Untitled

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2844, 27 March 1878, Page 2

Wb believe that it is the intention of His Worship the Mayor to request the Hon. J. Sheehan to grant the favor of the use of the telegraph wires for half anhour, so that a conference of all the governing bodies interested in the formation of the Thames and Waikato railway may be held, and the contents of the telegram discussed, published in another column, from the Minister of Public Works. ■■" .

Mb Leydon requests us to say that the word* "You know more about digging spuds," mentioned in our report of his remarks at the meeting on Monday night, were used by him in reply to a gentleman who was on the stage on that occasion, and not addressed to him. He says that owing to interruptions he was unable to speak as he would have liked to the amendment.

The fancy bazaar, for which the ladies connected with the Wesleyan Church have been preparing for some, months past, will be opened at the Academy of Music to morrow afternoon at 2 o'clock by His Worship the Mayor. - It will continue till Saturday.

We learn that Messrs A. J. Allom, D. E. Gellion and M. Hennelly have to-day started a guarantee fund for the return Ball to the Nativd^Volunteers and ladies. The project has been very favorably received, and it is probable that in a few days' definite arrangements for the affair will have been made. To meet the wishes of those who could not be present during Lent it has been suggested that the Ball should be given on or about the 22nd April.

Thb famous dispatch from Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, conferring the title of " Honorable " for life within the Colony upon the retired Judges, H. B. Gresson and H. S. Chapman, and of which Sir George Grey has made so much, is published in a late number of the Colonial Gazette.

Wje are informed that a Naval Artillery Corps is about to be formed here. The Hon. Colonel Whit more has given his sanction to it, and already some 40 names hare been obtained. A meeting will be held in a day or two.

The appointment of Henry Goldsmith, Esq., to be Mining Inspector for the Hauraki Goldmining District, is notified in the Gazette of the 7th March, but the date of the appointment is not given.

The sth day of April has been fixed by "His Excellency the Governor as the day for holding the first election of the Board of Governors of the Auckland College and Grammer School, under the Act of last session.

A memo, from the Telegraph Department says that the Port Darwiu line in interi'upled north cfPcake.

Owing to the length of our report of the public Hireling yesterday, several items of Miiiiug News were crowded out.

Tnrc resignation by the Hon. William Janice Muclio Laruach of the offices of Colonial Treasurer, Minister of Public Works and Commissioner of Stamps, and the acceptance) of the same by Uho Governor, are notified in the New Zealand Gazette of March 7th.

The following figures, extracted from the Begistrar General's Report on the vital statistics of the Boroughs of Auckland, Thames^ Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunediu and Hokitika, show the population, number of births and deaths, and proportion of deaths to the thousand of population for the month of February, 1878 :—

The following appointments in No. 2 Haurnki Rifles are gazetted :—Lieutenant >T. Stormont Small to be Captain—date of commission, 7th December, 1877. Sergeant William John Barlow to be Lieutenant—date of commission, 7th December, 1877.

WE*have been requested to draw the attention of the proper authorities to the dangerous state of two shafts in the Queen of Beauty Extended Company's ground. One of these is the old Queen of the May shaft, the lower doors of which are open, and is extremely dangerous to the children which are constantly playing about in the vicinity. The other shaft is a small one, some 90 feet deep, which is close to the Irishtown track. This was formerly boarded over, but the planks have become displaced, and r.re thus worse than useless as they are apt to mislead the belated wayfarer.

Mb J. Ballantine, Grand; Bard of the Scottish Grand Lodge of Freemasons, died in Edinburgh recently at the age of 69. Mr Ballantine was the author of seTeral works of fiction, including " The Gaberlunzie Wallet" and "The Miller of DeanhuKh," the former of which attained great popularity. He was also the author of many favourite Scottish melodies, one of these being " Ilka blade of grass keeps its am drap o' dew." Mr Ballantino learnt the art of decoratire painting in his youth, and for many years was head of the firm cf Messrs Ballantine and Son, glass stainors of Edinburgh. He was a great admirer ef~ the works of Barns, and did much towards forming the Burns Collection in the monument erected to the poet on Calton-bill, Edinburgh. He was for many years secretary to the Edinburgh Burns Club.

