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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2597, 4 May 1877, Page 2

The only buisness at the Resident Magistrate's Court to-day was one charge of drunkenness, which vras dealt with in the usual manner- Captain Fraser was on, .the:bench. A _ : p „

The skating rink at St« George's Hall seems to be growing in public favor as the season advances, and it is well patronised every night by persons of both sexes, somelyouug, ladies A who attend exhibitirig'great proficiency on the skates. Last night there was a large, attendance, some twenty ladies being present either, as skaters or onlookers; Mr -Macgregor has a capital stock of skates, the floor is in excellent order, and the room has been improved in appearance by the use of a little paint. The cold nights which we have had of late have conduced to make skating enjoyable as an amusement and a healthy pastime.

If the naming picture posters which are, to be seen about the town heraldiDg the coming of the " Original Georgia Minstrels " are to be taken aa portraits," there is no room for doubt as to "ie originals being real niggers. There ir -i.o mistaking the Ethiopian features.in v, .c of them. "Hosea Eason," "Billy \.ilson" and other names appear under these portraits, which h:.ve all more or less the woolly heads, thick lips and wide noses of the Africans. Their representations of negro life will be unlike other minstrels' performance, because it should be true to life. The success of the tro iv Auckland continues unabated.

It is stated that the testimonial to Z ~ nerrnan, who scored 165 (not out) agains the English Cricketers, amounted to £90.. which was presented to him in the presence of 5O people. At the presentation Conway (who played in the first match against the first English Eleven) stated that arrangements were being made to send a representative Australian team to England.

A BAi/E containing 2558 yards of unbleachod calico, damaged by sea-water, will be offered for sale this day at J. Mabshali's for half the English cost.— [Apvt.]

The -Editor of the Poverty Bay Standard is severe upon Mr Severn. He says:—Mr H. A. Severn is lecturing in Christchurch on scientific subjects. He complained of the small attendance, and in polite language expressed the opinion that Canterbury folk think a good deal more of turnips ihan of the solar system. Mr H. A. Severn may possess very high attainments, which, however, some people, are inclined to doubt. But he makes a very insolent assertion when preferring such a charge against a Province long known for the large number -of savants and scientific men it is so fortunate in possessing. The fact is, the subjects Mr Severn deals with are taught in most of the second rate schools in Canterbury, in *t Mch there is scarcely an intelligent schoolboy but can tell Mr Severn all that Mr Severn can tell him; and then the schoolboy has been in a fair way of obtaining a knowledge of turnips, which is > seful if not ornarrental.

At the University Library of Hiede - berg, says an English paper, a volume has been discovered, containing the complete numbers of a German newspaper of the year 1609. It is the oldest newspaper of that country, so far as is at present known, and constitutes one of the greatest typographical rarities. Its title is, " Relation of all Prominent and Noteworthy Events that may happen, in this year, 1609, in Upper and JNether Germany; also in France, Italy, Scotland, England, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Transylyannia, Wallachia, Moldavia, Turkey, &c, all which will be printed by me most faithfully, even as I do get and obtain it."

I^ot long ago, (writes a correspond*:, f: in the Otago Witness) a gentleman came out from home, and did it very fine. He gave champagne suppers, end was altogether a very fine fellow. People took him in hand, and lots of girls fell in love with him,: as they generally, do with any new arrival who is supposed to have money. He gave one of bis friends, a very popular actor, who visited Dunedin some time ago, a splendid champagne supper, and afterwards borrowed from his friend the amount necessary to pay for the supper. Soon it began to be noticed somehow, that he always did borrow from his friends, as his remittances? about which he talked a good deal were rather irregular. This gay young man then went to Melbourne—to arrange about his remittances—and has picked up the English cricketers and—borrowed largely from them all. By the last mail, it appears that he has taken a geological contract with the Victorian Government to last two years. To my knowledge, he is the sixth who has come here and gone the same racket, and yet : there are fools here who continue to get taken in with such fellows.

