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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1228, 24 March 1880, Page 2

Wc are informed that 4s has been offered for a large parcel of prime wheat by one of our local merchants, with the alternative of shipping Home and sharing the risk with the grower. Yesterday one of our principal growers signified to us his intention to consign the whole of hi 3 wheat crop to the Home market, and he is about to proceed to Dunedin to make arrangements to effect that purpose. We, a few days ago, published an official statement showing that 2,181,512 bushels of grain would be produced in this County this season. This total is made up of 765,16S of wheat, 1,233,35S of oats, and 152,9560f barley. To transport the whole of this by rail to a market would require four trains per day of 10 trucks each for a period of 226 days. But as it is likely that the bulk of the oat crop will be stacked in anticipation of an improved market, the amount of grain to be transported to market will only be about half that of the total yield. Even this will give the railway department as much work a3 it will be able to get through with present appliances. While writing on this subject, it has jnst occurred to us that it would be quite impossible to transport this vear's yield by rail to Dunedin, and that year by year this difficulty will increase with increasing yields. "W edo not only mean that the line is too crazy to admit of the traffic. Such an amount of business would be too much for any line. This fact affords one of the strongest aguments in favor of making the Port of Oamaru available for Home vessels, and that speedily. This evening the Rev. H. Dewsbury will deliver hi 3 lecture on the " Characteristics of manliness." The lecture will be given in Wesley Church, and will be accompanied by anthems and sacred song 3, to be rendered by the choir. Those who have accounts against the Oamaru Jockey Club should take notice of an advertisement in another column, stating that all accounts must be sent in to the Empire Hotel not later than eight o'clock to-morrow evening. The Cadets, having been debarred from taking part in the Easter review at Christchurch, have determined to hold a review at Waimate. There will be present CO from Christchurch, 50 from Dunedin, 40 from Oamaru, and 40 from Timaru, and the whole force will be under the command of Major Steward. The corps will go to Waimate on Friday, and will be encamped there until Monday evening, when they return to their several homes. The Oamaru Citizen Cadets will leave on Friday, by special train, at half-past 10 o'clock. At the Resident Magistrate's Court today, before S. E. Shrimski, Esq., J.P., James Kelly was brought up for the 44th time, charged with having been drunk and disorderly in the public streets, and was ordered to pay a fine of 405., or go to gaol for 14 days.

The annual meeting of the Oamara Stone Company will be held at the Company's offices, Tyne-street, this eveningat 8 o'clock. The chief business before the meeting will be to receive the directors' report and balance sheet and to elect two directors, but the most pleasing matter to be brought before the shareholders will be the declaration of the first dividend, amounting to 10 per cent. There was a capital turn out of Volunteers last evening, when the Artillery, I\o. 1 Company, and the Citizen Cadets had a long drill in battalion movements, on the Old Cricket Ground. The Philharmonic Society will meet for rehearsal at eight o'clock this evening in the Volunteer Hall. Friday being a holiday, mails for the Australian Colonies per Tararua will close at the Bluff at 8 p.m. to-morrow. The re-ereeiion of the Queen's Hotel and the two shop 3 recently destroyed by fire will be commenced in a fortnight. The premises will be re-built npon an extensive' scale, and Mr. Markham purposes calling for competitive plans. The buildings will probably include a public hall or theatre with en, trances from Wear-street, but Mr. Markham has not yet come to a final decision upon the matter. Writing of Mr. Inspector Petrie's examination of the Naseby School a few days ago, the Mount Ida Cronicle says " We believe his report is » very unfavorable one, and we also understand tjjat those in a position to judge are by no means satisfied that tie

