The Oamaru Mail FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1884.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1322, 21 March 1884, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1884.

We are requested to intimate that the Secretary of the North.Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association has received a telegram from Mr J. Everest, cf Palmerston, requesting him to inform the delegates to the conference re bag question that the meeting will be held at 12 o'clock instead of 2, as formerly notified. :: The meeting takes place at the Chamber of Commerce, Dnnedin. ~

The South Canterbury Times says The North Otago Times of yesterday, in a leading article defends the action of the Government in raising the tariff and rebukes those who agitate against it. Our Oamarn contemporary Is an out and out flunkey. The New Zealand Mail. (Wellington), in writing on the export of draught horses from thin colony to Australia, says that 700 of these stock were shipped from here to Sydney alone, and that "So far the greater number of onr horses have come from the Oamaru district, where there is some magnir ficent imported draught stock." At the R.M. Court yesterday, Messrs Bailie and Humphrey sued Jas. Adamsonfor Ll3 7s 7d for goods supplied. Judgment was given for the amount claimed; with one guinea costs. . t An important question arose at last night s Council meeting, during a discussion which followed the reading of the Engineer's waterworks report. He therein stated that he required 90 casks of cement for use in repairing the waterworks, and recommended that tenders should be called in Oamaru and Punedin for supplying the same. Councillor Head'and expressed an opinion that there was no necessity to go to the expense of calling for tenders, as the cement could be obtained just as cheaply by applying by letter to the four principal dealers in Oamara and Dunedin. Councillor Fleming and others expressed an opinion that it was desirable that tenders should be called for, and Councillor Fleming urged that if the Council neglected to adopt that course their conduct might create dissatisfaction. It is singular that not one of the Councillors present appeared to be aware of the existence of a provision in the Act which directs Councils what course they must pursue in regard to obtaining supplies, C ause 175 of the Act stipulates that " No contract, the amount whereof exceeds twenty pounds, except in cases of urgent necessity, shall be made, except after public tender, of which due publ-c notice shall be given ; but the Council sha'l not be compelled to accept the lowest tender." The three clauses immediately preceding this one, show that the word " contract" is meant to include any transaction for the procuration of any material or goods which the Council may require. Daring the past week or so, m'ny persons, chiefly children, have goffered at night-time from feverishness, restlessness, and disquiet ing dreams, whilst during the day-time many of them, at least, are apparently in good health. We suppose that these curious symptoms are attributable to some atmospheric influence ; but it wonld be interesting to have the opinion of some expert on the subject. Gregorovuiß published, in the January numter of Unsere Z°it, under the title "A Ride to the Dead Sea," an interesting sketch of the famous lake. He declar's that no Sicilian bay, not the Gulf of Corinth, presents more varied or beautiful coloring, only the water seems darker, as if of mo'ten metal. He denies the general statement that no bird flies over its waters, and that its shores are without vegetation. But he_ confirms the tradition that no living thing is found in it; fish coming down by the Jordan die at once on coming within its bounds. The water is so "thick".that he moved in it with difficulty ; its bitterness was terrible, the bottom was slippery like soap, and one can sconp up with the hand a slime like mortar. The touch of it canses great smart to the eyes. On coming out of it the body was thickly in-: crusted with crystals of salts of magnesia and Boda,

