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Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 576, 7 March 1878, Page 2

Mr. ("onyors. Superintendent of Railways for the Middle Island, and Mr. .Hack. Assistant Tnuiio Manager for tlie Christchurch section of railway*, arrived in Oamani by special train at half-past 10 o'clock last night. They pr.'ceedcd south by first train this morning, and will probably return with Sir George Grey ami party in time for the Oamaru races.

There were no cases lor h> arinir at th.< the Resilient Ma_;istia:e"s Court this morn

The District Court will sit to-morrow morning, when the foil-whig criminal cases will be heard :—Henry Andrews, perjury : Eilward Hose, attempted suicide : James S'ott. aggravated assault: Bridget Flannery, larceny. Only one application in Bank-

ruptey is down for hearing. The Committer of the North Otaqo Turf Club held a meeting last evening at the | Empire Hotel. There were present—Messrs. o"Meft f 'h" r President (ill tin- chair', Crcen- | le-lil. Steward. l>oi>:ey, Longford, Paterson, Lumsdeti (Treasurer), and (Irani (Hmi. S'Viv! -.ry). r \'h-- mil,utes "f the previoutne,,ti,'u- were read and continued. It was agreed that t:i« "Ground ('.'iniiiitt-c bo recpiested to have a room erected in the .'addling piddo.-k for the ace.imii..:datioii of the joek;ys. Tiie following gentlemen were proposed and elected members of the club : Messrs. W. F. Kinnear, Herbert Honour, James Fulton, and Thomas Hannon. The meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to the chairman. The ad ourned meeting of the Committee of the Benevolent Society was hold at the Mechanics" Institute at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon. There were pre.-ent— Messrs. T-T. Fleming (in the chair). Steward, Oreentie'.d, I'oriayne, Allen, and Richmond i'-'eeretan ). The Committee having again considered the applications s'lit in for the Secretaryship, Mr. John Hardy was elected to the position. The Visiting Committee having reported on the cac of a man named J. Smith, who had been discharged from the Hospital as a case of incurable rheumatism, suggested that the unfortunate man should bo sent to the North Island to try the curative effects of the hot springs. It was resolved, "That the suggestion he carried out. and that the Visiting Committee make arrangements for forwarding him to Taurauga. and to give him a sm:itl sum in hand for his maintenance for two or three weeks : the outlav to be regarded a= a loan, to be repaid when he is able to work.'" This completed the business, and the meeting terminated with the usual vote of thanks to the chairman.

The usual monthly meeting of the Com rnict.e of the North Otago Ohio wa.s held this morning at the County Council Cliamlicii. There were pivseiit—The Hon. M. Holmes, President (in tlie chair), Me.i.-ir.--. Aleiilove, -AJlen, Fleming, .Steward, l.intott, and Uonayne (Hon. !Seeretarv). The minuted of the last monthly meeting and a. special meeting were read and continued. A letter was read from Mr. Llovd intimating that, should the meeting-; of the

Club tint clash with those of Christclmrch anil Southland, he would be willing to act 1 as judge at the Club's cursing events on : the terms mentioned. On roferenc to the ' probability of tiie Oamaru coursing nieetj itigs clashing with those of other plae s, and , it having been fonnd that the June meeting { being the only one likely to do so, it was ■ j decided to alter the dates of the meeting j from the JSth June and following days to the 17th June and following days. The following new members were balloted for [and elected: —Dr. M'lntyre (Timaru) j Messrs. B. Balmer, J. C. Chaplin, (DuneiLn). j Spencer (Palmerston), F. Dunlop, A. Herd- | man, (4. Pratt (Waimate), F. W. O. Grant, ;G. Greenfield, G. Millington (Papakaio), arid Johbins (Dunedin). Several new members were nominated, and accounts to the amount LIS Is. having been passed for payment, the meeting tr rminated with a vote of thanks to the chairman.

Messrs. Pollen, Whitaker, and Eees, did not reach Oamaru as expected last night, probably in consequence of the detention of the Wanaka by reason of bad weather. The train that conveyed those gentlemen from Lyttelton to Christchurch arrived just a3 the train was leaving for Oamaru.

Messrs. Connell and Clowes have to-day removed to their new and commodious premises, opposite the Bank of 2\ew Zealand, Tyne-street.

We hoar that, at the trial of reapers and binders at the Henley estate, the machine manufactured by Messrs. liei.l and Gray "ave every satisfaction to those interested, and that one of Hevans side delivery machines -was also exhibited in operation. The Secretary of the Xorth Otago Turf Club gives notice by an advertisement, which appears elsewhere, that poison will be kid for dogs on the racecourse, and owners of valuable animals of the canine species would do well to bear this fact in mind when visiting the course.

We freely confess that one of the greatest mishaps that we have met with during our newspaper career occurred to our leader last evening. In the hurry-scurry of "makingup " the paper into proper form, column by column, a portion of a common road board local crept, by some mj-.vterious means, into the middle of our leading artie'e, thereby committing sacrilege and slightly interfering with the sequence of the editorial remarks. As we have just stated, how it got there we do not know, but the " matter " was missed from the road board local during the process of collating the various pieces of matter into paires. The discovery was followed by an unusual tumult, and words that sounded like those of a foreign language issued hurriedly from the mouth of the enraged manager, as with bared breath he, in his way, blessed the compositors all round and gave instructions to "re-set" tlie missing matter. It was done. The road board local was properly fixed up, and all was supposed to be correct when the manager, once more restored to his wonted calmness left the office for his home. On gazing, as is our custom, upon our handiwork at the teatable, the first thing that caught the e litorial eye w«re the words " block VIII.," in the middle of what we supposed was the article. We didn't write that. We then turned the paper over to see that we had got the right one, and discovered to our horror that we had, and the truth dawned upon our mind. After the first shock we viewed the aiFair as a good joke, for nothing could be more comical than the reading of

