PASSING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1951, 11 April 1889, Page 21

PASSING NOTES.

Whilst able editors on both sides of- the world are whipping their brains in vain efforts to foresee the political consequences of the Hegira, or Flight, of General Boulanger, it may be useful to remember that brave generals and great rulers before now have run away, and have come baqk again, without suffering any particular discredit. Did not Mahomet run away from Mecca, and do not Mahometans, by way of glorying in the fact, reckon 'their era from the date of his flight? Did not Moses, after a political duel in which he killed his man, run away from Egypt? And did he not come back again, "with very unpleasant consequences to Pharaoh and the, Egyptians?

If these precedents are thought beside the point, Boulanger not bein£ among the prophets, there are others nearer home that exactly fit the case. In France, since 1815, there has not been king or emperor who had not at one time fled before the face of the Government he ultimately supplanted. The restored Bourbons, Louis XVIII (1814-15) and Charles X (1824), had run away from the Revolution and Napoleon; Louis Philippe, Orleanist (1830), had run away from the restored Bourbons; Louis Napoleon (1851) from Louis Philippe. If use and wont count for anything in France, Boulanger's flight is the indispensable preliminary to his coming into power." All's well that ends well, says the devout Boulangist to himself, moralising the situation. The Government desired to arrest Boulanger : Well, what- does cc bray General do? He runs away, and the Government is baffled. What could be better ? Also, the Government desired to cut off Boulanger's head ;— instantly Boulanger deports his head to Belgium, and preserves it to France and the war of revenge. Vive Boulanger I This is one view of the matter, but, of course, there is another. The other view I find stated ready to my hand by a contributor, as follows : — Boulangism, so far as it is represented by Boulanger himself, is passing a bad quarter of an hour just now. A fortnight ago Boulanger's throat threatened to give an altogether unexpected turn to French history, by indefinately postponing the revolution and dictatorship, together with the war of revenge and all other good things to which many Frenchmen are confidently looking forward. The cable informed us that the wound in the general's throat, received in his duel with M. Floquet, was reopening, and that his condition was critical. It would have been strange indeed if the Gordian knot were to have been cut for the French Government in that way. M, Floquet, in meeting Boulanger sword in hand and pinking him well nigh fatally, showed a practicality too often lacking in politicians. If the general was to be snuffed out no effort of statesmanship could have devised & more direct and expeditious way than that. Floquet's laudable attempt miscarried, however, and the general after a very short period of eclipse began to reappear ab the head of triumphant majorities in the various constituencies he contested. Probably Boulanger during the last year has headed more polk than most popular representatives are fated to do in a lifetime. Bat the persistence with which the general bobs up is equalled by the tenacity of purpose shown by successive Governments in putting him down. He survived his dismissal from the French army and the Floquet duel, but if his prestige is not shattered by this latest coup of M. Tirard's it is safe to say that it will resist anything. The spectacle of a popular idol with the country at his back showing a clean pair of heels to the enemy is one almost without; a historical parallel. That Bonlanger h&R made the great mistake of his career is evident. It may have been the time to strike ifc may have been the time to submit; but no conceivable reasoning can it have been the time to run away. It is perhaps better after all to be in hot water like Boulanger than in cold water, as one of his most distinguished supporters has been lately. While Boulanger has been with difficulty dodging the gens d'armes, Prince Jerome Bonaparte has had two narrow escapes upon the treacherous element — escapes marked by so singular a coincidence as to prove beyond dispute that some baleful genius has an eye on poor Jerome. In view of the proximity of the elections and the generally portentous aspect of affairs, Jerome, it seems, rose to the occasion. He took a resolution. Alone and incognito he would trust himself to the mercy of the waves arossing to cettepcrfide Albion in the Ostend mail boat in order to consult the ex.Empress Eugenic, still in her retirement at Ohiselhurst, a bit of an intrigante it would appear. The Prince carried his resolve into