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Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2868, 25 April 1878, Page 2

Wb observe by advertisement that there is a special meeting of the Naval Brigade called for this evening.

We would dt aw the attention of parents, etc., to flic cheap trips which the p.s. Toit^arirp is advertised to t»ake to Auckland to-morrow and Saturday.

! A woman nnmrd Donovan was taken to the Hospital to-day by tho police as a lunatic.

Thkbe was no business at tho X.M* Court to-day.

The Staffa, a steamer of 40 tons, arrived here this morning from Tauranga with some 150 Natives belonging to Whakatane, who have come up for the purpose of assisting in the construction of the chief Taipari's runanga house. The vessel left Tauranga yesterday, notwithstanding that she was heavily laden, not «lljr with tho Natives, but also with a large quantity of carved timber, which the TTThakatane carvers have prepared at their own hapus. A number of Thames natives met the visitors at the wharf and escorted them to % .Parawai, where considerable preparations have been made for their reception. A large weatherboard shanty has been erected on the ground near'where the runangahouse is to be put up, and several tons of potatoes, kumeras, etc., are also on the ground. The Ztlldh the other day brought up some 20 tons of pofcafoes, also for the consumption of the builders and their families. ;

We tell the tale, as 'twas tola to us— without vouching for the embellishment of the narrator—of a cote Yankee and a hardware merchant doing business not a handred miles from Owen street, Thames. The American was an. advertising agent of Cooper and .Bailey's travelling show, and he paid a visit to the town to " bill" the place. In his peregrinations he found the regular hoardings were 4he property of Jimmy Wright, the local artist in mural decorations, but he saw, besides, many capacious wall spaces admirably suited for showing oft the many colored pictures which are so lavishly distributed by his principals as incentives to visit the show, but which spaces were innocent of desecration as far as bill' Stickers and their trade are concerned. Some of them were adorned with the magic words, following what printers call a "fist," "Stick no Bills." There was One building, however, in such a locality that the American artist in paste set his heart upon having the use of its outer wall for displaying bills depicting nearly the whole capacity of the menagerie and circus. With thatinstinctiveorintuitive wisdom peculif r to smart American business men, he conceived that a business man who would stertily prohibit the posting of local bills on his pro perty must be approached with caution to be induced to relax in favor of strangers. The agent proceeded very carefully to find out the temper, disposition, &c, of the man he had to deal with. He found he was a person with decided prejudices against shows, and he played his hand accordingly. In asking permission to post his bills he pointed out the advantages of his principals' show over all others as a mcani of instruction. He tad, he said, visited some of the common schools in this district, and inspected the class books; and he very much regretted to find that some of these conveyed to the pupils very erroneous impressions of many of the noble 4* beasts of the forest. Their show, "he guessed/ was specially designed and brought together to remove such impressions from the mind of youth, and it had been admitted in America that it was the most useful popular educator in natural history travelling. The circus or show part of the business was only designed to show the superiority of man over the brute creation, and his power in subjugating the most formidable denizens of the forest. There was nothing of an objectionable character in the whole performance and exhibition; and, in fact, those children whose parents could not afford to tike them to Auckland would be edified and instructed by the faithful representations of the animals comprising the menagerie which would appear on the walls, the said representations being drawn from life. This sort of appeal was too much for the hardware merchant. Being interested in educational matters he yielded a willing consent, and his corrugated iron walls are now adorned with one of Cooper and Bailey's greatest combinations of light and shade and gorgeous coloring in the shape of play bills.

Matxs in the Australasian writes: Called the other day, says the incorrigible Stockfish, on a lady who, amongst other domestic treasures, displayed to me two canaries and a new sewing-machine. " Do you know," said she, " what I call my canaries?" Pleading inability even to conjecture, she continued, -' Oh, I have named them Wheeler and Wilson, because neither of them is a Singer." (This is not a disguised advertisement.) — There is, lam told, a new departmental regulation in the Custom-house requiring full and complete returns under defined heads of classification of all goods imported. Now, a Chinaman who was sending home the embalmed body of his father, correctly described the consignment as " human remains." The Customs, officer bad then to find a place for the article in the scheme of classification, and the only available heads hecoald discover were those .of " Curiosities " and " Preserved Meats." He ultimately took the realistic view that a dead Chinaman could hardly be considered a curiosity, and placed the item under the second head.

Thk Alexandra correspondent of the Waikato Times, writing on the 19th inst., states: —There has been a good sprinkling of native aristocracy here this last week. Paora Tubaera has returned to Auckland from Hikurangi. He was accompanied here by young Tv Tawliiao and other chiefs. Tawhiao himself is now busy improving the road for the Premier's visit, and certainly not before it required it. What on earth induced htm to form a settlement in such an out-of-the-way place is one of those things no fellow can understand, where in fact they have to cut down the face of a hill to build a house. Everything :n the shape of food for the meeting will have (o be carried there, so there is plenty of work before them to prepare for the large number expected. The river is now so low that canoes cannot bring down supplies from up country. It will, therefore, have to be packed overland. It is hard to say what will be the result of the meeting, but no doubt some good will arise from the Government representatives meeting face to face with the Kingites. They will, at least, elicit their yiews .on the present state of, affairs. No doubt Sir George will have many difficulties to pontend against. To Ngakau, alone, is no mean antagonist in thjs kind of discussion, and as slippery as an eel, Beport says that after Tawhiao's meeting,

Bewi will hare to be consulted, as, in his opinion, he alone is tbq onljr person by whom a final settlement of the difficulties between the/two races will hare to be made.

The lady who got her horse shod with* gold in Edinburgh has taken it to Spain, it stems, along with £8000 in English sovereigns. So much money has never been seen in the country since the French left it, and the national excitement is prodigious. It is fortunate for her that this is the case, as the police now form her body-guard, or else " the Carlists brigands on the frontier," we are told, "would have cut her throat long ago." She insists on staying at a small inn in a wretched village, where she amuses herself by throwing money from her windows te be scrambled for by the children. If her horse " threw a shoe" what real "luck " it wtuld be to find it; and if the French philosopher's view be correct, that a wife is all the better for being a fool, what a splendid opportunity she affords to bachelors.

Thb organisation of a new Arctic ex* pedition is contemplated in the United Slates, and a Bill for this purpose has been introduced into the House, and reported upon favorably by the Committee on Naval Affairs. The Bill provides that the President shall be authorised to organise and cend out one or more expeditions towards the .North Pole, and to establish a temporary colony, for the purposes of exploration, at some point north of the 81st degree of. north latitude, oa or heir the shore of Lady Franklin Bay; to de'oil such officers or other persons of the public service to take part in the same as may be necessary, ana to use any public vessel that may be suitable for the purpose; the scientific operations of the expedition to be prosecuted in accordance with the advice of the National Academy of Science; and that the sum of 50,000 dollars, or such part thereof as may be necessary, be appropriated out of the public funds for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the expedition. The Americans seem bent on reaching the North Pole by hook or by crook, and their energy and determination deserve to be rewarded by success.