We have received from Messrs Clough and Co., of Melbourne, their station produce circular. It quotes—Sheepskins dry, 3s 6d to ss; green pelt, Is 3d to 3s 3d; hides—green ox, 18s to 40s each; cows, 2£d to 2fd per lb; Hew Zealand heavy weight up to 6£d per lb; calf skina, 3£d to 4d per lb; tallow—inferior, £26 to £27 ; mixed, £28 to £33. There was an improvement in 1 leather and bark.

The Herald's Wellington correspondent telegraphs on Saturday as follows :— " The New Zealand Times, this morning, contains a violent article, attacking Mr Montgomery in relation to the recent meeting in Chriitchurch, when he proposed the rote of confidence in Sir George- Grey. It accuses Mr Montgomery of being the greatest trimmer in the House, and says he had previously earned the same reputation in provincial politics. It also says he is a very fair type of a large class of halfshrewd half-educated politicians, who hare no particular principles except lore of notoriety and fear of unpopularity. The article then practically accuses Sir George Grey of one of his usual departures from truth in the explanation he gare about " the honourable' despatches. —It is understood that Sir G. Grey will proceed to Auckland early next week to meet the natives and "the King, and will afterwards risit Kelson and Marlborough."

A letter addressed to "The Eight Honorable the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Australia," has been received from " William Collins, Lord Frorost of the City of Glasgow," calling attention to the appalling calamity which occurred at the Blantyre Colliery, Lanarkshire, on the 22nd of October last, and which is considered the most serious accident that erer took place in Scotland. It' appears from the lord provost's statement that so far as has yet been ascertained no less than 209 colliers lost their lives, while " orer 100 widows and about 250 children have been cast destitute on the world, and many old and infirm people have been deprived of their only means of support." The lord provost, therefore, on behalf of the committee prayed that the mayor of Melbourne would take steps to assist them in raising the sum of £50,003, which it was calculated would be needed to carry out the object of the fund efficiently. A similar letter had been received pre viously from the committee, and a reply was forwarded to the effect that, owing to the Indian famine, there had been such a demand made on the citizens of Melbourne, that the mayor did not seem justified iv again making a public appeal to the citizens. It is, however, understood that his worship the mayor will receive jny subscriptions for the fund, and forward them to the Lord Provost of Glasgow.—Australasian, March 9.

The gigantic whale captured in February last in the Gulf of Taranto, Italy, has been, says the Times, subjected to a critical examination by Professor Capellini, who in a report lately published, states it as his opinion that the whale is of a species hitherto unknown to science, and he has named it Balcena tarentina, in allusion to the locality of its capture. This unlooked-for discovery of a new species of huge marine animal, taken in connection with the alleged appearance of another "monster" a short time later, and in the same neighborhood, as Touched for by the officers of the Royal yacht Osborne, is regarded as a strong argument in favor of the existence of unknown huge marine living objects, such as are popularly indicated by the c.me of "nta serpents." The opinion is gaining ground in Italy that the sea serpent of the Boyal yacht was some creature usually living at the bottom of the sea, but disturbed by submarine volcanic phenomena.

At the police court, Sale, recently before Messrs Ross and Fen.on, J.P.s, Mr Hugh Peck, of Melbourne, was charged by the police with assaulting and resist-, ing them in the execution of their duty. Mr Peck being disorderly at the banquet previous night, the chairman directed his removal, which he resisted. He was fined 40s and costs. There was a second charge against him of wilful damage to private property. In the struggle to eject him several pounds worth of property was destroyed, for which the Bench held him responsible, and fined him in a penalty of Is and £5 damages. The fines were paid. The disturbance arose through Mr Peck wanting champagne to be drunk to the toast of the Queen. Champagne being supplied, hf stood on his chair and drunk to " My Queen, the Englishman's Queen, the Scotchman's Queen, the Irishman's Queen, the Briton's Queen. God bless her. We want no rebels here." Sir C. Gavan Duffy was seated near him. He was then expelled by order of the chairman.

We (Australasian) understand that, acting upon a suggestion thrown out by The Argus some months ago, it is the intention of the Government to supply all state schools throughout the country with a colored chart; illustrative pf the common insectivorous birds of Victoria. The chart has been prepared by Mr A. K. Wallis, secretary for agriculture, for the Education department, and will be issued from the Government Printing • office within a few days. It is produced by ehromo-lithography. The chart contains illustrations of 36 species of birds indigenous to the colony. The letterpress attached will give the common and scientific name of each bird, the locality of "Victoria where it is found, and some particulars respecting the nature of its food.. The illustrations are from the original drawings of the late John Cotton, and. Gould's work on " The Birds of Australia." We understand it is contemplated to protect these birds from destruction by statute.

