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Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 401, 11 August 1877, Page 2

.We are pleased to see that the Muni-ripal Council has increased by L~>o the annual salary oE the Mayor of this town. It must have been palpable to everyone that the amount hitherto received, although at one time, perhaps, adequate, had become a wretchedly paltry consideration for the mul-

tifarious duties devolving upon the Mayor of Oamaru a? it is at present. We are sure that this small additional recognition of the valuable services rendered by Mr. Steward will meet with general approval. By an error in the advertisement of the Phoenix Insurance Company, the age of that Institution has been erroneously stated. Its establishment was set down as having taken place in ISI2, whereas it started operations in 177-1- It will, therefore, be seen that the Company is now over a century old. The business that has accumulated during this \ eriod is wonderfully the Phoenix doe- the largest business of any ouioc in London, and that the amount of its lisks are only sir-passed by those of the Sun Insurance Company. Properly worked, as we have no d.-übt it will be by the agent, Mr. James Grave, the Company should have a very fair share of the busine s of Oamaru

The City Council of Wellington lately entertained the various municipal delegatein a very handsome manner, by giving them a (Pnner, the cost of which was at the late of two pounds per head. It will be very shocking to some people to learn that the banquet, including cosrly champag ie, wa? paid for by the ratepayers of tne Umpire City.

A Bunodin paper affords us the informat on that the annual examination of pupil teachers and candidates for employment as pnpd teachers will be held at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, the 11th September, and fol'owi:i<r d-'vs at the Oamaru Gramma- School, Diuv din Norma' S'chnol, Invcrcargill Grammar School, and Milton Grammar School. Ca-idida<o=s for classes 1 and 2 a-e reminded that notification of any extra subjects in tended to be taken up by them must le sent in to Mr. Pryde. two clear weeks before the examination. It does seem si range iliafc the notification conre-nmg the Oamaru School should be inserted in the Dunedin paners, which are seldom or never seen by the majority of persons interested in them. We may have been wrong, but somehow or other we were once impressed will) an idea that the object of adverti.-ing was to make wants known, and the greater the circulation of the paper in the country sought to be notified the more effectual the advertising- Circumstances have ari.-en in cmi-

neetion wi;h Government advertising that would lead, us to the conclusion that the first de.^detation is to support Government v>a'>ers. They may be printed and circulated in regions as isolatad as the summit of M-unt Cook, but that would be no barrier to the bestowal of Government favours. The patronage has become most barefaced, and quite on a par with the majority of the acts of the pre.-ent wretched Government. In this paiticnlar instance,

perhaps Mr. Pryde is guilty of neglect of duty in not having properly advertised the notification to which we have referred, feeling quite satisfied so long as he has the pleasure of seeing his name attached to an advertisement in a paper circulating in the pupulous city of Dunedin.

The devils that take possession of weakminded n-.en when they become pecuniarily embarrassed, inducing the perpetration of all sorts of criminal offences, are holding en nival with the Govcr.nn.2iit. Financial diirieultios, threatening to hm.ck Ministers off the perches upon which they rest very shakily, have driven them to desp-ra;ion. At least, that is our opinion ; and, after having stated facts, we will have the public to judge whether it is so or not. It appears that, by a uile brou-ht into force on the Ist of J i: ly, it was sti( united that railway servant-.' wages would be paid monthly, but that the Government would retain a fortnight's pay in hand. We need scarcely st.;te that railway servants viewed this as exceedingly unfair, and a petition was forwarded to the Government, the result of which was that a compromise was effected, the Government consenting to be sati fled with the retention of one week's pay. This. in all conscience, would have been bad (;:..i.,-ii. But the Government, either thinkin.' uiafc they could work the railway employes in their u-ual style, or regretting their levity or liberality, virtually violated their promise. They succeeded, by a sy tern of humbugging peculiar to them, in wiiiholding the fortnight's pay. From an exchange we learn that the mode of operation was beautifully simple, nnd such as would have done credit to any criminal who is now doing his term for fraud in one of her Majesty's prisons. Salaries were not paid until a week after the time appointed in the r ile=, anil then payment was only made for three weeks, a receipt being given by the men for a month's wages. The Government have given the employes an acknowledgment of their indebtedness to the extent of one week's salary, which will, however, only be negociable in case the holders should

leave the service. This is a pretty state of things, and one of which every man in whose composition there exists a grain of right feeling will he heartily r shamed.

The Chicago Minstrels have been resuscitated, and will, as may be seen by advertisement, appear upnn the boards of the Masonic Hall on Saturday and Monday, ISth and 20th instant. Although some of the best arti.tes of the Company have seceded, the ranks have been filled up by other performers of undoubted merit.

It will be seen by our advertising columns that a pigeon n:a:ch will take place at Schluter's on Wednesday next, at which a malch will come off between two well known cracks of Otago and Canterbury, for LSO a side ; also, a match between two local sportsmen for L2O a side.

The Isabel'a Pratt arrived safely at Napier last night.