Untitled

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 378, 10 July 1877, Page 2

The fact, recorded by our special tele- t craphic correspondent in another column, V that there arc 400 mechanics out of em- c plovmcnt in Duncdin at the present time s is not a very welcome one. We are quite e aware that there is a class of men who will always'be found willing, and indeed anxious t to be considered amongst the "un- v em-doved " and there aie plenty of such t in 'Duncdin; but it is a very different \ matter when, in a city so young as Duncdin, r 41)0 mechanics are offering to work at leas 1 than labourers' wages. The Mayor seems i to have grasped at once the remedy, < and " wired" the Government, recommend- 1 ins that the Balclntlia and Clinton railway ' line should be opened to them. The idea « is an admirable one; but we have no con- ( fidenee that the Government will act upon ( it. Our experience leads us to expect that an answer will be returned of as much value as the following:—"Matter being considered. "Will let you know next year. Government most anxious to do something." The railway line connecting the station { with the Breakwater was very nearly being j the scene of a serious accident yesterday I afternoon. A truck partly loaded, and un- < eenoled, was being pushed on in front of an | engine in one direction, while another truck idled with shingle from the beach was being vigorously shoved in an opposite direction bv two men, who strained every muscle and ! sinew in their frames to get the waggon upon | the branch line before the engine and truck met them. Partial success only crowned their e-h'-rts. as a collision took place, the ballast wair-roii be-in n thrown off the rails with no little violence. Unless more care is exercised by railway employes, we feel sure there i, a probability that Ave shall have to chronicle some dreadful accident on our lines. 'We would take the opportunity of again reminding that the entertainment in aid of the funds of the Hospital takes place this evening, at the Masonic Hall. We were '. | Permitted to attend the rehearsal of the I Calcined Corkomans last evening, and we j can coiiiubiitly assert that the programme ' j is far superior to anything ever previously i ottemnted by amateurs in this town, and j the whole of the items promise to be well i rendered. The fact of the entertainment i beiner for so good a cause, together with the ! well-known ability of the performer--, - i should be sufficient to bring together a large . audience. In addition to these attractions, am-her is afforded. The hall has undera thorough renovation, and now pre- ! Tents a pleasing and comfortable appear--3 anee. The members of the St. Paul's Young 1 Men's Association held their weekly meeting - iast evenim*. After the. usual business had been gone through, the subject of the evenr iiur, "Bible Headings," was taken up, being s conducted by the Rev. Mr. -Todd. The j book of Matthew being the one which was considered more fully, Mr. Todd briefly sketched the character and life of the inspired writer. A number of remarks were' ° made by the members, all of whom ex- '" pressed the great pleasure they had derived from the way in which the President handled " the subject. e The adjourned monthly meeting of the 'i Committee of the Benevolent Society was - held last evening, at Mr. Church's office. : " There were present—Messrs. Steward (in "- the chair), Milligau, Falconer, Booth, P. •8 Fleming: Dawson, Ronayne, and the Secre:t tary (Mr. Church). The minutes of the last ,i ■ meeting were read and confirmed. On the n inotion° of Mr. Fleming the action of the

President, in reference to the payment of tho half premium on the guarantee policy for Mr. P.ichmond, the collector, was conconfirmed. Mr. falconer, on behalf of the Visiting Committee, reported re the immigrants" cottages, and the report was adopted and the action of the Committee approved of. It was resolved that the collector should be.asked to keep a rent-book for the cottages on the Cape, and to obtain the rents owing from the Ist June, at ss. per week. It was resolved that the Visitin"- Committee be empowered to allot the "rounds for cultivation by the tenants, and to arrange about the fencing. The Secretary- was requested to write to the Municipal" Council, asking that the Inspector of Nuisances might be directed to visit the immigrants' cottages occasionally, with a view to them being kept clean and wkolesoins. The Secretary was also requested to eive a list of the gentlemen holding subscrip. tion books to the collector. Messrs. Allen and Fleming were appointed a Visiting Committee for the current month ; and it was resolved that the Visiting Committee should report upon the immigration barracks and the unoccupied ground attached thereto. Various cases of relief were attended to, and the meeting terminated.

