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Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 352, 9 June 1877, Page 2

An adjourned meeting of the OainaruNaseby Baiiway Committee was held this morning at the Boad Board offices. There were present—Messrs. Maude (in the chair), O'Meagher, 'Gibbs, Brown, Borrie, Coimell, and Evans (lion. sec.) The Chairman stated that in accordance with the resolution passed yesterday, Messrs. Grant and Co. had been telegraphed to, asking if the £-£ ISs. per mile specified in their tender for surveying the line was to be charged on both lines, or only on the lino which was selected; No answer had yet been received, and it was impossible for the meeting to take any action at present. It was decided to again telegraph to Duneuiii for the necessary information, and the meeting was adjourned until half-past two o'clock.—On the Committee re-a-sembiing, there were present: — Messrs. Maude (in the chair), Sumpter, O'Meagher, Borrie, Council, Gibbs, and Lvans (lion, sec.) The Chairman stated that lie had received a telegram from. Mr. Grant, stating that the charge of Li ißs. was intended to be made on the whole -of the distance surveyed. It having been made a condition of acceptance of Messrs. Grant and Co. "s tender that the charge should only be made on the line selected, the lender was now rejected owing to this condition not being agreed to. The tender of Messrs. Thornton and Bull to perform the work for i lf,o was linaily aeoep cd, an;"!, the Secretary instructed to ii.?o:ni those g'Ut'omcn of the fact, and request thorn to piececd with lho j work as sot uas possible. '.l'lic meeting terminated with a vote of thanks t> tin Chairman. It is very ridiculous to observe how .Mr. . YVhitaker has endeavou: ed to tliiuvr a g'amour over the eyes of the pernio of this Colony by .attempting to contradict the rumour of diss< mdon in the Cdtimt. To j those who know the ropes, and the com- j poiiont parts that make up our hotch-potch-.] Government, it must be truly refreshing to j read Mr. Whiiaker's explanation, which j appears in ( ur telegi-aphio columns. Time ] will toil a tale of woe for the schismatic i conglomeration styled the Government of Now Zealand, or we are greatly mistaken. So far from agreeing on all but minor ones-' tion.s, they diner on nearly everything; but we can easily imagine that old wiley polititions like Messrs. Pollen and Whitaker would coincide upon one question at I least, ami that is, if they are given to internecine warfare, not to tell anybody. j

Another feature of the Craig case, as it has now conic to be known, was brought to light this morning at the .Resident Magistrate's Court. Two children belonging to thj Craigs were brought before (1. Sumptcr, Ksq., J.P.. on the charge of being neglected children. It seems that, owing to both their parents being in custody at present, the little ones have been- left in a very neglected state, there being no one to look after them. The police therefore deemed it advisable to take charge of the children, and this could only be done by taking them into custody as neglected children. The hearing of the case was remanded until Monday, when the charge of larceny against Sirs. Craig will come on for hearing. Any action in regard to the children, will then depend upon the result, of the larceny case. Mr. Win. Collins, another of the jurors who were lined £2 for not answering their names at the .District Court on Thursday, appeared before his Honor last evening, just prior to the Court rising, and explained that he was in Court shortly after his name had been called. The fine was reduced to f>s. The nomination for two members of the Xakaimi Load Board for the Lambton Subdivision took place on Thursday, at the resid-cucc of Mr. Gillespie. Mr. Henry Allan was proposed by Mr. A. Aikenhead and seconded by Mr. Gilie pie, while Mr. ' William Gillespie was proposed by Mr. C. H. Allan and seconded by Mr. Aikenhead. Xo other candidates having been nominated, the Returning Officer (Mr. J. C. Gilchrist) declared the gentlemen named duly elected. The nomination of three members of the Waitaki Load Board for the new sub-divi-sion of Awa'moko took place on Tuesday, at the residence of Mr. James McAuley. Mr.

It. Stewart was the returning officer. Mr. | '"Angus M'Donald was • proposed by Mr. f Alexander M'Master, and seconded by Mr. j James M 'Auley ; Mr. James Davidson was proposed by Miv.Jolm Johnson and seconded by Mr. George Geddes ; and Mr. John Bortoii was proposed by Mr. James M'Auley and seconded by Mr. James Davidson. In the Lambourne Sub-division of the Kakanui ' Boad Board no candidate was proposed for the vacant seat ; while, we believe, there was not a sufficient number at the nomination for the "Windsor Sub-division or" the Waiareka Boad Board, and no election therefore took place. In only two instances are polls necessary. These are both in the Waitaki lload Board. For the Weymouth Sub-divi-sion Messrs. Thomas Duncan and AVilliam Dennison are the opposing candidates, and the poll to decide the matter will take place on Thursday next, at the Schoolhouse, Pukeuri. The other Sub-division in which a pell is necessary is Papakaio, for which Messrs. D. Borrie and P. Aitehison are the candidates. The poll will also take place on Thursday next, and will be held at the Schoolhouse.

