A VALUABLE DONATION.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 413, 23 October 1889, Page 5

A VALUABLE DONATION.

Thames, October 19. Mr George Den t by has made a valuab c donation to the Thames School of Mine * It includes a large glass show case contain" ing a handsome collection of minerals, principally irom New England and NewSouth .Wales, embracing ores and manufactured salts of gold, silver, platinum, mercury, copper, iron, nickel, molybdenum, zinc antimony, lead, ai'senic and sulphur, as well as a number of precious stones and gems, amongst which are some fine specimens of garnets, rubies, topac, carneliaas, and a magnificent specimen of a rock crystal. The collection is a most valuable one, and forms quite an educational series in mineralogy. The present also includes a complete set of apparatus 'for the manufacture of distilled water of a very superior make, and also a large platinum dish.

A day or two before the close of the session, says the Dunedin " Star," the Colonial Treasurer received from Otago a letter containing a five-pound note and ten shillings in stamps. The writer, an ex-Civil Servant, infers that he " borrowed " £10 from the Government funds, but' that the Au"dit Department failed to discover his peculations. He promised to return the balance of his loan at a future date. Appended is an exact transcript of the I letter containing the returned "eonacience " money :—": — " Dear Sir Harry, — Aliout a year aero, being baic up, I borrowed £10 Government funds. I now return [a £5, with 10s intest added, which is as much as your bloomin' Savings Bank would allow. The other fiver I will send as soon as I can. U should smarten up your Audit Department a bit, or sack 'em altogether. U ought also to get the Civil Service Bill passed, because present treatment! is making 'em (C.S.'s) all d roguei ; &nd u will havetoanswerforitat the Judgment Day as sure as eggs is egg 3. Civil Servants are now dragging out a hopeless existence, and they rob the Government every chance they get, and you are the cause of it. Otherwise as a public man and a private individual, I admire u. U have been the salvation of the colony on more than one occasion, and long may u b' spared to guide the helm ; but give your poord.S.'e a show, and don't grind the «oul out'of 'em.— Yours, Honesty." .