The Evening Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 869, 28 January 1879, Page 2

The Evening Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1879.

With referent:© to the paragraph which appeared in our last evening's issue regarding the atote of the Oamara Baths, Mr. W. J. Smith, Manager of the Baths Company, has called at our office to explain that the nonpumping of water into the baths was owing to no fault oi the tfcrectors. The disturbed state of the feeacft since Friday so completely choke*! tip the pipes that it was ntterly impossible to pump fresh water into the baths. Men have been engaged cleaning the pipes since Saturday, and it is expected that they will be clear tomorrow evening. The baths have again been emptied, and bathing ha.* been suspended until Thursday next. Mr. Smith also inferms us that the hatha; were emptied a fortnight ago. and fresh water pumped in daily until the pipes became; stopped. There is no reason to complain of the baths not being emptied sufficiently often. With reference to the statement that known prostitutes were admitted to the baths, we are assured that on one occasion enty were women of lad character admitted. On that occasion they were unknown to the mistress of the baths, and on the matter being pointed out to her she at once returned their money and refused to allow them to bathe. We are gtad to be able to make this explanation, in order to allay any misapprehension which might exist after reading the remarks which we selected from a letter received from a correspondent yesterday. They appear to have some very clever scoundrels in Christchurch. At the Police Court there, yesterday, a man named Walter Bnllibant, possessing about half-a-dozen (tlvt,-M'.*, was convicted and committed for trial on ten separate charges of forging and uttering cheques. They were all for small amounts,, ranging from 1A to L 7 s*. and mostly on welt known tradesmen. All the Banks had a turn. The frequency and apparent casts with which forgery is now committed points very forcibly to the necessity for tradesmen to discourage as much as possible the system of paying by ehwjttr.i.

Th» Timarra Cas Company intend to reduce the pvke of gas from LI to 17s 6d per !000> feet shortly. . The annual meeting of subscribers to the Oamaru Hospital takes place this evening, at seven o'clock.

We are informed that the men who were engaged, standing up to their waists in the surf yesterday, cleaning the pipes of the baths were forced to beat a hasty retreat owiag tc a shark of tolerably targe dimensions having made his appearance in cto«e proximity to them. Those who are in the habit of bathing in the surf should take warning.

! At the Resident Magistrates" Court, fo!da,y. before T. W. Parker. R.M.. and ■». K. .Hhrlmskt. Esq;.. .1. P.. George Stewart was brought upon remand charged with theembeztftement of sl cheque for L 27 at Port Motyneiut in October last. Sub-Inspector Thompson applied for a further remand to t-ivwvence for the 4th oC February. His Worship roadp out the order accordingly.— - William Gardiner was charged with having been drunk and disorderly in Thames-street, near the White ffart Hotel, on the 27th inst. The offence was. proved, and tine Magistrate, after cautioning the accused, fined him 2tte.. or 4* hours in gaol in default.— . Alexander Connett was charged with the ;Sivm<s offence, at the same place and on the same day. and fined 20». or 43 hours in gaol in default. The prisoners elected to do their time. Kcksoa Peach, for allowing 2 horses to wander, was fined js. A number of civil cases' were then disposed of. and the Court, adjourned.

Oar Ngapara correspondent writing last night, says :—" I heard to-night that Mr. Wra. Kay has met with a serious accident. but 1 have been unable to obtain any particulars.'*

We understand that yesterday Mr. Crouch. who- is in the employ of the Harbour Board. got ft rather severe blow across the arm from % chain. He is, however, in a fair way for recovery.

i A memo. from the Telegraph Pepartment informs u$ that communication on the Port Dttrwro tine has been interrupted beyond Powell's Creek since yesterday. The usual monthly meeting of the members of th» Waiatefca K»»d Board will W hM in the* offices, Tyne-atreet, to-morrow, at tt a.m.

We are requested to call the attention of ! members of the Church of England to an ; advertisement in another votcimn. convening i the annual meeting of parishioners: the i same is* to take place in the Waitaki Hall, ji at S ptin. to-morrow, the 29tb hast. As the i objects, of the meeting are of general imiportanee- to members of the church, there i showM fo* »large attendance-. The appoint* | meat of officers » to take place-, and an I account of therr stewardship for the past i'jrear to be rendered ; and seeing: that all the J duties- of office of member of the vestry ; are discharged to *a honorary way, on beihalf of the whole Wly» the retiring or newly elected officers deserve and would appreciate the rapport of large number* of their co-porafucsers trpon such an occaeioo a» the annual meeting.

We learn from a gentleman who arrived by the express train from the North this afternoon that a frightful accident occurred to-day near Makikihi. A man, whose name oar informant was nnable to ascertain, was working on a threshing machine, when he slipped and fell into the drum. Before the machine could be stopped, both the nnforI lunate man's legs were completely crashed: | He was conveyed to the Timara Hospital.

