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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2589, 25 April 1877, Page 2

The half-yearly general meeting of the pr6prie itd ifs of the Bank of New Zealand will be held at the head* office in Auckland at noon to-morrow, for the transaction of any business that may be brought before it.

Tenjdebs are palled for^the erection of a boys' school in Sbortland. The Board of Education have done but little towards providing school buildings for the Thames, and this is a step in the right direction. The Volunteer Hall, which has hitherto been used as the Kauaeranga Boys' School, is utterly unfitted for the purpose, especially in winter, so that for the sake of teachers and scholars it is to be hoped no time will be lost in hurrying on the building of the school.

We understand that Mr Carruthers, Engineer in Chief, who was a passenger in the Wanaka from the South yesterday, may shortly be expected to visit the Thames, to inspect the water race and report on some matters in dispute between the contractors for two sections of the work and the Government, and which, in one case at least, have been long in an unsettled state.

The Bazaar in aid of the Baptist Minister's Eesidence fund will be opened at the Academy of Music on Friday next, and will continue open during the evening and on Saturday afternoon and evening. In addition to the ordinary attractions of a bazaar, a scientific ana musical entertainment is promised, and a children's tree laden with articles likely to give pleasure to the young. We hope the affair will turn out a financial success. '

In another column appears a notice of the death of Mr W. H. Kendall, which will be read with regret by many to whom the deceased was known as a steady and persevering young man. We have heard that Mr Kendall was out on Sunday, although he had been ailing for some days, and lie succumbed to the disease whicli had attacked him last night. It is said that the deceased caught a violent cold while attending the funeral of his sister-in-law, about a fortnight ago. His rather sudden demise will be a severe blow to his sorrowing wife and relatives, coming so soon after the. family bereavement which had so recently occurred. .

We notice the return to the Thames of a former resident and business man, Mr J. F. Ahlgren, jeweller, who in the early days of the field was almost alone in his line. The improved prospects of the Thames have induced Mr Ahlgren-to return, and he has recommenced business in O wen street, near to McDonnell's fruit depot.

The Wellington Evening Post does the Native Minister the honor of saying that "of all the official ' barnacles ' who ever obstructed public business by means of circumlocution and. red tape, Dr. Pollen is the most notable and distinguished.''

A Wellington paper inserted an ad- 1 vertisement for 1000 boys and girls to carry luncheons to the Government buildings. A large number of juveniles responded to the invitation; and were referred to the Under Secretary, Mr Willis. ■;■•■ . -; : /•

The Eangiora Standard has the following :—Surely this is not the age of iron, nor even : the age of gold, but the age of falsehood. It is seriously stated that Stanley, he who did—or did not—discover the lost Dr Livingston, and about whose doings in civilizing niggers with the Snyder rifle and elephant explosive bullets, so much has been written, is somewhere quietly ensconced in London, where-he .manufactures at leisure those wondrous .despatches which, are setting Exeter Hall so furious. It may be remembered;.what a howl there was about letters published in the London Daily Telegraph from Stanley, describing his exploits in the interior of Africa. According to his ow»%ecount, he fought a regular series of pitched battles, and was a kind of Napoleon on a small scale. It is how reported, that/the letters are pure romance, concocted* for the delectation of a sensation-loving public, that not a single negro has been killed, and that all the indignation expended upon the intrepid American has been wasted. If this be true, Mr Stanley must indeed be a very clever man.

The Poverty Bay Standard has a leading article on the Bey T. De Witt Talmage, adversely criticising that gentleman's sermon to writers for the press, and which criticism concludes ns folllows:— There is one art which an experienced press writer excels in. This is nis ability distinguish an honest man from a quack or a pretender. It is either as a quack or a pretender he probably will rank such a man as the Rev De Witt Talmage.

Te Wananga says:—We hear on good authority that the promise made by the Attorney-General, Mr Whitaker, to the House of-Representatives, that he would draft a new Native Lands Bill during the recess, has been fulfilled. A new Bill sweeping away all existing Acts has been drafted by Mr Whitaker with the as: sistance oLChief. Justice Fenton. We hope that the Government will secure the confidence of the Natives in this important matter by circulating the Bill amongst them in the Maori language at least a month before Parliament meets.

Befobb the few trivial cases in the Resident Magistrate's Court could be disposed of today, in the absence of the .Resident Magistrate, half-an-hour was spenl in hunting for a Justice of the Peace. Mr E. W. Puckey was present, but the difficulty was to find a second one, the business on the sheet requiring two. About eleven o'clock, Mr Gr. Vesey. Stewart, of the Katikati settlement, was found and prevailed upon to sit, and the business was proceeded with.