The half-yearly meeting of members of the North Otago Turf Club, called for this evening, has been postponed until Tuesday evening next._ The monthly meeting of the Waitaki ,Road Board was held this afternoon, when there were present—Messrs. Duncan (in the chair), Easton, Davidson, Procter, Bortdn, M'Donald, Aitcheson, Connell, and Evans, j The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. Messrs. Julius and Balmer wrote on behalf of Mr. M'Nab, requesting that the sum of L 25 should be paid as compensation for damage sustained through the overflow of drains. The Clerk was instructed to reply that the Board declines to entertain the claim. A letter was read from Mr. Westlake drawing the Board's attention to the fact that Messrs. Hall Brothers, of Awamoko, had encroached on the road line through the property of Messrs. Glen Bros., leaving only naif a chain, which was insufficient for traffic. It was resolved that the Engineer lay off the road line as laid down in the several maps, and report on the cost of making the same passable. Several other letters were read and dealt with. On the

motion of Mr. Evans, it was resolved that a deputation, consisting of Messrs. Borton, Connell, Aitchison, and Evans, wait on the County Council, and urge upon that body the propriety of taking over the road through the Papakaio Pre-emptive. The Engineer was instructed to inspect the drains in the Landon Sub-division, with a view of having them widened and deepened, and that Mr. j Low, the Resident Engineer, be consulted re lower railway culverts to affordproperpassage for water. The Engineer was also instructed to report upon several new road formations. It was decielcd to call for tenders for the banking account. Mr. Evans was appointed Treasurer in the room of Mr. Fleming, resigned. The tenders were for four contracts, the following being the successful tenderers :—No. 39, T. Corcoran, L.3S; Xo. 40, Thos. Flaherty, LI 27 4s. Gd.; Xo. 41, Thos. Flaherty, 1.G4 15s. ; No, 42, Hugh Wallace, LlO5 10s. 3d. A number of accounts were passed for payment, and the meeting terminated.

We clip the following from the Timarit Ihruld: —"From exchanges to hand, a lively state of things appears to exist in Oamaru, and The Mail has voluntarily chosen the anything but pleasant duty of imparting a moral tone to the citizens in crencral, and the boarding-house keepers in particular. We sec no reason to doubt the statements made in the editorial columns of our neighbour, and, if true, it is high time that the authorities took some action in the matter. But The Mail has lately changed hands, and lo ! au irate subscriber views him- I self in the mirror of expectation, and resorts to that usual and ever-dreadful alternative of withdrawing his advertisement, thereby, to his mind, doubtlessly accelerating an immediate recourse on the part of The Mail to the Bankruptcy Court. The editor, however, evidently equal to. the occasion, thus very facetiously refers to the loss —'Now, we prized this gentleman's advertisement, as it "ave our sheet au air of respectability, and acted for it as a kind of passport into polite society. We will not, however, further refer to this matter now, and trust that it Avill be buried with the bitter past. We have succeeded in filling up the blank space with the "ads." of those who will pay; this is an additional consolation.' It is within our recollection having experienced precisely similar treatment, and, though we lost the advertisement, we at the same time erased the advertiser's name from off our books, inwardly resolving to leave him to the only course of consolation left to the thin-skinned and easily offended—the conscious know ledge of having stultified himself without having the melancholy satisfaction of havinginjured us in a pecuniary sense. Many people run away with the idea that the sword of Damocles is ever to be held over the editorial chair, and that the Press is to be and to pass by unnoticed inci. dents and conduct affecting the welfare of society. We congratulate The Mail upon havhic outlived the severe shock, and the subscriber in having ceased to be connected with a journal that was neither ashamed nor afraid to expose delinquencies —not even if offender chanced to be an august and re- :;;:;.'..■ ;-.-!.ble boarding-house keeper in beautiful and prosperous Oamaru."

A correspondent writes to the Dunedin Star deploring the fact of the dulness of the iron trade in the Colony. He very properly points out that this is attributable to the 'penchant the Government has for sending to England for what they require in this line. It is simply scandalous, says the writer, " that so much rolling stock, bridges, etc., and steamboats for the public service should bo imported when so little is doing here. The system is so general that the simplist things are imported, such as cast iron gas-pipes, great numbers of which are behw laid in various streets in town —work so simple that every foundry in Dunedin could produce them, to say nothing about that wonderful piece of mechanism—" Inspector Barnes'pet"—the steamroller. To say the least of it, it is an injustice to those who have emigrated here under the impression of finding constant employment at good wages. But why is so much work sent Home ? One has but to point to the

railway carriages made by Findlay and Co., the locomotives and waggons made by Davidson and Co., the well-known agricultural implements made by Messrs. Reid and Gray, or the dredge Vulcan, to dispel such an illusion. Colonial incompetency cannot be the reason." We would advise the working men of the Colony to insist upon a satisfactory explantion of this matter through their representatives. In our opinion, they have displayed too much carelessness in political matters, and the evil the correspondent in the Star refers to is I one of the outcomes of this apathy.