execution, but although incognito as far as captain and crew were concerned, his fate pursued him. He was a hostage to fortune, and too good a hostage to be neglected. Therefore it was ordained that the mail boat on this very voyage should b6 cut down in a collision, and close to the cabin of Prince Jerome. The latter was rescued, but with difficulty. And mark what followed. A few days later only the dauntless Jerome, having transacted his business, decides to return, travelling as before, via Ostend ; and once more does the mail boat collide, this time with a barque off Dover. Is this chance ? Perhaps ; but the luckless Prince will scarcely think it so. It may mean that he is preserved from peril for a great career ; it may mean (according to English ideas) that Jerome is intended for another end than drowning ; or it may (and the Prince himself will probably incline to this belief) be the outcome of a deep dark plot hatched by '• Sir Salisbury 1 * and the " Lord Smith." The resignation of the Hon. George Fisher removes from the Cabinet one perturbed spirit, gives the Treasury one salary the less to pay, and leaves the Ministry with one debater instead of two. The Hon. George proved to be by constitution unfitted to browse in the pleasant pastures of the Ministerial paddock. A fiery unrest was upon him, and he seems to have been perpetually trying to break the fences down or butting his colleagues in tender places. As he fought his way into the Ministry, so it was inevitable that he would fight his way out of it. When appointed to the Government Insurance Boaid Mr Fisher at once took up a commanding attitude as leader of the Opposition — the said Opposition consisting of himi self alone ; a minority of one. In that position Mr Fisher strove so fervently with his colleagues that he placed them one by one hors de combat and improved the Insurance Board itself out of existence. He next forced himself into office, and, according to his own organ, while there has managed to fall out with the Premier upon the few following subjects:— The Te Kooti affair, the appointment of Mr Justice Denniston, th©constitution of the railway board, tlaeappointment of an engineer-in-chief, thealteration in the property tax, land nationalisation, the amendment of the CharitableAid Act, the leasing of the Canterbwiy runs,, and the North .Island Trnnk railway, ijoute. Small wonder then that the Premier thinksi matters J may go on more , harmoniously* in the absence of the fighting Fisher.' ThePremier himself is a man of peace.' 'Like 11 Buck "Fanshaw, peace he ntfZJ have if b$

has ; ,to waltz in with his bowie knife and re- . ,volver, and lame every man in the crowd in order to secure it. ; A holy calm he trusts wijll.now settle upon the, Cabinet. , He can ; answer at .any rate for the Premier, the Colonial Treasurer, the Postmaster-general, the Commissioner of Stamps and Telegraphs, ,thei Minister,, of- Education, &c, all these' functionaries being ( , embodied, in, the person of Sir Harry Atkinson. If dissensions; should still, arise Sir Harry must 'assimilate, a few. more portfolios and save a few more salaries. to. the country. The worst of it is that as soon, as unanimity is, arrived at ,by this pro-, cess ,and a Cabinet .thoroughly agrees with .itself, it disagrees, with die country, and there is a " burst up." I observe that the Qtago teacher's, in Educational Institute assembled, expressed a „ qualified approval of what they called " the .^principle, of kindergarten." What is the ( principle of kindergarten 1 , Apparently the principle .that all school work should take j the form of play. , Not for infants only-r-whom some kindergarteners, it seems, would send to school before they can walk— but for, children of , any age the jalap of education is to be concealed in the treacle of amusement. , Jltf Fiizger'ald expounded the •• principle' of kindergarten" in this sense at great length,, and then moved a resolution affirming that the principle was " true to nature, and that the spirit of kindergarten may well pervade all public school work"— which resolution was carried. It is a very pretty theory. this "prinqiple of kindergarten," but better adapted to the Garden of Eden than the fallen world we actually live in. I don't find it true to any appreciable extent at any stage of life that, work can be disguised as play. " True to nature," is it 1 Then nature ,is very generally and very persistently mis- - understood. In all the school boys I have come across nature draws the sharpest distinction between work and play. Make the acquisition of the "three X's" amusing if you can, by all means ; turn the multiplication .tatyle into a comic song ; teach "concrete arithmetic," whatever that may be, by games, . and