The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1878.

Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 765, 24 September 1878, Page 2

The Evening Mail. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1878.

All speculation as to the fate of Duncan Young, late -watchman at the Oamaru Breakwater, has been set at vest. His body was discovered, floating on the water alongside the Breakwater at 0.-'lO this morning. - about 100 yds. ahead of the barque Cabarfeidli, and'near the place where the brig Wave was moored at the tune of lus disappearance, and where he is supposed to have gone for the boat to tali" the Captains of the (.'rest of the Wave and Vixen on board their vessels. The body, which is in a decom- ', posed state, was discovered by some boatmen who were taking a boatload of win at !to the Aikshaw. The deceased's clothes j were intact, and his overcoat was buttoned I up. The body having been brought ashore | in a. dingy, and the matter at once reported , to the police, it was conveyed is. an express j to the Nortlu-r/i Hotel, for the purpose of i holding an inquest, which was started this j afternoon. The evidence of Mackenzie, the present, night watchman, having been taken, i the inquest was adjourned till S;;.tvrda.y next, at 10 a.m. Messrs. Shrimski, Mathew Holmes, and Mr. Irtoody represented to the Minister for Public Work.': the necessitv for granting a sum of money fcr the Kakanui Harbor works. They "were told by Mr. Macandrew that there were no hopes of success. It will be remembered that we some time ago referred to the mi-management of the Hampden Common, and suggested that some alteration should be made, by which it could be rendered useful to the inhabitants in the to-.vn. We arc glad to see it notified in the Government Gazette that the Hampden Road Board have been entrusted with its control and management. The land alluded to is described ac Section 7, Block XIIL v , , v. • Members of the St. Luke s choir are informed that the weekly practice will take place this evening, instead of on Thursday. Tenders for the erection of the Waimate Couuty Hospital must be in before noon to-morrow. We have had the pleasure of perusing the programme of the next Oamaru race meeting," as drawn up by the Sub-Committee for submission to the special meeting of the Club on Wednesday evening, in the event of the date of the race meeting being i changed. The name of the principal eyent has Seen altered from the North Otago Turf Club Handicap to the Oamaru Grand Handicap, and is a sweepstake of 7 sovs , with 300 added. On the same day a handicap of 150 guineas will be run. In round numbers the Club are offering 1000 sovs., or 250 sovs in excess of the amount represented in last year's programme. This should be a suiiieieut inducement to owners of «ood horses to enter for the forthcoming meeting. We hope that the suggestion to alter the date of meeting from March to December will be carried out, as we feel sure that the change would produce fee best results.

