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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1989, 20 May 1875, Page 2

The Officer Commanding the District has, we notice, issued orders for a volunteer demonstration on the Queen's Birthday, so that the usual pageant will not be altogether omitted. The several rifle companies, navals, Natives and cadets will be inspected in the morning, and thereafter the whole will be mustered to fire a few de joie, according to timehonored custom in celebration of Her Majesty's Birthday. Time was when one or other of the companies got up a good ball for Queen's Birthday, but we hear of nothing of the kind for this year.

At the Academy of Music last night Mr and Mrs George Case presented another new entertainment, entitled " The House Warming." It introduced Mrß Case in a number of new characters, but we cannot say we were as pleased with the collection as on former occasions, in the "Latest Intelligence" or " The Man in Possession." There was less singing by Mrs Case, and the songs chosen were not of that popular class which characterised previous evenings' entertainments. In the second part Mrs Case sang a very sweet little song "Daisy Valley," and appeared in some of her old characters, and Mr Case contributed his quota of instrumental music. The character delineation put down in the programme as. "Folly" was scarcely what was anticipated, and certainly less than could be expected of Miss Egerton. The particular feature predominating in that performance might be eliminated from Miss Egerton's performances with advantage to the audience and credit to herself. There is little to criticise in Miss Egerton's entertainment as a whole, but if anything could be left out without being missed it is that American impersonation which, "We are told, created such a furore in England. Perhaps we. colonists have seen too much of that sort of thing to appreciate it at its proper worth. Tonight there will be another change, and to-morrow Mrs Case will take a farewell benefit, which ought to be a crowded house.

The weather seems to have broken up for winter. Cold rains .'and wind are prevalent, and the sun has lost its power •—at least it is not often felt just now:. From an experience of New Zealand climate for some years—nearly a score — we are inclined to think that the seasons have materially altered, each appearing to come earlier. Even in the South Queen's Birthday used to be looked upon as the time for " breaking up," or the

indications wliicb. compel people to acknowledge that a change has taken place. Here, in the Worth, we have had already a fortnight of 'what may be termed bad weather. ■

A sp£Clal train ran to Mercer yesterday, conveying about forty guests invited by Messrs Brogden and Sons, preparatory to the official opening to-day. Three carriages were provided for the accommodation of the guests, and although the weather was not very favorable the party thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Mr Carruthers (engineer-in-chief), Mr Stewart (representing the Government), Messrs Henderson, Davies, and Williams, representing Messrs Brogden, ¥. Whitaker and party, Goodall, Krrington, Allright, Jones, Ei Macdonald (engineer to the Harbor Board), and several others.

The Queensland Times says:—"We have often wondered how it is that a proper word has not been invented to express the name of a messagesent by the submarine wire. Withoutpedantry, we may affirm that the word 'cablegram' is simply execrable, both in sound and linguistic propriety. Why not use the euphonious word' calogram,' w hiuh is from the Greek calos,' a cable ?' It is much more etymologically correct than 'cablegram.'

One of the things which always strike a stranger onmsitingNeW; Zealand, says the DiinedinGuardian, is the extraordinary number of lawyers who .wax fat or the substance of the laity. In the larger towns of New Zealand, and especially in Dunedin,the proportion of lawyers to the general public is something incredible* In Dunedin one out of every six hundred and sixty of the population is a practising, lawyer, and including their clerks and: pupils, one out of every two hundred of the population makes a living by the profeision. And the number is daily on the increase. ■

Bewabe of toadstools! The San Francisco News Letter says that " a batch of epicurean Chinamen, who treated them-; selves to a mess of toadstools, are now occupying quarters in the Chinese burial ground. Fancy thirteen Chinamen sitting in gleesome comfort around a steaming bowl whose juicy contents they absorb into the system by using their thumb-nails as scoops. Picture to yourself the roll of: ecstacy in the triangular eye as the heathen sucks his horny fingers dry of their last drop of mushroom juice and prepares for another dig. Figure to yourself the ghastly green of- copper pallor as the Chinese body, realising at last that toadstools and mushrooms are two different delicacies* wreaths grotesquely with the poisonous gripes, breathes his pure soul out with a breath of toadstool flavor, and you have what the Irish citizen considers a successful dawning of St. Patrick's Day."

A circular Has been addressed to the Superintendent on the subject .of the forthcoming Philadelphia Exhibition. It appears that the New . Zealand Government, after consideration, have decided upon making an effort to have the Colony represented at the American exhibition, and to forward the New Zealand contributions direct, instead of submitting them to previous exhibition and selection at Melbourne, as had been proposed by the Victorian Government. The Government, have slso thought it advisable to confine the exhibits from. New Zealand almost exclusively to the naturalproductions of the country in their raw state, instead of endeavouring to exhibit manufactured articles produced in a country where manufactories are in their infancy, in juxtaposition with the productions of countries whose manufactures have been brought to a high state of efficiency. The principal exhibits which, on this basis, are suggested to the Government are —wool, grain of various kinds, gold, coal, timber, flax (including rope and other manufactured articles), kauri gum, tanning ba'*ks, with samples of leather, preserved meats, tobacco leaf, mineral waters, and specimens of minerals—the last mentioned to' include only those which may possibly lead to profitable use. What the Superintendent is asked to da? is to interest himself in procuring really good and well-prepared specimens of such of these articles as are produced in the province with the exception of gold specimens, which the Government will arrange to obtain through the Bank of New Zealand. Any specimens proffered or obtained are : to be sent to Wellington, the expenses to be defrayed by the Government.—Echo.