grammur in jokes— the youngster will fling it all up in a moment if offered the alternative of a romp in the school yard. Work is restraint, and do as you are bid ; play is liberty and do as you like. He is a dull schoolboy who doesn't know the difference. On this, subject a correspondent sends me the following :— Dear, Civis, — From your remarks on kindergartens, and the Chautauqua circle system, of education, I fear you do nut realise their full relation ; to what I expect will be the system of the near future, wben I hope we shall be able to glow our philosophers, , inventors, lawyers, doctors, mechanics, farmers, &c, much in the same manner as Topsy was raised, and without the need of any exceptional effort on the part of the student to acquire the knowledge necessary for the vocation he means to follow. At present the advocates of the Chautauqua circle are anxious to finish the top of the bui'ding, irrespective of .the nature of the foundation;, and those ,of the kindergarten' waut . to build in,, the; middle. Vincent Pyke, in his story 0f, ," Blue Cap," seems to have gone a good deal nearer the foundation where education ought to commence than either. A proper attention to pairing or mating of the parents should 1 be the first preparation for the education of the future infant. ' The surroundings of the mother and her constant studies for some months before the, birth of the child should be of the same kind as that which it is intended the child should ultimately follow, and the child when weaned should then be handed over to the kindergarten, and then in due time to the Chautauqua circle, and when .finished off by them he will be fully equipped for the duties of life without any exceptional effort on his part. I hay,e | received the prospectus of the Auckland' Cemetery Company, Limited, "formed to provide the citizens of Auckland with a suitable and unobjectionable place, or places of 'burial for 'their dead." The grammar of this sentence may be open to criticism, but' that need not detain us. What ' fixes attention is the nature arid the objectshigh'and holy objects they are — of the company itself. All men are mortal, consequently all men must be buried, and of course it is desirable that they jshpuld be buried in what, this prospectus describes as " a suitable ana unobjectionable place or places." No citizen of Auckland, I am sure, could contemplate without pain bis being buried in an unsuitable and objectionable place or places, hence, it is to be hoped, the shares of the Auckland Cemetery Company (which are 20,000 at £1 each) will be subscribed promptly by the citizens of Auckland as a mere matter of decency and duty to society. My sympathies go with the company for another reason — its promoter is our' old friend Mr J. Aitken Connell, whpse memory is still fragrant in Otago. In the North Mr Connell is known as " the tactician " — a name be invented and adopted for himself, I believe, during his memorable election campaign two years ago. The hand of ," the tactician " is plainly visible in this prospectus. Mr Connell proposes to bury his fellow' citizens in clay land, well drained, " with a cheerful and beautiful outlook." The holder of 20 shares is privileged to deposit his bones in an " extra first-class site " ; holders of ten shares go to first-class, ' holders of three to second-class, but the clay soil, the drainage, and the outlook are common '. to all alike. Mr' Connell then drpps into 'figures and proves that "a very large profit may be confidently looked for as the result of the company's operations." "It is evident," he says. " that the amount derived from) ales of sites to persons other than shareholders will be more than sufficient to repay the whole capital of the company, leaving the shareholders in possession of burial places free of cost." This is alluring, certainly. Good dividends during life, and at death a peaceful tomb free of cost in clay land with excellent drainage and a cheerful outlook, : — what shareholder could expect more, or what other company ever promised so much? This is better than Stewart Island tin, a long way. !Besides.*tbis prospectus I have received a letter from Mr Opnnell himself calling my attention to an j t article he has written on [ 11 Scientific Agriculture.". . He ( { says : j lay ! myself (pdrposely).'open in, jihafc article i or a gbodj slashing wigging^which no man can gfye me better than yourself." This is a 1 I should bd delighted, to justify, <