What's in a name P asks the London Scottish Journal. Not much, it seems, in the United States of America. There has recently been a sale of autograph letters in New York, at which the most absurdly low prices were realised for some autographs of not a little value on this side of the Atlantic. A letter by Talleyrand went for four dollars and a half; one of Brougham's for one dollar ten cents. A letter of Dickens' with portrait of the distinguished novelist fared rather belter—it brought eight dollars. Seven dollars (after a brisk competition !) was all that was realised for a letter of Tom Moore, with the autograph music and words of his song, "From Life without Freedom," &c.; and a brief autograph note of Thackeray only brought three dollars.

Sir Geobge Gbbt has made another highly characteristic exhibition of himself, but on this, occasion the motive which actuated him appears even more petty and contemptible than usual. About four months since he received a despatch frdm the home authorities conferring upon two of the ex-judges of New Zealand the title of " honorable" for life. Similar despatches were received in some of the other colonies, and, as a matter of course, were promptly gazetted. But the autocrat of Kawau in bis latter years has apparently imbibed strongly democratic views, and, it is said, objects to the foolishness of conferring such titular distinctions as " honorable; He, therefore, obstinately declined to give the necessary formal notification of the honor that Her Majesty, had conferred upon two deserving public servants. He did not always hold these opinions, as plain Capt. Grey did not decline the knighthood proffered him in 1848. The Marquis of Normanby naturally manifested surprise at the non-publica-tion of the despatches, and requested his Premier to either make them public at once or favor him with his reasons for refusing. As Sir George Grey could not command the support of his colleagues on this question, he was obliged reluctantly to submit. But an unexpected difficulty then arose, which still remains unsolved. The original of the despatches had apparently been mislaid by the. peripatetic Premier during his tour in the North, and has not yet been discovered. The idea of allowing an individual crotchet to interfere with the performance of a plain and merely formal act of duty would scarcely have occurred to any sensible man, much less one aspiring to the name of statesman, but Sir George Grey's career since his return to active political life presents so many eccentricities that his supporters need never be surprised at any fresh display of his peculiarities.—-Aus-tralasian.

A sad occurrence took place at Lake Elingamite on the 21st of February, resulting in the loss of two Urea. From evidence taken at a magisterial inquiry held on the following day, it appears (says the Camperdown Chronicle) that Ellen Wilson, aged 12, together with her two elder sisters, daughters of Mr Wilson, farmer, near the lake, went, as was their practice, to bathe in the lake. On this occasion, however, the sisters chose a different place to their usual one, and immediately upon entering the water got out of their depth. The eldest sister by some means scrambled out, and ran for assistance to an old-man named John M'Cabe, who lived close by. M'Cabe, who was an old and respected inhabitant of the district, being upwards of 60 years of age, and having resided in the district for a great many years, at once ran to the spot, stripped off" his clothes, and plunged in. Being a good swimmer, he soon landed the apparently inanimate body of the second sister on the bank, fie then started attain to search for the other, body, but immediately sank to rise no more. From the medical evidence it appeared that the excitement, and the sudden shock of entering the cold water on a hot day, acted fatally upon a frame weakened by old age, and an old standing affection of the heart. The eldest sister then obtained further assistance, and shortly after both the bodies were found. The usual means of restoring animation were tried, but without effect, except in the case of the second girl, who, after much exertion, was rescued from danger. The bodies were interred at Cobdeu on the 23rd. '

Bonouoit. Estimated Population. Total Births. Total Deaths. Propo'oVD of Pci'-hsto 1000 of population. Auckland .. Thames .... Wellington.. Nelson .... OiisLchurch DunedLi.... Hokitikft .. 12,024 4,400 10,130 5,554 12,815 23.355 2,905 51 23 77 18 48 72 6 10 3 25 12 14 13 3 i _^ 1-43 •67 1-35 , 212 , 1-04 . •El 1-10 T0ta1.... 295 S9 • •