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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1187, 5 February 1880, Page 2

The Mayor of Wellington is a sensible man. There has been some, rivalry between the Lord Mayor of London and the. Lord .Mayor of Dublin. The one is begging for contributions towards a Rowland Hill memorial—the other craves assistance for the Irish distressed ; both laudable objects, but not equal in their momentousness—at least in the estimation of colonists. A hint that help was required by thousands of starving fellow creatures in Ireland met with the most prompt response from all sides, regardless of religion.' People have l given, are giving, and intend to give, all.tlley can afford to these distressed people. So absorbed had they been by the importance of extending their timely help, that they had [entirely lost sight of the appeal of the Lord .Mayor of all Lord Mayors. Not a "response to this appeal arrived in -London frOtn the .Mayors of the Australasian Colonies. We only know th t the.Mayor. of / Wellington' deeiincs to take any action regarding the matter, as he does not consider the -times sulficiently propitious to justify an appeal in aid of the object. He is-quite right, and the time was just as inopportune for the appeal made .to-tho Mayors of the Colonies by the Lord .Mayor 'bf London. ' If that ciiliiiont functionary, is humane lie is liot.dis-; erect. What a comparatively, trumpery.and .unpbilanthroj'iccauseTis'hiH, whon viewed beside that of the Lord -Mayor of Dublin.

One i 3 to honor the dead, the other is to save the starving from a most horrible and painful death. As the Mayor of Wellington hints, titr.es are too bad to warrant colonists in assisting both, even if they were able. They have, therefore, taken their choice. From the outset no one who was given to taking a common-sense view of such matters could doubt that that choice would be in favor of the starving people of Ireland. We ha i'e much appreciation for such reformer's as Eowland I-lill, and so have the majority of colonists, A feeling that a world's monument .should be ereeted'in the world's .metropolis to the memory of this great man is pretty general. But to attempt to raise in the Colonics a portion of the amount necessary -to-erect such a monument, just atr- : a time.when the minds of colonists-are wholly-occu-pied and their sympathies absorbed in another direction, would be a fruitless task.

The exceedingly discordant residents of that i'e J lingt on—Livingstone—have - again been stirring up the worst feelings of their natures, and there are two or three leading minds there who, until they become overwhelmed by men of intelligence and education will manage somehow to keep the pot boiling over. \\*c do not understand the merits of the grievances which seem to blight the happiness and real usefulness of such a large proportion of the residents of this township, nor do we want to know them. "We arj sure, indeed, that the people of other parts of- the Colony arc not des'roua of knowing them. We do not, therefore, intend to burthen our readers with accounts of the various conflicting elements gleaned by means of an interview with each of the discontents. Some of the Livingstonians would bo more creditable to a bear garden than they are to the community in which they now live. Fortunately for Livingstone such men are not numerous, and our advice to the more peacealjlc and worthy of the district is to think more for themselves, and to not allow themselves to be influenced by one or two individuals whose impertinence and superior ignorance, more than any other qualities, have created in them the hallucination that they were born to be leaders of men. We have received two documents—one signed by Mr. D. Farquharson, who, acting under the authority of a " public meeting," calls attention to this memo.:—"We, the undersigned miners and others interested in mining matters on Maerewhcnua, give you notice that, being dissatisfied with the manner in which you have lately conducted the public business, we therefore forbid you for the future to interfere with our interests in mining matters under the name of the Maerewhenua .Miners' Association, as wo intend to conduct our own business as we may think best.'' The signatures to this document are given in full in our advertising columns, and certainly present a somewhat formidable array. If all the signatories adhere to their intention, we presume that the Maerewhenua Mining Association will soon be as much a matter of history as the moa bones and fossils of their interesting mines. Our advice is to let the dissolution of the Association take place without a struggle. The sores on the social body of the Livingstonians ma}' be healed by an interval of retirement into private life. Bad elements and feelings may become expurgated. Then will be the time for the rc-establisliment of the Association on a firm basis. The Association seems to be a great stumbling block ; it sets every man's hand against his brother's. Better far that it should be dissolved, and what better man is there to dissolve it than the dictator. Life is too short to be worth living in interminable strife, and yet we know of Livingstonians that are growing grey through misery—a smile on whose faces is a phenomenon. The competition of the reapers and binders, under the auspices of the North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association, came off to-day in the Awamoa paddock of Messrs. Fleming and Hedlcy, on the sea beaeli some couple of miles on the Kakanui road. To premise, the field of oats to be operated upon was thick and heavy, and tested the merit? of the various machines. More especially was this felt by the string binder of Gammon and Decring (the marsh harvester), which, unfortunately for it, had the most diflieult part of the field to reap ; but notwithstanding the height of the stalk it had to encounter, it was the first to complete its allotted work, and so far as we can judge better executed it than its only string competitor the Johnstone machine—which had better ground and was slower over its work. The award for the wire machines will, we feci confident, be given to the M'Cormick, which did its work in good style and iii a shorter time than Gammon and Deering's Harvester King. At the same time we must say that the Harvester King threw out the sheaves, in a manner calculated to please farmers, who naturally look to lose as little as possible of the grain in the binding and throwing off of sheaves from the table. A Wood's string binder machine did some good work, but it was not entered for competition. The awards had not been given when our reporter left. A full report will appear to-morrow.

