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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2779, 10 January 1878, Page 2

Business magisterial is very flat just now. With all their vigilance the police only succeeded in running in one drunk last night, who, however, obtained bail, and preferred to forfeit it to appearing in Court to answer to the charge. The following subscriptions were collected by Mrs W. A. Perston towards providing Christmas and New Year's Day dinners for the patients in the Hospital :—Dr W. A. Penton £1, Mrs Perston 10s, Mrs Hicks os, Mrs Ehrenfried £1, Mrs A. Lanib 2s 6d, Mrs P. Lamb 2s 6d, Mrs Wilson (gasworks) 2s 6d, Mrs Wilson (draper) ss, Mrs McVay 2s 6d, Mrs Jefferson 2a 6d, Mr Healy 2s 6d, Mr Gr. 331ack 10s, Mr Curtis ss, Souter and Co. ss, Frater Bros. ss, Bey. Mr Laishley 2s 6d, Eev. ISTeill 2s Gd, Mrs Hetherington ss, Foy Bros. ss, Mr Twohill 2s 6d, A Friend 2s 6d, Mrs Workman 3s 6d,' W. J. Constant 2s 6d, Mrs Kilgour ss, Mrs E. Hollis 2s 6d, A Poor Man Is, Mr Cox 2s 6d, Mr« Whttehead 2s 6d, Mrs Yon Bernewitz 2s 6d, Mrs Goldwater gs, Mr Smith ss, Mr ■Blott 2s!6d, Mr Gribble %t 6d,Mr Flemming ss, Mrs Dean 6s, Mr Hogg .3s; total; M 10s. Some mischierous indiTiduals-—pro-'bably some of the boys who are running wild in this district and setting parental control at defiance—have been guilty of most wanton mischief at Parawai, in destroying the trees on the roadside. These trees bare been planted come years, and

were showing a capital growlh, being useful for shade end highly pleasing to the eye* Lately a number of them have been pulled about and much damaged, ono English oak being broken nil' at the main stump. The locnl board offer a reward of £5 for the discovery of the perpetrators of the mischief, and wo hope that thti guilty ones will be found out and •everely punished.

The Academy of Music will be opened this evening for the first performance of the United States Minstrels, programme of which ia before .us. This company of vocalists and instrumentalists are all artists of acknowledged ability, and the combination of (alent enables them to give an entertainment comprising all the best features of minstrelsy, with efforts of a higher character. Amongst the vocaliats we have only to mention the names of Messrs Braham, Hockefeller, Campbell, snd Amery, which will be a guarantee of the excellence of the selections and rendition. Messrs Hudson and Holly in their double songs and dances are unsurpassed, while they are almost unapproachable as comedians in the character sketches. The U. S. Minstrels will, we feel sure, be found to be the strongest and best company that has appeared here.

At about 11.30 o'clock last night the residents of the Shortland portion of the Borough were aroused from their slumbers bj the loud clanging of the firebell at the corner of Pollen and Richmond streets, while the triangle taking up the refrain awoke the inhabitants of the aristocratic suburb of Block 27. On enquiries being made it was found that the scene of the conflagration was the Willoughby Hotel, Shortland. The lining of one of the bedrooms had caught fire, and when it was discovered the room was ; all : in,a blaze. The timely application of -a little' water prevented a catastrophe. The members of the Shetland Fire Brigaddand several of the police were promptly on, the spot, as also were a large number of the general public, who soon returned to. their homes when the fire was put but."

Among those persons, says the Auck- ; land Star, who assisted materially and vigorously, at.the |ecent fire, <jnithe" wharf 1,; were the menioers! of: the Thames JSTaval Brigade, about twdntyin number. They were among the first at the fire, and their exertions were marked by'spectator!; tnd .deserve special notice. „[,,.; „. ;:-j- r y

A special message to the Auckland Star, of date London, January Bth, saya that Earl Derby has informed Busiia that England must participate in the peace negotiations.

■ Wb have received from, the .otiblUb.ers, Messrs Barber and Co .the January number of Die Auckland Journal of Commerce, published for dispatch by. the &.M.S. Australia. V, •# fi-;V-i-Vk!... ■

The last instalment of £310 forwarded from Auckland for the;^lndian" Famine Belief Fund has, been retninedj the list having been closed; there being no longer any necessity for' outside relief." -The money, .will now .b£' available for some othet purposev at the discretion of the subscribers. '""""

On Monday afternoon,- (says the Herald of tte,2i3th December) Mr H. Hitchens, for some time messenger in the Public Works Department in this city, was presented with a gold watch aa a mark of the esteem in which he was held by the officers connected with that department; On that day he severed his connectien with the department in which he has been for so long, and. the occasion was taken advantage of to show him the respect in which ho was held. The presentation was made by Mr James Stewart, District Engineer^ who, in a few congratulatory remarks, referred, to the care with which Mr Hitchens had "always discharged his duty, and expressed the regret that the officers of the department were to be deprived of his services in the-future.; Mr tlitcbens, in a few words, suitably responded. ?[Mr Hitchens^ informs us by lrttcr that he will be down here next ■week,- wHeri :- he may be ' ibbnaulted •in reference to the Blood Ee.-torer ]

Some slight indication, if indeed any were needed, of the dire mischief which has. been effected by the publication of the "Priest in Absolution," lias" been furnished at Oxford, where an undergraduate has attacked the authorities of the Bodleian for refusing to allow, him to read the copy of the'woipk possessed by that well-known; institution. The youth claimed his right to study the book on the plea that'he was a candidate for Holy Orders, but I his the librarian regarded as an argument agtiinst titan for its perusal, and accordingly lie tockupon himself the responsibility of declining to allow the book to leave its shelf. JSTaturnily the matter haa been discussed in undergraduate circles, und, just as naturally, there will be a general desire to see the work which has obtained such an infamous reputation, and in the result it is more than probably that young Oxford will secure a copy, which, among men of like minds with the would be reader at the Bodleian, will have a circulation. And yet, in the face of such facts as these, the book still finds apologists, not only among the clergy, but among the laity; and we are still, we fear, very far from having seen the last of it.—Protestant Advocate.