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Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1745, 6 August 1874, Page 2

It is notified in the Gazette that Mr. William Brown has retired from the firm of Brown,'Campbell and Company, Auckland. In a Gazette to hand by the last Southern mail a notification appears disbanding four companies of volunteers, and discontinuing the service* of four others. A list of officers who have thereby ceased to hold rank as volunteer officers is published. At the adjourned meeting of the H.A.C.8.5., Grahamsfowa Branch, held last evening, it was resolved to celebrate their fourth anniversary by an entertainment—soiree dansante —to take place in the Academy of Music on Monday, September 7, 1874. Host Curtis will provide substantial refreshments for the occasion. A table showing the Customs Bevenue at the several Ports of New Zealand during the quarter ended 30th June, 1874, and corresponding q'j arter of 1873, gives the figures as follows :—1874, £286,794 j 1873, £231,262; increase £55,532. The Customs Bevenue for the financial year ended 30th June, 1874, was £1,108,677. Bt the Southern mail brought by the Cyphrenes was received the Charter of the Sir Walter Scott Lodge of Freemasons, from the Grand Lodge of Scotland. It is signed by the Earl ofßosslyn, Grand Master; Sir Michnel Robert Shaw, baronet, Deputy Grand Master ; and J. Laurie, Grand Secretary. It is also countersigned by F. Lanseigne, Provincial Grand Secretary for New Zealand. — Tickets for the "Auckland Art Union" may be obtained, we learn, from Mr. J. JET. Jefferson, Pollen-street. This distribution of oil paintings, oleographs and other valuable works of art, in frames, offers an excellent opportunity to persons of taste, and it is intimated that there are no banks—an extra inducement to invsst in the drawing, which is got up by the well-known publisher and stationer, Mr. E. Wayte, Auckland. A cOBBEsroitDENT tf the Scientific American, speaking of glue as a healing remedy, says :—" For the last twelve or fourteen years I have b«en employed in a shop where there are over 300 men at work, and hardly a day passes but one or more of us cut or bruise our limbs. After a while it became generally known that a rag glued on a flesh woirad was not only a speedy curative, but a protection againßt further injury. We have received from the Government Printer New Zealand Gazette No. 40, of date July 30, and Nos. 5 and 6 New Zealand Parliamentary Debates. As yet not a singlo Act or Bill of the present session (with exception of the Imprest Supply Bill, attached to the Gazette) has come to hand, although we notice some of our contemporaries acknowledge receipt of most of the Bills presented, besides numerous papers of which we have not received copies. . A home paper just to hand by the matt states that " Livingstone's grave in Westminster Abbey is next to that of Major James Bennell, who was the founder of tie African Society and the friend of Mungo Park. This part of the Abbey is but a few paces from the vault in which the American philanthropist, Peabody, was laid for a short time previous to its embarkation. On the opposite side of the nave, somewhat, nearer tho choir, is a monument erected to Thomas Livingstone, Viscount Tevioty who. died in the early part of last century." In the District Court yesterday the proceedings were more than once interrupted by the unseemly conduct of tho dogs in attendance.. Judge Beckham put up with the nuisance for some time, but, his patience becoming exhausted, he directed tho bailiff of the Court to have a police-nan in attendance next Court day so that the disturbers of judicial decorum might be afforded accommodation in the adjacent public kennel. The Bailiff replied that the dogs mostly belonged to the gentlemen sitting round the counsels' table. The Judge, however, hinted pretty plainly that the ownership of t he dogs would not protect them if they, offended again. All. credit to the good fealing evinced by the employees in the Telo^raph Department of this colony! They subscribed (as wo loam from the Melbourne Argus) £58 for the widow and: family of poor SUpleton, tho telegraph officer who was speared by the black* at the Barrow Creek station, very recently, and for whom vengeance has been taken upon some dusky eons of the soil, though whether upon the evil-doers or not is not quite so clear. It is said, and not without a good.deal of truth, that our telegrahists are not paid overliberally, bub it is at once gratifying and creditable that their pittance is not so scant but 1 hot they can b1 ill spnr.i n trifle for the family i.f.au unfortunate.brother leleg'* splint who has got his kismet at hi? post of tl ;>y.— Tribune.

