THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1877.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2583, 18 April 1877, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1877.

Declaration of war is believed to be imminent. Such is the belief inLondon,

a belief warranted by facts as disclosed to us by the latest telegrams^ published yesterday. With the expressions of regret uttered by Lord Derby in the House of Lords, in the passage of arms between Lord Hartington and Mr Hardy in the Commons, we have little to do. " The members of the Opposition at home are obliged to find some fault to satisfy the feelings of those who strive to hide their.policy of disaffection under the name of Radicalism. It does not much matter to us here whether the Secretary of State refuses certain papers or not, any more than it did to the real issue of the Tichborne case, whether a man would quit his farm on a notice of ejectment served on him at the instance of the claimant, or not. The result, brought about how it has been, is still the same. In the one 1 case the claimant was imprisoned; in the other war is imminent. Had the farmer peacefully yielded up the possession of his farm a trial would have ensued just as it did ensue. Had Mr Hardy produced the additional papers demanded by Lord Hartington, war would have been as imminent as it is now. That war certainly concerns us, distant though we be from the scene of probable action. The success .or non-success of Britain if engaged in this imminent war will affect every one of her dependencies. With everything to lose, as we had in '54; with very little to gain even if anything; as was ihe case then so it is now, the rumors of war which telegram after telegram renders more plain to us that such things will be, are not pleasant. Hannibal said he saw the doom of Carthage when he gazed oa the h«ad of his dead

brother Hasdrubal, which Nero had thrown into his camp. The famous sentence of Cuto. with which lie concluded sONmany of his impassioned harangues, arguing that there could be no peace for Rome:untiLCarthage was destroyed, recur to us as we think of all the mischief Turkey in Europe has occasioned, and seeing the increased 1 evils it will occasion, which, though pacified fora time as they have been, will again break out, and make us echo the wish that Turkey is to be done away with.

The Choir of the Eoman Catholic Church have determined to hare an evening's entertainment in the Hibernian Hall, Shortland, to-morrow evening, commencing at 7.30. All the kind ladies and gentlemen who took part in the concert of yesterday evening are cordially iinvited to attend. This is undertaken out of compliment to those who took an active part on that occasion.

We are not to be long without amusement. The Chicago Minstrels, who played here on last Saturday night week, and hare since been doing a good business in Auckland, open at the Theatre Roya^ next Monday night. .

A visitob to Mrckaytown says things are " awfully " dull there, not anything stirring of any kind, and mining matters are better known in Grabamstown than there.

Although the water from the Thames Water.Race has been available for some time in the batteries, it was utilised today for the first time as motive power. The Queen of Beauty turbine, recently erected by Messrs; Judd & Co., from de r signes furnished by, and under the supervision of Mr J. E. Perry, was started fairly to-work to-day and proved a great success —so much so, indeed; that the furnace has been raked out' and the steam engine stopped. The turbine is not on at full pressure, but the power is ample for the stampers, berdans, &c. The success must be very gratifying to Mr Perry and aho to the Queen of ; Beauty shareholders.

It has been suggested, and we commend the suggestion to those who have it in their power to deal with the matter, that the Mechanics' Institute should be opened to ladies more invitingly than it is at present. We know that ladies may become members, now, but their use of the institute is necessarily confined to the library, merely as borrowers of books. What we would suggest is that a room should be set apart in the Institute where ladies can go and inspect the Various monthlies containing information peculiarly interesting to them —in fact to set apart a ladies' reading room. We merely throw out the suggestion: it will be for the committee to consider it, ov otherwiss. We are convinced that t« placing at the disposal of ladies the pn. fications mo?t interesting to them wo 7 V prove an additional attraction and possibly add largely to the membership of the Institute.'

The adjourned meeting of persors holding volunteer land scrip was held at the Naval Brigade Hall last evening. There were about twenty persons present, and Mr Somervell took the chrir..>: i'He stated that the secretary, Mr Bennett, was unable to attend, but he had given him a memo, which stated that he (Mr Bennett) had seen the captains of the various companies, but it appeared that they were indignant at people interfering with what they considered their business, and he had. got a good deal of abuse; Major Cooper had said that the meeting should, not have been held, as the captains could have told them what they wanted. The speaker said that some time ago Major Cooper had gone to Wellington' and was to see the .Defence Minister, Sir Donald McLean, on the subject. He did not know if Major Cooper had done so ; and now that Sir Donald, was dead the matter of land scrip appeared to have died out also. Considerable discussion then arose, the majority of those present .being in favor of not consulting the officers at all on the matter. Finally it was resolved, on the motion of Mr Wright, seconded by Buckley, that a petition sighed by airpersons holding volunteer land scrip be drawn up and forwarded to the Hon*-the Defence Minister, requesting him to set apart a block of land in the Thames County suitable for agricultural purposes for selection by those holding land scrip, or else the Government buy up the scrip. Votes of thanks to the W avals" for the use of.the Hall and to the ChairtLan concluded the meeting.

