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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2536, 21 February 1877, Page 2

To-day the several tramways on the Thames. Goldfield, together with rolling stock and appliances, and all the tools formerly used by men employed under the late Provincial Government, were handed ove* to the County Council. Sergeant Garland, A.C., Ohinemuri, has been instructed to take over the tools in that district.

We regret to learn that Mr McMasters, who had his leg broken above the knee by a log rolling over him at Mata creek, and who is at present at the Hospital, is in rather a precarious state, and it is feared that the leg, which is badly fractured^ will require to be amputated.

Me E. Honiss, secretary for the Thames Hospital, begs to acknowledge the receipt of a cheque for £4 18s 6d from Messrs Cassrells and Bennett, being the amount collected for the Hospital by these gentlemen at Paeroa.

We notice that as an additional, attraction to this evening's entertainment at the Theatre Royal, when " Fritz " will be enacted for the last time, the manager ment announce that every lady entering the theatre will be presented with a copy of a waltz composed by Mr J.E. Emmet, and published in Melbourne. The price of the waltz is 4s per copy, but the copies are not confined to the front seats only, but will be given to every lady whatever part of the theatre she may go to. We expect this liberality on the part of the management will be appreciated.

Recently at Ashburfcon, Canterbury, a boy named George Broad received a prize for having travelled the greatest number of miles to school. He had travelled twenty miles a day, or a total of fifteen hundred miles during the session of seventy-five days. I

The Hauraki Sawmill Company have leased their sawmill.on the Thames River, and the Kahikateaßush, to Messrs Bagnall for a term of three years, the contractors having purchased a fourth interest in the plant. 'Messrs Bagnall have been previously lessees under the company, and during their term Of ownership they afforded complete satisfaction to the owners and to traders. Large quantities of white pine timber are regularly shipped from this mill to Southern and Australian ports, and should the lands of the Upper Thames become opened up for settlement as soon as it is anticipated, the new lessees will have a home market of no inconsiderable extent for their boards and scantlings.—Herald.

Says a contemporary:—The District Grand Lodge of Freemasons for the North Island of New Zealand, E. C, will meet on the 22nd instant (to-morrow) to nominate a successor to the late Sir Donald M'Lean, as RiW.D.G.M. Representatives of all the Masonic lodges under the English Constitution in the North Island are invited to attend on tho occasion.

The Intelligent Vagrant is now on his travels and is writing to the N.Z. Mail under the heading of "Vagrans Viator." He says of the Armed Constabulary :— A healthy and laudable spirit of professional reputation exists amongst the members of the Armed Constabulary force in the Patea district. It displays itself principally in efforts to see who can turn out in the tightest cord trousers and straps. One gentleman, who I think must be facile princeps in this respect, and who therefore reduces competition into mere attempts at taking second place, had trousers so tight that their extreme beauty is attributed to the fact of his having had them patiently sewn on to him. The old theory that he was born in them is #not entertained by many.

Ihe special correspondent of the Otago Guardian who accompanied the excursionists round New Zealand in the Wanaka thus refers to a visit paid to a Westport dancing saloon :—ln this establishment the ordinary rules of etiquette are turned topsy-turvy. Instead of the gentlemen inviting the ladies to dance, some half-a-dozen female attaches wait upon the male visitors and in the most seductive manner imaginable, invite them to participate, in the luxuries of the next waltz or schottische. The invitation from blooming young damsels, specially^ adapted by reason ot their personal attractions for the extraordinary pursuit in which they are engaged, is generally irresistible. Many a member of the sterner sex, young and old, has paid dearly for the pleasure of being allowed to do temporary homage to these dancing graces. The invariable rule at the close of each dance is to liquor up, and woe betide the unfortunate who is tempted to flash his roll of wealth and to indulge in the luxury of champagne. We had a victim amongst us who was spooney

enough to gratify one of these sybils with sparkling Moet. At the end of the second dance he sugested " square hollands " or beer for a change; " Beer !" said his fair partner with a look of indignant disdain ; " surely, sir you would never think of offering beer to a lady ?'! He stood another bottle, and then resigned his. expensive partner to another victim. The Westport dsmcing-saloon is. a recognised remnant of the institutions that flourished in the good old diggings times, when gold was squandered in dissipation and lawless pleasures were in the ascendant. Uecent legislation has stamped the salle de dance out, at least in connection with the, publican's bar, in nearly every centre of population but "Westport. The dancing-saloon business, however, flourishes there, and I observe that a member of the Lydia Howards Burlesque Troupe is announced to make her appearance among the dancing stars of the so-called theatre. ■

