The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 993, 25 June 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 1879.

Mr. A. H. Maude's sale of Mr. Andrew Bell's live and dead stock, at Campbell's Yards, Ngapara, has been postponed from the Ist to the Bth inst.

Yesterday and to-day the town lias looked aa though it were in monrning. Business haa been, at a complete standstill. We are at a toss to know whether there was no business because people went to the coursing meeting, or people went to the coursing meeting because there was no business. An old friend, who has been secured by the Government a3 a travelling agent and lecturer for the Life Assurance Department, has been on a professional tour through the Marlborough Province. We refer to Mr. J. K. Brown. The Government were wise in getting such a man to help to bttild up the Life Assurance Department. In every way he is tit for such a work. He has had experience enough to acquire a conviction that life assurance i 3 a most excellent thing, and intelligence and education enongh to enable htm to convey his ideas in a pithy and forcible manner to others. If the department does not succeed it will not be the fault of the officers, for they are the boat set of men for the work that could be chosen in the Colony. Some of them are fit for something better and more lucrative. A meeting of shareholders in the Commercial Building Society was held last night, at the office of the agent, Mr. John Church. Mr. Boyd, the Secretary, was picacnt, and brought before the meeting the proposals for some alterations, which the Directors recoin- : mendeil to be made in the constitution of the Society. Their design is to change the Society into a Company, with a fixed capital and limited liability, and yet to continue as a part of the business the issue of subscription Building Society shares. The statements made last night, by the Secretary, of the principles of the proposed Company gives general satisfaction, and evidently removed a number of misapprehensions. Present shareholders are to continue on their present footing until they voluntarily electto take shires in the company. We have had a look at the prospectus, and we regard it as the work of men who know something of financial laws. The Society has b=en a successful one, but that fact has, apparently, not kept the eyes of the directors closed against certain imperfections in its organisation. All the gentlemen present at last night s meeting. gave in their adhesion to the directors' recommendations, and we gather that the aggregate of shares now in favor of them are fourteen to every one against them. The new company is to have a paid tip capital of L3Q,000, in 10,000 share# of Lii each, and an uncalled capital of L 30,000, and it is proposed not to call up more than the L 5 per share. The new shares are to be offered to the shareholders in the proportion of share for share, atul they are to be secured the right'of either joining the Company on its incorporation, or at apy time during the currency of thefr present shares. The directors, we understand, do not propose to offer any share 3 to the public immediately and when they do so a premium will be required. In addition to the business which has been done by the Society, the Company wijl take the power to advance money upon the security of colonial or corporation bonds, consols, bank stock, approved share scrips, and a few other investments of an undoubted kind, and they specially exempt as sole securities all personal bond 3, bills of exchange, shares in goldnijning companies, and bills of salo. The new class of Terminating Shares will be of the ultimate value of L 25 each, and are to be realised by seventy-five monthly subscriptions of ss. The profit of LG 5s on each LIS los so paid in subscriptions will be fixed and guaranteed by the Company. The owners of this class of shares will have the right to withdraw from the Company at any time. The Company will continue to take mojiey on deposit as the Society haa done. The following gross libel on "Capt." Barry, the celebrated lecturer, whose eloquence and literary ability were of such a superior kind to induce hlrn tp visit England for the . ■ ;■ i; ■■ F: .tlw u. !•;. "i:- Ano^-a^ua, i which l«t«ly arrived at Melbourne: |" A passenger by the Aconcagua from Melj bourne to Xondon ipwlut of a fpllow-pa satin-

ger (Captain Barry) as follows : ' Captain Barry was a first-class steerage passenger (LIG and all found). He was constantly boasting that he had 1285 acres of land at Palmcrston, and I do not know how many head of cattle on it. He said he was going Home to start a company, as he had found copper on his estate, gome very fine specimens of which he claimed to have with him. I consider him a very low and illiterate man.'"

\Vc this afternoon viewed at the Railway Station a nice little ornament for a watchchain. It is a column of Oamaru stone from the Totara Quarry, .and is intended for the Sydney Exhibition. It is conical in shape, measures 2 ft. at the base, ISin. at the apex, and 14ft. in length. Throughout the whole of this obelisk there is neither a stake nor a flaw, and the stone of which it is composed is the finest that we have seen quarried from the stone measures of this district. Such a block could not have been secured without considerable difficulty; but the Stone Company will most assuredly, through the exhibits it is sending to Sydney, popularise the stone of its quarries to such an extent as to create a large trade with the other Colonies and ferhaps other parts of the world. A full-rigged ship passed Oamaru to-day, bound southward. She was painted black and white, but her name could not be ascertained.

