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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1276, 10 May 1880, Page 2

We congratulate the Liberal party on the return of Sir Win, Fpx to Parliament. He is one of those injudicious men who will do harm to the cause he espouses and good t& that he opposes. He is a ready speaker, bjxfc soon by his vapid rabidness induces waveretd to decide against him. If all members of Parliament were Foxes in volubility and bitterness the year would npt bp long ppough to contain a session of Parliament and representative Government would Rave to be abandoned as a failure.

Cantajn Edwin telegraphs to-day as follows —" Bq.d weather is approaching from any direction between north-west and west and south. The glass will further rise, but wind backing and glass fall will take place within 24 hours. Expect considerable sea." During last week a large number of those persons who are entitled to have their names registered as yot.crs have been energetic in securing that privilege, we suppose in view of the approaching election. There is every probability that tjie electoral roll of this district will show more signs pf life than it has ever done, thanks to the new electoral reform which (excepting, of course, the iniquitous property qualification by which an elector may vote in all electorates in which he owns property of the value of L 25, and which are accessible to him on polling days) was initiated by the late Government. The Railway Commission, having visited the West Coast and Nelson, will te at Blenheim to-day, and in Wellington on Wednesday next. To-day they will have completed their duties on the Middle Island, arid will then proceed to investigate railway matters in the North Island,

I Tin's evening the Rev. Mr. Paterson, of I lovevcargill, will deliver a lecture on " Dr. Gpthrie." jn &t, Paul's Church, under the auspices of St, Paul's Young Men's Association. The rev. gentleman has alr.oady acquired in Oamaru the name of being an eloquent preacher, and we have no doubt that he will this evening establish a reputation as a lecturer. His lecture should prove ■ycry interesting, especially to those who hail from the land that gave birth to the noble subject of the discourse. . The usual monthly meeting of the Waitakj Road Board will be held in the offices, Tynestrect, to-morrow, at 11,30 a.m.

"Would the Lunedin Star be good enough to acknowledge that it clipped the article headed "The Kinder Affair," from the Mail of the 26th ult., where it was published for the first time. We observe that it is going the rounds of the .Colonial Press. In bo roe newspapers it appears as .original, an.4