report is either fair or impartial. , Mr. Petri e has had his amour propte pounded on'; several occasions in connection with Naseby school matters, and he is incapable of forgetting this. It is quite impossible;; apparently, for him to believe:that any good can come out of Nazareth." - The censorship of the Press (says the Auckland Star) is not confined to the colonies. Our London correspondent describes what is going on at home as follows:—"At the Savage Club the other day I heard a leading journalist say he knew for a fact that it was in contemplation to introduce into England the system of press censorship, now in vogue at St. Petersburg. Those present scouted the idea as ludicrous, but this week a society journal boldly states that Lord Salisbury has applied to Count SchouvalofF for a detailed description of the scheme. The same authority- adds, that the editor of the ' Times' has agreed to uphold the idea on the understanding that his journal i 3 to be regarded for the futnre as the permanent organ of the British administration. No doubt there is some exaggeration in this, but it must be patent even to colonists that the liberties of the Press have been considerably curtailed of late. Libel actions, more especially against independent journals, are far more frequent than they used to be, and the sentences passed on proprietors convicted are unnecessarily severe. Mr. Mortimer, of the London ' Figaro,' who is one of the most fearless exponent of abuses, was recently sent to prison (as a first-class misdemeanant) for a month, and fined LIOO as well, for saying that a public singer—whom everyone knows to be as mad as a hatter though not sufficiently to be placed under control—had misbehaved herself. The defence broke down through a technicality, and this extreme penalty was inflicted." A San Francisco paper is responsible for the following little tale which has probably as much truth in it as such scandalous stories usually have. It adds one more to the list of far fetched reasons that have been advanced to account for the attempt on the Czar's life by people who profess not to be satisfied with the simple explanation of Nihilist antagonism :—lt seems strange that no mention is made in the English papers of a matter which is reported to be playing a very important part in Russia just now as between the Czar, his wife and his son, and which may soon produce the most important results. We do not vouch for the accuracy of the tale, which indeed seems too wildly improbable to be true ; but we know that it is generally repeated and believed in Russia, and it has reached us from three independent sources substantially in the same terms. The tale told them is as follows:—At this moment the Emperor is separated from the Empress his wife through a liaison he made some years ago with a young Princess of a well-known name. The liaison has been generally known for the past seven or eight years, but during the last summer the matter became one of public notoriety, as the lady was living in Tzargkoe, close to the Palace, At last the Empress met the Emperor driving with two children, and demanded explanations, which resulted in her going abroad, and in her expressing her determination not to return to Russia. The Emperor's» detention in the Crimea was caused by the expected confinement of the Frincess of her third child, and it is generally believed in Russia that the object of upsetting the train was to roach her. The report runs that the Princess has told her entourage that the Emperor promised to marry her if the Empress dies, and that lie will in that case abdicate in order the more easily to do so. The budgets of European nations form an interesting topic. The increase in nationa expenditure during the last 20 years is stupendous. France stands first with an expenditure of L 119,000,000, Russia next with L 107,000,000. Fifteen years ago Europe's total expenditure was L395,000,C00, now it is L 555,000,000, of which L 100,000,000 is set down for the maintenance of armies. Every nation, with the exception of our own and Holland, has increased its national debt, France being the heaviest debtor. During that time oar bugbe-ir, Russia, lias increased its debt from L 205,000,000 to L 600,000,000. On Thursday, March 11th (says the Lyttelton Times), a trial of the American gang plough was held in Mr. Hay Smith's paddock at Ashburton. Through that gentleman's courtesy, Messrs. Andrews and Beaven, of Christchurch, were enabled to exhibit an implement new to many, in the shape of a one-way double-furrow by Davy and Sleep, of St. Germain, Cornwall. One great advantage of this plough is that a paddock can be ploughed without either a feering or finish, it being, so to speak, a double double-furrow plough. Two of the ploughs work while the other two are carried to the end of the furrow empty, when by the simple action of turning the horses, the ploughs become reversed, and the furrows are taken back by the empty pair without turning on the head lands, This, to one unacquainted with the implement, might suggest the possibility of carrying an enormous extra weight, but their lightness of draught, as evinced by their being worked all day six inches deep by a pair of medium farm horses quite easily, at once dispels that idea. The work done by this implement was above the general average of double-furrow work, the furrows being square cut, and exceptionally well packed, a fact which was particularly noticeable. This implement will probably be used by farmers whose land has already beep broken up, and for hilly country or down land it must prove an invaluable implement.