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Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1743, 4 August 1874, Page 2

A.TS adjourned meeting ot the H.A.C.B.S , G-rahamstown Branch, will be held to-mor-row evening at Beven o'clock to take into consideration the celebration of the next anniversary.

At a meeting of the Directors of the Exchange Company, held at the Company's office this afternoon, Mr. Cornea was appointed mine manager, vice Mr. G-arvey, resigned. Mr. Comes has been for a long time manager of the Central Italy Company, which, in his case will loose a good and per* severing manager.

Thb benefit performance which was to have taken place at the Theatre Royal last.night was postponed, owing to the very inclement weather. It will be given to-night, and present prospects give promise of a very fine night, which together with tha attractive nature of ths programme should insure a good attendance.

In Switzerland there is a law, it is (aid, which compels every married couple to plant six trees immediately after the ceremony, and two on the birth of every child. They are planted on commons and near the roads, and being mostly fruit trees, are both useful and ornamental. The number planted amounts to 10,000 annually.

Mary persons at this season of the year suffer from chilblains, tha inconvenience arising from the excessive i tchiug being very great. A contemporary says that chilblains may be cured by rubbing for ten miautes every night with common brewer's yeast before a fire The remedy is a simple one, and is worth a trial by those who are affected, especially where, as i"b chiefly the case here, the chilblains are confined to the hands.

We have received the early numbers of a new journal published in the Province of Otago, entitled the Balclutha Leader. It is a well get up paper, and appears to be liberally supported by advertisers. Being published in an extensive agricultural district the new paper should obtain a large circulation. The publisher is Mr. W. P. McQirr, for a long ti r.e resident on the Thames, during the preater portion of which he was employed on the staff of this journal.

A COREEBPONDENT of the: Australasian, writing from Perbh, Western Australia, says : —The advocates of woman's rights will be pleased to hear that not only have we a propsrtion of lady members on the school boards in this colony, <but a large proportion of the telegraphic operators are feminine, and in one instance a half-cast native girl makes a most efficient clerk. She is as educated under the care of Bishop Salvado, of the NewHorcia Mission, and is represented as being a most intelligent and useful clerk.

A bbisk trade in dried potatoes has lately sprung up in America. They are sliced 'up and dried in much the same manner as dried apples. One firm in Bochester has an order on hand now for 50,000 lbs. of these dried potatoes, as well at for 1500 bushels.of onions, which are dried in much the same manner. They are intended for the navy. A bushel of potatoes dries away to About 10 lbs., and a bushel of onions to about 6 lbs. When ready tiny am piifc ioto largo tin runs, holding about 40 lbs. each, and sealed up the Bame as oysters.

The District Court was opened this morning by the Clerk of the Court, and adjourned, owing to the absence of His Honor Judge Beckham, who, for about th<* fourth or fifth time, has been pre-ented from attending the District Court here on the proper day through the stoppage of tho usual communication.

The rise in the price of meat is not confined to the Thames. In Auclri .nd, Wellington and several towns , on the West Coast the butchers hare advanced the price a penny or twopence a pound. In the Empire City the public have taken a stand to upset the monopoly which has brought about the rise, and a Cooperative Company has been successfully started, b:i fc in no other place do we hear of any similar attempt. The constant additions to the population have no doubt; contributed to an increased demand for butcher's meat, but it does not appear that sufficient reason exists for the extra price charged .by slaughtermen and wholesale dealers. The retail dealers have no doubt been compelled to charge extra in order to get a fair profit on their business.

The Taranaki Newt says:—On the 10th June, the brethren of the mjstic circle, hold jubilee in honor of Mr. John Newland, sen., who has just fulfilled his fifty years of brotherhood. We can testify to the singularly blameless life of this gentleman in society; but what has been his conduct within the tesselated border, or what degree in masoncraft he has attained unto, it is not for uninitiated laymen like ourselves to say. Judging, however, from the preparations which wore made to do him honor, we should imagine it to have been eminently satisfactory. Fifty years out of our alloted three score years and ten is a long period to devote to any caus?, a»d when the cause it both moral and respectable, such long tried devotion is undoubtedly worthy of honor. May our friend and follow settler be permitted to see many anniversaries of the kind, ova he is summoned by the' Grand Master to initiation into the profoundest of ail mysteries.

The Parisian correspondent of The Times relates that M de Bismarck acknowledged in his conversation with Victor Emmanuel that ho had committed two great jaults—the first in having thought too highly of the military strenth of France, and the second in not having thought high enough ofher financi»rresources. "It was oa my part," he said " a great mistake not to have required an indent lity sufficiently large fco have crippled for several jears together the treasury of France. I ought to have required at least ten milliards." This assertion is fully confirmed by a fact known to myself personally, and which has not, I think, been hitherto repeated anywhere. Towards the middle of January, 1871, when it was evident that Paris, on the verge of famine, could not hold out more than 10 or 12 days longer, and the conditions of peace were already be:ng thought of at Versailles, M. de Bismarck called from Cologne a German banker, Herr , who had been established as such for a quarter of a century in France, having married a Frenchwoman there, and who at the same tin* c, enjoyed a high reputation both for capacity and respectability. " Sir " said the Chancellor bluntly, "I am well aware of your sympathy for France, but you are a German, and a man of honour, and I am sure you will give a frank reply to nay demand. What, in your opinion, is the maximum of the war indemnity that Franco in her present circumstances is able to pay ? " " Count," replied Herr ," if you require from France three milliards, they will be paid; if you require four, they will be paid also; but you will have drawn her last drop of blood from her." "Good" replied Bismarck; "I, thank you, sir;" and when a fortnight later, the peace negotiations began at Frankfort, Bismarck claimed five milliards. The fact was told me by Herr — himself.