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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1239, 7 April 1880, Page 2

It is satisfactory to observe signs of a revival of the market for oats. These signs are not yet very pronounced, but,there' s 110 reason why they should not be viewed as fche precursor of better prices for this cereal. In Melbourne the market for good kinds is showing some evidence of returning animation, and we have just heard of a good sample being sold in Oamaru at Is Gd per bushel. It is scarcely possible for oats to continue flat. Maize was until recently grown largely on the other side, and used for feeding purposes. But Australia is not now growing either enough oats or maize to supply its own demand. On the Clarence and other northern rivers, where there were extensive fields of maize, there js now sugar cane, and as this produce pays the settlers of middle and north Australia very much better than oata, maize, or indeed anything else, it is not likely to be supplanted. From New Zealand will, without doubt, be drawn much of the oats required by Australia, for the present at anyrate. To-day's express train from the south was three-quarters of an hour late in arriving at Oamaru. The delay was not occasioned by any accident, but principally through the slipperinep3 of the rails between Glendermid and Upper Port Chalmers, the train being a very heavy one.

Captain Edwin wires : —Same indications as were wired yesterday. The glass will fall again soon. The wind is backing.

\Yc have of late devoted some attention to police matters in the town, and have pointed to the necessity for the force stationed here being strengthened, in order that proper protection might be given to all parts of the town, but more particularly to the northern end. We have shown that it is almost unsafe to walk along north Thamesstreet on a dark night, and have heard that several peaceable citizens have been molested and assaulted in that locality. . Another case of the kind occurred on Monday, when a rough'looking individual sprang from a hedge aud attacked a boy named Baker, and knocked him down. What the fellow's intention was in thus attacking a lad who was quietly proceeding home we cannot say, for he does not appear to have attempted to rob the boy ; it is sufficient to know that such occurrences are by no means rare in the locality to impress us with a conviction of the necessity for the regular attendance of the police in that quarter. Only two or three evenings ago a young "girl was chased for some distance along the street by a blackguard whose appearance would be strong presumptive evidence before any jury. There are at present more roughs, blackguards, and bad characters in Oamaru than have ever before been congregated here, and the greater portion of them appear to have taken up their abodett in north Thamesstreet. We are aware that Inspector Thompson, with the'limited force at . his command, cannot provide for the regular stationing of a constable in that notorious quarter, but we hope that he will take steps to obtain increased police protection for the town, and that in the meantime arrangements will be made for frequent visits to the north end of the town by constables on duty at night.

Candidates for Degrees, Senior Scholarships, and Honours, are required' to send their names to the Registrar of the New Zealand University, with'a list of the subjects they propose to. adqpt, on or before the 11 th of May next." The examination will commence, on the 11th November next. A billiard match will be played at the Royal Hotel saloon: this :■ evening between Mr. W. "Weston, the Australian champion, and Mr. Roberts, the lessee of tiie room, the former conceding the latter 400. points out of 1000. ■' ' : ''

Some amusement was occasioned in the District Court this afternoon by the appearance of Mr. Hislop, On the resumption of fcjie business, the learned gentleman, who .was rather late, hurriedly put on his gown and baud, but omitted to don the ay/.c be getting wig. In this half legally habilimental manner he took his seat at the table only to be horrified by Mr. O'Meagher crying " Your cauliflower, brother Hislop." Mr. Hislop £hen beat a hasty retreat to the retiring room, amidst a burst of laughter which was renewed when lie again roade his appearance properly bewigged.

