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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 3032, 9 July 1875, Page 2

As will be seen by a report elsewhere the members of the Borough Council transacted no business last evening, there not being a quorum of Councillors present after waiting the due time, namely, half-an-hour after the wsual hour of meeting ; but a special meeting will be called at as early a date a pessible. . .

We are informed that an arrangement has been come to between thg claimholders at Waitekauri and Mr It. Bleazard for the erection of a. fortystamper battery by the latter. There is no'doubt,that the presence of machinery would do much for the Waitekauri and the claims on,the Dan Leahy reef, and in an indirect way exercise a beneficial influence on the whole district of OhineInuri.

A. find of gold of some importance is said to have been made at Cabbage Bay. We have seen a private letter from a gen-' tleman at Coromandel to his brother at at the Thames in which he says:-—'• I have reason to believe that good gold has been found on a creek (running into Cabbage Bay) about four miles above the mill, but very little has been said about it as there appears to be some doubt as to the ownership of the land—it is said to be private property."

The total proceeds from the Cricketers' Amateur Dramatic Club's performance last nigkt in aid of the Hospital funds amount to £49 18s, so that a good round. s*n will be available for the Hospital.

With reference to the late crashing from the Golden Gate claim, we are credibly informed that the stuff was conveyed to the battery in greasy bags, and that half a. candle was found in a mutilated condition in the bottom of the stamperbox. Under these circumstances the wonder is not that the return was so poor, but that there was any return at all.

At the meeting of the Hospital Committee meeting held on Wednesday, Mr Bagnall gave notice of a motion regarding the issue of certificates by mine managers to their employees qualifying- them for. taking part at the annual meetings for the election of the general meeting. The object of Mr Bagnall's motion is to require that all these certificates shall be sent in and embodied on the roll of subscribers in the same way as ordinary subscribers, so that in case of doubt or difficulty the secretary shall be able to say whether any person proposed for office or exercising a vote is or is not qualified.: There is nothing wrong in this motion that we can discover, but on the contrary we consider it a very reasonable restriction, as certificates of the kind proposed to be dealt with ;have been given out in an indiscriminate manner hitherto, enabling persons to pack a meeting for the purpose of exercising a voting power in blocks. The proposal is deserving of some consideration at the hands of the committee during the time that must elapse before it comes on for adoption or rejection. ■ \ ■ ,

The case of forcible entry at Parawai, for which Mr Thomas Spencer and Mr Alfred Mayho were committed for trial, was tried in the Supreme Court, Auckland, yesterday. The . evidence of Messrs Bennett, Crick, Mason, and Sub-. Inspector Bullen was taken, which was in substance the same as that produced when the charge was heard in the liesideut Magistrate's Court. The jury found a-verdict of guilty, and the Judge-fined Spencer £15 and Mayho Is. Mr Brookfield prosecuted, and Mr Bees defended.

In the list of civil cases at the Resident Magistrate's Court to-day was one, Morrow v. Sprague, of considerable hardship as far as tho plaintiff was concerned, and his worship was so far alive to this fact as to reserve his decision. It seemed that Morrow had been employed by Sprague to cut and deliver some timber, but because Morrow had not a bush license Mr Macdonald contended that he (Morrow) was not entitled to payment for the work which he had performed. That may be very good law, and no doubt is ; but the argument is neither logical nor just. The contract between the parties was perfectly legal—that was admitted ; Morrow did the work bargained for— that was also admitted; but because Morrow in doing this work committed a breach of certain Government regulations, he is not entitled to remuneration for w.ork privately contracted for with a private person and performed to the letter of the contract. Thus, if A. works a whole year for B. cutting timber in the bush, and doesn't happen to have had a bush license during, we will say, six months, he must whistle for half of the money which is in reality his just due, and very probably "be mulcted in the other half through the agency of the Inspector of Miners' Eights in the Warden's Court. ■

A medical gentleman in Wairarapa has (says the News) lately become possessor of a Maori skull in a remarkably good state of preservation, and about which the Maoris have a curious tradition.. The scene of the occurrence described in it is laid near Castle-Point, and the narratire relates that many generations ago, the chief of a tribe residing there became enamoured of wife of a relative, of his. As was not unusual in those primitive days, the feelings were reciprocated and the guilty pair used to meet in true lover's style, "by the lone seashore." At lastno doubt ■ while .■ they were telling " the old, story," in Maori manner—they were struck by lightning. The skull we have mentioned above is one of the two v^hich have been lying on the beach for years, the natives when asked why they have not been buried, giving the abore as a. reason. '

The Bruce Herald hasrthc following :— Mr Clark, M.P.C., by- last mail received a lettbr from Mr Adam, the Provincial Emigration 'A gent, who had been especially requested to meet Mr Vogel in London, on .New. Zealand business. Mr Adam-•■-k.eeps himself well posted up in New Zealand affairs, and from what he had seen in one/newspaper was prepared to find Sir'Julius'Vogel living in state-in some aristocratic West End mansion. He was surprised to find the Premier* with his family occuping furnished lodgings in a very second-rate part of the metropolis, apparently surrounded by a very meagre display of the comforts, far less the luxuries of life, and suffering most acutely from tho malady which often prostrated him in the Colony. Sir Julius, the letter states, has suffered much more at Home from his old enemy the gout than ever he did here. Mr Adam had never seen him look nearly so unwell. He was much reduced in strength, and so ill that it was quite impossible for him to undertake the return voyage, a fact that no one could regret more than he apparently did. Mr Adam assures Mr Clark that Sir Julius Vogol intends to leave for New Zealand at the earlies possible moment his health and medical adviser will permit; and states that there is no foundation for the many rumours that have been circulated of late regarding the reasons for the Premier's stay in the old country,