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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2080, 3 September 1875, Page 2

It is some time since we were called upon to record anything in the way of "selling off" or *" immense reductions " in the clothing department. But we are now reminded that Messrs J. Cosgrave and Co., are calling a sale of drapery arid clothing at their establishments in Owen and Albertstreets. The stocks in these establishments embrace £20,000 worth of goods. Cheap drapery and winter clothing will now be the order of the day.—Advt.

Oub special telegrams to-day will be found interesting. There is a modicum of gossip, a letter from Mr John Moore Perrier to the New Zealand Times offering an explanation regarding a telegram purporting to have been sent by him to the Auckland Star; a return of allowances, &c, paid to Sir Julius Vogel and his private secretary, and instructions to Mr Thomas Russell re the Californian Mail Service. The two latter are copies of parliamentary papers moved for by hon. members and laid on the table of the House. It will be seen from an advertisement in the ordinary place that Mr Edward Lewis will lecture in the Good Templar Hall this evening on " Money and the Church.

We understand that the s.s. Alert is sold to a Waikato firm, and proceeds to Auckland on the first favourable opportunity, thence to be taken overland to Mercer. Since the Alert was launched— some seven months ago—she has done good service 'both on the Thames and Piako rivers, and has not been rivalled for speed by any steamers, large or small, visiting the Thames ; she will be much missed by the travelling public. We wish her evei'y success in her new trade, and are satisfied she wi'l still hold her prestige for ..speed.

The meeting of delegates from the Friendly Societies, to consider the Friendly Societies' Act, will take place this evening at Mr Honiss' office, Pollen street, commencing at 7.30 p.m.

Thw Thornton Troupe give a Saturday evening performance to-morrow at the TheaL-e Royal. The comedy of Charles 11. will be played, also the farce entitled Nursey Chickweed. Mr Thornton will, we understand, have the assistance of several Thames amateurs besides his own company. In addition to the two play 8 above-mentioned, the aerial supension act will be performed on a much more elaborate scale, the suspended one rising from a diagonal to a horizontal position without any apparent aid. The entertainment will be interspersed with songs, dances, &c.

At present a distinguished visitor is staying in Victoria, Lady Charlotte Bacon. The Telegraph says that Byron's beautiful verses, "lanthe," were written as a dedication to her ladyship while the great poet was on a visit to the house of her father, tie Earl of Oxford, Lady Charlotte being then only ten years old. In the illustrated addition of Lord Byron's work a picture of the youthful lady accompanies the dedication' to lanthe, the drawing being made, on Byron's request, by Weslall. Lady Bacon, who, we understand, succeeds now to some esfcatas of the peerage, after some years' stay in Adelaide, returns by this month's mail, with her two sons. The well known telegraph station on our trans-continental line, Lady Charlotte's Waters, bears her name. .

The Duke of Edinburgh is evidently not forgotten in Melbourne, snd his name occasionally, crops,up in a manner not very pleasant, as the following will show. It is from the Melbourne correspondent of the Ballarafe Star's letter;—A person

named Sarah -Reynolds sought to-day in tlm County Court to recover damages fro:n a Mrs Mary Anno Downing, who is the owner of a house at Carl ton, and who served a notice to quit upon her tenant on the greund that the person living with, him, Sarah Reynolds, was a notorious prostitute. The plaintiff denied that sho was an improper character, but admitted that sho had been in the habit of keeping houses for years which Contained rooms which were let to chance customers without any enquiries. As a voucher'for the respectable nature of her business, she had the effrontery to state that the Duke of Edinburgh rented apartments of her for the use of a young lady in whose welfai'e he was- interested during his stay in Melbourne, and paid .her £5 5s a week for the same. The defence was that the libel wpf) 1 rue, and that the woman-'s ay, cation was notorious. "Five members of the cetectivo and police force testified that they had known her as the keeper of improperly conducted houses for periods varying from twelve mouths to twenty years, and a verdict was accordingly returned for t 7ie defendant. - "

A ccitious slip, at least so the Athenaeum presums? it.to be, occurs in a catalogue issued a short time ago, by a •well-known book sellev A work on xylo-graphy-block printing at the beginning of tie loth century, is catalogued, which is said to contain sixty-nine *■■ engravings either from wood or metal, twelve of which bear inscriptions, representing scenes of Christian mythology,;fis;ures of patriarchs, saints, " devils, and other dignitaries of the Church." '

Referring- to the big telegram the Argus had of last mail's news, tlie Mel.bourne coi'rospondent of the Jlampden Guardian writes:—"The other journals feel that this is a direct attempt to oust them and secure for the Argils an unattainable position. There is, therefore, some chance of this great confederation being broken up. I believe anagitation will soon be initiated for subsidising the telegraph company and obtaining a column of news per day, to be given to fll the papers."

A lecture on the Spectrum Analysis was recently given at Ballarat by the liev. 1). M. Dalies. Among-fc the startling things he told his audience was the.fact that at night they were, when the lights had been all put out, all blacker than negroes, and that nothing had inherent color but light, all colored objects being butreflectors of. the colors in the rays of light.

In connection wilh the. unfortunate accident which happsned to a carter who was found buried among the corporation sludge on Saturday morning (says the Geelong Advertiser), a curious anecdote has been related. On Brown's diggings there are some very deep shafts, and a number of years ago as a resident was going home late one evening he tumbled down one of these. Just as he was disappearing he instir ctivcly threw out his arms and caught hold of the edge of the thaft. There he clung by his hands during a long weary night, for being a heavy, though muscular, man ho was unable to pull himself to the surface. The pain and fatigue caused by his whole weight depending on his hands for long hours was something terrible, and equally grGat was his anxiety and fear lest he should drop— a depth probably of 300 or 400 feet —and have his bones smashed to fragments. Daylight, long looked for, at length came, and'then to his relief he discovered that the bottom of the shaft was only about 15 inches below him. But the ordeal he had suffered had done its work, for his hair, which was of raven hue the evening before, was as "grey as a rat" in the morning.