There were no cases set down for hearing at the Resident Magistrate's Court to-day. It was agreed at a meeting of the Timaru Harbor Board that the crane should be used until the completion of the 300 feet mole, without any further test being made. A meeting of the Waiareka Road Board was held to-day, when there were present— Messrs. John Reid (Chairman), Isdale, Jackson, Elder, Little, T. Reid, Todd, and Oliver (Engineer). The minutes of the last ordinary and special meetings were read and confirmed, and the outward correspondence read and approved. The Chairman reported having, with Messrs, Gilchrist and Todd, waited on the Manager of the Colonial Bank, and stated that arrangements were made for continuing the Board's account. The Rev. A. GifTord wrote asking the Board to open road line from Chelmer-street to Cave Valley. The Clerk was instructed to inform Mr. Giffor'l that there were no funds available at present for the carrying on of new works. Mr. E. B. Atkinson wrote intimating that the contractor for the 'White Rocks road had damaged his fence, and asked the Board to replace the fence, or cause the contractor to do so. The Clerk was instructed to write to the contractor requesting him to have the fence replaced. Mr. William Gardiner, who had vacated his seat through non-attendance, was re-elected. The Clerk was instructed to write to Mr. W. N. Blair, engineer in charge of the Middle Island railways, drawing his attention to the crossing of the W aia-reka-Livingstone line over the Peak road, which made the road line impassable. Accounts amounting to L 92 Is 4d were'passed for payment, and a vote of thanks having been accorded to the Chairman, the Board adjourned. A case in which L2OOO damages is claimed from a bank is spoken of as likely to come on in Wellington. It is rumored that,.if tried, it is likely to prove interesting to the mercantile community, as it will throw a good deal of light on the question as to how far the banks arc responsible for the existing commercial depression.

Proceedings in the case against the M'Menamins, in connection with the death of the horse Young Lofty, are, it is pretty well-known, suspended, owing to the absence of a material witness. This person, Joseph Lyons, disappeared from his accustomed haunts immediately after the first inquiry, and, despite the vigilance of the police, lias succeeded in eluding them and the warrant for his apprehension. Isi these circumstances the Government has resolved to offer a reward of fifty pounds, which will probably have the effect of bringing to light the gentleman's whereabouts. Ail hotelkeeper in Wellington lias reduced the price of beer from sixpence to fotirpence.

Yesterday morning (says the Timaru Herald) a merchant in Timaru engaged two men to go on Wild a vessel in the roadstead and assist in discharging her. The wages agreed upon were eight shillings per day and food. As the boat which was to take them off was on the point of starting, the men again asked their employer what their pay was to be. " Eight shillings ami your meals," as I promised, he replied. "Oh, it, i\ere not going to work for that," was the response, and away they went. All the rest of the day the merchant tried to get men to work on the above terms, but, hard up as all whom he encountered professed to be, " eight bob a day and grub was not good enough " for any of them. And yet these are the very class of fellows who are crying out all over the colony that they are starving.

Le Moniteur Vinicole, a journal published at Paris in the interests of the wine-growing and wine-making industry, remarks, in an article published on Feb 8: —"We thoroughly believe that at no distant date Australia will be able to compete with the wines of Europe. Australian wines are as pleasant to drink as ours. They are clear, clean on the palate, liiic-flavorcd; and they have, bcsidc3, a delicacy and richness far in advance of the wines of America, not excluding the choicest vintages of California. Can it be that some day Australia will vie with France in her exportation of this staple T Attempts have been made to communicate to us the name of the prince who has been chosen as successor to the Ivliedive as ruler over Egypt. We picked tip four of to-day s exchanges, and in each of these we found his name given differently. It is given as Tewfik, Tewpiser, Tewpowk, and Tewfix. In order that the public may not be misled, and to enable them Tewfix upon the correct name, we inform them that it is probably not Tewfix, Tewpiser, Tewpowk, or Tewfik. In saying so we have no desire to Tewpowk fun at anybody. The Timaru Herald administers a wellmerited rebuke, as follows :—" People who live in gla-s houses should not throw stones " is an old and valuable adage, and it would be well if our Christchurch friends would bear this in mind in future, With the view of glossing over the disastrous effects 01 the | late gale inLyttelton, and soreatheartbecause no wreclc occurred at Timaru, they are making the most of the fact of several vessels which pnt to sea here having gone on there. Fancy running to Lyttelton, above all places in the world, for shelter! Fancy saying they ran there to await the moderating of the weather at Timam, when fully twenty-four Ijours before any of the sailing vessels reached thees it ua.- at as .1 mill-pond here, and boat;v' <>;isi\it:oi!s resumed ! Fancy vessels unr.tjt i,) safety in an open roadstead .like that whjph ptrfide Timaru possesses, I one of the most dreadful hurricanes ever exI perienced in this part of the world, while in

the grand semi-natural, semi-artificial harbor of Lyttelton a whole fleet of fine vessels were within an ace of going to destruction on the rocks. Both the Press and Lyttelton Times spun out the tale of Timaru's misery to the utmost. They not only devote separate paragraphs to the arrival of the Renfrewshire, Annie Bow, Ethel, and Jas. A. Stewart, but for fear each special one of these should not be seen, they adopt the following smart plan to catch the eye of their readers:—"The brigantine James A. Stewart, the brigantine Ethel, and the barquentine Annie Bow, all having suddenly left Timaru in the gale on Friday and Saturday, arrived in harbor yesterday. Messrs. Royse, Stead, and Co. are agents for the Ethel. In company with the barquentine and brigantine from Timaru, whose arrivals are noticed above, as having come to Lyttelton to await the moderating of the weatherat Timaru. Theßcufrewshirealso arrived. " Thus it-will be seen that the glorious tidings of the arrival of each vessel is repeated over and over again. Of course we need not tell our readers that the Renfrewshire, so far. from arriving at Lyttelton from Timaru, never came in sight of the port at all. The expression "stood in," however, is a peg quite sufficient for our imaginative contemporaries to hang a talc on. Wo would advise the masters of Timaru vessels when, in future, they find the frying-pan getting too hot for them, not to jump straight into the fire by-seeking an asylum at Lyttelton. Really it is high time the Press and Times gave up their " dog in the manger" policy. Because they cannot obtain- a good name for Lyttelton, it is no reason why they should try to prevent Timaru obtaining one.