The Suez mail will close at Oamaru to- j morrow, at 6 a.m. j ( The Building Committe of St. Luke's j Church will meet in the Vestry at 4 p.m. < on Thursday next. The usual meeting of the St. Paul's Young Men's Association was held last night, Mr. S. E. Smith, Vice-President, in the chair. The Conversazione Committee reported that after paying all expenses in connection with the late conversazione there would be a small balance left. A vote of thanks was accorded to the Committee. The consideration of altering the name of the Association i was postponed. The Young Men's Magazine will be read at next meeting. The Waimate County Council invites applications from gentlemen capable of valuing the properties of the County. Applications must be sent by noou to-morrow. A Coroner's inquiry, touching the death of the unfortunate man William Nesbitt, who met with his death early on Sunday morning by falling over an embankment in Itch en street, vvaa held yesterday afternoon at the Hospital, before T. \V. Parker, Esq., H.M., and District Coroner, and a jury of fourteen, of whom Mr R. L. Rule was foreman. The witnesses examined were Dr Garland, Sergeant Beatty, Daniel O'Connor (from whose house Nesbitt w.-is proceeding when he met hi 3 death), Mrs Nesbitt (deceased's wife), and M'Lean (who was in company with Nesbitt at the time of the accident). The evidence disclosed the facts that both men were sober, and that the accident was the result of pure thoughtlessness. The medical evidence shewed that I death resulted from fracture of the skull, •' ;md a verdict in accordance therewith was returned by the jury. It was found that the man M'Lt-an' was much more seriously injured than was it first believed, and it was necessary for the jury to proceed to the ward in which he was lying in order to take his evidenee, . A considerable number of people assembled on the old Cricket Ground yesterdayafternoon to witness a pedestrian contest between Mr. Hombersham and Mr. T. Kerr. A hundred yards having been carefully measured, the pedestrians toed the line and made o, capital start, running breast to breast until within a few yards from home, when Homber&hara passed his rival and came in a winner by nearly two feet. Unfortunately a dispute arose among the spectators, some of whom declared that the race was a tie, ana insisted that it should again ■ be run over. ' Mr. A. C. Patorson, whose opinions in ihese platters are entitled to j ! some respect, pronounced Hombersham the [ i winner. Mr. o'Meagher, however, on being ! j consulted, gave it as his'opinion that vie trial must on thegrou: 1 ■::. s. judge had been elected. Ultimately '.'■. ■. pedestrians determined to have junn.iier .! trial, end selected Mr. AT. O. Grant as their j i judge. Ti.:=s time Kerr managed at the i start to get awa\ three yards ahead of his i opponent, and won by tb-0 yards. The re- ' salt v.'as deemed unsatisfactory, and the ; parties agrce/i tc consider it a drawn con- ! test. The time occupied in running the tirst j race was 11 : \ seconds. I A man unnied Thomas White, one of the joiners at the Guthrie and Larnach Woodware Factory, while proceeding up a ladder yesterday, was struck on the back of the I head by a piece of wood, which was thrown I off by a revolving saw, and killed almost instantaneously. Hf. was 23 years of age, a native of Dumfriesshire, and the only support of a. widowed mother. j The monthly meeting of the Waiaraka ■ Hoad Board takes place to-morrow, at the Board Room. Tyne street, at 11 a.m. The delegates appointed to consider the i proposal to establish a National Rifle A«soi eiation he'd their adjourned meeting last I at the Royal Hotel. Present—Major ! Steward (chair). Capt. Morton, and Sergti Major CriTigh (Artillery), Sub-Lt. Morris i ..I'll Vol i-. Baidirii", No. 1 Company; Dr ; He Lauti.iir and Mr" oners :« (V.0.R.A.) : and Mr Atkinson, Hon. See. The following i resolutions were, passed .—" That it beau i instruction to the delegare from this district j to urge the fixing oi' HOiViG central plane in i each Island for the Association's annual ' prize firing, the competitions to take place ' alternate years in the North and Middle Tslaads." " That the delesr'te be instructed further to c~ge that in addition to placing an annual sum on. the Estimates in aid of the prize fund, the Government should give free passes for competitors over the Government lines of railways, and also that the i ! Conference endeavour to arrange with the j steamship companies to give at | reduced rates iron, port to port," "That ' j the Government be asked to hand over tp the Association the targets, tents, and other plant formerly used for the Colouial Rifle meetings." The meeting concluded with a vote of th-'uks to the Chairman," j Tho :. 'journed meeting of the Oamaru J branch ..f the Railway Employe's Benefit | Snei'-iv was held on Saturday evening last. I Aft> ■■ te despatch of ordmary business, ! Mr. eir was re-elected President, Mr. ! i'.rei .: r Treasurer, Mr. Powell Secretary, 1 and the following gentlemen CommitteeI men ; _y. Ee.des " A. (.Trace, G. Hall, W. ! M 'Leod. anti C. Worsley, with power to add 'to their number. The following is the re- : port:—" Li subnatting the second annual | report and balance-sheet, the Committee [ have to congratulate the members on the j success which the branch has achieved I during the past year. As you are all aware, ' when the Committee entered in upon their j duties at the, beginning of the year the j ! Society was saddled with debts owing for j medical attendance tmouatiiig to Ll'?l s and I as at this time there were only some ijO I members on the books the Society was not |in a. very prosperous condition. However, I the efforts forth by the Committee to thoroughly reorganise the branch have been crowned with success, and we haye vow 133 members good on the books, and a credit balance of'Llo4 3s 4d. This amount would i have been much larger had we not been required to pay off the old debts owing by the branch. During the year the Society has expended the san* of L 253 15s 3d, the amounts being embraced under the following heads: —Sick alloy/anee, L 1& 10s; medical attendance, LI';I. 13s Gd ; medicines, L2S 9s ; Deuedin Society, Lll 7s Gd ; miscellaneous, Ll4 15s 3d. The amount for medical attendance and medicines, of course, includes the old debts which were paid off. You will perceive that the calls for sick allowance have been very slight when you taj-:fi into consideration the strength of the Society, end if they do not increase in proportion during the ensuing year, when there are no old debts to pay off, we may expect to have a handsome sum to our credit in the biii.k at the next annual meeting.''