THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Ressurexi. MONDAY, MARCH 11, 1878.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2830, 11 March 1878, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Ressurexi. MONDAY, MARCH 11, 1878.

We hare been requested to call attention to the fact that the Ro'comahana will leave the Thames to-night at half-past ten o'clock for Auckland.

We understand'that the Hon. J. Sheehan may be expected here on Wednesday. He will proceed to Te Aroha to initiate steps for completing the land purchases there and elsewhere in the Ohinemuri District. We hare not heard what time Mr Sheehan intends to devote to this district, but is to be hoped that he will not leave until the matters so long promised have been put in train for being carried out.

A numbeb of the members of the Royal Italian Opera Concert Company were present at the service at the Catholic Church last evening, and rendered in a moat efficient manner some of the gems of the Roman Catholic Church Service. Signora Caranti Vita sang the anthem " Are Maria " (Gounod), being accompanied by Mons. L. Caron on the violin. It was beautifully rendered, and the violin obligate was a masterpiece of the musician's art. That talented vocalist also sang a grand "O Salutaris Hostia," which was done ample justice to by her. Signors Tessada and taladini then sang the " Tantem Ergo " to Kossini's grand music, the rendition of which was perfect, Tessada 1 s splendid voice being heard to great advantage.

The Bey. C. Bice of the Melanesian Mission, who preached in S. Gforge's church yesterday morning and evening, also delivered a most interesting address to the Sunday School children in the afternoon ; besides informing the scholars of the welfare of the young Melanesians towards whose support they contribute, he related several anecdotes which greatly amused them, and gave an account of how a day is spent at S. Barnabas' School, .Norfolk Island, keeping the attention of his young hearers until the close of his address.

Thbee was no business at the B.M. Court this morning.

Last night some larrikins removed some of the small foot-bridges over the wafer tables in the vicinity of the Shortland Catholic Church, and the consequence was that several unwary wayfarers assumed a horizontal position in the gutter. Steps should be taken to have these bridges made immovable.

Mb G-. N. Pjhilips, head teacher of the Kauaerrnga Boys' School, writes disavowing the authorship of the letter which appeared in the Advertiser of Saturday on the " Vanity of Clericals," and purporting to be written by "A First class Teacher."

A meeting of the ratepayers of the Borough of Hamilton has been called to consider the advisability of raising the sum of £7000 by way of loan, for the purpose of constructing a traffic bridge over the Waikato River at Hamilton on the security of the tolls and the profits arising therefrom. A proposal to authorise the borrowing of the money for the above purpose will bo submitted to the meeting.

A ietteb has been received by Mr William Wood from Mr Theodore Wright, a gentleman who was for a time resident on the Thames and practised as a phrenologist, but who is now settled down as a farmer in Queensland, near Eockhampton. - The writer says : " The liberality of the Queensland land laws helped to draw me here, and before the available land within easy reach of town was all picked up I strained a point to get a slice. Until vei/ recently land open for selection could be conditionally selected at the rates of ss, 10s, and 15s per.acre respectively, as it was classed, first or second, pastoral or agricultural. The selector is a le^eo of the Crown, and pays as rent his purchase money in ten annual instalments of 6d, Is, or Is 6d par acre per year, and drring that time, or the first three years if he chooses, he must put improvements on the land equal in value to the whole of the ten years' rent. 2CO acres at sixpence per ac.c per year rent for ten years would be £50, and £50 worth of improvements must be on the land to obtain a title. Myself and another have 1710 acres between us, 1670 of which are classed second class pastoral at 5s per acre, and 40 first - class at 10s; the annual rental being £43 15s. We have struggled through a severe drought with but little to keep us going, and having to sustain the burden of losses in starring cattle like other people, only we have corao out of it better that many, principally because our flocks and herds were small. More than 18 months ago we had 7 cows, 1 bull and 5 calves. We have but four of the cows, and with the increase the number stands now at 15 all told, against the original 13. We had 8 horses, but 3 have died and 1 islosfc, leaving only 4. Our best transactions have been in pigs and goats, for they have been profitable in spite of untoward circumstances I am making a gar-

