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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2534, 19 February 1877, Page 2

There were no cases brought on for hearing at the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning.

We have to thank Major Cooper for a copy of the " Rules and Regulations for the competition for General Government Prizes, 1877." From a perusal of the rules we do not perceive any material alterations from previous years. The firing commences at Hokitika to-day.

The electro-plating man with his magic fluid has been victimising the Auckland people. The Herald says:—Our attention has been called to a clever but fraudulent attempt to impose upon the credulous which is now being practised. A person passitig himself, off as an electro-plater called upon several persons yesterday, and, for a consideration, promised to give them a bottle which would transmute old plate into new upon the first contact of the elixir it contained. The consideration was paid, but after the application of the magic liquid, the old plate remained old as it was before.

The furnishing of tke County offices has been completed by the contractor, Mr Dann, on whom the various articles of local manufacture reflect credit. The public or meeting room of the Council has been provided with tables and chairs for the Councillors and representatives of Jibe press, and some forms for the public who may attend the meetings. The chairman's, secretary's, engineer's, and collector and valuator's rooms have been supplied with the necessary furniture for carrying on their respective duties and conserving the documents appertaining thereto, and a fair start has been made in the new " shop " and under the new system with every.prospect of success and economy.

At the fortnightly meeting of the Board of Education, held on Friday last, a letter was read from the Thames asking that Mr William Davies might be nominated as a member of the Board, to which the Secretary was instructed to reply

that the Board had no power to nominate any person as a member.—A request for a grant of £250 for a teacher's house at Parawai was referred to the Building Committee.—An application for repairs to the Shellback School was referred to the Building Committee. —It was agreed that the Kauaeranga Committee should be informed that the school was not entitled to a second junior assistant teacher, but that' Miss Binuey would be attached to the school for a period of three months. —Mr Harry Wells, Mr Francis J. McLean, Miss Beecher and Miss Binney were admitted probationary teachers.— The appointment of Miss Bowen as teacher of the Tararu School was confirmed.

Mr J. M. Meek, whose unique specimens of penmanship we have had occasion to notice before, has now on view at the Pacific Hotel his latest contribution to the wonders of the caligraphic art, which is entitled a Chronological Tree of New Zealand. This piece of clever writing is a monument of patient and untiring application. It embraces information regarding New Zealand, from its discovery by Tasman down to the present time, which would fill a moderate volume. This information is written on the trunk of a kauri tree, and in tabulated statements and enclosed in shields of various shapes, and the whole comprises a very ornamental piece of writing about six feet six inches by four feet. A large number of people inspected this marvellous work to-day, and every one who saw it said that it was a most unique work of art. Mr Meek's object in visiting the Thames is to obtain subscribers for his work, which is now being accurately lithographed on a reduced scale, and we feel that all who intend making New Zealand their home should become subscribers, as by so doing they will be possessors of a work which is now of great value, and will not deteriorate with age.

The Hon. Mr Pox has been lecturing on the American Centennial at Marton, and in the course of his lecture saidOne of the simplest, yet at the same time most remarkable and attractive features of the Exhibition, was what was termed the " Butter Head." It was nothing more than the representation by a lady of the human head in a butter mould. Yet this head was so exquisitely beautiful that it formed one of the chief attractions of the exhibition, and some half-dozen policemen had to be placed on duty because of the immense crowds which were continually congregated in the vicinity of the butter head. It was a difficulty at first to know how to keep the butter fresh, but the Yankees were equal to the emergency, and improvised something that kept the butter fresh for months.

