Daily Circulation, 1620. The Oamaru Mail. THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1894.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XIX, Issue 5905, 29 March 1894, Page 2

Daily Circulation, 1620. The Oamaru Mail. THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1894.

The licensing question has not yet been disposed of. The elections have been got oyer ; what is wanted riow, amongst other things, is some definite and authoritative decision as to whether the informal votes in connection with the local option poll, should or should not be counted in estimating the number who have voted. As our readers already know, this is a most important point. If a half of the electors enrolled do not vote, then the local option poll is void. In several districts the issue depends entirely upon the inclusion or rejection of informal votes in calculating. whether a half of the electors on the roll have "recorded their votes at the poll" or not. Ashburton is one of the places in this pesition, and the returning officer at that place having counted the informal votes, a reduction has been carried. In Dunedin, Napier, and the Bay of Plenty the returning officers decided the other way, and the weight of legal opinion in Dunedin is with them. It seems to us that any opinion on this subject must necessarily be an arbitrary one. It is true that the law distinctly lays down that the voter must erase two lines in each case, and that if he fail to do this, his ballot paper shall be void. It also provides that, if "the number of votes recorded at the poll does not amount to one-half of the total number of electors on the roll," the poll shall be void. -But the question is whether or not a vote is to be regarded as having been recorded for the purpose of the ascertainment of the numher who have voted, though it may be informal and, as such, not effective as regards the regulation of the number of licenses. There can be no doubt, to our mind, that the mere act of voting is the recording of a vote. The only difficulty, where a vote is informal, is in deciding how the voter intended to vote; that he did vote is a certainty. This is why the law is so strict as to the rejection of informal votes, where a delicate and critical issue is involved. But the inclusion, in the present case, of informal voters amongst those who are to be reckonedas havingpolledonly means the giving effect to the will of the majority of those who have voted correctly and definitely as to how licenses shall be disposed of, or as to whether there shall be any licenses at all. ' The question will probably be settled bv litigation in some part of the colony; and if the legal ball is once set rolling, there is no knowing when and where it will stop.

Oub attention has been called by a flockowner to a provision in the Stock Act of last session, which is so extraordinary that one would think that it must have passed the rubicon of the Council unnoticed. The Bting of this provision—the 43rd clauße—is

contained in the words "or tioks "; and it seta forth that, if any inspector is satisfied that any Bheep in a flock is affected with lice " or ticks," he may give the owner notice to dip such flock forthwith to the satisfaction of the said inspector, or any other inspector. The penalty for neglect to comply with such notice on or before the date specified is LSO on conviction ; and if immediately after such conviction the sheep shall not be dipped to the satisfaction of the inspector, such owner shall be liable to a further penalty of L6O, and so on for each and every succeeding conviction. The words "or ticks" must surely have slipped into the clause unnoticed. If the strict letter of the law were adhered too, there would not bo sufficient sheep dip in the colony to fulfil its behests ; there would be hardly a flock-owner who would not be warned, and the shelter of the Bankruptcy Court would be friendly and agreeable as a relief from the harassment of inspectors ruthlessly administering an exacU ing and irrational provision of the Act. Whilst one is bound to admire the efforts of our legislators to secure the cleanliness, and purity, and healthfulness of our flocks, 0110 cannot approve of demands in such a direction which would prove so abortive and vexatious that it would be foolish to enforce them. The two words, however, are a. constant menace whilst they remain in the Statute Book, and the best thing the Minister for Lands can do is to secure their deletion at the earliest opportunity next session.

The Shire Liner s.s. Morayshire is due at this port on 28th April, and will leave Port Chalmers for London on 12th May. The Kurow School concert, owing to tlio indisposition of one of the performers, has been postponed until April 13th. It is anticipated that the Hakateramoa Bridgo will be opeii tor traffic by that date.

The Minister for Lauds loft for his homo at Shag Point to-day. Two cases of typhoid fever are reported in Dunedin.

The Pinafore company will meet for practice at the Public Hall to-night. The opera now is well under way, -and considerable trouble is being taken to make it a success. An effort will be made to have the trains put back for the occasion.

