The Evening Mail. MONDAY, JULY 16, 1877.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 383, 16 July 1877, Page 2

The Evening Mail. MONDAY, JULY 16, 1877.

Mr. Lemon has kindly supplied us with the following information which was received by wire this morning :—"The Mera is wrecked north of Hokiang.i Heads. The masts are gone. Hull embedded iu sand." The vessel is insured in several offices. A branch of the National Bank of New Zealand is announced to be opened iu the course of a few days at Waimate. This will doubtless prove a great conveniance to cus* tomers. Ifc may not be generally known that the " intoxicating bowl " has a great deal to do •with the Turco-Russian war; yet, according to a letter to the Weekly Press of Chi istchurch, such appears to be the case. The correspondent, who signs himself "A. Florance, jun.," after launching out with a highly eulogistic paragraph on Thomas Carlyle, proceeds briefly to glance at the Bulgarian outrages, and finally ends up with the following howl —evidently meant as a cov'ert siieer against one, or both, of the belligerants : —"Let us hope that, while England is perfectly prepared for war, she will continue to hold her present neutral policy, and strive earnestly to remove some of the causes of the preseat social evils by bringing into force wise laud laws, and laws to prohibit the sale or manufacture of intoxicating liquors.'" Truly this juvenile prodigy is too learned to live. Now that Sir Julius Vogel is coming back, Mr. A. Fiorance, jun., had better migrate elsewhere. New Zealand is to.) small to contain two such geniuses. Goliath of Gath was subjected to an insult the other day which should make the two perpetrators pretty well ashamed of themselves. The insulters and insulted met at the railway station, and each was bent upon procuring the necessary ticket first. As no human ticket clerk could comply with tk* wishes of tht_m all, he was serving them

one at a time, commencing with a Dunedin merchant who had been carried along with the stream of intending passengers till opposite the ticket window. " First-class single to Oamaiu," said the merchant. " A ticket for a lady here," said the giant, as he pushed the fair form of a female forward, the while preventing her from being bruised against the railing by interposing arm. '• Stand aside there, and allow this lady to pass," said he. Although he seemed to be recognised, and was known as a man of position, there was not a response in either word or action. The Adonised Venus took her turn with the ri-st, and, having received their tickets, she and her kind piofcf-ctor repaired to a carriage, where they would fain have been left to enjoy each othtr's society in sW'jet seclusion. Bat a ticket with " Smoking Carriage" printed thereon was tacked upon the wal 1 , and the merchant and his friend had seated themselves comfortably, and had just begun to blow the wreathing smoke of the Indian weed. The big man preferred that carriage to any other, and ordered a porter to "tear down the ticket and clear those fellows cut." The official did the bidding of the amorous old gent, so far as the ticket was concerned, but " those fellows" were not so easily disposed of. They positively refused to obey the official, although acting uuder instructions from one whose mandate was as much law in his proper capacity as was that of a Roman centurion in days long gone by. The occupants considered themselves as good judges as he of comfort, and the loving pair were compelled to seek another sphere less favourable, perhaps, for the uninterrupted operations of the god of love.