JEaiES in the Australasian of Feb. 3rd writes:—A clerical friend has an especial objection to the title of Lord Bishop^in the colonies, and he has favoured me with an apologue thereanent. The last time he read the epistle for Dr Sumner, the archbishop of Canterbury, was when that benevolent dignitary had come to Blackfriars road to preach on behalf of the ragged schools. When His Grace came out of his carriage he had no head covering but his wig, and all were hatless but the beadle. This important functionary had received a new hat with a large gold band in honor of the occasion, and he felt bound to keep it on his head. The Hon. Sydney Herbert removed his head covering, so even did the American husband of Mrs Beecher Stowe, who followed the archbishop. Not so the beadle. He marched in front of His Grace, but clung to his hat with the gold band. " So," says my correspondent, "do colonial church dignitaries cling to the title of. • Lord Bishop,'" although they know its bestowal was a blunder—a Queen's blunder certainly—but still a mistake. The title is like the inappropriate gold-laced hat of London beadledom.

Promiscuous acclimafcisers (says the Timaru Herald) should take warning by the fate of Mr F. D. Rich, a large proprietor near Waikouaiti in Otago. This gentlemen, who we believe has done as much as anybody in the way of acclimatisation, was recently fined in a nominal amount for shooting hares on his own land. He freely admitted the '" offence," being apparently desirous of having the matter brought prominently forward. He further stated ,that the hares oa his estate quite equalled in voracity a flock of long-woolled sheep, and that there were sometimes at least a thousand of them at once in a single paddock. His evidence was corroborated by other witnesses, and the Bench, though obliged to inflict a penalty for the sake of the law, appeared to sympathise with the delinquent. It seems that when the Noxious Animals Prevention Bill was before the House last session, Major Atkinson promised that the open season for hares should be extended, the Governor having power to do so. Nothing, however, has been done in the matter, and the consequence is that not only Mr Rich's grass and plantations have been devoured, but also the law has been broken, and to some extent brought into contempt.

Tub Melbourne Age doubts the truth of the painful rumor regarding the alleged murder of Miss Wren by Madame Cora at the Cape. The Age says :—" An extraordinary and happily most unfounded rumor has been rife for some days past respecting Madame Cora, who, it may be remembered, left Melbourne about a year ago in company with Miss Jeannie Wren, Val Voso, and other artists, for the Cape of Good Hope. From all the accounts received the company had been doing an excellent business, despite many counter attractions, and Madame herself was a great favorite with the public. About a week ago a statement was circulated to the effect that in a fit of temper Madame Cora beat Miss Wren with much violence by seizing her by the neck, from the effects of which the latter, who was weak and delicate, ultimately died. It was known when Madame Cora was leaving Melbourne that she was extremely kind and attentive to Miss Wren, to. whom she surrendered her cabin on the voyage, owing to the delicate state of the latter's health. The rumor therefore received no credence by those acquainted with the ladies in question. The files of papers from the Cape to hand contain no information of the nature indicated, and the detective who came by the Wolverine, direct from Capetown, in search of Lyons and Karlishaw, the alleged diamond robbers, stated, when questioned, that there was not a word of truth in the rumor.

A fatal occurrence in Mancheiter offers a grave warning to volunteers and others who are in possession of firearms, and who occasionally discharge a loaded weapon in the air. The story is recorded in a letter to The Times, in which is nar-

rated the main points of the evidence touching the sudden death of an errand boy who, while walking in a street in Manchester, suddenly dropped dovrndead. The surgeon who examined the body found the cause of death to be a bullet i which had entered the skull exactly at the top. It had beeii fired in the air from a rifle, and having reached a certain height when its force was spent, it of course, according to the laws of gravitation, began to descend, and in that descent gathered i an accumulative force, equal it is said, to the force with which it was originally projected from the rifle. The writer points this out by saying that a ball dis-1 charged into the air "at a convenient angle, and to a maximum height of 500 yards, will, when it again descends to the level of the rifle's muzzle, have a downward velocity of exactly equal to the upward velocity of a ball of the same weight shot perpendicularly up with force enough to enable it to reach a height of 500 yards." In these times when young men and lads are entrusted with, arms of precision and ammunition, this remarkable accident ought to operate as a caution when their pieces ar9 discharged in the air.—Herald.