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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 996, 28 June 1879, Page 2

Owing to the heavy ami steady downpour of rain to-day, the stewards determined to postpone the continuation of the North Otago Coursing Club's meeting until Monday. It is hoped to be able to finish the contest for the New Zealand Waterloo Cup on that day, as only twenty-six courses remain to be run off. Of the dogs remaining in the Cup, four belong to Oamaru, one to Temuka, ami one to Tokomairiro. They arc all good animals, and the few runs left to decide the greatest event of the kind ever lieid in New Zealand promise to prove exceedingly exciting, but we think Oamaru stands a very good chance of winning the Cup. On Monday morning the meeting will take place at 9 o'clock sharp iu the large paddock opposite the Totara gate. The programme will lie as follows :—Butterfly to run a bye to complete the first tics of the Purse, first round of the I'latc, third tics of the Cup, second ties of the Parse, and afterwards a round for each of the prizes in succession.

No. 1 Company, Oamaru Ei lies, will parade on Monday evening, at a quarter to eight o'clock. Members are particularly desired to attend, as the measurements will be taken for the new uniforms.

The Hampden Yoluntcors were inspected on Thursday, when there was a good muster. The arms, fee., were in splendid order. A smart drill was engaged in for an hour and ahalf, under the direction cf the Instructor. After parade, Captain Murcott asked the men if in ease of being wanted they would volunteer for service. Cheers were given

by the men, and every officer and man present (thirty-one) at once said they were ready if wanted. The Company are having extra drills. The Company's ball, which comes off on the 4th July, promises to be a grand affair. A number of invitations have been sent oat.

At the Resident Magistrate's Court today, before S. E. Slirimski and W. H. S. Roberts, Esqs., J.P.'s, John Ward was charged with being diunk and disorderly in Tync-street last evening, and was fined os. The charge against John Ximmins, alias Saunderson, for stealing L 8 from one John Ward in the Northern Hotel on the 2Gth inst., was further adjourned till Monday to enable the accused to obtain counsel.

Mr. C. G. Moore will lecture on some evening next week, on " The Tabernacle,'' and the enjoyment of the occasion will be enhanced by the exhibition of some of the most artistic lantern slides we have ever seen. These, which have been procured by Mr. Moore for the purpose for which he is about to use them, will be displayed to wonderful advantage by means of the oxyhydrogen light, and will, when placed on the screen, be about 12 feet in diameter.

Dr. T. B. the noted temperance lecturer, for whose reception in New Zealand many of the temperance bodies have been making preparation, was taken so seriously ill when almost on the point of departure from England that the idea of the proposed trip had to be abandoned. That floods are sometimes] productive of good is (says the Ensign) quite evident from the manner in which rabbits are by this means destroyed. A good number were drowned by the flooding of the Otamete on Tuesday. Of a considerable number that took refuge on some land on the river banks not totally submerged, about 150 were destroyed in a little more than two hours by a couple of men working on the Waimea Plains Railway line.

The Timaru Herald of to-day lias the following :—A day's coursing, under the management of the South Canterbury Coursing Club, took place at Messrs. Walker and C'logstoun's Four Peaks Estate on Thursday last, and, considering that some of the best dogs belonging to members of the Club wjre absent at Oamaru, was a great success. The attendance at the meeting was good, and great interest was taken in ever y course, the dogs running very well and making a large number of kills. Mr. Slack officiated as judge, and Mr. Kennedy as slipper, and both gave general satisfaction, an A Mr. Potts, as flag steward, was quite at home. The following were the results of the meeting:—All-Aged Stake— Temuka beat York, Dione beat Chance, Kakanui beat Towley, Bess ran a bye. First ties—TemukabeatDione, Bess beat Kakanui. Final course —Bess beat Temuka, and won. A Sapling Stake was then run, five dogs only being entered, Mr. Dawson's Smoker winning the stake. The Times' Geneva correspondent writes : " M. A. Borel, of Chaux-de-Fonds, has just had the good fortune to find in the Lake of Neuchatel, between Bazuge and Chatelard, a pre-liistoric canoe, probably the finest specimen of the sort that has come to light in Switzerland. Hollowed out of a single piece of oak. the vessel is eight metres long, !)!) centimetres wide, and Go centimetres high. It is well finished, and in a perfect state of preservation. The stern carries a spur, and the prow is curved in the form of a hook, probably for the purpose of attaching it by a rope to a landing place. The canoe is sufficiently large to carry twelve persons. There is no appearance of rowlocks, but the supports on which the thwarts formerly rested are still plainly to be seen. M. Borel proposes to present this interesting ' find' to the Museum of Chaux-de-Fonds."

A large gum tree was pointed out to us (says the Mansfield Guardian), on a track to the Wombat Ranges, bearing the following strange proclamation, carved, evidently, witli a penknife :—"N.K.R. Proclamation.—Lsoo reward will be paid to any one who brings Captain Standish alive to the Stratlibogie Ra''"':s. (Signed) Xi:l> Kelly 1., King of Stratlibogie." The Poverty Bay Herald very pertinently asks :—"Docs the Government place a NewZealand Gazette in the hands of masters and mates of vessels sailing or steaming in New Zealand waters ? If not, how aro those in command of vessels to know of hidden dangers ■which have been accidentally discovered ? In the last New Zeal.v.id Gazette there are shoals laid down, hidden rocks brought to light; sand banks which have shifted ; and all that is done by the Marine Board is to conceal these discoveries within the pages of a Gazette, which is not seen by one in a thousand."

At the last sittings of the Nelson Licensing Court the proprietor of one of the hotels appeared before the Bench tipsy, and had his application for a renewal postponed for a fortnight. A couple of years ago the same gentleman was a bright luminary in the order of Good Templars, and when an .iniateur dramatic company got up by the brotherhood, played " Ten Nights in a Barroom," lie rendered very material .assistance in taking the part of the indispensable "Simon Slade."

A correspondent in Natal telegraphs from Kambula, via Ladysmith : —I learn that a Volunteor taken prisoner on January 28, and sent to Cetewayo, is now there ; he was eight days at Ulundi. The King, hearing of Umbelini's death, sent the prisoner back to his tribe to be killed. He escaped on the road. Returning from Kambula the "impi" of 20,000 men passed within 1000 yards of him. He lived on mealies nineteen days. Yesterday he fell in with our patrols. The King says he will kill Oliam, Sir Siiepstone, and all white people. There were only 150 men at the Kraal. He saw the two guns taken at Isandlana; both spiked. The King asked the prisoner if he could withdraw the spikes ; but, speaking j only Kaffir, there was no interpreter. He ; saw a Zulu reading an English newspaper. I Umbelini's death is not confirmed.