During Mr Ritchie's recent northern tour (says the Post) he saw butter in more than one place so heated as to be oozing out of the boxes intended for shipment. Yet such butter is to be shipped to England as firstclass.. Very much greater care of the butter before shipment is necessary if it is to reach its market in a condition to reflect credit upon the colouy. Of course if there was a Government Inspector to examine butter in a cool chamber at the shipping ports, he would mark such butter in its proper grade, and the market for the bettercured article would not be injured by in. ferior being palmed off as the best and giving the whole product a bad name. We regret to learn that diphtheria is prevalent in town just now and has already occasioned one death, Mr E. Piper having lost his little girl from its effects. A concert will bo held in aid of the Awamoko School funds on Friday noxt, The usual dance will follow

The Pelorus Guardian says : —The special virtue of some of our timber is not generally known. For instance, bugs, the moat disagreeable of household pests, will not locate themselves anywhere near riinu grown in this district, and sailors often pick up a few chips at the mill to place in their bunks on board ship to keep these insects away when the vessel has such unpleasant companion on board.

The postponed concert of the Oamaru Musical Society will be given in the Public Hall to-morrow night. Says the Napier News:—The subject of the Rev. George Cox's • sermon to-morrow evening in the Baptist Church is " Borno ol Four." This correction is necessary in view of the fact that a contemporary makes it " Bom of Four," which would bo curious, wouldn't it 1

Speaking of the race for the Autumn Handicap, " The Admiral " says :—Mt Hobbs backed both his pair and sent them on their merits, but I understand that he rather preferred Prime Warden. The latter beat all the opposition easily enough, and was in turn honestly out-stayed by Lady Zetland. When she began her run she went at it \ery determinedly, and would have had to be pulled in sight of everyone if the Warden had to be allowed to win. White wisely ran no such risk, though, aB it happened, he was already in trouble for disobedience at the start.

As the editorial palate was being tlelectated by its usual mid-day biscuit the editorial ear was titillated by the sweet strains which emanated from a German band. We do not know if this is tlio sains band who starved here before. We am inclined to think not, for this band does not descend to "Good Old Mother" or "Daisy Bell." No, it plays operatic fantasias nnd other classical interludes. It consists of eight members, some useful, others ornamental. It seems to travel mostly upon* clarionet and a minor chord upon which tho double bass spreads himself. Everything h besprinkled with that chord. Indeed the rule of the band seems to be: When in 4oubt play a minor chord. The chord takes the place of the German Bclbst—you are sab to drop it in anywhere. In the middlo of» delectable waltz the band stops, even to the clarionet, while the double Dass plays his minor chord. It punctuates everything and winds up every phrase as regularly as the verb }n a German sentence. As we have already said, apart from this minor chord, the "band is mostly' clarionet and physical beauty, and the combination of tho three seems to ensure a tolerably comfurtaMi existence to judge by appearances. At a sale of town sections in Duncdjo yesterday the following were disposed off-* Kurow town j Section 4, block 8, 1 rood-? Charlotte Fenton, at the upsqt of L 7 l<* Sections 5 and 6, block 8, 1 rood Hislop, as agent, at the upset of L 7 10s P« section. Section 7, block 8, 1 rood-D. M, Spedding, as agent, at the upset of L7l» Section 2, block 11,1 rood—George N. Belli at the upset of L7>j.os.

At the Land Board meeting yesterday » number of residents in and around Living stone requested that immediato steps » taken to compel all illegal occupiers of «• mining reserve in block 9, Maerewhenua, W remove their fences from the ground not legally occupied. Referred to Hang" Hughan for a report. Mr Wm. Gardit* applied to be allowed to surrender W pastoral lease over run 154 a, Kakauui. CM' sideratibu deferred for a week.

Speaking to a well-known Taieri farmj* the other day, he estimated that the yie» over the whole district would notaverajj more than 20 bushels to the acre. In manf cases the yield has been exceptionally »n*j and the crops that were expected to m about 40 to 60 bushels to the acre yielM not more than 25 or 35 bushels at the otv side. Oats were not so bad as wheat, whP suffered severely from the unfavora"" weather that prevailed when the corn *» ripening, but even the oats have not beenop to expectations. The gfeen crop, on »» other hand, was in some quarters exce? tionally good, and there has rarely beet' better yield all round. Up some of the wheat and oat crops are r e P orl !: to be in fair condition, and some fields M" threshed out very well.—Advocate Mails for Fiji close at Auckland, f Taviuni, at 4 p.m. to-morrow. Mails'" Australian colonies, via Sydney, per A* meda close at Auckland immediately on» arrival from Honolulu to-morrow. The Sydney Bulletin christens L. Shaw's statements about Austral " Floral Shawstralia."