been counteracted, and there are now good hopes tha L . the little fellow's life will be saved. The ice used in this case has been obtained from Watson Brothers' establishment, and in case of the lad's recovery, the saving of his life may very fairly be attributed to the introduction of this invaluable commodity. More crumbs for the lawyers ! An exchange says that some work for the lawyers of Wanganui is likely to accrue through the appearance of a "claimant." It appears that more than eight years ago the late Mr. H. B. Roberts jumped an absentee section in V ictoria Avenue, next to the Bank of New South Wales. The then managir of this Bank, Mr. Kirk patrick, having tried to do the same thing, was worsted by the astute old lawyer. The section was built upon, and the buildings hive since changed hands more than once. The heir-at-law to the section has turned up, and shows beyond doubt that he is the real Simon I'ure. He is in the Colony, and at the present time is taking steps to establish hi s identity. Bachelor of Arts is a title which sounds somewhat strangely when applied to a "sweet girl;" but they have got a young lady in Auckland who is entitled to Ilie affix of Bachelor of Arts. The Auckland I-lerakl says :—"New Zealand, of all places within the broad British dominions—the Colony furthest removed from the Mother Country, lying in mid-ocean, at the uttermost end of the earth in relation to Home—has acquired the lofty distinction of producing within the pale of scholarship the first "sweet girl graduate " who has ever re_ ceived the somewhat incongruous distinction of Bachelor of Arts. To Miss Kate Edgar, of Auckland, this high honour has been awarded. In all the branches of knowledge, to the test of which this young lady was subjected, she was facile princeps ; and men of taste and true feeling, who have mothers and sisters, will be gratified by the honour conferred on one of the sex, who has, by earnest study and application, attained to a position which no other British woman has j r et reached within the. still broadening field of higher education in the British Empire.'' We heartily congratulate Miss Edgar on the high honour she has achieved. She has done well to become a bachelor. We were bache? lors once ; but we are not now, we regret to say.