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Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2867, 24 April 1878, Page 2

The s.s. Eotoiti will leare Curtis' Wharf for Ohinemuri at half-past eleren to-morrow morning.

Thebe was a clean sheet at the B.M. Court to-day.

A telegbam was received from Mr W. H. Beed yesterday stating that he and his wife (nee* Miss Leaf) were giving concerts at Patea, and would proceed thence to Hawera and Taranaki. Mr Jbteed appears to hare met with a fair amount of success. '

The list of applications for names to be placed on the Electoral Soil for the Thames Distaict is now on view at the Police Station, old Court House, Shortland. Objections to these names will have to be lent to the Officer.

The Eotomahana came from Auckland between eleven and twelve o'alock last night bringing a considerable number of passengers returning from their holiday making. The same boat had a number of Probably most of the steamers will do a good carrying trade for the week, the attractions oi the show being sufficient inducement to many persons.

A meeting of Borough, and County Councillors and members of Harbour Board and Parawai Highway Board, is to be held at the Borough Council Chambers on Friday morning at 10.30, for the purpose of holding a telegraphic conference with the Hamilton Borough Council, Piako and Waikato County Councils, and the Cambridge, Newcastle, and Waitoa Highway Boards re matters concerning the proposed Thames and Waikato railway.

A meeting of the committee appointed at the recent meeting of the shareholders of the Waitekauri G.M.Co., for the purpose of considering the offer of the mortgagees (i.e., the shareholders to pay £5000 in liquidation of the debt of £16,000 ou the company's-battery), was held lat the Thistle Hotel, Auckland, yesterday. There were present —Messrs W. Howe, Alexander and Harfcer, Messrs Tole and Canning being absent. Mr JJowe stated that a telegram had been received from Mr John Brown stating that he would be in town on Tuesday night. As all the committee were nbfc present, Mr Bowo suggested an adjournment till to-day, when he expected all the committee would be present, and they would also have the advantage of Mr Brown's presence. The Committee decided to adjourn till to-day.

A somewhat ludicrous incident occurred on 21st March, says' the Melbourne Argus, in the Juries of Six Court presided over by the Chief Justice. The intelligent panel, after having been in the juryroom a few minutes, returned into Court, and gravely intimated in reply to the usual inquiry whether they had agreed upon a verdict, that "they found a verdict for the plaintiff, and would let his Honor fix the damage*." The Chief Justice's face became at once an interest* ing study, but the announcement was too much even for official gravity. The stern lineaments relaxed, and he politely begged them to return to their room and complete the duty which was entrusted to them. The jury ultimately fixed the damages themselves.

A story is told of fi young man, who whilo in Auckland lately, heard that the Circus horses could bo hired by the day. He accordingly enquired, and to his great delight, found it to bo a fact, lie paid a modest consideration for a finelooking white charger, and started off, as he thought, to " cut a dash " at the races. Kre he was a couple of hundred yards from the precincts of the Circus, however, the Circus band struck up a lively march, aod the horso instantaneously became strangely affected.' He pawed the ground with his fore-feet, reared and pirouetted round on his haunches, and after further scholarly equine eccentricities, he wound up by depositing his astonished rider on the flat of his back on the grass, and made ofl full gallop to the Circua tents again, to the great delight of a large crowd who had assembled during the impromptu performance. It is said the young man went out to Ellerslie by the train.

The llev. Mr Fitchett, a Wesleyan | clergyman in Dunedin, who has already, in a discussion on Evolution, given occasion to many to doubt his orthodoxy, has plunged into the controversy about future punishment in a manner ihat will undoubtedly cause much concern amongst many good Protestants of all denominations. According to a telegram from our (Herald's) correspondent at Dunedin, he lias in a sermon stated his belief, " that Chinese, Indians, and heathens generally who departed this life without hearing th* tidings of salvation, would bare a chance of qualifying themselves for the kingdom of grace ia a future state." With such an admission, we fancy that it would not be a hard task to force Mr Fitchett a good deal further. The statement looks very like an assertion of belief in Purgatory : but why should Chinese, Indians, or even heathens generally " have a chance '* in the next world which is denied to Christians who may have been sorely perplexed by honest doubts ? However, we leave the Her. Mr Fitchett to be dealt with by theologians, feeling sure that in the controversy he will meet with little mercy. The controversy on t!ie subject of future punishment is an exceedingly ancient one, Origen, one of the greatest of the Fathers, having taught the doctrine of the final restoration of all to the enjoyment of happiness. _ For centuries, however, the prevailing opinion has been against Origen's exegesis, but perhaps we are coming back to it. Dubixg the year which has just closed (says the Daily JNews) the lifeboats of the National Lifeboat Institution have rendered valuable services on different parts of the coasts of the United King* dom. The unusually severe storms of the past two months tested to the utmost the qualities of the Institution's large life-saving fleet, but on every occasion both the brave men and their boats were found equal to every emergency. A total of 841 lives have been rescued by the society's lifeboats during the past year besides thirty-five vessels saved from destruction. In the same period the Lifeboat Institution granted rewards for saving 200 lives by fishing and other boats—making a grand total of 1041 lives saved last year mainly through its instrumentality. Altogether, since its formation, the Society has contributed to the saving of 25,000 shipwrecked persons, for which services it has granted 978 gold and silver medals, besides pecuniary rewards to the amount of £54,000. The storms of last November will long be remembered for their frequency, their violence, and the noble services of the Institution's lifeboats, which saved nearly 300 lives in that month alone. After performing these services some of these lifeboats' crews returned home absolutely exhausted; in some cases many of the men's lives were actually despaired of for several days afterwards. It should be mentioned that the operations of the National Lifeboat Institution now cover the whole coasts of the British Isles, and that with the exception of a score or so of lifeboats which belong to harbor trustees and other local bodies the whole of the lifeboats of the United Kingdom belong to the National Institution.