The Oamaru Mail. SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 1909.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10042, 9 January 1909, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 1909.

The local agents of the New Zealand Shipping Company. Limited) and the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company, Limited, hava received advice that the rate of freight on wool -hence to London will be reduced to |d per lb for greasy, and 7-16ths of a penny for -washed and slipe after the 16th inst. This reduction has been matte to meet the low rates of freight ruling from Australia to London, A meeting of the Oamaru A'mfttair Swimming Club Committee Was held in the secretary's office last evening. There were 15 members of committee preseiit, and Mr Peter Williams occupied the Chair. It was decided! to hold a carnival on Thursday, 4th February. The following programme was drafted and will be forwarded to Tlimaru for adbptioA bj. the South Canterbury Ceiitte2syds Maiden, 50ydfc Oamiru. Club Handicap, SOyds jat«r-Club Handicap, 75yds Breast Stroke Handicap (open), 50yds Junior Handicap, High Dive, Springboard l Dive, Plate Dive., 100 yds Belay Race (inter-club), Water Polb, 50yds Oamaru Boating Club Handicap. It waa also decided to hold evening races on Friday, 22nd> t January, th# Brents being: 75yds Senior, sQyds Junior, and an Oamaru Boating Club race. At the meeting of the Mackenzie County Council a letter was read from the manager of the Hakataramea estate to the effect that as a result of the heavy snow of last winter the track over the Hakataramea Saddle was in a bad state, and asking that it bs made good again as soon as possible. It was decided to attend to the matteT.

Whilst engaged excavating at the rear of the police station, the workmen cut through what had evidently been ufied' in the early days of settlemeiit as a sheep .dip. The shape of the receptacle has been exceedingly well preserved, the black soil with which it has been filled in making the outline stand out distinctly. Councillor M'Adam's, motidn to feet up a committee to inquire iiilo the best means of lessening Or. totally abolishing the dangeta of level railway crossings in Oamaru Borough, and endorsed at last night's meeting of the Council, was decidedly practical and will commend itself. In other parte of the Dominion the Railway Department have already taken Bteps to minimise the evil by building overhead crossings, and there seems little reason, even acknowledging the expense, why the crossings in Oamaru Should not similarly treated.

Some months ago workmen engaged in sinking a deep drain in the borough, unearthed a quantity of bones which were ■undoubtedly those of the primeval mo®. 1 This week, while sinking a drain nine or ten feet below the surface at the rear of the polic« station, the 'workmen came acrosq some bones which are undoubtedly those of a moa, the quantity of which would' almost indicate that the skeleton was a complete one. Unfortunately the relics were not sufficiently preserved to allow of their removal, those that were brought to the air being ready to crumble •at the slightest touch. During his recent visit to the South Island, Mr G. Allport, Secretary for Marine, inspected the fish hatcheries at Hakataramea and Port-obello (says tie Wellington Post). Excellent work is being done at both places. The ova - obtained from the quinnat salmon in the Waitaki and Hakataramea rivers have been successfully hatched out, and. the young fish have been liberated in those streams. The imported lobsters and crabs at Portobeillb were stripped at the proper time and 1 the fry placed in Otago Harbor, where it is believed .they will thrive well. Ova from flounders taken by the trawlers havo bean similarly dealt with by the staff at the Portobello hatchery. The s.s. ICoonya arrived last- night at 10 o'clock from Dunedin, landed 30 tons .general cargo, shipped 70 tons of produce, and sailed at 1 o'clock this morning for Wellington audi coast ports, via. Timaru. The second express from Christchurch was delayed for some time yesterday "rough a guard on the -wheels of one of tha carriatrea becoming detached about two mile* this side of Timaru. The train, h.wover, arrived here -well up to time.

The ballot in connection with the settlement of the Kauroo Estate will in all probability take place on the 19th or 20th of March. Those who know the jfroperty best are of opinion that it is suitably subdivided, and that the assessors h«,ve so arranged the values that every holding should "prove an excellent investment.