as' having been derived - "from.;the. . Star. Seeing that the article cost us some j time and trouble to compile, we are entitled < to any credit that may .be attached to its j publication. In our report of the concluding portion i of the coursing meeting on Saturday we . briefly mentioned that Mr. Wise, the newly appointed judge for the four principal clubs, .• had given every . satisfaction . during , the meeting. N'ot a single decision given by him was questioned, and Mr. Wise showed a readiness to give to any inquirer a description of any particular course that did credit alike to his good nature and his proper appreciation of the very responsible post he has been selected to fill. Mr, Wise is the son of Mr. G. F. Wise, one of the principal coursing men of Ireland, and has for years been a successful nominator, having on several occasions had dogs in the English Waterloo Cup, He has served a long apprenticeship to the sport, and we doubt if there is another man in the colonies better acquainted with the laws of cpursing or better qualified to act as judge. From the Australasian we learn that Mr. Wise, who has only recently arrived from Ireland, brought out letters from such noted coursing men as Lord Lurgan, the Earl of Haddinigton, and Mr. Warwick, bearing testimony to his ability and character. The united coursing clubs are to be congratulated upon having obtained sp excellent a judge, The anniversary entertainment in .connection with the Ngapara Public Library will be held this evening. During the course of his address to his constituents Mr. Ballauce denounced the action of the Government in maintaining a constabulary force at a cost of L6QO per diem if the Waimate Plains land in dispute was to be returned to the natives, as suggested by the Commission (Sir W. Fox and Sir F. D. Bell). It really does seem strange that the force should be engaged in making a road for the special, if not the sqle, benefit of the natives, at such an expense. We were going to say that the duty of the Government is to withdraw these men from the Plains if there is any probability that the recommenclatioli of the Commission would be carried out. But a swamp has decided the question for them, unless they wish to add to their generosity by draining the swamp for Te Whiti and his followers. The road the Government has attempted to make might, perhaps, have been of service to us some day, but the time when it would be so is too far distant—if nearly the whole of the lands in the vicinity are be re: turned to the natives—to warrant such an expenditure in the present circumstances of the colony. Those to whqm we are indebted for such a sacrifice of coloni.il property have proved themselves but poor tacticians. What an extraordinary stroke of policy was that of prosecuting a native war at a cost of L 3,000,000, confiscating this block amongst other blocks pf less valuable land, in order to do something tpwards recpuping such a gigantic expenditure and punishing the natives fpr rebellion, and then not only returning the land, but expending a Imge sum in an abortive attempt to make a road. The Government seems to set little value on the lands of the colony. Their idea is that they were made for speculators and the natives —in trust for speculators and that the people hsve no right to them. At the Resident Magistrate's Court today, before T. W. Parser, Esq., R.M., and Duncan Sutherland, Esq., J.P., George Vincent was charged with having been guilty of conduct calculated to cause a breach of the peace, ancl was fined 20s. James Murray, charged with having been drunk and disorderly at Weston, was fined 10s with the alternative of 48 hours' imprisonment. Catherine Grant was charged with that, being a common prostitute, she did behave in an indecent manner and make use of obscene language in a public street. The offence having been proved, his Worship sent the accused to gaol for 30 days. Mary Sullivan was charged with being a vagrant at.d having no lawful visible means of support. Mr. O'Meagher appeared for the de fence. A large amount of evidence showing that the accused was a prostitute was taken, after which Mr. O'Meagher addressed the Bench, contending that, in compliance with the Act, the ch rge of the defendant having no lawful aqd visibly means of support should have been laid in the present tense. The word used in the Act was having; that used in the information and summons was had. The time charged ranged from the 2oth January to the 6th , May, but defendant might have had no , lawful means of support from January to ( MjJ-i'gh, and yet have earned an honest livelihood in April and May, Up submitted that neither the information nor the summons disclosed any offence. It was now too late to amend with a view to assisting the prosecution. Some argument followed, his Worship expressing an opinion that, although the information might possibly have been framed with more propriety, as Mr. O'Meagher indicated, still the meaning arrived at ip either case would be virtually the same. The case was eventually acj-joprnefi until Monday next.

According to the Waikato Tirnes, Mr. Firth, the northern land king, has gold 5000 acress of his Mata Mata estate at LG per acre. If we remember correctly. Mr. Firth gave about as many shillings per acre for this magnificent estate. Although we are glad to learn that he has parted with this portion of it, the intelligence would have been more gratifying if the country had pocketed the gigantic profit.. Mr, James Robertson, of Mangere, says the New Zealand Herald, referring to " Memorials of Old Auckland, "in Saturday's issue, contradicts the statement there made that Sir George Grey was in Auckland and took measures to defend the city against the invading Ngatipoua. Our correspondent asserts that Sir George Grey was then in Wellington, and that Ccilonel Wynyard was Acting Governor, to whom the entire credit j was alone due. If Mr. Ttobertgon syijl jrefep to the files of the New Zealander of that date he will find, in the'issue of the 19th April, 1851, an account of the affray, and the following allusion to Sir George Grey's presence The Gpvernor-in-Chief judiciously resolved that the natives be cotflr manded shortly either to leav t e the town or give up their arms. The natives have had ample reason £o - know Sir Geofge Grey,s determination," &c, It is worthy of note that the New Zealander's account tallies with that of Dr. Thomson in his '* Story of New Zealand." Dr. Thomson says, referring to the invasion of the Ngatipoua:—"Two days afterwards several chiefs from the insurgents laid at Governor Grey's feet mereß and spears, emblems of submission.- Thus has another of the many slanders uttered against Sir George Grey been refuted, and that by a ministerial journal.

