The Oamaru Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1179, 27 January 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1880.

It is extremely doubtful if North Otago will obtain a representative on the Educa-; tion Board. At last evening's meeting for the election of a School. Committee, Mr. Neil Fleming stated that he had been solicited by members of the present Board, to allow himself to be nominated, but he conld not see his way to comply with the request. He did not think the present Board could be improved upon. They had treated Oarnani very fairly, and he had some doubt whether it would be better treated if it had a representative on the Board. He thought lie could do more good for the cause of education by simply being member of the Committee, for were he to lieeome a member of the Board he doubted whether he could properly attend to the duties appertaining to both offices, for there wonld undoubtedly be a clashing of interests. He therefore declined to become a candidate. Tfie rain of yesterday and last night did not do so inncli harm as was feared, though in a few places the c.*ops were slightly laid. Harvesting will be pretty general next week, and we may expect to see the large nninber of unemployed at present in Oamaru fully engaged. The words " Ll-"0,COO,COO," and "transformed," should have appeared in our subarticle last night instead of L150.C00" and "transferred," and the word "manufactures" should have been inserted instead of "manufactories'' in the sentence "In their anxiety to protect their manufactories," kc. A man named Charles Paget met with an accident at Hampden yesterday. He was conveyed to Oamaru this morning by train, and taken to the Hospital, where lie was attended by Dr. Wait. We have been unable to ascertain how he met with the accident and the natnrc of his injuries. A meeting of officers of No. 3 Battalion of Votnntccrs was held to-day, r.t Mr. Snmptcr's office, for the purpose of apportioning the anm given by the Government as district prizes. After consideration, the prizes were framed and the dates of firing fixed, as given in an advertisement published elsewhere. The usual monthly meeting of the Waiarefca Road Board will be held in the office, Tyne-stTeet, to-morrow, at 11 a.m. The present Press Association is admittedly a great improvement on either of its predecessors. But there is still room for improvement. To-day we were iuformcd that "an infant named Charles Walter Hugh Brown died on the 26th through teething." We, of course, recognise the loss that the bereaved parents have suffered, and would sympathise if we did but know upon whom to bestow our sympathy. By sending such information as this the Association saddles U3 with unnecessary expense, and our readers—if we insert it—with matter of not the slightest interest to them. The term of office of the present Board of Governors of the Waitaki High School having expired, his Excellency the Governor has re-appointed the Hon. H. J. Miller, M.L.C., and Mr. S. E. Shrimski, M.H.R., as members. The Education Board has yet to appoint a member, and their choice will probably again fall upon Mr. Sumpter. These gentlemen, with the Mayor (Mr. S. Gibbs) and the Chairman of the County Council (Mr. D. Sutherland) will then form tite new Board. A general meeting of the Oamaru Young ; Men's Christian Association was held at the ; rooms last evening, tiic President (Mr. J. i M trams) occupying the chair. It wa3 de-es-leu that theorem of Mr. Jeffreys and 31 r. ; Dewsbury be gratefully accepted the I former to teach astronomy, and the latter languages and if the young men of the Association who desire instruction in these branches will forward their names to the President, classes will be formed at once. A class will also be formed for the teaching of Old Testament history. Arrangements will be made for a course of lectures during the winter; and an invitation will at once be sent to Pastor Ciiiniquy to visit Oamaru. The trial of Gammon and Deering s reaper 'and binder, which took place on Mr. Nicholson's farm, Papakaio, yesterday afternoon, was attended with some an o :nt of misfortune. In the first place, the person who was to have attended the machine was not present, and the services of a novice had to be ; enlisted : then when properly started one of the rivets, which had been insecurely fas- ! tened, gave way, and a good deal of delay was | occasioned ; and finally the weather became so bad that the trial had to be abandoned. The machine had. however, been kept going sufficiently long to prove its efficiency, and,, indeed, the occurrences mentioned, though nnfcrt-.mate in preventing a display of the capabilities of the machine when tested under favorable auspices, afforded an opportunity for those present to see how well it could do its work under the most trying circumstances, and few of those present could have come to any other conclusion than that the machine will bear favorable comparison with those of other makers. As the machine will be again tried at the coutest for all-comers under the auspices of the North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association on the Gtli February, we shall defer any further remarks upon its working. At the Resident Magistrate's Court tojday, before A. 11. Maude and H. Council, being drunk and disorderly in Thames-street, was fined sa. Patrick M'Cnsker, for being drunk, wa? fined 4Cs, or one week's imprisonment with hard labor. Joseph Nicol, Joseph Dotittle, and Mathew M'Cnmnskcy, for a similar offence, were discharged. Francis Chase, for allowing two horses to wander at large, was fined Cs