The Oamaru Mail. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1908.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXV, Issue 10012, 1 December 1908, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1908.

Climatic conditions at Otepopo for November, as observed by Mr Jas. Fleming, were:—Mean barometer, 30.05 inches; mean thermometer, 57.3 degrees; rainfall on four days, 0.17 inch; prevailing wind, south. Our Waimate correspondent writes: —• At- a meeting of the Hospital Trustees, bold on Monday afternoon, a committee was set up to enquire into the matter of the complaint, recently made by Mr Walker that- the nurses connected with the hospital had been in the habit of attending patients outside of the institution. —The Fire Brigade were called out at 2.15 a.m. on Tuesday, when it was found that a fire had broken out in a fourroomed house in Harris street occupied by Mr Li. Glendinning. The fire was fortunately noticed in its first stage, and the inmates did their utmost to suppress it until the arrival of the Brigade, who put all danger at am end in the space of three minutes after their arrival. The situation in connection with the timber industry appears to have reached an acute stage at Taihape, where between 400 and 500 men have been thrown out of employment- through the closing of mills, in consequence of the influx of Oregon pine, and its sale'at abnormally low prices. A Taihape miller who was one of a deputation which w sited upon the Prime .Minister, was sorely exercised hecause the "importation of Oregon timber was taking the bread and butter out of the mouths of their wives and children." That is all very well, but other people's wives and children have also to be considered, and the price of timbers of all kinds has been raised to such a degree that building has received a severe check throughout the country. It is this augmentation of prices that is answerable in a large measure for the reduced demand for native timber and the closing of mills. The solution of the difficulty is not easy; but it is clear that, though it should be considered an advantage to obtain cheap timber, the Government ought not to subsidise a line of steamers which by reason of the subsidy, is enabled to convey timber from America at such a low rate that- the legitimate demands of the local timber industry are seriously interfered with. But, if our mills cannot compete with the mills of other countries, in their own country, with reasonable freight charges and a duty of 2s on rough timber and 4s on sawn timber in their favor, then it is useless to make an appeal to tha Government. What is a most striking feature of the position is that over £300,000 worth of timber was exported from New Zealand during the year 19"7, and tliis presumably competed with tin her from outside markets, though freight, duty, and other exoenses had to be paid. Tf our timber millers can compete with the millers of other countries inother markets, notwithstanding these additional i-vpenses, it seems singular that they cnanot make their industry pay in (heir own country where all these expenses must be suffered by their competitors, nnles-i they are exacting from their compatriot prices to compensate losses made nbro:cl.

The ami it il meeting of the Union Steam Ship Company was held to-day. The report and balance-sheet- were adopted, and a dividend of 9£d per share was declared for the six months ended 30th September, amounting to £31,666 13s 4d, and making, with the interim dividend, Is 7d per share for the twelve months covered by the balance-sheet. A bonus of per' share from the insurance fund was declared. At a committee meeting of the Oamaru Musical Soei-. 'v. held last evening, it was decided to huld the concert on the evening of Friday, 18th December. For the soprano 'solos in the oratorio, Hadyn's "Creation," the services of Miss Ellen Gard'ner, daughter of Mr Maitland Gard'ner, have been retained; and for the tenor solos the services of Mr Harrison-, a singer of considerable repute in Dnnedin. The committee feel confident that in introducing such high-class talent into the Society, their efforts to provide a first-class musical entertainment will meet, with a ready response from the public. The s.s. Wanaka arrived at Oamaru atsix o'clock this morning from Bluff. After discharging 50 tons of sugar for local merchants the Wanaka- will "load, produce for Auckland, sailing via- Timaru about midnight.

The s.s. Kaiapoi is due to arrive to-night from Dunedin with a quantity of Newcastle coal to land, after discharging which the vessel will sail for Timaru. The total rainfall for the month of November as recorded a,t Oamaru by Mr Jno. Patterson was 00.87 .inch," the maximum fall being 00.47 inch on the 28th. Rain fell on four days. The fall for the same month last year was 1.64 inch.

Numerous remains of mastodons have been found in the rivers and swamps of Siberia. Everybody has -wondered whence the Romanoffs could have emanated. It it now known that these monsters, which trampled upon the earth and its creatures with such crushing effect, were the progenitors of the royal house of Russia and that the affection for Siberia exhibited by the progeny of these departed ancient founders of their house is merely a phase of ancestor worship by proxy. Is it not a singular parallel that the creatures whose bones are the only memorials of their existence, ate so much and perpetrated such ravages amongst the smaller fry that their greed and selfish indulgence were their own undoing—they ate themselves out ■ of existence by too liberal draughts upon their larder. _ The entries for the Horticultural Sofiety's Summer Show of 1908 are now to ■hand, and the exhibition on Thursday promises_ to be more interesting and more beautiful than any show yet held bv the Society. Entries are good, especially in those classes that appeal particularly to the public the ladies' ' competitions. Ect the rose bowl and for the rose classes generally, both open and amateur sections; there is a greater number of competitors than usual, and as the season has been so favorable, it is anticipated that the blooms :

shown will excel anything we have yet seen in Oamaru.