The Melbourne Daily Telegraph writes: —"Something has been said lately about sending an Australian eleven to play cricket in the Old. Country. The average which we have published shows that the idea is not so .ridiculous as at first appears. Batting against an AllEngland team, the first eleven of Australia made scores equal to anything shown in the English guide, and so with the first eleven bowlers. Victoriahas fire men in this Australian Eleven, namely, Horan, Midwinter, Kelly, Blackham, and Kendall, and very probably would have had six, if the captain of the East Melbourne Club had* been: allowed a show. ■ Taking the batting list as it stands, however, New South Wales hasthe majority in the persons of Messrs Bannerman'P. Gregory, Evans, Thomson,.Garrett, and Spofforth; and of the entire eleven, only the last falls short-of an average Jof double figures. The advantage we have in Australia is that, with the exception of Allan, all our first bowlers are included in our first br ismen, the team having no less than aye bowlers, a splendid wicket-keeper, and a first-class -point. All the speci alties of the^game are, in fact, represented in the eleven premier baismeini. Once in Great Britain, the eleven might be reasonably expecjed-to hold their own against all the -county teams; but the difficulty would be to transfer the men to the Mother' Country. .They have their livings to attend to. On the other hand., we may be pretty well sure that, no matter what players come to Australia/ the Colonies, when they play their best men, may v be relied upon to hold their own, and: to me' - a good fight for victory, if freaks of r tune prevent theirf actually bbtair

Very recentiy at Sydney the Her. Dr Wazir Beg, of that city, delivered a lecture upon the subject of spiritualism, which is exciting much attention in New South Wales owing to, the remarkable lectures of a "trance medium." The rev. lecturer said that on a previous occasion he bad exposed the fraud and fallacies of spiritism. It was is intention in that lecture to shpw! the-evil effects which it had produced. First—He maintained that spiritism had been;the cause of evil consequences to the human body and mind, inasmuch as it produced bodily and mental diseases and disorders.. On the authority of various medical men and others, he showed that catalepsy, cerebral disease, disorders of the intellect, disease of the viscera, epilepsy, St.'Vitus' dance, nervous and other affections resulted from the resting of the mind on the fallacies of spiritualism, stating that the lunatic asylums in America were filled to an alarming extent by. its professors. Even this class of people themselves sometimes admitted that they were injured by their belief. He affirmed, in the second place, that spiritism had been the cause of ev'l consequences in amoral point of view. I*.tau&ht all kiuds of religious belief of the most contradictory character, as was shown by many instances which he gave. "It made the human mind so debased that persons who were believers in it looked upon drunkards and other immoral persons as fit mediums, and through these they wore willing to accept monstrous charges of corruption against the ministry of the Christian Church, and- the belief that communications are elicited from the departed spirits of the lower order of beasts and insects, and even of shrubs and stones. One of the most serious evils arising from spiritualism was the shocking sentiments and corresponding action it led to. It favored promiscuous marriages, free love, the parting of husbands and wires, the degradation and ruin of girls and women by designing men, and many other equally deplorable effects. In proof of these leading ideas the lecturer quoted many authorities, and illustrated his remarks, which were most attentively listened to and frequently applauded, by numerous anecdotes.

A meeting of persons who have kindly ' interested themselves to alleviate the distress of the unfortunate family who were burnt out on the Karaka Hill the niglit before last, toelc place at Mr Deeble's store, Eolleston street, this morning. It was decided that three or four persons should canvas the different parts of the town und its luburbs, and several subscription lists were also prepared and sent round to the mine managers in order to allow the miners to display their well-known liberality in cases of this sort. If sufficient funds can be raised it is intended to replace the cottage on the same site as the one burnt. down formerly, occupied. Two allotments are owned by the unfortunate people, but they are of very little value, otherwise they might have been sold and the proceeds devoted to the purchase of a house : elsewhere. Mr Decble has kindly placed at the disposal of the homeless family a cottage belonging to him in the Karaka road, and a few. necessaries have been procured also by their friends and neighbors. It ia to be hoped that everyone who can will contribute their mite to the alleviation of the distress of this unfortunate family.

. The following paragraph is extracted from the Davenport Democrat, lowa, U.S.: —''Our neighbor, Judge Grant, has received from New Zealand two volumes and part of a third of the reports of the Supreme Court, and the New Zealand Justice of the Peace. These books are a present from their author, Judge Alexander J. Johnson, of the New Zealand Supreme Court, to his relative, James Grant, of this city. The paper, printing, and binding of these books are equal to the best specimens in Judge Grant's library, and are quite superior, we must admit, to our State Court reports. Of the legal learning in these books we are not competent to speak but we have no doubt that Judge Dillon and the Scoj;t County bar will find a new and increased satisfaction in visiting the library of our neighbor, which the Bar of the County regard as public in all but the expense of purchasing iti"

A promising'y bung, man who'is learning sheep-farming in a neighboring province, says an exchange, was introduced to the wqolshed last season for the first time. His fond parent was anxious to know how he got on with, his first lessen in the. art of shearing. " Well,!' replied the embryo squatter,." wme fellows go about it too carefully, and they never make good shearers. There's nothing like going at it with a will. They all think that I shall make a first rate hand in a very short time." .• " How did your first sheep look when you had done with it? " asked the father. "It did not seem very well," replied the son; "in fact, they thought it better to kill that sheep."

