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Thames Star, Volume VI, Issue 1799, 8 October 1874, Page 2

We have boeD requested to state that to* morrow evening at seven o'el..ck the fire-b«JI ret-emly erecte. in Shcrtlaad will be rung for practice ; so that, residents in the neighborhood, when they hear the clang of the bell had bitter connilt ihe nearest watch or clock,, and. i! they find the hour to bo sercn or hereabouts, they need not b« alarmed. The very timid one* may make an examination to ccc that neither their own nor their neighbors' premises are on fire, by w»y of additional precaution.

"Atticus" in the, leader (Melbourne) writes:— U anything ? can justify ft m«ii/committing a forgery ifc is'being the proprietor of a newspaper which 'doe* not pay expenses. The wear and tear, mental and physical, must be tremendous. .Sot many months ago Mr. Evans, a gentleman who for ytars has occupied an influential position as a city editor, tried to start a Conservative daily newspaper in London. He failed after about twelve months for a sura of £50,000, having previously beggared' both himself and his friends, and a fevr weeks afterwards died of a broken heart. Ha seems <o have hoped 4o retrieve his position by means of forgery. His conduct was most reprehensible, but I can understand how, under the pressure of circumstances, his mind completely gave way. "• - ■

Mb. M. H. Aivst, dm per, has been making some very elaborate alterations and improvements to his place of business in Shortland, which strongly suggests that that gentleman is sot frightened by the present sig--<s bf the., times, generally acknowledged to be decidedly bad. Mr. Airey has considerably extended the length of the shop by utilising the Tvhole of that part formerly occupied as a /dwelling-house;which is much larger than was tho original shop. The additional part has been fitted with all the shop furniture and suitable fittings, while a goed show of light has beon provided for, an unnsual circumotance in drapers' establishments, whatever be the cause; and a handsome sunlight, fixed in the roof, diffuses a brill ant light at night. As a whole, the alterations have not only rendered the shop more commodious, but improved it in every respect.

Thkeb wa* some delaj experienced, in commencing the Court business this morning, there being no. magistrate to pit on the Bench at the usual hour. Tho mistake arose by reason of the clerk confiding in the coming of our worthy B>.M,, who would appear to bare been detained in Auckland. -Two Justices were eventually sent for,, but Justices a» a rule—that is", unle9§ they hare a weakness for the business—are slippery things to deal with: they are not always on :hanA when wanted, and the conspquence is oftentimes delay. _, The business of the Ooui-fc.tiiis morning was very triflfng, consisting of two summons case* ; and it is sufficiently absurd that persons brought to Court for allowing an old goat to wander should be detained there half an hour bee mcc there is no one to perform the function! of the Bench.

The Cross yrsterday published the following teiegrmn with reference to the opening of t c Waikaio railway to Drury :—" Your telegram,, re further opening of Mercer tail way, received. Although the rails are kid, the road is in such a state as to preclude a> y chance of opening to > Drury for some tim?. The contractors have to use this line, for: ballasting further on. They, .are; under contract to keep the road in order during its constrmction and for three months after completion. ... If the line WBS opened now the Government will be put to great expense ; atid contractors will not only benefit thereby; but will have a claim for in i erferenee with hicom^ pletion of fur her extension. When the line is really completed to Drury, probably a vatiefnetory arrangement may be made with the c ntractors, -but it cannot be ruined.— Edwabd Richabdson."

A GOOD story is told of two youDg-men who quarrelled;.over the affections of a young woman who occupies the position of waitress in a , Bourke;stre,et cafe, Melbourne, and arranged to set'le their differences with pistols at Studley Park. One of the young men wrote a touching farewell tj his inamoratt, and tod her that he wr-s about to dio for her sake. Tteother, bearing in mind the lines in Hudibras, came to the conclusion that the better part of valour was discretion, and made an unostentatious exit to Sydney. The poor girl, heartbroken at the prospective loss of her lover, showed his letter to the shopkeeper for whom he worked, who took a very practical view of the matter, and put an advertisement in the newspapers for a man to supply the place of the combatant. Tha would-be duellist had the mortification, fint, •f. g tting.up at a moßfc unreasonable hour; secondly, of fintiug that his antagonist had made himself scarce—although abtaat he was perhaps not exceedingly sorry j and thirdly, ol fitidiner that his ci uatioa knew him no more. He will eschew pistol* for the future.

Aw attempt is atpresent being mad<*, and with ft fair prospect of success, tt> get up a joint stock company, with a capital of Bom« £100,000, for the purpose of publishing » new morning and evening London pap>T. Tho scheme of this undertaking (writes the Loncioa . correspondent of the Manchester hxaoaner) I understand, presents several features of novelty. The paper is not to be published for tbe purpose of propagating the political, social, or religious views of any party in Church or State, but it is to be a purely commercial speculation, conducted on sfcrictly commercial principals. Its primary object, in short, is top'ay; the chief induce mentitß projectors hold out to investors is the hope of a go»d dividend. 'I hey point out that the great majority, and the most; successful, of the newspapers in this country, are the private property of individuals, who inan«ge them with a view to profit, and that these ! profits are, in many cases, very large ; that they claim to be the first to offer the public an opportunity of sharing ia the profits of a newspaper undertaking of an essentially commercial cijeracter. 1 hey also claiir for their scheme certain advantagnß over the private proprietary system. Unlike the proprietors of existing newspapers, tbe directors of the . pr j cted newspaper company will exercise no control whatever over the policy of their journal, but wiil restrict themselves entirely to the managers nt of their finances, I am told that, according to o drafv scheme whi h h s been drawn up, a professional editor will be placed at the head of each of the departments of the paper —political, literary, scientific, artistic, musical, &c, —and that these gentlemen will assiit the chief editor with their advice, and conjointly with him regulate the policy of the paper on all ►übjects. Facilities are to be afforded for enabling the editors of the departments and others prominently con nected with the concern to bercme shareholders in the company, and provision it made for the removal of any editor who, by a vote of three-fourths of his colleagues, shall be pronounced to be inefficient, or from any cause a hindrance to the prosperity of the n&*> ..■••:■ . '' ..■ •''.:: ,■■. v v

It v.ill bo remembered that at the late fire in fhe Waiotahi, when Daniel Elkin was so severely burnt that he had in his hut aft the s«me time 13 one pound notes on the Bank of New Zealand, whioh were burnt, in some case?, nlmo-1 to a cinder. The fragments were referred to the directors in Auckland and wo und rctancl they hare given instructions to pay Elkin : th« full amountr-npt as a precedent, but on acrount of the circumstances under which iho notes were burnt. Elkin may be congratulated on his good fortune in this instance, as the directors are not bound to pay full value for fractions of notes.