A few days ago, wo remarked upon the absurdity of making the Olajo Da'thj Tinier a gazette for the publication of the advertisements of the Waste Lands Board. Not a tithe of those who it is sought to notify see these advertisements, and the result has been so unsatisfactory, as regards expense and inefficiency, that the members of the Waste Lands Board are evidently becoming alive to the fact that some radical change in the system must be made. Our object in again drawing attention to the matter is that, as the session of Parliament is approaching, now is the most appropriate time for pointing out where reforms miy be instituted in tire management of our aSlairs. A'special meeting of the Committee of the Benevolent Society will be held at the Secretary's oiiioe on Monday evening, at 7 o'clock. Tiie business to lie brought forward is the ! appointment of a collector, and the conof the report cm the immigrants cottages. '! he quartci'ly meeting of'the. members of the ii.A. C. P. Society will bo held on Monday evening, at the usual hour, f,r the nomination of olMcers for tiie ensuing six The Government inspection and parade of tiie head-quarters companies took place last night at thes Di'i.i Veeed, and ill eon-cqucie of the unavoidable absence of Major Steward, ('apt. Xnnipter took command. After ■'■ the in-peeiion, iho Volunteers marched through the town headed .by the band, during which time a variety of evolutions were performed, prineipdly on the double. It is only tine to the Volunteers to state that the degree of efficiency they have attained, in military movements, some of which arc more than ordinarily difficult, reflects gr r at credit on both officers and

I men. The parade state of each company i stands as follow-; : —Staff—I sergeant-major. Artillery—l lieutenant, I. sergeant, 1 corI porn!, and 13 gunners. No. 1 Company Lilies—l captain, 1 lieutenant, 1 .sub-lieu-tenant, :2 sergeants. 2 corpora!?, anil 21 men. I'J.C..'. 1 captain, .1 sergeant, 2 corporals, and 21 privates. O U-.S. C.— 1 sergeant-major, J 2 sergeant*, 2 corporals, and 19 privates. I Band—l band-mast-,!', 1 band-sergeant, and j 15 bandsmen. After t v >e parade returned to the Id all, Captain Humpter formed the Companies into hollow square, and called Sergeant Armitage, of the Oamaru Grammar School Cadets, to the front. After complimenting the sergeant on his shooting, he presented him with the Ladies' Medal, which he has had the honour of wimdiig twice, and only novels to carry oil'once more to make it his own property. The commanding officer then complimented the men on their smart appearance, after which each officer marched his company to their different quarters. ilr. Thomas Bracken, whose name is so familiar amongst the people of this Provincial district, and, wo might say, Colony, as a ii-oet and a lecturer, is reaping deserved encomiums on all hands for his little work, ".Flowers of the Free Lands." It is scarcely possibly to take up an exchange without observing some favourable comment on Mr. Bracken's endeavours to introduce amongst us poetry throughout which may he traced a national spirit. It may he advanced that these criticisms are actuated by a desire to show friendly feeling towards one who has ever been popular since the early days of the settlement of this district ; but such an argument would scarcely hold good in the case of the Argus—a paper of most hypercritical proclivities—which says :-*-" Mr. Thomas Bracken, of Dunedin, has published a volume of poems, entitled, 'Flowers of i the Free Lands,' which he dedicates to Mr. Marcus. Clarke* Mr. Bracken is a fluent and

facile writer, who snys that ' poetry has been a kind preceptress to him since his boyhood,' and that he has 'poured forth his freshest emotions in song because he' found l t the most congenial way of expressing what he felt.' His subjects are various, and so is his metre. With a good ear fur verse and a

| copious diction, lie writes pleasantly on j familiar themes ; and lie has no higher ambition, he tells us, than 'to hang a modest offering on the "golden harp of the South, | beneath the sweet wreaths of Kendall, the evergreen garlands of (.'onion, the tropical roses of Stephens, ami the Maori chaplets of Domett.'" Cromwell is beginning to feel the necessity for railway communication in order to enable her to keep pace with other portions of this Provincial district. The Cromm-ll Art ins states that it agitated the question four years ago. Its idea is that the most eligible route is by way of the Maniatoto Plains. "Sir Joseph Canston and Sons, 47 Eastcheap, E.G., London,"' is the imprint placed at the foot of the Government; telegraph iorms. Not long since, it was "Sir something Waterlow and Sons." Now, so far as our experience goes, neither of these lirms prints better than Colonial printers, and the only reason we can assign for the extraordinary conduct of the Government in sending this work out of the Colony i s that the heads of the two printing linns just mentioned are K.C.M.G.'s, and so is Sir Julius Vogel; but to our mind this is not a sufiieiently good cause for putting the Colony to extra and needless expense. In the lirst place, there is the Government -printing office—;;n institution established in order to perforin such work. In all conscience, it is expensive enough, and too much so to be kept for the glory of the tiling, or to lie looked at. If at any time the Government, printer should be too busy to do this woik—and we suppose this is sometimes the case it might Ijo tendered for within the Colony. Admitting that there may have been good reasons for the Government bestowing their I favoirs on London printing linns in the past, those reasons do not exist now, nor have they existed for years. This is another matter that should be brought forward for consideration during the forthcoming session of Parliament. Considerable discontent is being evinced in certain portions of the Colony at the present time in consequence of the high price of bread. A meeting lias just been held at Xapier for the purpose of establishing a cooperative bakeiy, and we would not be sur-pii.-.cd if similar action were taken by the people of Cromwell, whore bread is fifteen pence the 41b -loaf. Working men. with large-families, must have a pretty lively time of it there. Mr. John Main, seedsman, Tees-street, has shown us a magnificent sample of mangolds. Four of them weigh 14 libs, in the aggregate, and those were picked from amongst others almost as large. Mr. P. Meek, of Waiareka, grew them, and. they speak well for the soil of that district, as well as for the farming ability of the grower. Mr. Main has lot) tons of these mangolds for sale.