The adjourned monthly meeting of tii£ Waiareka Road Board was held to-day, when there were present—Messrs. Gilchrist (in the chair), Barr, Jackson, Isdale, T. Reid, Elder, and Oliver (engineer). The .minutpa of the last meeting were read and confirmed aad the outward correspondence was read and approved. Intimation was received from the Treasury that L&52 8s lid, the half-year's subsidy, had been placed to the Board's cre.dit at the bank. The Clerk to the Waitaki Road Board forwarded a statement of the expenditure on the b.oundr ary roads, and asked for the balance due to that Board. The payment of the money was ordered. Mr. John Reid and Messrs, Dennison and Grant wrote requesting to be furiiiilicd witli a copy of the survey of a new road to liaki'2 Table railway station 011 the Livingstone line, and the engineer was instructed to supply tracing as soon the snrvey was complete. The secretary to the Hospital wrote, asking for suggestions upon the proposed Hospital and Charitable Aid Bill, and it was resolved, "That jji tjie opinion of this Board it would be advisable for allthecontributary bodies toappoint delegates to attend a meeting to be held to consider the measure, Messrs. Gilchrist and Barr to represent tin's Board." The Inspector's reports 011 the state of the y/orka for February and March were read, The draft annual balance sheet and the voters' and defaulters' lists were laid on the table for inspection. Mr. John Church was reappointed Auditor. It was resolved " That no new works be ini iated upon any road nntil the Board lias secured a legal title to the road lino, '' Accounts amounting to L2G4 7a 1(1 were pasacd tor payment and the Board rose,

The] Philharmonic Society^—Vocalists and instrumentalists —will rehearse to-night at the Oddfellows' Hall, as the Volunteer Hall will be -occupied by the fiojn-, piano hSs; been. ■generbusly lefitffor; the occasion. A-ifuU«''attendance is Sjiarti-j cularly requested;-. V.,\ y : Vtfsi '• At,Supreme"Gouf£,-yesterday> the jury: in the case of John Gladden, charged vvrith' having stolen a -watch from a prostitute at Oamaru, returned a verdict of not guilty, but recommended that the watch should be., returned to "the prosecutrix, a recommendation that Madden agreed' to act upon. • At the District Cotirt to-dayjMi'.O'Meaglier said he wished: to to a matter in-conneetion with.bankruptcy business affecting the profession as a whole It fippeaped that there were some persons in the town, not duly qualified legaj practitioners, who were in the habit of preparing documents for bankrupts and receiving fees for so doing. This was unfair to the profes sion and he would ask his Honor, when a bankrupt appeared before him, wboge papers had not been prepared by a solicitor, to make inqirries as to who had prepared the papers and what had been paid for them, in order that these persons who weye guilty of breaches , of the Law Practitioners Act might be detected and punished. His Honor said that the detection and punishment of the offenders properly devolved upon the Law Society. At the same time he would give every assistance in the putting down of the practice, and would in' future, when a bankrupt came before him with papers not prepared by a solicitor, put the questions to the bankrupt as to who had prepared the papers and what they had been paid for preparing them. It was perfectly astonishing what an amount of entanglement of the affairs of bankrupts was occasionedbythe preparation of papers" by non-profes-sional men. Mr, O'Meagher remarked that in many cases all the papers were prepared by non professional men and paid for until it came to the finq,l affidavit, when they were floored, and the bankrupt forced to seek the jissistance of a solicitor. It was difficult to detect these persons, but with his Honor's assistance they njjght be brought to boob. It was intended to write to the Law Society with reference to the matter, and urge the vigorous prosecution of the offenders.

His Honor Mr. Justice Williams, in. summing up to the Jury in the charge against John Madden last evening, said:—"The time of the Court lias been occupied nearlyall day by two cases arising out of occurrences in brothels at Oamaru. Whatever-the result of your yerdiflt may be, I think wp may ask bhe city fathers of Gamaru to see that these places are not nuisances in.fact, as well as in laiv."—Otago Daily Times.

Robert Butler appeared'before Mr. Justice Williams at the Supreme Court yesterday morping to make his application for a postponement of bis trial. An affidavit had been filed stating the grounds upon which the application was made, which were that the present state of the public mind would act to his prejudice ; that the time, had not been suffi-

cient to enable him to prepare his defence ; and that his photograph had been sold and was being sold, and the feeling of the public from which the. jury would be drawn was thereby further excited against him, Mr. Haggitt opposed the prisoner's application, and remarked that it would be abadstateof things in any community if such crirnes as had been committed did not excite public feeling ; but the public feeling did not exist against the prisoner personally, but against the perpetrator of the crime, whosoever he might be. He had no doubt that the prisoner would have a fair trial, • The prisoner urged that since his arrest, and even before the police investigation, the Press had been hostile to him, or at all events it had tended to prejudice him. His Honor declined to grant the prisoner's application to have the case adjourned for a month, and said that from what he had observed in the public prints he saw no reason to suppose that such a conviction as that referred to by the prisoner existed in the public mind, but he would take Gare to point out to the jurors that they had no business to go into the jury-box unless they are prepared to enter upon the case free from prejudi. e. The case was then adjourned until Thursday, the'loth inst.—Otago Daily' Times.