The total population of France is a little under 37,000,000, divided into J2jopo,£ipo in? habitants of towns and 25,000,000 inhabitants of the country. Of these there are 210,200 persons without Juiown professions, 71,3QP

vagabonds and mendicants, 2,151,900 stockHolders (including 195,000 pensioners of the Government)* 1,531,400 persons exercising liberal professions or living by thfem, 3,837,200 persons engaged in trade, transport, and navigation, or living on their products; 9,274,500 persons engaged in various industries, or living by them; 6,000,000 in small industries, 3,000/00 in mining and manufactures; 18,968,600 persons practising agriculture, or living by it (of whom 10,500,000 are proprietors of their land); nearly 6,000,000 are tenant farmers, and 2,500,000 are agricultural specialists, comprising vine-growers. " The South Canterbury Times says :—That oats are a drug in the Timaru market was pretty clearly proved yesterday. A wellknown grain merchant, who would as soon think of cutting off his right arm as of taking a mean advantage of a farmer's necessities, was reluctantly compelled to purchase from a local grower about a thousand bushels of first-class oats at lid per bushel. The grower had done his best to get a better figure, and although the other was loth to purchase, at any price at all, he was beseeched to accept the grain, the seller pleading that he must have money," The Sydney Daily Telegraph publishes the following account from a correspondent at' Denman (N.S.W.) of a plague of mice which is at present causing muoh annoyance in that township. The writer says i—" We aresufferingat present from a plague of mice. The fields are full of them, so that the horses' feet stick in the burrowed ground. They are racing over the ground in hundreds j 150 of a night is nothing unusual to catch, but there is no sensible diminution. They eat into drawingroom furniture,. mattresses, &c. I cannot sleep at night because every now and again I have to drive them from my pillow. On awaking ffom an hour's sleep last night I saw no fewer than five on the bedcover, and they jumped to the floor in all directions when I moved. The plague has come down ' the country fifty miles, , but has not yet extended to Muswellbrook, fifteen miles from this. Cats are of no use. They can eat half-a-dozen whenever they choose to take them. Some persons think that, like, a plague of locusts, they will pass on, but I cannot see it in that way, Is it not strange ? They will nibble your best bonnet, and do all manner of mischief. What is worse, they get into the pianos. One hundred and fifteen were caught in one night without any proper appliances, and there is nothing special to attract them here."

Some time ago there was some, talk about selling the .magnificent collection of diamonds forming part of the French Crown jewels, valued at 4Q,OQQ,OQQ francs, Loth to disperse a collection of such artistic value, yet anxious to conciliate those Republicans who wish the crown to be sold because they do not want anyone to wear it, the Government havedecided upon the following course. The Crown diamonds will be divided into three classes : —l. The heraldic ones, having some artistic or historical interest. These will be deposited in the Apollo Gallery of the Louvre, and among them the famous Regent. 2. The diamonds having a special mineralogiGal value will be sent to the Museum of Natural History. 3. Those which may be considered as mere jewellery, and of which the value is estimated at 3,000,000 francs, will be sold for the benefit of the museum funds. The Thames Advertiser says :—"The discovery of sheep lost for seven years is certainly a rare occurrence, and one that shows the value of the New Zealand climate. Mr. Gough, of the Thames, brought with him from England four prize Dorsetshire whitefaced ewes and rams, which were for a time running in the Kauweranga Valley, and then suddenly disappeared. Years rolled on, and no trace of the little flock was discovered .until lately, when Mr. John Liddle, the well-known prospector, intimated quite accidentally that he had seen a flock of wild sheep in the ranges near Waitekauri, and lost some days in attempting to capture a ram, which was of enormous proportions, and covered with a tremendous coat of wool. Mr. Gough offered the prospector L2O to be shown the sheep—which he was told had increased to a flock of some 60 or 100—and LI per head for all they could recover. The two started out, and after tw° search, 15 enormous sljeep were found in the bush about three miles from the Waitekauri Battery, The sheep were Iqst seven years ago, and have not been "shorn during that period. They have had abundance of feed, ! and are such as to be worth exhibiting. They are in size equal to two or three ordij nary sheep. No doubt more will be discovered after a few days' search."