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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1886, 19 January 1875, Page 2

The first annual meeting of the Thames Choral Society was held last sight—Mr E. T. Wildman in the chair. The Committee presented a report and balance sheet which were adopted. The next concert of the Society will take place on the 28th instant. We understand that a bailiff from Auckland took possession of the Grown Prince mine and property to-day in the interests o( the liquidators. A few weeks, will we believe, sse the company reformed and active opera* tions resumed. These was quite a stir-in Shortland jester* day and some of the storekeepers appeared t« be doing a good trade in their respective lines. The unwonted activity.was attributed to the presence of Mr James Mackay, who may, perhaps, have been dispensing money in his vocation as a Land Purchase Commissioner. At tke B.M. Court this morning there was nothing to record. The police appear to be as "hard up" in their particular line of business, as everyone else in his or hers. The Maori corps in creating quite an ! excitement among the Hauraki Maories. Tfaey are all volunteer mad. If you meet one now he will " eyes front" and salute you in the most approved of "millingtary airs." These Maories are calculatad to make great progress a* the race generally seems to have the imitative faculty pretty largely developed. It is understood that the Natives comprising the corps lately formed are very desirous of making & fair show on the arrival of the interprovincial representatives. A numbeb of boats left the ■ Shortland wharf last evening laden with tents, provisions, etc., for Obinemuri. Some persons are evidently preparing for the promised opening within a prescribed, time. Uninterested per* sons could Scarcely imagine the unsettled etate to which all Thames people have been reduced by the budding prospects of the bloom of this golden rose. Everybody is on the gui vice. Shortland last evening presented a picture which could be likened unto nothing save a Vanity Fair. The streets were crowded with muddle-headed Maoris, enjoying life as best they can under the influence of waipero; Europeans, some of them mixing in the motley throng, and others listless spectators. The business people are doing a trade now and so are the publicans, and Maoris are fine customers so long aa the " hoot" may last. This state of things will be changed when people have something better to engage in than the: wretched " tedium of fantastic idleness." The Sparrow Club recently formed at Wil* liftmstown, Victoria, for the protection of gardens from the ravages of sparrows, has decided to give a shilling a dozen for sparrows, and sixpence a dozen for their eggs. By this means it is hoped to diminish the number of the feathered pasts, who have grately damaged the young fruit this season.

The Christchurch Press is of opinion thatMr Bowcn has learnt one p«t of a Minister's business. He is already an adept in. the art of speaking without saying anything, and knows how to address an audience on public affairs without giving them a particle of in* formation..-^ THF^-itiau Medical Journal calls attention to tlioTact that the New Zealand Emigration Agency requires medical certificates as to all intending emigrants to thrift colony, bufc de< olines to pay the doctors for the operation. There is a delicate irony in requiring a labourer with a wife and family to pay fees for au examination that should at least be as carefully conducted as for an insurance office, and which of course doctors cannot be expected to perform gratuitously. At any rate, it is evident; that the examination is eminently necessary, inasmuch as several vessels have during the current year arrived in the colony with oases of infectious disease on board. The iteamsbip Atrato had an outbreak of measles daring the passage, which caused 32 deaths, and the last report of the Medical Officer of Health for the port of London records that, "although British emigrants, after having been collected from various parts of the kingdom, are now quartered at a very convenient ! depot afc Black wall, and are medically examined on arrival there, a large number of persons, ohiefly children, have, by direction of the Board of Trade Medical Inspector of Emigrants, been lately landed at Gravesend from these outward-bound emigrant vessels suffering from contagious or infectious diseases/ It is plain that some more stringent supervision of emigrants starting for our colonies 19 necessary. A SAD eyed boy, with dirfc on his chin and a fear on his nose, went into a Detroit police station, and, having bfated that ha was a homeless waif, asked humbly io be sent to the State Reform School. |C Wouldn't he prefer to go to the Work house ? '•». « Oh, no! he had a brother in the Reform School, and ho would like to be with his dear brother. 'Still, he didn't want to go out and steal something to quality himself for the school." Tbis touched the heart of a gontleman present, who, after consulting the Sergeant, said,. "I guess we can fix it, my dear boy; I am going to leave my wallet on the desk, and the Sergeant and I will go up stairs. If you take the wallet it will be stealing, and then you can be sent to the Reform School, as you wish." So the wallet was deposited oa the desk, tho men went up stairs, and when, they came down, not only was the property gone, but; "The boy, oh, where was he ? " Alas! he had bettered his instructions and vamoosed the ranch of v justice, leaving thai owner of the pocketbook minus by 60dols. worth. Singularly enough, the lad hasn't yet come hack to be, sentenced and sent to the school. " The popularity of the Rev Mr Clark, the locturer who arrived in Auckland by the steamer Wonga Wonga, msy be judged from the fact—stated by the Australasian Sketcher— that two of his lectures 011 Charles Dickens and the Christmas Carols at the beginning of 1873, for the funds of tke Albert street Church, realised over £600.— The Benriigo Advertiser tersely summarises the rev. lac* turer'is opinion of his favorite author thus : — "Mr. Clark's opinion of Dickens is no secret. He regards him in the light that a cherished son might a dearly honored father. , Dickens is to him, light, life, ancl space. He takes in to tho full, the wit, tiie humour, tha simplicity, and the pathos of a man he delights to honor of all mem he has known living, or heard of dead. There aro no half measures about Mr Clark. He goes for Dickens straight, and puts in his plumper with an earnestness which, in a man less earnest, would be almost amusing." In th« Australian Freemason for January we notice the announcement; of a new work in the press: " Scaridalum Magnatum, or Vindication of the Order. A letter addressed in pamphlet form to the Marquis of Ripon on his lordship suddenly, summarily and unreasonably, without giving reasons to his brethren, forsaking and deserting Freemasonry for Papistry. By Bro. Wazir Beg, M.D. &c." Wx aro glad to inform our readers that a New Gentlemen's Clothing ISstablishment has opened in Pollen street, two doors from Mary street, named the Thames Borough Clothing Mart.—Advt. '■'■ ■ '■•■•; ■ ■;.,.; ; '■' "■.': ■'''i-'r'vl '