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Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 428, 25 May 1871, Page 2

As will be seen from another column, there will be a meeting to-night of .the intending shareholders of the Hauraki Investment Company, at the Army and Navy Hotel, when arrangements will be made for giving a legal standing to the society, and otherwise starting operations. We are glad to hear that the proposal has been favourably received by the public, and that the new association is likely to be successful. The annual meeting of the Congregational Home Mission Society will be held this evening, at the Albert-3trect chapel. A meeting of intending shareholders of the Hauraki Investment Company is called for this evening, at the Army and Nary Hotel. The "Union Literary Society meet tliis evening, at the Rooms, Wellesley 3treet, at half-past seven o'clock. A debate will take place on the question:— "Does Education diminish Crime ?" to be opened, in the negative by Mr. H. Cornford. The following is from " Talk on 'Change," in the Australasian : —At the sign of the " Red Cow," in the town of Paramatta—an ancient inn, in which successive fortunes have been made - a lady from Melbourne was, a fortnight ago, sitting in the verandah, awaiting the preparation of luncheoa. Just then three hearty-looking country girls rod* •" Ll\" s<* LC> and dismounfpfl wiiu.a» xnaJe assistance, tUo rj^wi 03 nosress ot the establishment, one of them asked if they could have " three glasses of brandy." These yonn^ women saw no impropriety in drinking brandy in broad daylight, nor did they beTray any shyness in asking for it, being tired with a long ride and needing a stimulant. I don't suppore these unsophisticated young persons ever laid the eau-de-colonge flask under contribution, or drank chlorodyne, because they felt nervous or hysterical. A. new musical instrument is now being exhibited. It is a keyed instrument of six octaves, resembling a harmonium in general form, but very different in mechanism. The sound^ are produced by the friction of wooden hammers against a revoking cylinder of wood, set m motion by the feet. The tones produced are said to be very sweet, and moSt wonderfully varied. One can sometimes hardly believe they are not those of a wind instrument. The Melbourne papers recently noticed a new invention patented in Victoria, and called the " Patent Syruping Pump and Gravitating Bottle Stopper for JErated Waters." The pump supplies the required quantity of syrup into each bottle at the same time that the bottle is filled with terated water. The stopper is the principal part of the invention ; it is self-acting from within the bottle, closes the bottle when it is full by pressure of the gaseous liquid from within, and is opened by giving it .a tap on the top, when, being made of heavy wood, it sinks to the bottom of the bottle ; it never wears out, and does away with cork, wire, string, &c. The right ofusin^it m Sew Zealand has been purchased by Messrs. Thompson and Co., of Dunedin and Oamaru. A glass of whisky is manufactured from a dozen grains of corn, the value of which is too small to be estimated. A glass of this mixture sells for a dime, and, if of a good brand, is considered well worth the money. It is drunk in a minute or two. It firea the brain, sharpens the appetite, deranges and weakens the physical system. On the same sideboard on which the deleterious beverage is served lies a newspaper. It is covered with half a million of types ; it brings intelligence from the four quarters of the globe. The newspaper costs less than a glass of grog, the juico of a few grains of corn, but it is no less true there is a large number of people who think corn juice cheap and newspapers dear.—Scottish American Journal.