Ax African chiefs umbrella is of greater importance than many people suppose. Apart from its prodigious size, its loss in battle more fchnn equals the lass of the s'nndard of a European. commander. Some of the umbrellas are of prodigious dimensions, being no less than twenty-five feet in diiimeter, and twelve feet six inches in the ribs. They ttfe made of lance wood, and the covering is of gorgeously colored chintz, in varied sectioos of crimson, y How and blue. They are opened by means of pulleys and ropes, attached to the " runner," the opsra'ion requiring the services of three or four mon. Tho pole or handle is of birck, and about fourteen or fifteen feet high. The ' umbrella used by the king is of rich damask, edged with gold fringe, whilst others are made of Yimous colored silks, costiag perhaps from twenty-live to thirty-five guineas. Sometime before the outbreak of (he war,' one of those umbrollav, manufactured in Bristol for shipment ta tho Gold Coast, was erected in a largo open space for the purpose of seeing how many it would actually accommodate in a shower. The number of men who stood under its ample covering amounted to two hundred. The Melbourne correspondent of the Eallarat Star contributes the following :—We have a Melbourne Christian Young Men's Association, whose members hold forth in prayer nightly at the corner of Bourke and Swans ton streets ; and it they do not effect much spiritual good, they do no moral harm. But what is renlly wanted in Melbourne is a Christian Old Men's Association. It is astonishing the number of hoary-headed old pinners there are who perambulate the streets of Melbourne after nightfall in pursuit of female prey. A very respectable young lady was waiting outside a shop in Bourke-street lor her father one evening lately, when she was accosted by one of these satyrs in the blandest nauner. It was pitch dark, save for the street lamps, and old Polonius suggested a moonlight ramble. The young lady was equal to the occasion. " Certainly," she replied, "My papa will be here presently, | and he and I will be happy to see yon home." The ancient made speedy tracks. He was a merchant of " irreproachable" character, with a wife an 1 numerous family, ynt a wanderer from the fold. I repeat, therefore, that a Christian Old Men's Association in Melbourne is a public want that should be immediately satisfied. r . Ik an article 'on the insufficiency of accommodation for the immigrants arriving in Dunedin, the New Zealand Tablet says:—"The following statements, the accuracy of which we can vouch for, may serve to give some idea of the extent of the evil, and the absolute necsssity for immediate steps being tnken to alleviate the distress consequent tKereon. Some time since a laboring man became occupier of a small house, the landlord of which bad vacated it in consequence of his wife being ordered to remove fos change of air. At the time Oi letting the house he informed the tenant that he would not require it for some months. However, beforo that time had elapsed, the tenant received a week's notice to give up possession, and as he failed to secure another house at the stated time, double rent was demanded, and eventually his wife, children and furniture were thrown into the street. Tho unfortunate husband, on going to his dinner one day, learned the state of affairs, and, putting a man to work in hi* place, he spent the afternoon aninig'at in the vain endeavor to secure a place in which to house his wife and little ones. At length, some time about midnight, he was informed of a stable which had been put up for sale, and which fight at least afford some protection from the bitter piercing wind. There he took His wife and little ones, and with such shelter as a deserted stable could afford was the night pasaed. When we bring to mind the piercing winds which characterised the weather of the past week, to any one who has a heart, to feel, this poor woman and her helpless children must be an object of tho greatest commiseration, and loud. would be the der unciation of the conduct of the landlord. But mark what follows : The story got noised abroad, and while there were many who sympathised with the unfortunate woman, there wore others who viewed,the matter in a different light. TheJJpoor accommodation of the vacated stable was a boon not to be despised, and forty-three persons —men, women and children—sought its shelter the succeeding night."