At the Wallace (Southland) Show, Messrs Ford and Poole's three-year-old eolt, Garthland's Pi-idle, won the championship in the sot-lion lor draught horses, beating -Agitator, the old lUnnaiu .-liuiiipion. Garthland's Pride is by .Mr A. l>algleish's imported Garthland. Mr I'alglcish is much elated at the son of Garthlaud's victorv. In the class for brood mares, a daughter of Garthland (Minea.ha) beat Nelly Gray, the Southland champion last year. A very old identity died at her home, Mauso street, last evening in the person | of Mrs Catherine Williams, at the rape age of 80 years and six mouths (says the Waimate times). She came to New Zealand with her husband some 40 years ago, leaving two married daughters in K".gland. Thev first settled in Oamaru and then came "to Waimate, over 30 years ago. residing in Rhodes street, not far from the home in which she led a quiet widowed life, her husband having predeceased her a i»ood many years. She possessed intelligence above the average, was fairly well read, and had read the Bible from cover to cover live times through. She could read without glasses up to the last and possessed all her faculties until within a few days of her death. She. however, suffered considerable pain at times from a weak 'back, the result of a fall down a stair, yet she managed for many years to trim the. macrocarpa fence round her nrorjerty, which was perhaps the most neatly kept" in town and was admired by ali. The deceased will be buried on Wednesday.

The number of houseless people in Rome is estimated at from 400 to 5000. I'or tlio last ten yearn they have been widening streets at the cost of demolishing entire blocks of bouses and the inevitable result is that the houses left standing are insufficient to hold all the inhabitants of the city. Besides, rents are so high that poor people cannot afford the luxury of even a- room, and the oopular saying in Rome now is : "If one nays the landlord he has to go without eating, while if one eats he cannot pay any rent." The senza tetto, or houseless, have become a characteristic feature of modern Rome, and there are entire families of the laboring classes living in quarries or catacombs, encamped wilder the arches of ruined aqueducts, or sheltered in old railway carriages. Not even in the days of Imperial Rome, when the city was over-populated and crowded beyond measure, can a parallel be found to the present crisis. Even in the centre of Rome entire families are to be seen very often at night sleeping under the porticos of churches or the gateways of palaces. The remedy at last seems to have bpen found, as it is proposed to build without delay wooden huts on the outskirts of Rome to lodge the laboring classes.

The foundation of lifelong ill health may be laid for young girls by failure to keep their strength and health up to normal. Steam's Wine is best for them because it is a true tonic. 5 Tho discoveries -recently made by Dr Garstang, of the Liverpool Institute of Archaeology, who has been excavating the great cemetery at Abydos, have far exceeded his expectations. Among the principal! objects are some very fine specimens of early dynastic and prehistoric pottery and several specimens of miniature ivory carvings. One of these is a small sphinx holding in its claws a captive whom it is about to devour. The figure appears to

.be an artistic improvement upon the lions devouring captives represented on the slate tablets which were found at Abydos some, years ago. This little figure is the earliest representative of the sphinx hitherto discovered and seems to prove what has often been supposed, that this mythical monster was originally Asiatic in conception. The chief discovery, however, is that of a tomb of the llyksos or shepherd period, about 2000 8.C., the first that has ever been discovered. It contained a quantity of fine pottery of a non-Egyptian, character. The 'ware is black, beautifully glazed and as thin as porcelain. It is quite different from Egyptian workmanship and resembles the ware found in Syria and Asia Minor. The discovery of this tomb affords important evidence, showing that it is to the llittite people, whose empire, extended from the Euphrates to the iEgean and the site of whose capital is now marked by the mounds at BaghazKeui, that we must look for the home of the Hyksos, whose origin up to the present has been shrouded in mystery. For some time past naturalists in East Prussia (says a Dresden message in the Pall Jlall- Gazette) have been endeavoring to ascertain definitely the destination of migratory birds. Two years ago a large number of t.hese birds were caught and a, light metal ring with a number and date stamped on it fastened around one foot of each, bird, which was then sjt at liberty. The experiment lias proved very successful, some of these marked birds having been found at extraordinarily remote distances. A lake fowl, with a. ring dated' July 26, 1907, was shot in El Bahira, Tunis, and a stork, with a ring dated July 5, 1907, was killed near Fort Jameson," Rhodesia. It has long been

known that the house storks winter in .great numbers in Egypt, and that many also fly as far as Central Africa and German East Africa, .but that a stork would fly so far as from North Germany to Southern Africa is news indeed. The Taratu Coal Company desire to announce that their coal is now obtainable from any of the local merchants. Mr D. Herron, Tees street, however, will still remain as the chief agent for Oamaru and district. We offer the best value in knives, forks, and spoons. Our prices for teaspoons are 5s and 7s 6d per half-dozen; dessert forks and spoons, 12s 6d per half-dozen : table forks and spoons, 16s 6d per half-dozen—-all guaranteed electro-plate on pure nickel silver; Sheffield" table cutlery, warranted secure handles, 8s 6d and 10s 6d per halfdozen. We can also show you a nice range in case goods at lowest prices.—F. G. Marshall, Jeweller and Optician, Thames street. Mr GEORGE ROBINSON, Dental Sur-e-eon. mav be consulted at his residence, EDEN STREET (opposite Wesley Church). Elysian.—A Guaranteed Cure for Influenza. Obtainable from Milligan and Bond and Adam Mackay. 536 Skin Troubles, Chilblains, Cracks, and Chaps relieved immediately with '"Rod Cross" Ointment. Is 6d grocers and chemists. PARCELo FOR THE OLD COUNTRY.

Do you wish to send a Christmas or New Year memento or parcel to any relative or friend either in the Home Country or some other country abroad. If so, you will find the N.Z. Express Co.'s system the cheapest, best, quickest, and surest method. The company will call for your package and will deliver it to any address'. Reduced tariff. Office: Wear street. 267 Burns lose their sting immediately "Red Cross" Ointment is applied. Keep it on hand. Is 6d everywhere.