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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2598, 5 May 1877, Page 2

In our notice re the Waitekauri Company yesterday we omitted to state that the bank overdraft had. been cleared off iv addition to the other payments, the particulars being as follows :r— Current accounts, £841 12s sd; Messrs Brown and Bleazard, battery account, £545 19s 7d; bank overdraft, £615 8s 9d; dividend, £1012 10s; balance, to credit of company, £341; total—£3olsloa 9d.. If therefore the presentyield of gold is kept up shareholders may look for even larger dividends than the present one. ;

The Georgia Minstrels are to close their season in Auckland to-night, and on Monday they will open at the Theatre, Royal, Grahamstown. _ Their entertainments in Auckland have been well patronised and apparently much enjoyed, the Press speaking in most favorable, terms of the different features which the Georgia Minstrels give prominence to. . We look forward to their advent on the Thames with some degree of expectation, not having yet seen, a troupe of real sable minstrels. .

'These was: a very good muster of "No. 2.-H.ft.V-at their drill shed yesterday evening, Captain Paul being in command. After the men bad been put through company and battalion drill a meeting was held in order to elect a Sub-Lieutenant in; the room of Lieutenant Brownlow, re-? signed. This gentleman, who, it may be remembered, was one of the Government representatives at the late prize firing 'at Hokitika, still continues, we believe, to be; a member of the corps. Mr G. Denby was elected by a unanimous vote to fill' the position vacated by Lieutenant BrownloW", arid from his knowledge of matters connected with volunteering, and his interest therein, will probably prove himself a good and efficient officer. -. . ;

The Engineer-in-Chief for the Colony, Mr W. Garruthers, left; for Auckland today by the Rotomahana. He was accompanied by Mr Brodie, County Chairman, and Mr A. Aitken, County Engineer; and the object of the latter gentlemen's visit to Auckland is to confer with the Hon. Mr Whitaker, in company with Mr Carruthers, regarding the proposed extension of the from the Thames Water Race, so as to render it more widelyjavailable for the purposes it was intended to answer. During Mr Carruthers' stay here he has minutely inspected the Water Kace from the head works to the reservoir. He has also prosecuted his enquiries iii the direction pointed out by those who wish to obtain the use of the water, but we have not heard, what his opinion is, although it- is stated that it is favorable to its practicability. Probably we shall hear more in the course of a day or two, when the Attorney General shall have been communicated with on the matter. We believe that Mr Carruthers has expressed his satisfaction at the way the Water Race works have been carried out, as being alike creditable to the Kesident Engineer and the contractors for the several sections;

The N.Z. Herald of yesterday says the Hon. Mr Whitaker's departure for Wellington has been postponed until to-mor-row (this day). As Mr Carruthers and the County Chairman and County Engineer have gone up to town to-day tp interview Mr Wbitakeiv we presume that his departure has been still further postponed. It is. understood: that the Hon. the Attorney-General will be back in Auckland for-a short time before the opening of the session of Parliament, which ia expected to begin on the 19th July. *

Fbom the Hawke's Bay Herald we learn of an instance which, to take the story as it is told, can be no other than of a man buried alive when in a trance. That journal says:—" A leading native at Waihirere pa, named Ariania, was recounting some of his • Chatham Island experience to a circle of listeners, when he suddenly dropped asleep. They awakened him and heard the rest of the adventure, and again he dropped asleep, but they could not awake him this time. He was honored with a tangi, and buried next day, but-the natives affirm,that he neither lost color nor got c01d..-from the time of his supposed death till he was buried."—N.Z. Herald.

The London Vegetarian Society has been giving a great dinner in illustration of it principles—several soups, 13 entrees of vegetables,, and 7' sorts of pudding (without suet). The chairman, a Mr Eichardson, proclaimed himself a "life vegetarian," and asserted that he had never tasted animal food in his existence. He eschewed even what lie called " animal clothing" and from the report of the banquet, seems only to have worn shoes and goloshes. One or two guests, it seems, had the temerity to enquire what were the use of sheep and oxen if they were not to be eaten, but the rest of the company, who had got excited on milk and irater, refused,to listen to sheep.

A few days ago (says"the Civilian) an engraver who carries on his business in Broadmead, .Bristol,' happened to look through his shop window, when he observed an elderly gentleman, whom he recognised as an Excise officer, attentively scanning the outside of his premises. After satisfying his curiosity by an outward inspection he entered the shop, note book and pencil in hand, and opened conversation with the proprietor. "Mr J., I believe." " Yes, lam Mr J." "You

keep a trap, I understand P " "Yes." " Have you a license for that trap ? " "No." Down goes an entry of this candid admission in the note book. " Did youhavealicenselastyearP" "No." Another entry in the book. " Why did you not take out a license ? " " I did not think; it was necessary." " How many does your trap hold! " ■" Five." Another memo. '?How many wheels has it P " "None." "None ! why what sort of a trap is it P " |( A mousetrap." Tableau: Mr J. splitting his, sides behind the counter, an elderly officer rushing out of the shop without the customary salutation, or even waiting to return the note book to the official pocket.

The Bishop of Chester has been taking vigorous action with respect to rinking. He regards this amusement as vicious in the extreme, and even before the disease penetrated to Chester, he had been much exercised by its growth. At length a company started in Chester for the purpose of building and laying down a rink, and the Bishop's horror reached a crisis. He brought every pressure to bear upon the company, in order to induce the shareholders to refrain from their desecration, but without avail. Then he resolved to make a pecuniary sacrifice), and offered to buy up the rink in order to close it. The directors asked £4000 for the property, and the Bishop at once handed them a cheque for the amount. He will probably find that he has made a great mistake, and that the effect will be similar to that produced, by giving an organ-grinder a penny to go away, hundreds, coming shortly afterwards for similar payment/