den, and in that I should excel, as I am agricultural and horticultural writer for the Bulletin, and looked up to as an authority on such matters. I have years of colonial experience in gardening, and a lore of it, so since favorable weather set in, only a few months since, I began to trench and plant half an acre, and the results are astonishing. Maize and sorghum ten feet high in less than three months, and other things equally surprising. Excellent soil, on a sloping hillside, of a chocolate color, the toil being 12 feet deep. I hare now qtnte a variety

of fruit (rees in and doing well—mulberries, tamarinds, Chinese dnte, plum, mammoth and common lemon, mangoes, mangasteen, shaddock, cumquat, loquat, Trinity Bay cherries,white apple, oranges, gunvas, custard apple, papans, bananas, and pineapples. We have gathered plenty of rock and water melons, also some pineapples, and shall soon have bananas. This, and the garden only ten months old You have now

a slight sketch of my latest enterprise, and in the work I am certainly more myself than in former avocations. We live 19 miles from town near a saltwater creek abounding with fish."

A tangi on a somewhat extensive scale is, wo hear, likely to come off at Parawai shortly, in memory of Te Moananui. It appears that some Tauranga and East Coast people were too much occupied with griefs more especially their own to assist at the obsequies of Te Moananui at the proper time, but as they feel obligated to conform to the customs of their people they are about to do their share of the crying a few months after the usual time, when the first shock of bereavement is past. Possibly the death of Tarapipipi may further delay the business.

A COBBKBPONDENT hiding under the norn de plume of " Main Strength and Stupidity," writes to us about the portion cf the Tapu road lately made at the expense of the Borough. Our correspon dent relates that he recently had occasion to travel over the Tapu road, and "expected to see a piece of first-class workmanship in the shape of a good road, but judge of my surprise when instead I saw but a wreck of what had been at beat but a bungled job, with a number of chains of so-called sea wall destroyed and washed into the sea." He " blames the engineer for taking over such a piece of scamped work," and blames the Mayor and Councillors for not employing a competent engineer on such works. The waiting 13 mixed up with much that is personal and offensive, and if half th» assertions be true the matter should be enquired into by the Borough Council, a consummation which is not likely to be brought about by the publication of an anonymous letter, until our correspondent can deal with public masters in a public spirit we bare no desire to hear further from him.

Whiting under the sarcastic nan»j of Laboratory Vintage, Nat are says that the chymists of Berlin have bren occupied lately in analysing the wares of the wine merchants, and no little excilement has been caused by the discovery that the entire stock of one of the largest houses deal'ng m wines for nrdical purposes consisted entirely of artificially prepared matures of spirit and sugar solutions, flavored with various herbs.

Archbishop Vaughan of Sydney has given reasons for the prayers on behalf of the late Pontiff's soul, the concluding reason being given by the Town and Country Journal as follows, "as the Archbishop's personal knowledge of the Pope renders this testimony of particular interest:" As to his personal life, his deep simple piety and swatness, no one could understand it who had not witnessed it. Those who have, can never forget it. Still, all of you, dear rev. brethren, know something of his Apostolic life. In these days men in such a position as his cannot live in privacy. His fervent prayers, his pious Masses, his meditations, so full of love and unction; bis abstemiousness ; his kindly playfulness—which no trouble seemed to be able .0 cloud; his ready bright reply ; his large affeetionateness; his simple majesty; his eloquence of eye, countenance, and speech; his natural nobleness of figure and grace of gesture; his prince>like self-possession yet unconsciousness of sell; all this went to make up his extraordinary and widespread influence and popularity, and rendered him a power were religion itself was of no avail. No one could go in') his presence without being partially unstrung by a something coming from him, which spoke silently of the presence of another world. He was a great high priest and king battling in a stormy and difficult day, himself living much of his time in Heaven. He fought without flinching unto the end— unto the very end in the service of his Master.