Mb J. L. Hall's company at -the Gaiety Theatre, Christchurch, are said to bave been doing a good business lately, the burlesque of " Ixion " haying been produced, with Miss Laura Wiseman iv the title role and Mr Hall as Minerva.

A VEET sad occurrence took place in Dunedin' lately. A gardener named George Smith was employed with another man removing the body of the late Dr. Hulme to a vault, when Smith received a slight abrasion on his leg from the spade used by his mate, which was wet with exudation from the coffin' In a few days Smith died in great agony from blood poisoning.

Mb W. Hoskins, the veteran comedian, reappeared at the Theatre Royal, Christchurch, recently after a long absence from the stage through illness. He chose the " Heir-atLaw " for the opening piece, assuming his old role of Dr Pangloss, to which he is said to have done fell justice, never missing a point. ':

The Clutha Leader learns on excell authority that a gold rush may very s' -> . be expected in the direction of the Waikaka. Some Chinamen have'recently made from £15 to £20 per man per week at from 40ft to 50ft sinking. Some of the knowing ones from Tapanui have already left for the ground. ,

The Australasian of the 31sc ult. has the following with regard to Dr Macartney, who will be remembered as having once lectured on the Thames: — The lecture which Dr G- D. Macartney was'announced to give at the Temperance Hall on Monday was not delivered, owing to very unusual circumstances. During the day Mrs Macartney had taken the preliminary steps for obtaining; a divorce from her husband, on the ground that he had ill-treated her, had been intemperate in his habits, and had committed adultery. These proceedings having obtained publicity, Dr Macartney determined; out of respect to his audience, to refrain from delivering his lecture. He explained the matter personally to the audience, and read a statement concerning the case. This was to the effect that the whole thing was a conspiracy between his " unfaithful wife and her adulterer "

to discredit him at the .coming elections i.nd to screen themselves. All his past alamities had their, origin iv the infidelity of his wife with a person.who was now a candidate for a seat in the Assembly. He had contemplated seeking for a divorce nearly two years ago, as a certain letter now in the office of. the Minister of Justice would show, but he had refrained from doing so for the sake of his children. Dry Macartney having finished reading; his statement, the audience dispersed. The case cannot come before the courts until September.

The Ballarat correspondent of the Australasian describes a scene at a theatre and proceedings of a disappointed audience as follows ;—The Levity Marionettes Company opened here to-night at the Theatre JRoyal to a crowded house, numbers of country people being in the place. The audience evidently disliked the performance, and condemned it as an imposition. Shortly after the curtain was drawn up hooting and hissing began. Throwing of fruit at the. performers followed, and the demonstrations of the audience got very warm. At last somepeople began to get on the stage. The lights were then, turned out, arid a scene of the wildest uproar followed. Temporary lights .were, obtained. The gasalier-globes were smashed, the cushions were torn to pieces in many places, the screens were torn down, and the music-stands were thrown on the stage, many being broken. An inquiring spirit having asked where the proprietors of the marionettes were staying,; and being told at Fussell's Hotel, a great crowd marched to that house, yelling and hooting all the time. Arrived at the hotel the mob demanded their-money, back, andthe infuriated crowd seemed to threaten serious mischief. It was some time before the police arrived, but eventually a posse came down, and the footpath was cleared of the riotous assemblage. The rioters had scarcely been cleared- off the footpath before stone-throwing commenced, to a limited extent certainly, and one of Fussell's plate-glass windows had a stone thrown through it. The police soon managed to.clear away the mob,,but not before many serious threats were uttered against Levity, the proprietor of the marionettes, and if that person had made his appearance at the time the mob came down, the chances are that he would have been severely ill-treated, if not killed. The mob continued to demand Jieir money back, but could not get it. Quietness seems to be restored, but the affair was very nearly being a serious riot.