The members of the Borough Council spoke of Hen street almost as unexplored territory la6t night, and in all the circumstances there is some reason for. feeling that to the majority of the Councillors the thoroughfare under discussion was known only by name. With the name | they were more or less familiar, because some time ago it" was decided! that necessary improvements desired bythe ratepayers be effected, as early as" possible. This is so long since as to be forgotten by all "who axe not compelled to make the' rough passage of Nen street in bad weather. The matter was recalled to the mi,nds of the City Fathers by Councillor M'Adam last evening, and it was decid'ed again that the work be proceeded with "as early as possible." Judging from experience, this is not nearly definite enough, for "as early as possible" is _too obviously merely a facon de parle, and, accepting 1 the phrase at its market value, the longsuffering residents of Neri street would hove to live through another winter; in whieh rain serves to accentuate eryery out- i ward and -visible manifestatioii of VMglect. , Th«re are ratepayers "in Ncn street who |

liaTO seen 30 yean peBS without its vifgii soil having been contaminated by contac with pick or shovel, so in all probabilit; Councillors" have decided that the changi shall not come upon them with Buch Bud denness as to cause'a shock, hence the xe solution to do the work "as soon as pos Bible," which, in municipal parlance, ma; mean any time within the next quarter o a century. We mention Nen. fetreet, par ticularjyj but HiSre aro Others in the which have languished under 1-eet so as to have lost all The ordt nar- attributes of public thoroughfares. Sir Joseph and Lady Ward arrived u China ru by to-day's second express, anc will e>pend the next few days ai Elderslie as t.he guests of Mr anc Mrs John Reid. It is under&tooc that Sir Joseph's stay in Oamari will - be purely in the nature o: a holiday, and that he will, as much ai possible, relieve himself of the worriei incidental t to his position as the leading public man of the Dominion. So faT asjt known at present, Sir Joseph and Lad 3 Ward will leave Oamaru on 'JCuefidaj next en route for Mount Cook* The musical pirogfainme promised 6om< time ago by the White family "will be ren dered m the Salvation Army Barracks 01 Monday evening, at 8 p.m., and will als< take the form, of a final to Ad iutant and Mrs ShaTp and Ensign ant >lrs Baylis, the price of admission bein( 6d. Farewell meeting 3 will be given t> the officers to-morrow at 11 a.m., 3 p.m. aid 7 p.m. Adjutant and Mrs Sharp an appointed to Sydenham, and Ensign ani Mrs Baylis to South Dunedin. Ensigi and Mrs Middlemiss Eucceed our Oamari officers, taking charge here on Thursday the 14t!i inst. It has been definitely fixed that tin Shaw, Savill and Albion Company's s.s Karamea will load frozen meat and gene ral cargo at Oamaru, arriving this da; week, 16th inst, A meeting of the TrauSs Picnic Com mittee was held in Sursts's rooms las evening. The members who had vteitei Hampden reported having 6fttisffl.c toT.y arrangements for IHe sh[>piy of ho wattjf and milk, and other details. Xh purchase of prizes for the sports was lef to Messrs J. Cagney and H. Thomas. Ar rangements were also made for the sal of tickets on the morning of the picnic The secretary was instructed to write ti the Garrison Band asking them to pla; on the same terms as last year. It wa decided to have a, box placed on th grounds for donations from those win -wished to give a small donation towardi the expense of the hot water and milk. | Several cases >hav*) lately _ o I owners of bicycles having their machine j taken away when left temporarily oUtsid" ! places of buskiess. In one instance i ! cyclist feft hifi bicycle in front of tin ; A.M.I?, building a. fortnight ago* an< i though lia immediately informed th ' palice, it Waa riot rdcovered until yester day. It hiul been found in the back yarc i of a> boardinghouse, where evidently i | was deposited 'by the person who had fo t a time converted it to ihis use. Whdt j ever the jjuFpose of thus causing ihcon it would be well, if oile of t'hos I persons with a perverted idea of the lav of raeum and tuuift ajsptehehded an< made to recognise .Ui3. rights of property. It has been decided by the No-licensi Party, at Manuk&u, where- reductioii wa, recently carried, to nominate a ticket fo: the Licensing 'Committed election, to b< held next March. At a meeting held re bentiy to consider this question (says th< Auckland Star) a Rub-committee was ap pointed to select suitable men candi dates. At the same time, the opinion was expressed by some of the members thai it would be wise to negotiations witl the "other side" with the view to & compromise, thereby saving the costjpf ar election. Some of the more enthusiasts workers spoke strongly against the sug' p-estion, and argued that the temperancf neople ought to bo able to elect a L* censing Cfommittee which would be pledged t< close the maximum number (4) of hotels., and also to feftisd an accommodation hfteilfie at the new ealeyards in connection with, tlie abattoirs at Otahuhu. Tne resolution to nominate temperance Candidates was carried A "IhrOUgn" goods service between Wellington andi Auckland by the Main Trunk line, was inaugurated yesterday {says Friday's Dominion);. It will take two days, at IfcaSt, for t-o travel between the two cities. : The Genteral Mana-ger for Railways, CQiief Engineer for Railways, and 1 Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department left yesterday to make an inspection of that portion of the line which is still in the hands of the Public Works (authorities. Their ostensible object is to judge how soon the line will be sufficiently completed for its entire transference to the Railway Department, and the institution of a doily express service. As, however, a daily express service was run with creditable punctuality, in. addition to the present two days* service, throughout the •holiday season, one would suppose that the expresses might be made permanent at once, if the Department's rolling stock were Adequate to its needs. A number of station buildings along the line are still far from completion, but they a.r-6 sufficiently advanced' to -cope with traffic. It will probably be & coiiple of months before all th© work of building and roading is finished* Speaking with reference to thft report that Mir Billon was likely to retire in iavor of the Hon. R. M'Nab, the member ior Hawked Ba#. bfeijig elevated to the Legislative .Council, Sir J. G. Ward said to a Dominion reporter:—"You may safely discredit that rumor. The matter of appointing Mr Dillon to the Upper House has not been before me, and I do not think siich a step is likely to be taken.'' # A Woodville lady, who is on a visit Home, writes as follows: —"I must tell you of my visit to Devonport Dockyard, where I was invited on 'board the battleship New Zealand. I thought it would interest our New Zealand children to [enow that their money, which was collected to buy something for the ship, was spent in a very large bell. It is ticed' while the vessel is in port to call t-he men to church on Sundays, and for dl purposes while at eea. It is inscribed?. Subscribed for by the school children of New Zealand for H.M.S. New Zealand.' rhe shield: which was presented by New Zealand is a very handsome one: it has spaces all round it for the names of the )est marksmen on the ship. It has to ye something very .good before their names ire put on it. One of the eailors has his en twice, and there seven of the ;paces filled." According to an account given to a Wclington Post representative by a visitor etijrning on the Marama, the Chinese >opulation of Sydney have been purchasn«r revolvers and small arms to an unpreedented extent. While the visitor was

