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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2518, 31 January 1877, Page 2

We . understand that at the. complimentary soiree, which is to be given tomorrow to Mr H. A. Severn, and which it is expected will be largely attended, the newly invented and most wonderful instrument of the age, named the Radiometer, will be exhibited by Mr Severn. This instrument will be kept in constant motion by the lights in the room, or the flame of a candle. It is also probable that the hall will be lighted by a lime light of the greatest power attainable. This instrument is termed Browning's automatic mixed gas lime light.

Me John Letdon held his first cattle sale at his new sale yards at Parawai today. The yards are erected opposite the ■Rob Roy Hotel, and to-day some twenty or thirty animals were penned for sale. There was a very good attendance—a large number,of dealers, farmers, butchers and others beijig present. About 20 head of cattle and horses were disposed of, only a few not being'sold in consequence of the high reserve put on them. Springers fetched from £7 os to £11 los, bullocks from £8 to £10, milch cows from £7 to £11 15s, and lojae horses were sold at prices varying from £5 to £10.

Auckland is not to have all the cricket to itself. To-morrow a ma(ch, which should prove an interesting one, will be played at Parawai Gardens under the novel title of Four Orphans v. Eight Bachelors. Wickets are to be pitched at half-past ten o'clock, and liiccheon with strawberries and cream will be provided.

The usual monthly inspection of the Thames Engineer Cadets was held at the Volunteer Hall last evening. After being proved by fours by Captain Lawlor, Major Cooper gave the boys some marching" and skirmishing drill, during which they acquitted themselves well. At the conclusion Major Cooper complimented the corps on having carried off more than its own share of prizes at the late District Prize Competition.

Although one of the staff sergeants and drill instructors at the the Thames has been notified tbat his services would shortly be dispensed with, we notice in the Appropriations for the General Government service that the salaries of the three sergeants now employed have been passed for the current financial year. • ;

J. G. Flood of the bonanza firm made the following Christmas donations on Christmas Day irrespective of creed :— To the Hebrew' Orphan Asylum; $10(p ; to the Asylum in charge of the Sisters of Charity, §1000; to the Protestant Orphan Asylum, §1000; to the San Rafael Orphan Asylum, §500; to the Ladies' Protection and Relief Society, §500.—5. F. Post,

Me Edmund Cook, Chief Postmaster, Thames, returned from San Francisco by the City of New York on Sunday, and came down to the& Thames on Monday night. Mr Cook has been to San Francisco as mail agent, and returned in that capacity (not as purser, as stated by the Advertiser). Mr Cook has resumed his duties as Postmaster.

Our Paeroa correspondent writes:— There was a false alarm of Natives coming over yesterday, and field glasses were in request, but instead of Natives about 60 head of fat cattle from Cambridge were sighted. This was a decided sell, as some long-sighted ones could see the "glitter of steel" in the sunlight before it was actually discovered that the moving bodies were bovines. One Native was stopped and turned back on Monday night. The Natives here worked themselves up to a great pitch of excitement.

A new cause of complaint has arisen, says an American paper, among the New York Woman Suffragists in the discovery that every prosperous American farmer uses up two and a half wivj|? during his natural lifetime. ; Yet even with this consumption of wives, an immense amount of material is left to glut the Eastern market with old maids.

The Lyttelton Times has an article on the Waikato affair in which Captain Rowe figuredj and the correspondence between Major Gordon and the Hon. Major Atkinson. The article concludes as follows :— " Altogether, the perusal of these papers, to some of the chiefpoints of which wehave directed attention, leaves a painful impression on the mind. We trust that the state of affairs there disclosed is not a sample of what pervades our public offices. If so, Government has indeed become a jumble, a mockery of administration."