;he 1-ader and local where they merge one into the other. The first "blend," as friend Scott would call ir, is decidedly preferable to the last, and might have been allowed to pass as an editorial peculiarity had it not been for the clumsy way in winch it joins

up with the article at the end. Our first impulse was to apologise to our readers ; but they seem so thoroughly to enjoy the fun thai iliey would, view an axuoloi-y as iroiu-. We have been charted immoderately to-day. One of our friends wished to know where the back part of Mr. Bees' section was situated, whether the road was to enable that gentleman to "dive" with greater ease into the evidence connected with a certain case, and what light the Waitaki ltoad Board had to expend their funds in such a work. We think that an apology is due to the Fngin-er of the Board, for the strange mixture h.xs caused us to point at wrong doing which has given rise to suspicion, which will probably lie satisfied. Of course he will see that all

these imputations arose from the error, the cause and effect of which we have explained to the best of our ability. So far from anything in the occurence to be a>hamct! of, we feel somewhat proud that we have been able to make a blunder quite equal to any that was ever committed by the London Tim-n or the Melbourne Avjiw. After all, they are but human who conduct papers, and are liable to the errors of humanity. The usual monthly meeting of the Harbour Hoard will be held at half-past ten o'clock to-morrow morning.

A general meeting of the members of the Hailway Krnpioyes Benefit Society will be held at the railway stores to-morrow evening, at S o'clock.

Mr. R. J. O'Sullivaii, of Auckland, lias declined to accept the appointment of Chief Inspector for the Colony under the new Education Act.

The Rev. P. P. .Agnew is about visiting Europe and the United States on a lecturing tour, his theme being the Australian Colonies, and his experiences in them.

A supplementary bazaar, in aid of the fund tor the erection of the Wesleyan Parsonage, will he held in the Volunteer Hall on Monday and Tuesday next, -when, in addition to the articles remaining unsold at the close of ths last bazaar, a number of other useful and ornamental articles will be offered for sale at moderate prices.

On Saturday afternoon a cricket match will be played between members of the club residing in the north and south of the town, commencing at half-past two o'clock. The following are the teams : —North : Balmer, Booth, Borton, Du Pre, De Lautour, Edwards, Ferens, Honour, Lowe, Solomon, and Taylor. South : Atherton, Church, F. Fenwick, G. Fenwick, Hiekey, M'Donald, Pickett, lieid. Rife, Sumpter, and Tempest.

The receipts on the railways extending from luvercargill to Amberley, from July 1 to January 12 last, a period of six months, were L197,G59, whilst the expenditure was L 155,189; the working expenses being 78 ! per cent, of the receipts. This is a satisfactory result, taking into consideration that, during four out of the following six months, j the receipts will increase on the Christ- ! church railways by LIO.OOO per month, pro•eeds from the transportation of grain, the traffic in which is year by year increasing.

The Dunedin Star, in a notice of the late trial of reapers at Mr. P. Orr's farm, Spring- • field, writes : —"A telegram received by us to-day states that M'Cormaek's harvester received first prize, and Wood's second—our telegraphist says : —From information before us, we are at a loss to understand how this can be, M'Cormaek's machine having broken down twice left the field without completely cutting the three acres allotted to it. It is quite a new thing to decide upon the merits of a machine by a ballot of those who happened to be on the ground. Such a method can never pronounce authoritatively upon the comparative merits of machinery. The result in all such cases is the test of efficiency, and to adopt a plan by which the personal friends of a machine-maker or agent may contrive to be in a majority on the ground, and therefore secure him a prize, may bear evidence to their regard and personal esteem, but says nothing for the judgment or honesty of those who can award a prize for work unperformed. Such a clumsy expedient is worth)' of the agricultural mind." The arguments of the Star are somewhat singular. Does it mean to say —although the M'Cormick machine, in the opinion of the judges, worked better and was more efficient than the others when in working order—that because it broke down —a mi.sfortune that mi<_'ht occur to the most carefully-constructed machine ever made—the superiority which they believed it to possess should not be allowed to sway them in their decision, and that they should adjudge what they thought to be an inferior machine worthy of the prize, simply because it happened to be more fortunate and accomplished its task. Our contemporary is particularly unreasonable on this occasion. Dazzled by the excessive Lilare of Mr. Oenever's gas—with brain intoxi2ated with the. thousand and one poisonous smells of a big city —or, puffed up with iniffable conceit, the Star has launched out m a subject about which nobody but itself 2ver supposed it knew anything. What would be the result of giving it its own way ?—That the farmers of this district ivould be answerable for misleading their brethren by awarding a prize to a machine jecause it was lucky enough not to break uiything, although that machine might be nferior in many respects to a less fortunate lompetitor. Our contemporary is in error if it uipposes that the ballot was conducted oosely, and that the result was only arrived it by chance. No one on the ground but 1011 a fide, agriculturists were permitted to -ote, and we think that the farmers of this listrict are men who have proved themelves competent to form a correct judgnent in matters in vhich agricultural nachitiery is concerned. Their decision was mt given hastily, but after several hours'

experience of the working of each machine and the manner in whwh every peculiarit;

of each machine was thoroughly investigated by those who voted proved that the farmers who were to give their judgment intended to do so upon the nerits of the several machines, and not without reason or with bias, -'The clumsy cxpedionfc" has been acknowledged as a trial :est wherever it has heen tried, and if the aVive is a fair specimen of the common seise of our contemporary, we prefer the •''agricultural mind."