THE EVENING MAIL. SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1877.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 310, 21 April 1877, Page 2

THE EVENING MAIL.

SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1877.

" Wor.l'a-rc an>l a 'lr.o <>; in!; fr.'Xi'.iz U!>"n a m-sv [>r»<t;ice that uiiidi ln:i!;es liiou.-iiii^s

Having seen it stated by the Oamaru correspondent of the Daily Thn<x that one of the mend-ers of the House of Representatives for the Waitaki district was likely to resign liis scat, we have made inquiries as to tlie correctness of the rumor. We believe we arc correct in stating that the report has jio foundation whatever, and that both of our members will take their seats in the House next session.

In another column wc publish a letter from a correspondent signing himself "A D:.ih- Header," referring to onr article in reference to the attack wade by the Guardian upon the Governor. There is much that is true and sensible in our correspondent's letter, but when he attempts to uphold the conduct of the Guordinn, we think he makes .1 great mistake. We are willing to admit that the article does express the opinions of a verv large number of the residents of Otr.go. but still we are of opinion that it displayed a very great amount of bad taste and unpardonable discourtesy towards the representative oi the Queen. It :s not by the pur.«uaneo of such a course that the be..fc interests of the people are to be upheld, for any such exhibitions of paltry spite and petty feeling can only bring into contempt the party on whose behalf they are made. "We ourselves do not think that the Governor has acted in that impartial and unbiassed manner

which his position demanded, but we should be sorry to be parties to the offering of a direct and unpardonable insult towards him, such as the Guardian has been guilty of. It is stated that some person, whose name we have not ascertained, has sold one of the Government Snider carbines belonging to the Oamaru Artillery. The guilty party is not a member of the company, and by what means he obtained possession of the carbine i.s not known. We understand that Lieut. Greenfield, commander of the company, has placed the matter in the hands of the police, and that before long it will form the subject of Magisterial inquiry. Messrs. Fleming and Iledley to-day sold by public auction, for removal, the tollhouse and gates on the Cave Valley road. After a keen competition the house was disposed of for £74 and the gates for £S. At the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning, Joseph Cosgrove, charged with assaulting Dr. Smith, at Otepopo, and with breaking a pane of glass belonging to Mr. Isaac Johnston, was brought up for sentence. In the iirst case, the accused was bound over to keep the peace for 12 months, himself in the sum of L2O, and two sureties in LlO : and for breaking the window he was fined Is., and ordered to pay the amount of damage done, Gs. A meeting of the Committees representing the Waiareka, Waitaki, and Kakanui Road Boards, for the purpose of appointing a Clerk to those Boards in the room of Mr. Martin, resigned, was held to-day. The following were present :—Messrs. Reid, Evans, aud Meek, Waiareka Board ; Messrs. Borrie and llononr, Waitaki Board; .Messrs. Morton, Thomson, and Gemmell, Kakanui Board. In all, there were 3S applicants for the position of Clerk, and after carefully examining the testimonials submitted by the various candidates, it was decided to appoint Mr. Robert G arrow. Mr. J. G. Deck announces that he will preach in the Odd Follows' Hall to-morrow evening, at half-past 6 o'clock. Harvest thanksgiving services will be held in St. Luke's Church to-morrow, morning and evening. The annual soiree in connection with St. Paui's Church, will be held in the A oUintcer JI ill on Thursday evening next. After the tea, a public meeting will take place, when addresses will be delivered by the lie vs. Cnuie. Gillies, Stev-n, Armitage, and Lindsay. interspersed with anthems and sacred pieces, to be sung by the church choir. The programme for the Philharmonic .Society's Concert, to take place on Tuesday evening, appears in another portion of our present issue, and is of a most attractive nature. In addition to a large lumber of trices, part songs, See.. Mcndels? lion's '' Lamia Si.in will be given for the first time, we believe, in the Colony, the concert concluding with a selection from the " Messiah." Seeing that the Committee of the Oamaru Hospital have under consideration a proposal to compel persons entering the institution, who arc in a position to pay for their maintenance and medical .attendance to do so, the following, from a contemporary, may not be uninteresting :— The Committee of the Wakatip Hospital has resolved that all persons, bef- re being admitted into the institution, be compelled to sign a written agreement, promising to pay any amount due by them on leaving the institution.