but .unhappily. I .find myself in. difficulties, The passage for which Mr Connell' asks to be wigged and slashed is the followingrrit is long, b(ut will be found interesting: — ' , As a race you farmers are .prejudiced, exceed-, ingly ignorant of things you ought to know, of .things you must learn if you are, to be success-, ful, and the worst of it is that if any man dares to teach you, or proposes to teach you, nine out of ten of yoty will, f!eel grossly insulted. , ••.Think', of a fellow offering to teach pie to make, good butter; why, I have beep making butter all my life and was making butter before'he was born," Exaciltfi, and 'stuff' it was'; arid youtt)ow'<acknowledgelryour t ,ign'orance arid go 'down on your knees a's you ought to do, if you' were'a c sensible man, and never lose sight of the man of real knowledge until you had:succeeded. in_ getting him to impart some of that'knowledge to you. , -_. / ; | Take this matter of butter, for instance. I have, lived exactly 30 years is, New^ealand. (I( I think Lai^a/pafticularjy good jjuclgej qf/b'user, and have travelled over the length,and breadt^ of New Zealand off and on,' during the whole' of' that r '3O years. - i j ' ' Now, I declare, whatever amount of wrath j I may bring down upon my head in consequence of such declaration, that I-have only come across one man. in the whole colony, of :New Zealaqd who made what; I call really first-class butter,, and, alas for New Zealand, that man is now, dead and.makes butter no more,, His name was Joljn Mathieson, of Otago Peninsula. Take cheese. I fancy myself a judge of cheese. Similarly, jn all my travels, I only came across one man who made really Al cheese, That man was James Stevenson, of the Taieri' Plains, and he makes cheese no more. In his case he made cheese jto some purpose, as'he was able to retire from active business on the proceeds before he was • anything like an old man; and my friend Mr Mathieson —my Al butter-maker—died leaving a good many thousand pounds behind him. I affirm unhesitatingly .that any colonist possessing the knowledge how to do it, and applying that .knowledge daily in his busitiess, making > butter equal to Mathieson or cheese equal to Stevenson, cannot by any possibility :in this colony fail to die a wealthy man unless, indeed, perchance he squanders the proceeds! Says Mr Connell in a postscript," Be sure and give me a good ' scarification re buttermaking or I shall be greatly disappointed." Then he will have to be disappointed. The compliment he pays to Otago in the persons of Messrs Mathieson and Stevenson is [so great, and my interest,as a consumer in stirring up the surviving butter and cheese makers to emulate those two perfect men! is so great, that I positively cannot oblige, him. At the same time this column is open, toj a moderate extent, to any dairy farmer Wjho may feel aggrieved; also, I may remark, that any samples,of butter and cheese intended to inform my judgment and refute Mr, Connell may be forwarded to the editor. , „ Civis

The proposed alterations in the express train to Christchurch, which it is expected wijl come into operation about the end of the present month, will be as follows :— North express:, Leave ; Dunedin at 11 a.m,, leave Tim'aruj at 5.5. p.m., leave Ashburton at 6.55 p.m., a'njive at Christchurch at 850 p.m. South express : Leave Ohristchurch at 11 a.m.,' leave Alhburton at 12 50 p.m , leave Timaru at 3 3 p.m., arrive at Dunedin at 8.45 p.m. , At a meeting of the Church Board held! on Tuesday the various applications for the vacant lectureships in the Otago University during the approaching session were considered. In addition to ihu tuuiubdrs of the board, there were preaaufc the Revs.., Wm. Will, J. Gibb, and! J. Chisbolm, and also Messrs A. C. Begg and Fitzgerald (ts representing the synod; and it is gratifying to, hear that the appointments, mkde wereunanimouslyagreed to. For, the lecturesl|ipB of English Literature and Political Econo f my Mr A, L. Halkett Pawson, late rector of the Timaru High School, was selected, and Mr John Salmond is, to take charge of the Constitutional History class. We understand that ' amongst the applicants for the history class were several of our young legal practitioners, and ■it is satisfactory to find that one of their number 1 has been adjudged worthy of the honourable position. Some boys were on the rocks at the Red Point, off Akaroa, on Saturday (says the' Press), and came across a nest of old cannon bails, , A small landslip had- caused these old stagers to roll down, and the sea had washed the qlay away from them. , Some of them are the teal old 32-pouuders r and. must have been fired from the French men-of-war nearly 5,0 years ago. They are eaten away, with .age, being quite rough on the outside. It appears the guaranteed steaming power of the German warship Olga was 14 knots, and of the American flagship, the Trentoji, 13 knots', while the Calliope's, which steamed out of Apia when the others could' not, is only. 137 knbts. The Calliope was