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Oamaru Mail, Volume XIX, Issue 6021, 13 August 1894, Page 2

In addition to the list of places mentioned in Saturday's issue, the lands for settlement petition can be signed at Mr J. H. Milligan's. The Wellington Press interviewed a Chinese resident of the Empire City to learn his views on the war. They were not very definite. In a general way he thought that there were too many Chinamen in China, and that they could be thinned out with advantage." Lambing has already begun in the South Canterbury district, and there is now to be seen in a paddock near St. Andrew's a nice little lot of healthy-looking lambs frisking about. We remind our readers that the Walter Bentley season will open in the Public Hall to-night when Mr Bentley will produce "Friends." Some particulars of this play will be found on our fourth page. The s.s. Wakatipu took away 100 rams from the New Zealand and Australian Land Company's Moeraki station to be transferred to the Company's station at Walhalla, NewSouth Wales. A meeting of settlers was held at Ammoko on Friday night, to consider the question of erecting a butter factory in the district. There were about 30 present and it was resolved to establish a factory in tfce district and to raise the necessary capital at once. A correspondent writes: —"A native meeting was held at the Wailiao Native Settlement on 4th August at 2 p.m., when a fair number of natives attended. Mr J. Pike was voted to take the chair, and in opening the meeting said that the old Committee had retired. Mr H. Maire, the chairman of the retiring committee, declined to stand for the new one. The following gentlemen were elected for the new committee :—Messrs J. Pike, P. Sulvien, J. Wixon, J. Toper, J. Rickes, H. Wixon, and J. Rakuraku. Mr Pike was elected chairman. The Committee stated that they had the same power over the four blocks of land as the old committee had." "In Queensland one Wragge predicts a squall. This country is full of rags predicting eternal squalls."—Mr Reeves, on the Opposition press. " This accursed time limit."—Mr T. Mackenzie." Mr Flatman informed the House on Friday that the prophet Isaiah was dead ! Mr Reeves defines the press interviewer as " a man whose profession it is to make public men commit themselves." The recent alterations in train running have enabled the postal authorities to extend the hours for closing mails as follows : —The express mails for the north will in future close at 2.30 p.m. instead of 2.15 p.m. as hitherto, the Duntroon line will close at 3.40 p.m. and the Ngapara and north line of mails at 4 p.m. Particulars will be found in the Mail Notice on the fourth page. " The house" nearly came to grief last night. The Corporation having failed to deal with the matter satisfactorily, a Corporation lamp made it a burning question by charring a portion of the weather-boards. But it did no damage worth mentioning, and Mr Barnes, with the help of his lieutenant (Mr Jeremiah O'Keefe), is still wrestling with the difficulty as vigorously as ever. It is from time to time stated that Colonel Fox is to be retained in the Government service as Chief of the Volunteer system of the colony. We do not see how this can reasonably be done. Colonel Fox was transplanted from the hotbed of militarism to New Zealand so that his knowledge might be utilised in the firmer and better establishment of the Volunteer system. He went through the colony, and probably then gained his first lessons in regard to that system, for, like the rest of his class, he fell into the fatal blunder of imagining thai Volunteering should be subject to the same stringency and obligations that surround the Army system—that a eitzen soldier, who works hard for a livelihood, and who is at the beck and call of an employer, should also be amenable to the summons of his officer. When he found that in this and many other respects he had been mistaken, he was not over polite in his language, but was disgustingly offensive. It would be better to give Colonel Fox a big salary to let our Volunteers alone, for he nearly broke them up, and his report and recommendations have been ignored, as a matter of necessity, we suppose.