THE EVENING MAIL. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 1877

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 361, 20 June 1877, Page 2

THE EVENING MAIL. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 1877

Ratepayers should bear in mind that although their rates may not have been paid before the 15th instant, which would have entitled them to a place on the citizens' roll, they may, by paying their rates to the Town Clerk, and sending in a claim, have their names inserted in a supplementary roll. This will afford them the full voting privileges of citizens at the forthcoming elections for Mayor and Councillors. There was very little business done at the meeting of the Artillery Volunteers last evening. It was arranged that the annual meeting of the battery should be held on Tuesday evening next, and a number of accounts were passed for payment. The battery will fire for the big-gun prizes on Friday afternoon, on the beach. There was no sitting of the Eesident Magistrate's Court this morniug. It is notified elswhere that the outward San Francisco mail will close in Oamaru at 6 a m. on Wednesday next.

The avant-courier of the Rose Brothers has arrived in Oamaru to make final arrangements for the appearance of the company for three nights, at the Volunteer Hall, commencing to-morrow. The Dunedin papers have written in glowing terms of the entertainment. According to the Guardian, Mr. F. Rose is a musician, and performs the clever trick of playing upon the piano and concertina simultaneously. The cabinet seance appears to be more mysterious than that of the Davenports, inasmuch as every facility has been afforded the audiences that have patronised them in Dunedin for discovering the method of operating, but without success. They were subjected to the severe test by which the Davenports entirely failed, but the " Tom-fool knot " was as easily untied as any other by them. The Guardian says : "No sooner were the doors of the cabinet closed than the bells were rung, the tambourine performed a solemn dirge, the violin began to utter unearthly music, and' spirit' hands were observed quivering through the upper aperture of the central door." One of the investigators had a hat suddenly thrust on his head by some invisible hand from within. The other scrutineer was subsequently accommodated with a seat in the cabinet. After the lapse of a couple of minutes he emerged and explained his experiences—how his coat had been manipulated, a hat placed on his head, and his watch withdrawn from his pocket. All this time, on each occasion when the cabinet was thrown open, Mr. Rose was found securely tied as at first. Finally, the coat trick was performed, and the performer, having liberated himself, was again bound to a cha : :- in front of the audience. So securely was the tying performed that it seemed utterly impossible that the knots off hands or feet could be undone without assistance. Mr. Rose was lifted in the chair and placed in the cabinet, but the doors had scarcely been closed when the hands were seen at the aperture, and in seven minutes he emerged from the cabinet with the rope completely undone. The brothers were loudly and repeatedly applauded for the finished and clever manner in which they performed their feats. The last part of the programme consisted of a ventriloquial entertainment, in whici Mr. Frederick Rose amused his audience."

Another startling instance of the evil effects of drunkenness occurred yesterday morning. The down train from Duntroon narrowly escaped running over a man who had become quite oblivious of everything that was passing around him, through overindulgence. He had essayed to walk down the line on the previous night, and, quite overcome with the amount of liquor he had imbibed, he lay down where he was found in the morning. A little nearer the line, and we might have been necessitated to record another sudden departure from this life. As it happened, he was seen by some o: fie passengers, and the train was stopped. Some means should have been taken to impress the circumstance upon his pocket as well as his mind. It is certain that the more money such men are allowed to have, the more certain and swift will be their destruction, provided they mend not their ways. We certainly think a fine should have been inflicted. The indefatigable agent of the Georgia Minstrels, of which so much has been written that is laudatory, is in Oamaru making arrangements for the appearance of this troupe for a few evenings. The sale of trees and shrubs, held at Messrs. Connell and Clowes' stores to-day, was well attended by bona fide purchasers. There was good competition, and everything sold at fair prices.