The Oamaru Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 26, 1910.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10516, 26 July 1910, Page 3

The Oamaru Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 26, 1910.

The three chief planks in the gambling

programme of racing The Gambling arc to shortly sotQuestion. tied on linos two < t which are determined, the. third being stopped for a moment for a mere matter of detail. We. rejoice that we shall presently bury the bookmaker under a legislative weight which, wo must at the same time he permitted to hope, will be heavy enough to prevent any resurrection in any shape or form. Tin; main fear in "this direction is that the illicit betting which disfigured every street of every city in the teeth of tin; law once may again develop its old power of baffling the law. The epitaph we want to see on the tomb of the bookmaker, therefore, is "Boot and Branch." Regarding the machine, it is not interfered with for the time, so far as the principle' of its life is concerned. Hut it is seriously warned. The warning, .written in the smallness of the majority which upheld the principle and emphasised stronglv by the fact that some of its strength was due to tiie dislike of members to play tbo game of the bookmaker by placing the man and the, machine in the same category, we have great pleasure in endorsing. lor future guidance there is the analog/ of the liquor traffic, for which it has always been contended that the protection of the State is necessary for the purpose of keeping up the standard of the liquor offered to the public. To this reply was made in the beginning that the question is a question, of fact which ought to be left to the people themselves to determine. That reply prevailed. Hence we have local option in the liquor trade. The cases being precisely similar the same reply ought to be made, and local option should be made the arbiter of the machine. In the meantime while the machine is on its good behavior after the sharp warning administered, and emphasised as we have said, the question of helping it to remain so will be before the House presently. Objection was made to the fifty per cent, reduction of the permits issued every year. But there is nothing to show that anyone in the House dissents from the principle that the number of permits is so excessive as to bo nothing short of a public scandal. Between the half of the original resolution, and the one-sixth suggested by Mr Davey, there is a vast playground for a detail discussion. A reasonable compromise ought not to be beyond the wit of the men engaged in a serious attempt to diminish and keep down the gambling evil, which as it prevails at present is in the interests neither of the sport nor the people.

The three chief pi V The Gambling a Question. tl w

Some remarkably good catches of small birds have been made in South Canterbury recently. At Beautiful Valley, Mr R. Southby, the Temuka Road Board's birdeatcher. caught 3000 birdsin five days. Mr W. King, junr., made another good catch recently, 'getting 1250 in one day with one net. One man in the Temuka district recently earned a cheque of £l4 by his catch of small birds. The usual monthly meeting of the North School Committee was hold in the school office last evening, there being present:- Messrs James Mitchell (chair), W. James, Goo. S. Jones, W: F. Meldrura, R. C. Young, R, Rusbatch, S. Mollison, T. Jones, and NMeldrum (hon. sec). The headmaster, was also in attendance. Tho minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. The headmaster reported that owing to tho prevalence of sickness and the inclemency of the weather the attendance had been lower than usual. Tho average attendance for the past quarter had been 351 out of a roll number of 395. Ho submitted a series of historical pictures for the approval of the Committee. The Committee decided to purchase tlio set and have them hung on the walls of the school in due course. Mr A. E. Lindsay, scoutmaster of the north end troop of boy scouts, wrote, asking for the use of a room for one or two nights in the week for instruction purposes. The matter was left in the hands of the chairman

and headmaster to bo dealt with. Accounts amounting to £l3 10s 9d wero passed for payment. Miss Dora White, at present in tho Cromwell School, was recommended to tho Board as tho Committco's nominee for the appointment as junior assistant. The mooting closed with a vote of thanks to the chair. A first offending inebriate wat brought before his Worship, Mr T. Hutchison, S.M., at the Magistrate'* Court this morning, and fined 5s and costs 25.. The English mail, via Wellington, Sydney and Brindisi, which was despatched from Oamaru on Thursday, 16th Juno, arrived in London on tljo 23rd July, one day early. At to-day's meeting of the Oamaru Harbor Board tho harbormaster reported that owing to tho heavy easterly swell since tho 20th June ho had boon unable to take soundings. Tho Tiniaru dredge left on tho 'lth July, and if it had been kept till now it would have been impossible to do any work whero tho dredging is required at tho entrance. He hoped to find- when taking soundings outside that the heavy swell had levelled it dfiwn and given an equal depth on the linn of beacons. At to-day's mooting of the Oamaru Harbor Board the Chairman voiced a grievance of the local fishermen, in that they wore compelled to send their fish to market by the first northwardbound express, the Railway Department refusing to carry it by tho second. They desired that this disability l)e removed. Half-past eleven was too early to get their lish awa.y to the market, as tho boats wore barelv in by that time, and to him (tho 'chairman) the request did not seem unreasonable. He moved —"That the Railway Department he communicated with a request to arrange for the transit of iish for tho northern markets by (ho second oxpress, and that the local members (,f Parliament be asked to lend their assistance in the .matter." Tho motion was seconded by Mr Mackay and carried. "The Lake of Blood," the Roth-See, near Lucerne, lias assumed its sanguinarv color this season after many years, owing to the presence of a seaweed which is rarely found in the Alps. Tho peasants will not visit the lake, and have ordered their children not to look at it, as they believe misfortune is sure to follow. Whenever this lako becomes red wars, it is said, have, occurred, and therefore it is predicted that before the end of this year a war will break out somewhere m tho world. Last evening a number of the members of the Endeavor Lodge of Druids met at the residence of Bro. G. Harm for tho purposo of presenting him with a memento on the occasion of his maklii" a trip to tho Old Country. On behalf of the Lodge, W.S. Bro. Vino asked Bro. Harris to accept a travelling bag as a slight token of the esteem in which ho is held by tho brethren, and expressed tho hope that his holiday would be brimful of pleasure. Other brethren also expressed their appreciation of Bro. Harris as a lodge-worker, and wished him a safo return to Oamaru. Bro. Harris suitably acknowledged the gift. Tho pleasantness of the evening was greatly enhanced by the hospitality extended to tho visiting brethren. The. Talmerston School Committeo last night recommended Mr John Rutherford for headmaster of the I'almerston School (wires our .special correspondent). Mr Rutherford was fourth on the Education Board's list. The Committeo passed a resolution that tho Board should take steps to hare tho Education Act amended making it compulsory for headmasters of district high schools to remain at least five years in their appointments. The requirement of the. Act to-day is one year.

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Getting a patent is not easy and safe a thing, or not invariably, as manv people think. The -man with an idea." should consult an expert. Messrs Baldwin and Ray ward, of Lainbton Quay, Wellington, publishers of "Progress"—the inventors' journal—are constantly saving people expense and trouble. Local agent: E. Piper, Thames street. Oamaru. 6