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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2549, 8 March 1877, Page 2

The: election of members of the Thames Harbor Board is notified in the New Zealand Gazette of March. 1.

It . is notified in the New Zealand Gazette that Kate Milligan Edger, Auckland, has passed the final examination for the B.A. Degree.

We notice that the Alburnia have declared a dividend of two and sixpence, payable on Monday the 12th inst. The books of the company will be closed tomorrow Friday. :

A West Coast paper srtys that Mr and Mrs Cotterell have severed themselves for the present from the Mirror of England Panorama and are giving entertainments at Grey mouth.

A cobeespondent of the Wanganui Herald, states that the infamous Kereopa is allowed to ride about Waitotara and insult any person, whom he chooses, the police refusing to interfere. We were under. the • impression that Kereopa was hanged some years ago;

A Pbospectino Association has been formed at Charleston, West Coast. It offers a bonus of £250 to the party who finds a payable-gold field with an area situate,between the Totara and the range dividing the Four Mile and Fox's river, and terminating at the White Horse track ; the said new goldfield to be within an area of two miles from the prospector's claim, and to be capable of giving con-r tinuous employment to 250 miners for six months at current wages. The offer of the bonus to extend to the. 14th day of October next. !

The Auckland Volunteers have taken steps for giving a Wei]come to the rifle and carbine representatives at the Colonial Prize Firing, Captain Le Roy having invited his 'brother? officer^-together to consider the matter. We presume some form of welcome will" be arranged to greet our own men, who have a respectable show if they do not bring back the most valuable trophies of the meeting.

A jotjenaiist's labours for the good of the community in which he has cast in his lot do not always go. unrewarded in New* South Wales; Mr Morgan, editor of the Dubbo Dispatch, has been presented with an elegant tea-service and a purse of £400, in recognition of his services to tlie Dubbo district*

Some time since (the Hobart Town Mercury says) a letter appeared in the columns of jone.of" our..Southern contemporaries, stating that if gum leaves- were placed in drawers and boxes where linen was• kept the silver-fish, would beat a hasty retreat and never reappear. Several people in this town, also, who were terribly, annoyed by. the "fish•" tried the remedy, and found it to be a perfect cure, and we make the results of their experience public, so that those who have an objection to see holes eaten in their silk dresses and black coats by the desr tructive insects, may try -this apparently almost certain panacea—the gum leaf. Place half-a-dozen leaves between the sheets or blankets or on the mattress, and fleas will disappear."

The dangers of dummying are thus exemplified.by the Bendigo Independent :-*• "A well-known Bendigo tradesman some few years ago thought he would like to hold 960 acres'of'land, land being a very good investment./ The utmost hie could select is, as.everybody.knows, 320 acres, However, he thought he had got over that difficulty by getting an 'old and faithful employe '• to take up one block, and an orphaned and affectionate niece, whom he, being her uncle, had tenderly reared, to select the other. So the three blocks were taken up, and the 960 acres, quite a little station, was his own for life—so he thought. The man dummy had a hut erected on his selection, wherein he made a pretence of residence; so also had the young lady. J Our wealthy -tradesman supplied all the cash, and spent £700 on the two dummied selections. In due course of time the male and female dummies applied for their 'certificates of improvement, 1 which certificates gave a freehold right to the land when obtained. The certificates were granted. >. To cut the story short, 1 the man' and the niece, seeing they could do what they liked with the land, refused to give it up. In fact, they had •fallen in love with each other, and it is said they are now married, with a 'square mile' of land to start life upon, and the niece, under the protection of her husband, cares not a straw for her uncle, whom she defies. That unfortunate uncle has certainly been very kind to his relation in setting her up for life in such a fashion, though, at the same time, he never intended to do so."

A striking- instance of heroism in a mere lad .occurred on Thursday last, at, Sunbury, where some 800 children from Williamstown were assembled, at a-picnic in a paddock adjoiningthe residencei of Mr J. Clarke; and in'proximity to a deep creek (says the Melbourne Age .of February 14). The youngsters were scattered about in all directions, and presently the alarm was.given that a boy named Friday had fallen into the creek and was drowning. Without a moment's hesitation, a lad of 14 named James Wood Clark, of Willhmstown, ran down to the creek, some.so yards, distant. He was just .in time'tosee-.thp body rise and sink again, when lie plunged into the stream,"dived, and in a few seconds rose to the surface, supporting the form of young Friday. Life appeared to be extinct, and it was nearly an hour before animation was restored, so that but for young Clark's promptitude there is not the slightest doubt the accident would have had a fatal termination. The father of

Friday, a poor man, expressed his heartfelt thanks to the lad for the noble act that had saved liis sou's life, and insisted upon his acceptance of a small present in token of his gratitude ; and it is said that the Sunday school children will raise a peDny subscription to purchase a suitable testimonial for him. This, it may be aided, is: the second life saved from drowning by Master Clark during the present year. .