The Melbourne Argus is publishing a series of papers under the heading of " The Australian Abroad," from which we extract the following:—"From the Sandwjoh Islands, tlie birthplace of the Maoris, we •passed on to Auckland, New Zealand. At Tauranga the natives were holding a tangi for a dead man, and we had abundant oppor= tunities of seeing how their migration from the tropics lias.improved the physical powers, of the race. The operation of rubbing noses is a much more formidable affair' than one ■vpoulcj. suppose. It is not a thing to be entered:upon ; lightly....We saw a man and a woman who ga.ye themselves oyer tg it fqr. upwards of half-an-hour.. Their nrvsqloj-gans were kept firmly together, the tears rolled down their cheeks, a sympathetic moaning was maintained, and we felt that some tragedy of the heart was'being ground out.. The hot ; lakes of; the Northern Island Ifew . Zealand- are • the great sight of the country. . The white arid pink terraces ad- ! jacent to Lake Rjpt.pmahana are a.s beautiful as ft fairy poepe.. Tfre temperature .of the many lakes .springe paries; ifrom luke r warmv to- boiling -point.'; The ij'atives baitlie' frequently in the springs of " suitable peratuie. Men, women, and children all go in together; arid sit up to their chins in the >yq.ter,'gossiping jtlie .village by the hjOur. Jt is difficult for those who have t&6 5 feat - tp believe tiiat a Maori woman ( can. impress, slip .into water, arid resume her eo'stnriie in'tl}e presence of those of the: opposite sex without violating any. lajvjjf. feminine modesty.;, .but. it is so. They are very clever. Even Mr, Anthony Trollope .saw no' harm- in bathing with a,(good-looking) Maori girl."- ... . ...... Professor J'lackie is one of the most energetic, hard tyorfcfng scholars the world has' yet seen. He lately set an excellent example. After taking a : text; he p'rea6hed a practical sermon from the pulpit of St. David's .Established Church, Edinburgh; to a large audience on the subject of the land laws". Taking ashfs' text Tsffjah v. g, "Wopuptp them that join ho,use to house, that-lay seld to field, till there bono place, that tliey may. be placed alone in the midst of the earth," the Professor argued that landed property was the foundation and root of the social system, and that, if so, it therefore of the utmost importance that it should be distributed in sucha way that the greatest number of persons in. the Sfcafej should have spine shar.c in the land of the country. At the name time lie was no communist. Accumulation was natural and proper, but it must stop somewhere, and if Aristotle's interpretation of nature was right, that all extremes were wrong, excespiye accumulations must be wrong, As practical measures, l)e suggested that entails and settlements of all kin,da should be swept away ; that the transfer of land should be free from all cumbrous forms j that there should bo no primogeniture in cases of< intestacy; that in certain cases pre-

scribed by law there cession ; and that thegfejpfeuld: on landlords vgho selves ; also advq"Gf|'ed a,e£mff|§|e revisal jq? Jri£lit of" land 4 fc'oitipanies; ;fo'r the fairly 3©x> '■ ',gerimen.t"i®E ,?sm&?peasanil;.proprietors, /nubile :he submitted tßat in certain (cases ;-tenant property might become absolute property. There is something like a sermon ! If our /lspijytual rf .Bastors the'mselve? to. place sucb:;..yital questions befiJrir "auditors," they would lead Chutch-goiri^"~m"en ,> intelligent progress .of. eyents, .and that jwoitdd do mucaior. the improvement of humanity, I think,