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Oamaru Mail, Volume IX, Issue 2869, 6 April 1885, Page 2

We remind those interested that a local race meeting will be held to-day on the Oamaru racecourse. Should the weather prove fine there should be a good attendance, as no other public amusement has been provided for the holiday. An announcement appears in another oolumn. Our San Francisco mail news contains some interesting items regarding the visit of the Prince of Wales to Ireland. It seems that a section of the community have determined to give the heir apparent the cold shoulder; but whether the mass of the people will follow these guides remains to be seen. There is one comfort, however. Mr Flannery, the dynamiter, promises that the Prince shall not be molested, and for this concession we should all be trnly thankful. But is loyalty dead in Ireland ? We think not. We direct the special attention of residents in and arrouud Dantroon to a notice elsewhere in regard to the Duntroon Library. It will be observed that the library is to be closed until Saturday, 2nd May, when it is intimated it will be opened free to all red- ! dents in the district. Such a liberal boon is creditable to the managers, and should be I generally made free use of. A enrious example of the misunderstanding that may arise from using figures of speech is found in the proceedings of a London polios court, last week. " A man whose face and bearing expressed great mental anxiety," applied to the magistrate for protection, on the ground of having received a threat of assassination. He had had a dispute with a neighbor, who had written to say he would shoot him. The letter was handed up to the Bench and read aloud :—" I give you fair warning that if I find you aspersing my character in any way, I will mate you pay for it, if you are worth powder and shot." The only parallel case that ever came under my observation was that of a \ oung gentleman who asked my advice with respect to a certain social venture of what seemed to me a simple kind. '■ You have only to p'ay your cards reasonably well," I said at the conclusion of my homily,"and you cannot fail to sue ceed." "That is all very well," he said, " but the misfortune is that I don't know how to play ca:de,"

Professor A. H. Charch has presented a report to Meßsrs Bolton and Partners, Limited, 4, the Sanctuary, Westminster, S.W., with regard to the cultivation of sugar-beet in the chiaf districts where ntgarbeet has been grown this year for Messrs Bolton tnd Partners' new sugar factory at Lxve.iham. Professor Church states that a yield cf about 12 tons per acre has been secured on a large proportion of the farms, While the average quantity of sugar in the roots has reached nearly 13 per cent., corre- ! sponding to a production of 1J ton of crystallised sugar per acre. The results atta ned by other growers are given for the purpose of comparison, acd from these it appears that in one instance the yield averaged 18 tons per acre, though the percentage of sugar was only 10J. In another case, where the yield amounted to 15 tons per acre, the percentage of crystallisable sugar was 14 l-3rd. With such results, Professor Church thinks it is evident that, under normal conditions, Bujar-beet must pay better than wheat at present prices. It was announced, on the 27th, that a great mass of the Thames back at Woolwich | Arsenal had been burning, and was still on fire in two or three places. The bank has been formed by the deposit of refuse from the Arsenal workshops, and for 10 years or more truc't-loacU of ashes, slag, cotton-waste, and. other rubbish have been shot down at the rate of many tons per day, thus enclosing a marshy foreshore and creating a broad wharf which is becoming of much value as a, site for new Government buildings. When the fire was first observed, about a month since, ib was not regarded of as of any serious consequence, tbe belief being that it would burn itself harmlessly away; but as it extended over a space of about an acre, and was getting toward the powder magazines, though still half a mile distant, the engineers of the Works Department were called upon to suppress it. Water has been continually pumped upon is by a steam engine, but with little effect, and the engineer have now cut a trench 20 feet deep across the bank, which will probably hold the fire in check, and prevent the damage which it has threatened to adjacent buildings.