The Melbourne correspondent of the" Ballarat Star says :—" An idea has been broached of a very common-sense character with respect to any future contest that may be fought with the All-England cricketers. It simply is that the principle of handicaping adopted in billiards. and other masculine amusements should be applied to cricket, and that instead of putting a larger number of men into the field, which necessarily cramps the efforts of the batsmen, our men should play eleven only, and receive a certain number of points, or runs, as an equivalent for the men excepted from the team. By this simple plan, the cricketing public would have an opportunity of seeing what our visitors can do when only opposed by the ordinary number of fieldsmen, and their play would then be rendered more entertaining and instructive."

The Hawea correspondent of the. Patea Mail says :-—This township is so replete with lively rumours of one sort or another, that I must perforce give you the substance of the last oft dit. A pretty widow, whose husband has been dead several years, received a beautiful bouquet the other day. - The gentleman who sent it has been flying round her with an earnest-, ness worthy of a storekeeper's clerk, and' it was with extra delight that- he saw her pass his store that evening with the bouquet offlowersinherband. "I amso pleased to see you with them," said he, and a thousand'little Cupids dimpled in his smile. " Yes," she replied, "it was! very kind of you. I always knew you: liked him. lam taking them to his grave." ?

The will of Mr Sampson, late city editor of the London Times, shows that he died worth a r fortune of £60,000. Yet he stated in a letter, after the trial which led to such ruinous exposures of him, that he was a "poor man." It is a curious but undoubted fact .that he' starved himself to death. Many stories were afloat about the strange manner of his deaths but this is the true one. He had lived for many years with his sister, to whom he was attached to a degree seldom known or heard of. She died a few weeks ago, and Mr Sampson refused from that moment to eat anything whatever, and in spite of all the persuasions and remonstrances of his friends and physicians he persevered in his determination and so died. He has left the bulk of his property to the children of his sister. !

The following amusing story, wherein figure ladies of high local pedigree as Well as, a foreign Knight who resides at Christchurch, is going the rounds of the Southern Press. The scene is laid in the Christchurch Museum. Says the correspondent :—The Christchurch Museum possesses a statuary room, and among the copies of classical works there displayed is a Venus di Medici. A party of ladies, leaders of ton, having heard so much of its perfections as the beau ideal of the female form, made up a quiet little party, at an hourly hour one morning, to study, admire, and compare notes. They saw, and criticised, and were unanimous in the opinion that there was no such very singular perfection^ after all, and expressed with consentient mice the conviction that they could severally compare with the- model, to no disadvantage. Thus far good, but, alas, a gentleman of foreign accent had been in an adjoining lobby, and had overheard, and unable to restrain his feelings, burst out with "It ees imposseeble, I vill not believe it ontil I see ze fac." Tableau! A rustle of skirts, and lo ! the lady critics had incontinently disappeared. •■••■.■ !

At the JSTaseby Resident Magistrate's Court on the 2nd inst., says the Otago Guardian, a somewhat novel case was decided by H. W. Eobinson, Esq., K.M. It was an information laid by E. T. George against L. W. Busch, Mayor of Naseby, in which it was alleged that the defendant, being the Mayor of Naseby, had absented himself from the meetings of the Council,- without the leave of the Council, for a period exceeding one calender month. The allegations were sustained by the evidence, which showed that the defendant had declined to attend the meetings because they were held in the afternoon instead of at night,, as formerly. His Worship, after reviewing the law of' the case, inflicted a fine of £1, and costs, £4 10s.