The Montreal Gazette apr> ars to be delighted with the Bey Charles Clark as a lecturer. The Gazette says :—" During the last three months the Canadian public has given proof of its appreciation of oratorical excellence in a manner 'altogether without parallel in our experience. In Toronto (where his lectures affected the attendance at the ordinary places of amusement in the same way as Messrs Maody^and Sankey's revival services are now doing in Boston) the Eev Charles Clark gave a dozen lecture entertainment; in Ottawa, and even in Quebec, the telegraph-informs us that he always addressed crowded audiences ; and now in Montreal, not knowing when they may have another opportunity of listening to so talented and versatile a speaker, a committee of gentlemen have persuaded him to give a farewell" course of lectures in one of our public balls. Mr Clark came to this city a stranger,-but he immediately took possession of the public ear, and the secret of his success is not difficult to ascertain. He is a • popular' lecturer in the fullest sense of the term. He does not pretend to explain new scientific theories, or prefer to elucidate recondite moral problems. He is simply an educated gentlemen, possessed with a fervent admiration of the heroes of our national history, and a keen appreciation of the genius of our classic authors V and when he stands on the platform, his genial man- , ncr, clear ringing voice, felicitous diction, and wonderfully retentive memory make j it no marvel that his hearers are sorry when the stream of his brilliant eloquence ' ceases to flow. In the hands of Mr Clark j the lecture is essentially a labor-saving I invention, and hence is sure to be popular." -' -

Something will have to be done to put dowu the insurance-agent nuisance, says a contemporary. Two. gentlemen .were travelling on the Clutha Bailway line the other day, when one of .them remarked that the other would not look any the worse for a shave! "Shave, sir!'' remarked a sharp-looking little man seated in the corner of the carriage, " Stupid expenditure of money. The same amount would insure your life in our office for £300. Let me take a proposal from you." The unshaven one took the. .earliest opportunity to get into another* carriage.

Not a bad story is told of a private seance a la Davenport, which was given at one of the hotels in Oamaru during the I recent race meeting. It appears that an amateur professor of the rope-tying trick boasted that he could do the cabinet business, and the challenge was immediately, taken up. Mr Wm. McKay, of horseracing fame, performed the knot-tying, and the would-be Davenport was left in a •dark room securely fastened to'a chair. The audience waited patiently in an adjoining chamber for fully fifteen minutes but no signal came, and surpr se as well as impatience began to be manifested. At last a suppressed snd sepulchral groan issued from the darkened chamber, 'and it was determined to see how the juggler was getting on. The lights were turned up, and the poor fellow was revealed face downwards on the floor, with the seat on his back, the arms over the back of his head, and the rope twisted round his neck. A few minutes more and it is believed he would* have' been' strangled. As it happened, relief came none too early, for he was nearly black in the face, and sundry cordials had to be employed to restore him to anything like his previous condition of jollity. The young man is said to be still under the ha'lucination that he is a second DaveJt>ort.

Mb H. Bedwood, the sporting gentleman, appears to Lave been obliged to eat very unable pie. His apology to the Hon. W. Bobinson for the assault committed by him, which was telegraphed through Hew Zealand by the Press Agency, now appears ip the Auckland Herald as an advertisement, with Mr Robinson's acceptance of the tame and his reason for so doing.

. .Ma James Ckaig sold by auction to-day at noon, at the Exchange, 3482 forfeited shares in the Sovereign Goldmiuiug Company at 2d per share.

, Messks Gudgeon aud Company, auctioneers, announce that they are removing into the spacious premises lately vacated by Mr Kecsing, which have been fitted up as an auction mart and afford better facilities for carrying on their business. There is a road for-cay'ls at the back of the premises in Davy street, and accommodation provided there for live stock. Messrs Gudgeon and Co. hold sales on every Wednesday and Saturday.