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Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 712, 22 July 1878, Page 2

We are glad that His "Worship the Mayor has acceded to the request of the ratepayers ami proclaimed a holiday on the 25th July, on which date the Oaniaru steeplechase meetingwil' take place, forty, nin?. signatures are attached to the requisition j a number which is a pretty good guarantee that the day will be observed as a yenum! holiday.

It may be well to remind those interested that entries for the North Otago (\mrsing Club's Sapling Stakes Meeting, to !>e run »n Wednesday next, must bo muiii l by 7 o'clock to-morrow evening, at the Jioyal Ifotel. The dogs entered must he the honiljhl- property of members of the Club, and it is hucassary to state the date of birth, color, and petifgree of every saplincj entered. We hope to see * large number g« entries.

The railway authorities, we are pleased to observe, have acted promptly hi the matter of providing for the conveyance of i-jsitors to the Kamant Steeplechase Club's annual meeting, to tako pjace on Thursday next. It is announced that sj«ii»J.-. tickets will be issued on all stations fritm Tim;*'" iiouthwards for Oamaru, avaihJik for t);>: r<.:',nn journcv up to Mondaj, -JOth hist. Tins wdi ji'iYv intending visitors an opp >rt"nity o'spending a few days in O.imaru. It is al.-o announced that a "special train will ran to the raceutiUx-at at half past 11, when the fare for the return iriu will be fine shilling. Ordinary trains will *t*:< stop opposite the course.

We are informed that today will arrive fri.m rhristchnrch an engine which has ju-t been iitteil up to burn colonial con!. In this department there an- now two engines which have undergone f.bis alteration. Ihe eoai at present used i« rVow the Miilverti Hills: but we understar.il tint it is the ;u tontion of the Government to substitute the Shag Point Coal, which is said to be superior! When we stat-: that in this department alone LlOf) per week is saved through the substitution of colonial for foreign coal. it will he seen that a large amount o: iimnc; is about to be retained in the < 'olony that has hitherto gone into the pockets of t'o:eign coal mine owners.

I'arli unent will assemble on Friday next. The consequence is that memoirs arc swarming into the Empire City.

Messrs. J. T. Ford and Co., auctioneers, Sc, Christehurch, have sfc»rti-d a branch cf their business in Tiinaru, under the iiianagement of Mr, Henry Ford. A scratch football match was flayed on Saturday between silk.- <.:hosen by Messrs Caverhill and Cook. After about an hour's play the game was won by Cook's «ide, they having scored one goal to their opponents nil. A Committee meeting was held at the Royal Hotel on Saturday morning. Present : Messrs. CKterson in the chair), Fcrens, Thompson. Caverhill, and the Secretary. It was decided to send a tea.n to i Timarn about 17th August, and the following persons were picked to practice for the I match : Messrs. Bannerman, Baxter, \ Caverhill, Castelli, Church, Crawford, ! Cooke, Chancellor, Davi-=, Kvans, Finch, JFerens, Grenfell, Hardy, Honour, Holds- ' worth, Hickey, T. Kerr, Kerr, Lambert, Otterson, J. JReid, Snodgrass, Thompson, and Walls. Members are requested to meet for practice every evening, as it is only by hard and careful training and continued practice that we can hope to hold our own against tie Timarn team.

We have received a letter signed "Sufferer," in which he complains that] delay occurs in the payment of wages to those employed on the Waterworks. We have made every enquiry, with the object of ascertaining the truth of his charge. It is explained to us that some employes have not a very clear idea of the proper method of conducting the affairs connected with a large contract. Payments are made in the third week in every month—ranging from the 15th to the 21st. It occupies all that time to get through the operation of paying 150 men, who are engaged on various sections of the work. When "Sufferer" is reminded that' a systematic method has to be adopted, and that every man's work has to be measured, certificates made out in duplicate, and other routine has to be gone through, he will see that it is only reasonable to expect that such an operation would occupy some little time. We are quite sure that, as it is not to the interest of the contractors to postpone tit - day for paying their employes, those who have the management of the works are doing their best to prevent delay and disappointment.

A meeting of che Oamaru Christy's will be held this evening, at S o'clock, at Mr. Karle's dining rooms, for the purpose of taking steps to prepare a programme for a concert to be given shortly in aid of the wardrobe funds of the company.

Colonial story-writers will be glad to learn that the proprietors of the Sydney Mail offer a pris-e of LIOO for the best story '.vritten by an Australian writer. We suppose that a well-written tale, although hailing from New Zealand, would not be refused.

The search for Gorsegogne, the man who was lost in the bush on Aitken's run has been abandoned, It is thought that he cannot have survived the severs weather that has lat»ly visited that locality. He has a wife and child at Waimate.

The Times in a review of Trollope's " South Africa," refers to New Zealand as now being Englaud's "pet colony." Tlje settlors of the Lakes district are petitioning the Otago Land Hoard to open a block of laud consisting of 10,(100 aaecs on run 34f> under the agriunitural leasing sysf&m, that portion stretching from Simpson's "Creek to Oxburn it i* suggested should be cut up into 320 acre farms. At the present rate of bursting up the large estates, thtsetuer;i£ni of the country will shortly be entirely changed.