At a meeting of the School Committee held this afternoon, the Secretary was instructed to forward Miss Spedding's resignation as second assistant in the North School to the Education Board, with a request that steps may be taken to fill the vacancy. 1 We are requested to remind members of the Garrison Band that their usuil rehearsal will take p'ace this evening, and to state that it is important that every member shonld be present thereat. Pome difficulty has been experienced by Major Compter in providing a camping ground for the Volunteers attending _ t e Kaster Review, owing to the exorbitant figure the Committee of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association charged for the use of their show ground. The difficulty has,' however, now been overcome, the School Committee, at - a meeting this a'ternoon, having granted permission to, use the grounds .attached to the District High S-hcol for the purpose, the only stipulation being that ever} thing shall be left in proper order and condition. It is intended, j we believe, to use the old cricket ground as a parade ground, and the old mill opposite will be availed e f as a place in which the volunteers will take'their meals. j Tt is announced that a sacred concert will be given in St. Paul's Church cn next Friday, the 28th instant, at which a number of ; choi.e sacred selections—solo and concerted j —will be su: g. I At yesterday's sitting of the Resident Magistrate's Court, at which Mr H. W. Robinson, R.M., presided, Catherine Heady: was again brought up on a charge of being of ucsound mind. Drs Wait and Garland having certified that the unfortunate woman was unfit to be at large, she was consigned to the Dunedin Lunatic Asylum. " On Friday, the Bth February," says the Church of England Messenger, " a new departure was taken in the diocese by the solemn admission of Miss.Marion M'Farlaoe to the order of: deaconness. It iB now more than 20 years ago since the order was revived in the Church of England, the first attempt being made in the diocese of London, under the authority of the late Archbishop Tait, then Bishop of L- ndon. There can be m doubt that deaconesses were a recognised order in the primitive Church, and were solemnly set apart for authorised, ministrat:ons. In these days of female ''evangelists' and 'Halle'ujah lasses,' when it is quite clear that if women cannot engage in spiritual work under authority it will be done by them without authority, it seems not only prudent, but necessary, that a legitimate field should be opened up for their exertions within the church. Miss M'Farlane has long desired to engage in evangelistic work under competent authority, in some definite position recognised by the church, and.with a definite mission from the church. A suitable sphere in which to begin her labors has been found at Prahran, in the parish of Christ Church, South Yaria, under the superintendence of the Rev. H. F. Tucker. At 11 o'clock in the morning of the Sth ult. the candidate and her friends, to the number of 40, received the Holy Communion together in South Yarra Church, and the same evening she was admitted the first memb r of the' Female Diaconate of the dioceße of Melbourne. It is hoped that by-and-by Miss M'Farlane may become the head of a ' Melbourne Diocesan Deaconesses' Institution,' on the lines of that existing in the diocese of London."

Belgium, the freest and best governed country on the Continent of Europe, is for the present without a Constitution; the Charter of 1830, together with all the papers relating to Belgian independance, having been destroyed in the fire which has burned to the ground the Chamber of Representatives. The case observes St. James's Gszette, is unprecedented, and it will be interesting to see in what manner the nation will readopt the Act Fortunately, one may say without undue emphasis, that the Belgian Constitution is written in the hearts of the people ; and the Belgians, after all, are in no worse position than the English, who have no Constitution in documentary form. The only other country which was deprived of its Constitution at one blow is Poland. The Polish Constitution of the year 1815 was seized bodily by the troops of the Fmperor Nicholas after the suppression of the insurrection of 1830, and carried away, rolled up, and enclosed in a japanned tin case, to be exibited at Moscow in a museum of cariosities, where it is still to be seen. A younz lady, who was in January playing Ariel in the burlesque of " The Tempest - called "Prospero," at the Imperial Theatre, London, is quite blind. She directs her action entirely by sound. Owing to the temporaryabsence of the Miranda of the burlesque one night this blind Lady took the part of the heroine for the evening, and, although necessarily much prompted, she actually went through the performance without exciting the slightest suspicion among the audience as to her condition.

A London paper says: —A German has just invented a new kind of needlework for ladies blessed with a lot of leisure. The fault of the ordinary kinds of fancy work is that one's labors result in a number of feeble prettinesses which have no special place in the scheme of life, and hang about the house like ne'er-do-weels, with their hands in their pockets,, as it were. Who, for instance, but has resented the terrible antimacassars that infect some drawing rooms ? What is their mission? They neither protect nor adorn the chair on which they are thrown—generally crooked. The days of hair-oil are over, so that the somnolent head leaned against the back of the chair is no longer injurious. Then why the antimacassar? There are persons who have their white one's constantly starched, and perhaps this is the most painful variety of the whole fami'y. You take your seat, and after a little while become aware of some encumbrance at 5 our back. Looking round, you fini it is the starched antimacas?ar, all crumpled up and ; ying in a crushed heap between your back and that of the char. You pick it up (if you have a social ■ conscience—that is, some people are without that troublesome-appendage), straighten it out, lay it back, and put it down, hoping it will retain its position.; No such thing. Again and again it falls, getting more crushed each time, till at last you feel that the wretched object is interferring with your conversational powers. The new sort of fancy work is by no means obstructive. It is really useful and artistic, consisting of the weaving together, by means of knitting, lengths of colored wools and manufacturing thereby rugs and cirpets equal to Turkey and Persian in beauty and durability. The inventor of the work sells also designs, from which to make the rugs in question. The one I saw was in lovely tints of peacock blue, bronze, and deep red. The wools are all supplied ready, with a piece of wood whereon to measure the lengths, so as to save trouble in cutting them even. The knitting-cotton is also supplied, and it is a kind of strong fine cord. I prophesy a great success for this fancy-work.