The Wellington correspondent of the Daily Times says:—" Mr Brett, of the Auckland Star, was recently at Wellington a few days, and his mission is said to hare been to . make enquiries as to the chance a new morning paper would have here. There is certainly a good chance for a really well conducted independent paper, the New Zealand Times being as wretched a rag and as thoroughly unpopular as a paper could well be."

At a late meeting of the Middlesex magistrates, Mr Sergeant Cox gave an amusing account of a railway adventure^ with a party of' card-sharpers with whom he had recently travelled. After the usual preliminary mock playing and betting had been gone through, Mr Cox was invited to try his luck, but replied that he should not like to bet with them, as ho was a magistrate and chairman of the division in which they were, and might probably have to meet them»agam before the week was out. This delicate hint put the sharpers in a terrible fright, for they all beat a precipitate retreat at the,, next: station.

On Monday last, says the Timaru Herald, 2449 sheep were taken from Mr Studholme's station at Waimate to' his station on the south bank of Eangitata, in one train of 10 trucks, the journey occupying three hours. This is rather a different state ot affairs from- that which existed two or three years ago, when the same operation would have lasted over 10 days.

Apeopos of the assault case, Robinson (better known as Ready-Money Robinson) versus Redwood, the following correspondence has been published:—" Sir, I wish to be allowed to express to you my most profound regret and sorrow for the gross assault I committed on you on Tuesday night. In tendering you my humble and public apology for this assault, I wish it further to be known that not the slightest provocation of any sort was given to me by you at the time, rioi' one word said by you which could in eny way justify my conduct, and that the blow given by me with a stick was totally unexpected by you. I am, yours obediently, H. Redwood.—Hon. William Robinson, Christchurch.'' — " Sir, —In reply io your letter of to-day, conveying your apology for assault you committed on me, I have to state that out of regard for many members of your family, whom I have known for many years, and for whom I have much respect, I do not intend to press the case in the Police Court against you, and therefore, for these reasons, but for no other, accept your apology. Your obedient servant, Wat. RoBiNSONr-^-H. Redwood Esq."

They were evidently lovers. The other passengers had watched them closely for an hour or more, and could come to no other conclusion. She was young ,and fair, and he fondly gazed into the depths of her blue "eyes as though he were trying to read his future there. When she half rose and turned her face to the carriage window in order to obtain a better view of the scenery, his left arm seemed to slip round her tender waist quite naturally, while his lips were within an inch of her soft and rosy cheek as he whispered to her the.^names of the mountains in the distance. A young lady of some seven-and-thirty summers, who sat opposite them, once or twice gave a loud sniff of disapproval, and some young fellows in the corner could not help .tittering ; but the young couple seemed^to be unconscious of the presence of anyone else, and went on with their billing and cooing. When the train entered the tunnel,- one of the male passengers, thinking to have some fun, struck a match, but the sudden flash of light only revealed the pair sitting decorously side by side with their hands clasped affectionately together. With the striking of the match, however,-a thought appeared to strike the young lady, and she evidently considered it high time to explain matters. This is how she did it When the train left the tunnel, she held her hand towards: her companion witha request that he would fasten her glove. He took her dainty little hand in his and bent fondly over her, while she remarked in a sweet and clear voice, • Wouldn't this be nice if you were somebody else's brother, P" The other" passengers looked as if they bad been imposed upon.— Otago Guardian.

A wbitbe of "Home Gossip" in a contemporary says :~A young lady with whom 1 have the pleasure to be acquainted asked me the other day what nation I considered to be of the most importance to England in the present crisis. Believing my young friend to be of a sensible turn "of mind, and not given to frivolous jesting on grave matters, I briefly reviewed the Eastern Question in all its bearings, and so arrived at the conclusion—which I have the honor to thirikl share: with the lords and gentlemen assembled and my fellowcountrymen assembled—that I did not know : and having made my confession awaited the information curiously. '• Vac]. -cination,"j! was the answer; and I felt [foolish. The wisdom of the remark I could not but acknowledge ; but my soul was sore within me, and it was wilh'difficulty that I refrained from mentioning yet another nation, prefixed by that one syllable which Byron grandiloquently styles the "nucleus of native eloquence." •

