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Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1728, 17 July 1874, Page 2

The opening performance of the Siamese and Asiatic Circus company was announced i for last night at the Theatre Royal, and before the hour of eight o'clock numbers of the public were in. attendance, but no performance took place. The reason of' this disappointment, we learned, was the unfitness of the ring for the evolutions of the horses. The stage of the Royal—perhaps the moßt capacious in New Zealand—had been transformed into an arena, and duly covered /with earth, but it was found to be too loose and slippery for the horses, and a postponement was abso; v Jutely necessary. Immediate steps were taken" to remedy the defect in the bed of the ring, and we have no roubt that by the hour of eight this eveniEg everything will be in readinesss for a start. We looked in at; the Theatre last evening, and instead of the performances wo expected to see we found lessees,' manager, circus riders and others hard at work using the long-handled sh/jyal in a way that suggested they ' had at some ' time or other tried their hands at digging. The ladies of the company were looking on, disappointment depicted on their. faceiy VWe' hope the company will have a bumper house to-nighfc to inaka up for the unavoidable loss occasioned by the postponement: of last; night's performance. The proscenium of the theatre has been taken don n in order to afford visitors in all parts of the house an uninterrupted view of the performances in the ring. The company have in various ways gone to a large expense to .secure, the cdmfort cf their patrons. •■ '3 - « , ' l

Thebb was a very remarkable interruption of the decorum and becoming gravity of the; Borough Council proceedings last evening. It happened that the subject of the Parawai Bridge was brought forward: and all wKo read the paperß will know that this his been a mo3t unfortunate subject, and threatened to be as long in its settlement as a Chancery suit. There were conferences between the' Parawai Board and the Council j -there . were plans provided by the engineer of each body, duly inspected and commented on; there ■were further conference?—propositions and counter propositionsi": "and the matter remained in a state of perpetual postponement. Last night Captain Butt was present, and,, after indulging in a sadly retrospective 'colmmentory on the melancholy circumstances connected with the bridge, he asked the Mayor for some informationas -to-'what had been 1 done lately, which information His Worahip proceeded lo give, asd had just merged into the most interesting detail, when a large black dog was guilty of interrupting the current of his address. As if thoroughly disgusted with sthe whole affair, thi* indecent animal gave vent to such a portentious and' extraordinary sound as dog was never known to make before; being neither a bark, a howl, a sneeze, not a choke: but seeming, in its very complexity, to parlake of, <he character of all four. The effect this had upon the gravo councillors waa singular. There'was at first a lo k of severity,—nay, perhaps mild rebuk«-T-on the countenances of those great'

men ; by an invisible process this expression was observed to giv«s placo to distressing symptoms of stomach-acho, as observed, in Mr. Weller, wlien he '•tried lo coeio tho qui<'t laugh ; " and they finally exploded. 11, w:i> too much. The dog mado a strange'and Meird noise t!;6, thread of tlie Major's narrative was lo3b : and. the effect ' was natural. Quiet .was soon restored,'and the business resumed iv ordor. v [ The Circua conipany at" present amongst us have some of the beat specimens of color printing we have seen at aiiiy time '6r""-in "oiiy'■ place—not even .excepting |he- gorgeous bills wliichherulderrthe coming bf-Ohiarini'a great company. If the Asiatic ■equestrian troupe approach the performances depicted so vividly on their bills, a successful season will atteud them. Numerically wo believe the present company is nbout tha strongest wbich has visited tho Thames for many a long day.