The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 1875.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1934, 16 March 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 1875.

A gba>"d entertainment by emateura will be given I o morrow evening in. aid of ihe Thames Hospital, under the patronage of the Borough Tire Brigades. - A select, dance will take place after the entertainment is over, to which the holders of front seat tickets will be admitted free. We have been favored by MrE. W. Puciey with the translation of a letter from Hira, a native living near Whakatiwai. Hira wishes it to be made public that a boat about 12 feet long, covered at both ends with cmvas, has been found drifting abeut in the Thames Gulf by some of his people, and tho finders ask 30s for their trouble. This " boat" is most probably the Bob Boy canoe from wbich Alfred Porter -was drowned on the night of the 9tb instant. In io daj's issue appears a letter from our special reporter at Ohinemuri which should have been in yesterday's Star, but for which space could cot be found without crowding out other matter. The Australasian q{ February 20, contains a view of the interior of the Legislative Council Chamber of Victoria, with portraits of members on either Bide. This fine large engraving is published as a supplement gratis.

We understand that Mr Leydon in conducting his express business at Ohinemuri is found to be a public convenience. He carries down letters nud light pr reels from MackaytoVn,Bnd up from Paeroa toMocliaytown, thus saving delay in tfie delivery of letters to business people, which in tho absence of a pott office at Maokaytown would result. ■ v ,:'..' /. . „'• .->■■. •..

We regret to have to announce the death of Mr W. T. Swan, M.P.C. for the Thames, which took place in Auckland at ten o'clock last night, of apoplexy. Mr Swan was the son of a Baptist Miuisfcer in Birmingham, and was brought up to commercial pursuits. His first introduction to New Zealand politics was in 1868, at the election for Frankly», when he was brought out in opposition to Mr Buckland, and returned. At the next election—when the Thames had been erected into an electoral dietrict—Mr Swan was defeated by Mr Chas. O'Neill. He was twice elected la: represent the Thames district in the Provincial Council. Mr Swan was a man of considerable ability as a politician, and a good speaker.

It is notified ],in a Provincial Government Gazette published on Saturday last - that on to-morrow, Wednesday, 17th inetact, being St. Patrick's Day, the Offices of the Provincial Government -will be closed. The election of Mr H. H. Lusk to be a Member of the : Provincial Council for the electoral' district of W&iroa and Mangapai is notified ; as also the appointment of Captain George Baker to be Pilot of the Port of Euseell under the Msrine Act of 1867, in the place of the late Captain Edward Bolder " The Adulteration of Food Act, 1866," is published for general information.

The roads at Ohinemuri during the winter will be in a fearfully muddy condition unless something is done to prevent; them being cut up by the traffic concomitant upon the country's progress as a- goldfield and settlement. In-the winter months hitherto the the Maori traffic alone, and that is very slight, ba9 cut up the tracks so as to render pedestrianism inconvenient^ and liable to the terrors of bogging. What then will the road from the Pule to Mackay town be like when the wet season sets in, is a question which concerns many who believe in the permanency of the field, and who have given evidence of it in 4he establishment of themselves in the locality. Either come precautions will have to be taken to harden the surface of the road to Maokoytown—a road which wiU bear the chief part of all the traffic that takes place; or it will bfcome totally impassable. Dr Pollen has given MflMackay his sanction to proceed with works which are deemed necessary. Surely this is about as necessary a work as any that may be taken into consideration.

Mb G. A. Sala, in .the^," Echoes of tho Week," which he writes weekly for the Illustrated London News, recently related a pretty anecdote of Pius TIL This Pope whilst staying in Paris for the coronal ion of Napoleon 1., in 1804, paid a visit to the Imperial Printing Office. As his Holiness passed through one of tho rooms, one of the workmen—a freethirking republican, presumably—declined to take off his hat in the Pontifical presence; whermpon the mild old Pope went up to him, and, gently removing the refractory compositor's c v apeau, laid his hands on his head, saying, " There, my son ! The blessing of an old man frill do you no harm." The compositor, we are told, deeply moved by this kindly behaviour, sank on his knees and burst into tears. We are in receipt of New Zealand Gazettes Nos; 14 and 15. They contain several notifications under the Supreme Courts Act, 1860, relative to the disposition of the Judges, and the appointment of Judges Gillies and Williams. The contents h%ve been anticipated by telegraph. We have received from the Postmaster General, a copy of the "Combined New Zealand and Australian Postal Time Table for 1875." This little time table is printed at the Government Printing Office by the photozincography process, and although so small, it is clear and distinct. ;