therefore inferior in' speed to the Olga, and very little superior to the Trenton. According to a correspondent of the Eledtrieal Review Mr Edison believes that the time will come when transportation through the air will be the order of things in that line. ■ The" |dea that the air-ship must go a mile high or more is erroneous. If it were no higher than an ordinary building it would suffice. " When the time comes for it to be put in operation," he said, •J there will be one drawback to it, and that is the ease which it will afford criminals to make their escape from whatever point their, crime was committed. There will, be,^no danger of their being intercepted by wire,' as is the case now. It may be that the same science wnich will give us this sort of navigation will provide something else by which criminals who make their escape through the air will be overtaken. 1 ' But this will take time. In. my opinion, 11 ' when we 1 shall have aerial navigation weshall see more crime." A timely and instructive letter it is (says j the Scientific American of February 9) that Judge R. L. Weatherbee, the manager of the Cable Company's repairing service, sends to the Halifax (N.S.) Chronicle. He refers to the .rapid impairment of ocean cables, and asserts tint' the cau«e of this is to be found .undoubtedly in the use of iron, which rots away where hemp would stand. That is to say, the guttapercha which enwraps the copper core should, to his way of thinking, have a serving of hemp alone instead of hemp and iron, as now. He says that down ' in those depths of ,ocean where the cables lie there is not enough motion to part a gossamer, thread ; it is chemical action, not motion that is' to be feared— an action which hemp will readily" ' withstand, but softening iron so that one may pare it as he would a piece of cheese. 'Anyone 1 who. has even* tried a jack-knife on /a propeller' or other iron that has , been in .salt,;; water » several years without repainting will well under?/ Ktnnd this. He says that for eigh^years^alifaxi bas bfien ,cpn^ected,witli the town of E^artmouth by a submarine core' covered with' h'einpjbnlyji and it is as good as' new, so far as is, known,; and' the hempen rigging .taken not long ago'frphi

f f the wreck, „<$ the RqyaLfieorge, sank in 1782, J '""is as perfect as when submergeds^ How mw portaniti this 'subject is may be f 'unders'tood from j the fact th'ab 13 cables' have been laid across the < Atlantic •atf'a cost of 75,000,000d01, which 'so far 'have'cosi 25,000,000d0l for repairs ; 7000 miles of this is at this moment lying abandoned because of unsubstahtiality, the average k life of |a cable "of .the present construction having been estimated at 12 years. , , No 1 - less' than 3| million .acres of land rin the Canterbury < Pro vincial-Distrieti will be placed in the -market .by the Government,. during, the next i two. months, .;cThe, rjin^to fee_offered will, comprise, a portion of ( the laud within .the ,Mid- ! land., Rail way Company's r area of,, flelec.tiob. , Possession, will be giv.ep'to $ie newj^pjants next yeari \ .when, bjj t '- the Kspiry of ,'the,, existing leiises, 3J ''miliidh ' acres' will return' to 'the Crown. Of this,'h'owev l eV, it is iutQEtded to'rks'erve a quarter of a' million to bo dealt wi|h fer small settlement 1 purposes.' The sales will take plade'at Timaru on ih'e''3ofch "MayV'and at Chrlstcharch6nthe l 4th June. •.' ) Prpfesspr^TyndallisVias bitter as ever Mr Gladstone! In 'a letter forwarding five guirieis" to the inspector' Maif tin Fund, the professor , wrote:— "Some years a'go'l Was blanied for saying that Mr' Gladstone had debauriKeflthe r English people \ hxxi events have sin'cef'jusiified me. Only moral debauchery -of the mostfserious kiud could cause them, or any part of. them, to' regard with comparative indifference the murder of a brave officer, while they raise an .outcry! about the pantaloons of a demagogue^ whose lamb's words bave probably' contributed to shedding that officer's blood." Mr J. A. Algie, who has acted as postmaster and telegraphist at Wyndham for, a number bf years, has been appointed postmaster at Kaitangata, and has received : instructions, to hold himself in readiness there.