We (Otago Guardian) observe that the Company owning the Oamaru Evening Mail have grown weary of the pleasures of running a newspapaper, and have called a meeting to consider the propriety of selling the property. We find, the following notice in a recent issue :—" Evening Mail Company. (Limited.) Notice is hereby'given that a meeting of the shareholders of the above Company will be held on Friday, the second day of March next, at the Mechanics' Institute, Oamaru, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, to authorise the directors to sell the said newspaper and plant, and thereafter to wind up the affairs of the Company. Shareholders desirous of voting by proxy are reminded that they must deposit said proxies in the registered office of the Company not later than 48 hours previous. ; to the meeting. A. J. S. Headland,.chairman."

The following cheerful little episode in sea life on board a German man-of-war may be interesting to some of our readers: —About a fortnight ago a seaman on board the Hertha feloniously abstracted a £5 note from the pocket of one of his comrades, and when charged with the theft he stoutly denied it. A search was instituted, and the missing note found in his chest. Tried before a board of officers, lie was sentenced to four weeks' cells; his real punishment, however,.was to come. A second secret trial by a jury and court of his comrades, resulted in his being sentenced to the " Backslunus;" an old fashioned species of castigation stilt in use amongst the Germans. On leaving the cell to go on deck, a signal was passed among his comrades to be in readiness for his return. In a few minutes he descended the ladder to the gun-deck, . when he was seized .by four strong seamen, pulled orer a mess table, and severely belaboured and. beaten- with brass-tipped cutlass scabbards by eight more sailors, who continued the belting till the unfortunate thief sank senseless on the deck. During the flagellation the three hundred and odd men comprising the crew, crowded round and roared out a song, precluding the cries of the victim from reaching the ears of the officers.—-Herald.

The Border Post of the 10th instant re^ lates :—" lii last Saturday's 'issue #c rei ported the loss of a child aged three years anS a half, the son of Mr Peterson/farmer, of Talgarno, Upper Murray, who had left his father's house and got lost amongst .the "ranges. Since then'the distracted 1 father and numbers of the neighbours haveibeen csearching for the little one day and night in relays, sometimes nearly 100 horseman being in the bush at once. All ! hope of recovering the little one alive was abandoned, but still the search was vigorously prosecutedi; (The first'fcrace was dis* covered "on ■Thttwday»fla!|fi?-t»€ven^day| after'the.chikt was lost, when littlel7 foot? steps were found; in the bed of ;ja creek; These were carefully followed up, and eventually the party cairie'up6"n the little v one, who was in the act of taking a drink of water from the creek by 1 means of an. old sardine tin. The were ; .he was found was abput, fp^ur miles from his home. On being :lisked "where he was going, he replied hfe wasgoirig home, but couldn't find the way. He further stated: that he had subsisted on grass. Between the spot where he was found and his father's home runs.-a steep;and rugged range of mountain. How the child, three years ,old,;Cpuld;nave "crossed this range?and wandered. about for seven days with nothing but grass and water; to subsist upon, seems too incredible to be true." ;

A ceitic on the.San Francisco Evening Post comes down upon Nell the Californian Diamond pretty heavily. * He says : —When a "protean" artiste like Nell inflicts on the suffering and much-enduring public a string of such crude absurdities as " The Little Detective,";" No Name 'I and, ".Fidelia," that she may have an opportunity of giving her. extremely" me different song and dance business "at the California Theatre, toleration ceases to be a virtue, andplain speaking becomes a duty* -:.( -Nell is not even a protean artiste, for if protean means anything it means the power of changing one's individuality; and that is a thing with her impossible. Nell's greatest admirers will riot call her an actress, and are forced to acknowledge that her talents at best are simply in variety business. That being case; let her give it to us pure and simple with its " lightning changes " and " song and dance," and not under the thin disguise of that dramatic monstrosity—the protean playV If she has in her real talent she will find alike fame and money in her legitimate sphere, y ;

Wantbp Everybody to Know that all kinds of Watches and Clocks can be repaired at J". T. Ciabke's, Pollen street (corner of Mary street). N.B. Balance Staffs, Cylinders, and Pinions worked in for the. Trade. English Hunting Levers, £8 10s.—Advt. \. • .'" ; '-''■■■