By last mail's news we learned that Mr Charles Matthews, the veteran actor, was seriously ill. His complaint was the gout, which necessitated his-sending an apblojjy for not putting in an appearance at the farewell benefit to Mr John Parry. The apology is characteristic; we reproduce it:—"My dear Hollingshead,—l cannot tell you how- disappointed I am at not beiDg able to assist at the benefit ot my dear old friend John Parry to-morrow. I should have been, delighted to put my best leg forward; but, alas, alas! at this moment I have no one leg that is better than the other. That agreeable complaint, so airily spoken of by those who never had it as 'a touch of the gout,' has knocked me off my pins ■altogether. Your gout is a sad enemy to light comedy (we young lighircomedians are only men after all), and how could I, in the character of Puff, talk to Sneer and Dangle of my ' hopping and skipping about the stage with my usual activity,' while holding on by the aid of a stick (I. have sometimes been badly supported even x by two)? It is the first time I

ever disappointed the public on a similar occasion, and only comfort myself with the reflection that I shall not be missed among so many, and that, after all, so that the illustrious John be in good form, the audience will be amply gratified and pardon my unavoidable absence. I need not wish Parry success—one who has never known anything else—and can only envy those who are able once more to witness and:enjoy it. I send no doctor's certificate; I .wish I was unable to do so; but if any one doubts, all the harm I wish him is that he should exchange places with me for four-and-twenty hours.— Faithfully yours, C. Matthews. ''""

A contempobaex says: Lyster's Opera Company, with Miss Catherine Lewis as prima donna, will be in New Zealand shortly. Their repertoire contains several new operas, amongst which is " La Petite Mariee," Lecoq's latest production. The Melbourne Argus said of this that it contained some of the best music which the composer of. " La Fille de Madame Angot" had ewer written. The opera is described as full of quaint airs which are sure to captivate the public taste.

An extraordinary decision, the Pall Mall Gazette states, has just been arrived at by the civil tribunal in Paris. Seven years ago a lady purchased £200 worth of jewellery from a firm in the Palais Eoyal, the agreement (mado in writing at the time of payment) being that if the articles were not approved of they might be exchanged. The purchaser kept and used the jewellery for more than six years, at the expiration of which time-she intimated to the jeweller her desire to exchange it for other articles. Upon his very naturally declining to entertain such a proposal she commenced an action for the purpose of compelling* him to do so; and though his advocate urged that he could not be called upon to accept, at the full price originally given for them, articles which had. been in constant wear for several years, the judgment of the Court was against him, upon the ground that in the agreement "he had failed to define the period during which the exchange might Ibe made."

" Atlas," writing to the World, says : I am grieved to discover that I have been for a long time past wearing unfashionable nightshirts. As many of my friends have probably been doing the same, I venture jto quote the following from the current number, of Myra's Journal:—" Embroidered shirt fronts are not fashionable as formerly for evening wear. When used at all, only the merest line of needlework is seen. More fancifully embroidered fronts are used on nightshirts. These are made with deeply turned-over collars, and whitelinen'cord and tassel round the neck, and a breast-pocket,,on which the initial or monogram is wrought. Other nightshirts hate a narrow ruffle of striped percale on the front, and a cord of line or colour on the collar and cuffs." lam sure my male readers will feel grateful for this information, though they will probably wonder, as I do, how Miss Myra managed to pick up such elaborate information upon so difficult a. subject.

Nelson is very appropriately named "Sleepy Hollow." A contemporary says: —The night watchman in Nelson keeps, a very interesting diary of the names and occupations of owners of premises whose doors he finds insecurelypastened. During the past two years and ten months that he has been on dutyj he has entered no less than thirty-eight business premises in the town, and in one not only was the door left open, but the safe was* also lelfc unlocked. '..<'■ ;

An odd case of " prospecting a legacy " (says an English paper) came under notice at the Bury county court recently., The^ defendant in a 1 suit, in answer to a question put to him as to a sum of £500 left to him by his mother, stated that it had " gone to where it was owing." It then came out that he had paid it into the hands, of an innkeeper under an agreement drawn out by a lawyer that the legacy, little or, much, should, when it became tangible, be given to the innkeeper,, who was to keep the, defendant until he died and then.bury him respectably. The defendant being a "middleaged man," the bargain does not appear to be a very profitable one for the innkeeper; for in; these days, when centenarians are by no means uncommon, it is not impossible that he. may have tb keep the defendant for the next half-cen-tury before burying him respectably, unless, indeed, the innkeeper is the first to " shuffle off this mortal coil," in .which case ft is to be presumed that the duty will devolve on his next of kin. It is not an unusual custom in some parts of the country for persons who have an unexpected windfall in the shape of: a small legacy to pay the amount thus received to a neighbouring ;publican, and' then " drink it out;" but bold indeed must that publican be who undertakes to keep a man through life and bury him respectably when dead for an unknown amount. A bargain of this nature may lead to indefinite benevolence, all the more distressing because it is compulsory.