^ He will be succeeded by Mr H. Ox. YoungmaH^bf Nelson. ' In a letter to the Daily Times Johu Stone, J who is at .present ,on a tour iof, the colony says,:— Ah has been often truthfully stated, New Zealand, ,, on account of its, peculiar physical configuration, instead of having one common centre like Melbourne in Victoria, Sydney in New South Wales, &c, is split up into a number of separate and distinct piqm.unities. Many f and varied " results. ppririjj "from'' ' this common cause. One result isthat frienWand acquaintances ! who ; have migrated from 'the land, of their birth todifferent'parts of New Zealand have small chance and few opportunities of 'meeting again. « One! of those few opportunities, will be aff prded ,by , the exhibition, and what 1,, wish, to,, suggest is.thatj^e ,in Otago who^have friends and. acquaintances in other parts of ,the . colony, should, ~wjth out delay, write and ask; them to come to the exhibition; also, that when the exhibition! is open tiios'e of pur residents who have reason: to believe that ' they have friends ' in any' part jof New Zealand i whose whereabouts they do not know,' but whose acquaintance they ' would like to renew, should enroll their names on a list! to be open for public inspection, say in the Tourist and Inquiry Bureau, and against their •, names state their occupation and addresses in the country from whence they,pame. Visitors could periiae the list, and much mutual pleasure might eusiue. lAt the' Supreme Court, < Invercargill; Jon Tuesday, before his Honor Mr Justice Williams, Charles Kidd was found not . guilty of cattle stealing - and , .discharged. Duncan Sinclair, for receiving a coil of rope jat the Bluff, knowing it, to have been stolen, was acquitted. James Frew was charged with rape on a schoolgirl at ' Orepuki on the Ist inst. Counsel set up consent as a defence. Frew is a married' man j about 30 years of age, and the' girl is a little over 13. The jury wjere unable to agree, and ' were 1 locked up for jbhe night. ' ', , H.M.S. , Orlando, bearing the flag of Rearadmiral Fairfax.. {ihd having, Admiral, and, Mrs Fairfax' on' bo^ird; left Auckland on [ Tuesday! The stay of the squadron here' hag been 'g&o'dlfor trade 1 . The 1500 men must hive put in dirdulaijipn among tradesmen Over £1000,' while the repairs to the Dart cost- over 1 £1100j ' The admiral is thoroughly satisfied with • the- work executed. He has had 2000 tons of Westport ,edai diatrihuted to the- squadron, and has recommended the Admiralty, to obtain a shipment for, thejuse of the English squadron on the China station. He considers that the price for the carriage of the Westport coal— by colliers, ,8s 'per' ,ton 'for 26*5 miles ;. 'and 2s 6d per tori for some 'lo miles by trairi-^is 'altogether too high". 'The Wuadjron will 1 rendezvous at SydneyV and thereafter be distributed—the Opal and l Itfzard- go'iri'g to 'the New Hebrides, and. the B6yalii><fand Raven to New Guinea. ' ijt is hot'expe'cted' thatsthe' fleet will return to our' waters' till i November next. During, part of,, :the '.summer' rendeavousj at Hobart, the admiral. intends,to send.oneor two warships to, Dunediq. They ,w,ill be sen^aVtbe time of the exhibition. The admiral will go to England in all probability about the middle of March. The shooting season for hares and Californian quail commences in Otago on the Ist prox., and extends to July 31. The; coursing season for hares, in the Southland district extends over the same period. A noteworthy example of the recovery of land , values ju ;Qtago was given at the ■ Land Board's meeting on*, Wednesday, In November last the licensee of a deferred payment section at Kiirdw had th,e license, forfeited "at' his own request for Don-paymeht of instalments, alleging th,at the 'price (£4 5s per acre) was excessive. Such is th'e'change that has come .over the.agricultural outlook, however, that a few day's ago this same settler paid up all arrears on the laud in question to the 30th June nexb, and yesterday applied that the minute of forfeiture shonld be resqiuded,.a request with which (the board, of course complied. ■ A meeting of the University Council of Otago was held on, Wednesday,. afternoon, at which a considerable amount of business was transacted. The temporary,. appointment ,by the, B,oard of Church Property, of Mr Dawson f as" professor of, English and, lecturer on political^ economy, and of Mr Salmond as,, lecturer oh l constitutional history, was accepted. The Hon. Mr Reynold raised the question that, the council' ought to make instead of merely approve the appbintmentsi but its discussion 1 was' J not permitted. Four 'lecturers were reapppinied/a number of small* applications were 'dealt with, and it Jwas resolved that the inaugural meeting' in connection with the forthcoming- university session should be held in the Choral. Hall on the Ist of May. , Now that the money difficulty has been got Pver, no time is to be lost on going on with the M>dland,railway. On Wednesday Mr W. Cleeve Ed wardSj "received, ftitelegramj from Mr Napier Bell, chiflf engineer' ; of ,the> linp, reqaesting.him, £o .proceed \ ( io Spriqgfield'a^once- and stjart, 1 the ! surveys ,' there.. : M» Edward? leaves" by this! morning's train for Christchurch. v, A r meeting jbf the Committee. of the" Otago Agricultural an^d pastoral Association, held on ! Wedn^sday,wasitteßdedbyMessr^4tM/B l arfane (ia ( the.ch6ir) tl W f( 0. emitKD;Strpnaph r W. L. Philp,. J/ Roberts, *K. B. Fergosbn.'W. H. Taggart, T, Brydone, M. Sinolair, W. Patrick,