Considerable excitement is apparently being manifested over the election of a Director of the Colonial Bank, which takes place to-morrow. A correspondent informs ns that the following memo was received this morning from a broking firm by a shareholder : "Dear Sir—We are anxious to secure the return of Mr. Rattray as Director of the Colonial Bank at the next meeting. To this end yon might employ some one to collect proxies in blank, and forward to us. We can allow half-a-crown for every hundred shares obtained. Mr. Rattray is an old banker, and previously acted on the Board as a Director.—Yours faithfully, ."

A paragraph in this morning's issue of our contemporary would lead sulKfcribcrs to the Mechanics* Institute to believe that the annual meeting was to be held this evening. Shcli is not the case.

A meeting of the Municipal Council will be held on Thursday evening, at a cjuartcrpast seven o'clock. Messrs. Maclean and Stewart will hold an important sale of station properties at Timani to-morrow, at 3 p.m. The stations to be offered for sale are Mr. W. Saunders' three stations, known respectively as The Wolds, Mary's Range, and Irishman's Creek, comprising in all "2,000 acres leasehold, 2100 acres freehold, 26,000 pure-bred merino sheep, and improvements.

We note with pleasure that Mr. David Fcrricr has received from the Milton Potteries a few gross of their stone inkbottles, in sixpenny and cottage sizes, for the purpose of bottling bis commercial inks. The bottles are nicely glazed, and of serviceable appearance. The Times of to-day publishes the following telegram from its Wellington correspondent : —There are queer rumours about the (•ovcmmciit Buildings regarding Mr. Luekie's appointment. It was offered him writing by the Hon. Mr. Ballance, the salary being stated at LSOO. He accepted it, and was installed by the Hon. Mr. Ballance, who, before leaving for the south, introduced him to the officers of the department. He got his room, and occupied it for one day only ; since tiicn he has not been acting. The report is that Sir O. Grey disapproved of the appointment altogether, and now absolutely refuses to sanction a salary °f more than LfiOO a year. There is a good deal of talk a!>out the matter.

The .Sydney Echo, referring to the futile attempts of the Victorian police to capture or shoot the Kelly gang of bushrangeis, says :—" Such villains must be fought, as much as j*>*«ible, after their own methods. Von TcmjKsky's Forest Rangers in the Maori war became the terror of the rebels ; but those who have seen them will bear ready testimony to their utter destitution of pipeclay. Untiringly. unflinchingly, never swerving, never faltering, they tracked their foes from fastness to fastness, till they fairly hunted them down. We imagine that a band of such men would speedily give an account of the four desperadoes who constitute the Kelly gang." The uses to which electricity is being applied are truly marvellous, and the electric light is now the all-absorbing topic, as to how it can be brought to suit our domestic and business purposes. Even in the harvest field it now assists the farmer in the more quickly gathering in of his ciojw than has hitherto been the case. We olwcrve that in certain seasons of the year reaping machines have been worked at night in America by means of large lamps attached to the machines, but the French diring the past harvest season made an improvement tijion this. Then, the electric light has been used in the trials of agricultural implements at Petit Bourg. France. The Revue ImU'ttritU* says that the conditions for good work were so well fulfilled that the light made it possible to harvest at a distance of more than 10CO feet from its source. The apparatus was designed by Alharat. The lamp is attached to a high scaffolding on one end of the platform of a portable boiler and engine—the latter serving to run a Gramme electric machine. One by one victories arc being scored against gas as an illuminating agent.

The Anstratian ami New Zc.-tl.md Gazette fa London paper), in its issue of November ! IS, reviews at considerable length, in a very favorable manner, the extraordinary progress being made by New* Zealand. Tlic con- \ starting portion of the article is as follows -. i —"Ami all this mighty bnlk of mercantile I enterprise must be the work of, at the very ; utmost, less than one quarter of a million of ; persons, whose exertions have thus lifted i the colony to a position of commercial power and opnlencc which, doubtless, is | secretly envied l>y more than one of the ; old-established States of Euroj«. Com- : petent authorities, who arc intimately ac- ! qttatntcd with the material capacity oi New Zealand, tell its that the two principal Islands wtH eventually support with ease a population of at least fourteen or fifteen millions: several millions more, indeed, misfit lie maintained, were it not for the vtrcttmstoncc that the peculiar formation of the Southern Island includes along its centre much barren mountain, which, it is not prolablsr. can be brought under cultivation. This means, in a word, that the population may expand so as to become twenty-five time* as great as it is now. Should the evolution of material wealth proceed in the same ratio, wc n-ay, indeed, expect that the future of the Britain of the South will be something beyond what the world has yet seen in the way of human progress.'

Has.-ki.u Sox, and Co. are agents for the eeM»;ited Marsh Harvester and Automatic Crane Binder.—•{ A DVT.] M.vtET Saved and no time lost by using the Marsh Harvester.—[Advt.] To save TRorni.E, annoyance, and a lasting: regret, yon should see and thoroughly examine the Marsh Harvester and Binder before purchasing elsewhere.—[Advt.]

What the Farmers Sat.—The Marsh Harvester and Crane Binder is the simplest and best machine ever brought to the colonies.—-fADVT.I Tabus* for hand binding with every Marsh Harvester or Harvester King sold.—[Advt.] Gkaix IIARVETtxr: made easy by using the Marsh Binder.—[Advt.] : S2