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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2530, 14 February 1877, Page 2

A meeting of the Abbotsford Roy I Arch Chapter, 5.0., will be held at the Freemasons' Hall this evening at haltpast seven o'clock, when all. companions are invited to be present. There are a number of certificates on hand which will be issued to those who may be in attendance and have, not yet received their diplomas.

The seventh anniversary soiree of the Independent Order of Eechabites, Star of Hauraki Tent, No. 3, will be celebrated in the Templar Hall this evening at 6.30. p.m., at which there will be no doubt be a large gathering.

The general monthly meeting of No. 3 11. R.V. is to take place to-night at 8 o'clock. Major Cooper will inspect the arms and accoutrements of those who have not been inspected, and members are requested either to be present or to send in their arms and accoutrements to the drill shed before 7 o'clock this evening- -.-:

It is with pleasure we announce that Mr DeLias has arranged to open a short season at the Thames, commencing on Monday next. The great attraction will be the appearance of Mr Emmet in the play of " Fritz," a play written for him, and in whicli he has sustained the chief part to crowded houses both in London, America, and wherever he has appeared in New Zealand. In writing of him The Times, not given to much gush over any actor, speaks of him as one of the most original and genial actors that ever were seen, and writes in very high terms indeed of his performance. He will be -assisted^ by Miss Rena and Mr F. G. Maeder, and a full company and orchestra. Mr DeLias also intends bringing down his own scenery for the occasion, and in spite of the alleged dulness of the times we expect crowded houses to witness the acting of one whom many of the best dramatic critics of the day have pronounced to be without a rival in his own line of business.

A petition signed by 75 of the inhabitants, mine owners, and others on the Karaka has been forwarded to-day to the Hon. F. Whitaker, praying him to take immediate steps to have the tramway put into efficient repair. As the Karaka Creek is now attracting much attention it is the duty of the Government to lose no time in repairing the tramway, without which it will be useless to work any claim on that Creek.

The Taranaki Herald says that by the reduction in. the numbers of the Armed Constabulary Force in the North Island, the Government have effected a saving to the Colony of something like £30,000 per annum.

Respecting the appointment of Dr Giles, lately Magistrate at Wanganui, to the Under-{Secretary ship of Crown Lands, the Wellington Argus says: "Resident Magistrates are in iuck now. One was not so very long ago made Minister of Justice, another has been made Commissioner of Crown Lands in Otago, and now a third is made Under-Secretary for Crown Lands."

Thebu is living in the village of Thefcford, Suffolk, England, The Times says, " an old soldier, William Clark, formerly of the twentieth Regiment, who served as one of the guard over Napoleon, at St. Helena. His recollections of youth* are so vivid, and apparently so accurate, that a narrative was taken down from his. lips by the parish, rector a short time ago. Pegarding the death and burial of Napoleon, Clark states :—' Napoleon died on May 5, 1821. Two priests were in attendance. We who had to lift the body were not allowed to touch the coffin until a priest had sprinkled us with the holy water. We started at 3 o'clock. The coffin was very heavy. We carried ifc six at a time, and the men that were lowest down in carrying him suffered all the punishment. I was one of these. All the garrison was assembled about the Emperor's quarters, and followed him to the grave, the bands playing a dead march. It was reported that Napoleon had requested to be buried with the honors of royalty, twenty-one guns; but the Governor ordered nineteen guns to be fired, the number assigned to a general. We carried the body, where a cart with oxen could not go, but in certain parts of the distance the men were relieved,' and the body drawn upon a cart. The Eoman Catholic priests who had been in attendance on him conducted the funeral service. The actual funeral took place about six p.m. Nine or ten of us had been employed for three days in excavating in the rock a cavity 7ft. deep and Bft. square. The rock was blasted, and wherethe powderhad made the sides uneven it was filled in, and the cavity smoothed all round. In the cavity thus made by sappers and miners, assisted by my own labor and that of others, flagstones were inserted in the rock and formed into a case or'box, which received the coffin. The coffin was covered over with a large flagstone, and the four corners were bored and filled in with melted lead, which: fastened them firmly together. The remainder of the excavation was filled in with the rubble and levelled, and a mound resembling a common grave raised above ifc. An iron palisading was placed round, and a sentry kept over it, night and day until all the" troops were withdrawn. They were gradually withdrawn, and bur regiment left six months after the funeral. I believe if any man ever died broken-hearted it was Boney. He had been low-spirited, and had not taken his usual exercise for some time before he was ordered to take up his quarters in the new.state prison. To be sure it had the name of a prison, but I saw into tl»e drawing-room and diningroom, and they were beautiful. It was built by the sappers and miners and by 400 Chinamen, and they were all of different trades. Mr Darlan, the storekeeper, told me that Napoleon left the

funeral party 1000F, but Sir Hudson Lowe said it was more than he dared do to grant it. Napoleon also would have given to each man of our regiment a gold chain to hold his pricker and brush, but we were not permitted to accept it."