Punch is informed that Mr. Blight felt so stronifly on the Eastern Question that he declined to preside at his own dinner table on Christmas Day, as lie would not help Turkey under any circumstances. We clip the following from the Guardian : —" It is not generally known that the firemen of Bunedin have a faithful dog, which in point of instinct and sagacity emulates the famous canine pet of the London City Brigade. " Old Jack," a large brown dog—a cross between the Newfoundland and retriever—has been a constant and zealous attendant at the lires that have occurred in this city during the past 12 years. He was reared by Mr. Robertson, the secretary of the Brigade, and often he has ascended the ladder after his master on to the roofs of burning buildings. About two years ago he had the misfortune to break one of his hind legs, and the damage has never been properly repaired, for, if not an invalid, ' Old Jack' has been a cripple ever since. When the fire-bell tolls, however, he is always 011 the alert, and his first effort is to raise the alarm and attract the secretary's attention by loud and significant barking. Except on such occasions when he attends fires, e Okl Jack' is too infirm to venture abroad, and generally he suffers from the effects of his exertion for several days afterwards. Yesterday and last evening he could be witnessed, as usual, taking a very prominent part at the fires which occurred ill the vicinity of the Market Reserve."

The export of gold from the Colony for the quarter ended 31st March; 1577, was 52,2410z., valued at L 330,167, making the total entered for exportation from New Zealand to the 31st March, 1577, 8,359,55202., valued at L 32,.300,231.

Much astonishment (says the Western Jforiiiiiy has been caused in Barnstaple by the marriage of the Rev. F. Bassott, rectot* of Heanton Punchardon, within a fortnight of the death of his late 'wife. The bridegroom is seventy, the bride is a little more than a third of his age, and has hitherto been a servant in liis household. The rector sent to a brother clergyman, asking him to "come and many him," but as the same clergymen had buried the deceased wife eight days previously, he declined to oiliciate on the second occasion.

A Switzers correspondent writes to a Southland contemporary : —"There is a rush on a small scale to Cow's Creek, some miners having struck very good alluvial gold. Clow s Creek is looked on as a very patchy diggings. I have very little faith in the run of gold extending any great length. There arc some Chinamen doing very well up the Waikain, about the junction of Whitecombe Creek. One party of eight is getting from £7O to £l5O off a paddock."

The Wellington A njns has the following —"The audacity of rats is unbounded. Last night a gentleman residing in Mulgravestrect was awakened by hearing his infant, a few-' months old, suddenly screaming out. The child lay in a cradle by the bedside, and there was a light in the room. Springing up, the father heard a rustle, and, looking at the child, found the blood spouting from four wounds, evidently made by a rat's teeth, in the iufant's cheek. An hour or so later a similar scream was heard from the adjoining room, where another child, a boy about three years old, was sleeping. On going to him it was found that the rat had bitten him also, the same tooth marks appearing on the eyebrows, and bleeding profusely. The rat has not yet been caught.

We observe that the Anj«s thinks the remarks of the Tun"- respecting the Christchurch loan unreasonable, and. speaking of the Colony of Victoria, adds : "We cannot do better than Jay to heart the lesson here taught by the Tim»* —via , that small loans

are a great mistake, for they at once give rise to the question, Why cannot they raise paltry sums among-;!; themselves ? Not only

so, but they create an impression that weave always borrowing, and people tlnnk that the frequency necessarily involves a large indebtedness. Hitherto we have avoided this great financial mistake, and it is to be hoped that wo shall continue to do so.'' The following petition has been signed by ,"i0 mcmlii'i'S of the Tnverca gdl bides, and a petition with similar olijeeti is in preparation by the local Artillery < 'oinmny : —"To the ilon the Native Miniver. We, the undersigned officers and members of the Invcrcargill Itiilo Volunteers, desire respectfully to convey to you th 3 wish now generally expressed throughout the Southland district, that the next annual competition for the Colonial prizes may take place at Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu. Wc have been informed, and have every reason to believe, the railway will, before the usual date for the holding of the competition, be completed from bl'ili' Harbour to Lake \\ akatipu. TVe therefore respectfully pray that you will favourably consider tins petition, and cause the next Colonial competition to take place at Qufcnstown. V\ e respectfully subscribe ourselves, your most obedient humble servants."

Arctic exploration is the subject of the following j< it <V c-prit in the dS tw York Times—" There is only one really feasible plan for l'eaehing the North Pole, A succession of camps should be made from Smith's Sound northwards at intervals of . halt a mile from one another. In each of these camps two or three men, provided with a few years rations, should be placed, with instructions to keep a lamp constantly burning m the kitchen window, as a beacon for belated explorers, and to keep the side-walk swept as far as tlie next camp. The explorer who desired to reach the Pole would then have an uninterrupted series of half-mile stations all the way to his place of destination. He could warm his feet at one station, lunch at another, and sleep at a third. Thus, by easy and safe stages, he could reach and discover the Pole, and return to Smith's .Sound w'th out difficulty. The Arctic explorer can alwavs travel half a mile in a given direction. Divide the distance from Smith's Sound to the Pole into half-mile walks, and all the difficulties which are now insuperable would vanish. This is undoubtedly the true way in which the Arctic exploration should be conducted, and it is a wonder that no one has hitherto thought of it."