in a gunsmith's eliop in Sydney no fewer than six Chinese entered and made purchases of revolvers. The proprietor of the shop - said this had. been going on for several months, during which he had sold hundreds, of such weapons to the Chinese. Other gunsmiths had done the tame. What the reason was for such "a demand he did! not know." It might have been for self-protection, but he rather believed that the Chinese anticipated trouble in their native land, and were laying in large stocks for smuggling through. Rare creatures are occasionally found on both land and sea, and Stewart Island has furnished the latest in this respect. Recently (according to the Southland Daily News) a party of three were having a jaunt at Ringa-Ringa, when they discovered some commotion in the water near the beach, and on hurrying to the scene they discovered what they thought to be a baby whale, which had apparently grounded on the beach and was unable to set off. The party attacked it, and after a desperate struggle the creature was despatched and dragged to the beach. On examination it was found to be about eight feet long, sharp-nosed, and without any sign of teeth, and a email fin on the back towards the tail. A nautical man who examined) the monster pronounced it to be a mystery, not being of the whale or black fish species, though it has a blow hole on the top of the head similar to the whale. The German; fire-eaters are said to have been somewhat dashed by a> bulletin, issued by thfl general staff, on. the authority of General Wilhelm von Blume, as to the eoet of a modern European war. Germany, according to General von Blume, wouid be able to put 4,750,000 troops in the field; audi to maintain this army in a contest with any European Power would require £300,000,000 a year. . This reckoning does not include the results of industry. General voni Blume 'believes that the loss of,life, wouldl be heavier than, in the war between Russia audi Japan, in which 20 per cent, of the Japanese armies in the field 1 were killed! or wounded. If this proportion were to hold', Germany would lose, say, at least 900,000 in killed and wounded in the same length of tame. These axe. staggering figures, but the course of recent wars makes them highly probable. For the German, militarists and the English_ jingoes, who are constantly talking gs if a clash between the two countries i§ unavoidable, the. estimates o/ General