In speaking of Mrs DarreU's departure, the Otago Daily Times makes the following remarks:—" Mrs Darrell will leave for Sydney, by the Rotoi ua to-day. She has been advised by her medical attendant to seek a milder, climate, a 8 she is suffering from a bronchial affection, which has prevented her from appearing at the Princess Theatre this week. Mrs Darrell will not again return to Dunedin, and though requested since her intention to leave Otago became known to take a benefit, she will not be able to appear and take the customary farewell. Though she is unable to perform, it gives us pleasure to state that her general health is riot seriously affected; at the,same time she. is compelled to seeka mtjder cliirate. Mrs Darrell, it will bo remembered, first appeared in Dunedin, at the old P/incess, about eight years ago, and a short time after appeared on the same stage with Mr Darrell. .Sha again visited Dnnedin about eighteen months ago, when she played for nine weeks, and lately has appeared here for the past five months. Mrs Darrell carries with her the best wishes of her friends in Dunedin, and we are sure will long be remembered as an able exponent of the drama. There are many whose recollections of her in the old country and Australia extend over years prior to her visiting; these shores, and these in an especial manner among the hosts .of playgoers (young and old) whom she* has delighled, will, we. are sure, wish her a prosperous career and a return to •health." :■■'■'■-

The writer of "Under the Verandah'

in the Melbourne Age relates the follow--ing incident in the.experience of a thirsty juryman a prolonged sitting in the jury-room, he was rather unhappy on leaving his house in the morning. "I'd take a flask of brandy," said he to hia wife, " but the other men would see me drink it, and perhaps report it to.the judge." The lady told him to wait for two or three minutes, and at the end- of that time returned with two babbies' feeding bottles filled with stiff brandy and water. " Put one in each breast coat pocket," she told him " and when you want a drink all you have to do is to quietly take out the tube and have a draw. You c-n drink while the judge is looking at you if you do it carefully." The jury were out much sooner than expected—a little after seven o'clock in the evening—but the lady assured me that when her husband returned there wasn't a drop left in either of the bottles, though she had calculated on their lasting till midnight.

The American type-writer, says " Atlas" in the World, is gradually becoming popular. With several authors it has superseded the use of the pen altogether. Some people habitually use it for writing letters; and this gives rise to a curious question.. If a man writes a letter or agreement with a type-writer, and signs his name to a letter or agreement with the same instrument, is the document so produced as legal and binding as one signed with a pen ? Undoubtedly there is a most useful field for the type-writer among the blind. If the stops had the letters in relief upon them, with little prnctice a blind person might be able to Write letters with as great ease as he could play the pianoforte.

A juvbnile who had visited a newspaper office handed to his teacher a composition entitled, "How to Make : JSTewS" papers," in which he thus describes the process: The head men sit down to their desks and write on square pieces of paper what to print on the paper. They put them in a box and send them upstairs. When they get upstairs a man takes them and gives a lot of other men every one a piece of this paper that has been written on. The man that the paper is given to takes the types and fixes them one after another so that thfey read what the paper reads. A man then takes the words and puts them in a box and places them in some machinery, that makes it go round ; then there is a boy who stands over the machinery and puts the paper on the machinery, and then some hooks brings it down over the box with the types in, and the,types have ink on, the t\pes print on fhe. r |>aper then there is hooks that take the paper up and lay it on another machine that folds it up and then they sell their.—The end.

An amusing misunderstanding was the cause of Mr Haweis 1 church in Westmoreland street, Portland place, London, being crammed to overflowing on Sunday night, 10th December. It was understood that; the object of his sermon would be - the " Sani t ary A spects of Hell." Nothing more was needed to attract churchgoers.:.; On mounting the pulpit, Mr ilaweis saidj; j' I fear some misconrceptioh'has gone abroad as to the'subject of my discourse this evening. I know nothing about hell. What I wish to speak to you about are the ' Sanitary Aspects of Health.'"

See what the London Journal say's i about " John Smith." Plain John Smith j is not very high sounding ; it does not ! suggest aristocracy ; if'is not '£116 name of! any hrro in die-away novels ; and yet it is good, strong, and honest. Transferred to other languages it seems to climb the ladder of respectability. Thus in Latin it is Johannes Smitlius ; in Italian, Giovanni Smithi ; the Spaniards render it Juan Bmithus ; the Dutchmen adopt it as : Hans Schmidt; the French flatten it out into. Jean Smeet; and the Russian sneezes and barks Jonzpff Smitowski. When Johu Smith gets into the tea trade in Canton he becomes Jbvan Cihmmit; if he clambers about mountains .the Icelanders say he is Johne Smithsofr; if he trade among the Tuscororas^he becomes Tori Qua Smittia; in Poland he is known as Ivan Schmititiweiski ■;., should he wander among the Welsh mountains they talk of Jihon Schmitt; when he goes to Mexico he is booked as Jantili F'Sinitti; if of turn he lingers among Greek ruins, he turns to lon Smikton ; and in Turkey he is utterly disguised as You Self." And if the writer in the London Journal heard him greeted " Hey Jock Smuth, hoo are ye the noo ? " lie could .have had some more to say.- .