Messrs. Miller and Smillie, the contractors for the Breakwater, during the month of January completed three sections, making in all 45ft. This is the largest amount of work done in any one month yet, and it is due to the favorable weather that tliey were able to accomplish so much.

The annual meeting of subscribers to the Athenteum and Mechanics' Institute will be held this evening at half-past 7 o'clock.

An accident of a serious nature is reported from Otepopo to a man named Woodward, employed as engineer to a threshing mill belonging to Mr. Thomas Henderson. Whilst oiling the machinery his arm was caught by the belt and twisted round the pulley, the arm being broken. Dr. Bowie attended the sufferer.

It is requested that holders of subscription lists in connection with the Irish Famine Relief Fund will forward them immediately to either Mr. W. J. Smith (Treasurer) or Mr. B. W. Hayes (Secretary). The following players have been chosen to represent the Kxeclsior Cricket Club in the match between the second elevens of that Club and the Oamaru Club, to be played on Saturday : —Bannerman, W. • W. Cook, Church, Davis, A. o. ' Hardy, Ilam, J. Hartley, C. Moore, Robinson, Spcnce, and Thompson. Emergencies: Robertson, Hicks', Henderson, M'Gregor, and Williams. The match will commence at two o'clock, instead of half-past two as previously announced. The Tasmanian Mail of the 2-1 th January has the following " Froni Jerusalem Park, Mr. Alexander, Robertson's,- we have received a sample of what are called Kildrumrny oats. The straw stands between six and seven feet high, and we aro informed that this is a fair specimen of eight acres, estimated by good judges to yield 100 bushels to : the acre. The land has not had any artificial manure, and was on crop last year.

The Sydney Morning Herald, in its description of the Exhibition, says:—"ln beers the Colonies are very strongly represented, especially New Zealand. Bacon and cheese are strongly represented, thc 'Coast districts and New Zealand having atfine shbly. As a rule, our own exhibitors* seem ito have v loe.t ground, either through over-smoking.or poor , feeding, compared with the New Zealanders. There is 'ripeness and as appearance goes, "in the;~exhibits from tHe. sister Colonyj'wlfidh thole ofWales lac]c/t;Judglng fromcwhat we can segjv there is leSsfloss in. curing theJN"ew Zedland flitches than our own."

Speaking of the Hokitika school election, the West Coast Times, says : —The present •modes "disgust the test? men/who do notj as if r&fej" carejo, r be,associa.te(Lwith.-_iiicompe tent pei'r, sons in the management of such important institutions as State schools. It is positively lamentable to> see petsons who can-neither speak, write,, or spell. English holding seats 011 school committees*.' It would be impossible for such persons to get into office if, the mode of election were altered in accordance with the rules of common sense ; and, unless some alteration speedily takes place, it is to be feared that the cause of education will materially suffer.