■ - jvas appointed, and a recomnienda,tion was given i to them io'take steps to '.a$ once get out the i • programme for the exhibition show on Novem- : ber 28, so v that ,the leading (breeders in the i colony maty 'make I ' the necessary preparations id . be well represented. ' It is .intended to remove the remains of the 1 late Earl , of ' Seafield to Scotland. The North 1 ! Otago Times says -a warrant is now in Oamaru authorising the lOama'ru Cemetery Trust i» allow this to be done. Speaking before the local committee at Mosgiel, Mr J. Roberts, president of the exhibition, 1 said he- felt -sure that the Taieri county would be able to make Buch a display as very fejw^ counties could riv&V Thesr had in the/distriot" grain, in, its different forms, brick kilns, coalfields and goldfidds, cement works, leather works and tanneries, soap and candle 1 works; , manure ] works, flour and oat-~ meal mills, butter," and 'factories, ham, and bacon curing establishments, iron worts, agricultural . implement manufactories, wool3couriag establishments, &c. MFropi* the sources that he\had mentioned 'it should be a simple matter to make a display such as should give a striking picture of the wealth and im-, portance of the district. He had not made particular mention of the woollen maiiufactUriug industry for. this reason: The woollen busi- ( ness had become, of ,yast importance to Nsw Zealand, and the commissioners had formed the opinion that it' might be a good plan for the Mosgi'el,' Roslyn, Oamarty' and other mills iin' New Zealand' to' unite anil \ exhibit together, thus making a vast display ihat' would, perhaps, be the great feature ' of the exhibition, thus pointing out to everyone the natural adaptability of this 1 colony to the; wobllen' industry. This plan had not been actually, decided upon/ but had been suggested. , In his list of industries he had mentioned the. .cement works. He was glad to be able to state that this was becoming an important industry, and be might mention j that this establishment had recently been j favoured with an order from the Oamaru Harbour Board for 2000 tons of cement. The Exhihition. Commissioners have decided to offer a premium of 10 guineas for the best and most suitable design for the exhibition certificate of award. < A suggestion has been made that Auckland citizens should publicly show their appreciation' of the noble and humane conduct of Miifcaafa and the Samoan natives in their efforts to save life during the recent disaster in Apia Harbo.ur, and that in consequence of the destruction 1 of their supplies of food a presentation of provisions, stores, &c, should be made them. Mr Douglas, the Riversdale stationmaster, still survives in the hospital. As mortification of the injured leg is not advancing, it is expected that the limb will be amputated on Thursday, but there are little hopes of success. At a meeting of the North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association on Wednesday a letter was read from the Railway Commissioners declining to grant free passes to judges attending agricultural shows. A man named Charles Rivers was .somewhat seriously. injured while stowing wlieaf "aboard the steamer Pukaki at Oamaru. While in the ;act of carrying a bag from the batch one of the bags of wheat fell from the sling and strflck him on the back. He w;as removed home, iad although suffering great' pain he is conscious, ' and. hopes are entertained that he is not {internally injured, although it is scarcely possible to tell at present. Heira, the Maori under sentence of death if or the murder of the Pbok family, has made* a statement denying that he was the actjual murderer, though he 1 admits being'present. iHe accuses others, amongst them his brother. At the Supreme Court, Inveocargill, 'on Wednesday morning the jury ia the case of James Frew, charged with rape, were discharged, having been. unable to agree after being lopkqd up all night. A fresh jury were empanelled, and they returned a verflict of "Not guilty." Henry Barry, for stealing hides at' OrepukiJ was 1 acquitted; s So' far] no convictions, have "been obtained this session. The Crown had not, when the court rbse, decided whether . to go on with the charge of arson against Barry, Who is accused of setting ire to a hut, from which it is alleged he took the hides. " If not, the only case remaining is one against a Chinese for attempting to rob a tail race; Mr John Carter, 'of 'Saddie Hill, challenges: the New Zealand horse tamer to a trial of skill for £10 a side.