Ton Blurnfe would afford food for sober thought, were theeo belliocce gentry capable of 6Uch exercise. An angler from Napier (Mr F. A. Nesbitt), who is one of a party of fishermen staying' at Jhe Terrace Hotel, Taupo, whilo fishing on tne ca6t side of tho lake, .lifear the hotel recently, caught a large rainbow trout, wfeighuig 211b. Its total length wag 3tin., and its girth measurement 23in. This is understood to be tho largest rainbow trout caught in the lake. Mr Nes* bitt has been very successful during his stay at Taupo, having caught a number of fine fish, but nothing equalling tho aforementioned 21 pounder. Two smart sales were brought under our notice the other day, and both were effected by local horse-dioalers, says the Wairarapa Standard. An employer of horses had resolved on getting rid of a horse that was little or no use to Ixini, and a dealer got him for £3. His new owner touched him up a bit, and offered him for sale at the yards, wheal he was repurcliased by his original owrier for £2l. SomO weeks ago a local ftiTmer wanted a fool-so for his spriiig-cart, and approached a dealer, who happened to have an aiumnl that would suit-, but the price asked didn't. There was a difference of £3, the dealer wanting £lB and' the farmer offering £ls. Rather than lose the chance of tKo sale, tho dealer dropped his price to £l6 10s, but sit-ill the farmer was obdurate —ho know the value of a horse when lie saw one. Well, the deal did not conie otf, and the dealer sent the horse to Dastnevirke yards the following week, when he brought £27, and the WoodviUe fanner was the purchaser.

Sir lan Hamilton, who recently unveiled the Manchester War Memorial, and who has 35 years' military service to his credit, tells an amusing st-ory of a little incident that happened in South Africa while lie was acting as chief of staff to Lord Kitchener. He had occasion to visit rather a large depot of which a young officer was in command; Going through certain papers General Hamilton found .that these were Hot- tjuitS iii order, anil at last said rather wearily to the officer, "You know thu sort of thing will not do at all. What do you suppose your brains were given you for?" "I am suro I do not know, General," was the cheerful reply. "Since I came here I have worked 16 hours a day and more. I have acted as mule teamster, porter, van guard, supply officer, stationmaster, orderly-room clerk, tvnist, and a dozen other tilings. I think if 1 had not been endowed with brains I might have managed to take on two or three more jobs as well, but as it is, I must admit- I am somewhat handicapped." . Sir lan Hamilton was forced to laugh, and shortly after the young officer found himself attached to the General's personal staff. After, a long ( exhausting illnessi when health is slow about returlng, Steam 8 Wine is always found of great value. By gently stimulating the appetttito It aids nutrition and restore strength. 9 Itefcrriiig tb Pt'ltict v<ni BuloW b threatened resignation last month, tho London Daily Xlaal! stated': —"Two distinct. camps are pitted agairtst each other —Prince Bulfiw s immediate political friends and official subordinates, who want him retaihecl; and' the powfljrfnl Court party, which wishes him Kicritlced in order to complete the whitewashing of tho Emperor and fix tho blame for 'Germany's shame' upon the shoulders of the Chancellor. Both parties revealed their hands tho other day. Prince Bulow's ■ supporters launched a veiled attack on the through the medium, of an amazing article in the Gologtio Gazette, intimating that tho Chancellor was unable to come to his Majesty's defence with a second speech at the close of tho dobate because the Kaiser continued to ab-

sent himself from Berlin, in a round of hunting, travelling, and Court pleasures. The 'Kaiser party,' through the official news agency of I!ic Conservative, retorted with a savage onslaught on Prince- Builow for failing t-o sliieUd] tho Kaiser from the extravagant, criticism of tho Reichstag and for neglecting to advise his Majesty that, 'in these gloomy days for monarchy' Inn place was at tlio side of hia official counsellors in Berlin. Tlie Conservative attack emanated from tho powerful ultraRoyalists, who possess great influence over tho* personal actions of tho Emperor." Mr S. J. .Davys', dentist, will visit Kurow on Thursday, 11th instant, and may be consulted at Mr Spiel's' Holcl. A special purchase of 500 pairs, thanks to the ■vigilance of our Home buyer w,e can now offer you tlie choice of 500 pair® of ourtains, which he has secured from a Nottingham manufacturer at a considerable reduction off usual price. AH these aurtains are now marked at one quarter lees than regular value; moreover, they are quite new, and include the latest' designs. White lace curtains, 2S, yards long, usual price 2s Bd, 3s 6d, 4s 6d, white sale price 1b 3d, 2s 6d, 3s 6d; white lace curtains, 3 yards long, usual price 4a 6d, 5s 6d, 6s lid, white sale pTico 3s 6d, 4e 3d, 5s 3d; 3£ yards long, usual price Ss 6d, 7a 6d, 9s 6d, lis 6a, white sale price 4s 3d, 5s 9d, 7s lid, 9s 3d; 4 yards 'lone, usual price 10s 6d, 15s, 17s, 21s, white sale price 8s 6d, lis 9d, 15s 3d> 176 9d. Keen competition.—3oo sample towels; good enough for an exhibition. Towels sent out to order from overy one tested; and examined before, leaving tho mills. Those who appreciate a good towel should! inspect these sample towefe. They are greatly reduced for the white sale. —Penrose's Drapery Establishment.