THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, MAY 13, 1878.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2883, 13 May 1878, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, MAY 13, 1878.

Fob some time past a quiet morcment has been going on among us, in prep.ration for the formation of a Young Men's Christian Association for the Thames. This is.now nearly ripe, as we are informed that a meeting of the provisional committee, chosen at the tiae of Dr SomerrUle's risifc here, was held on Wed-

nesday evening last, in the vestry of the Congregational Church, Mary street. It was then decided to call a public meeting for Thursday evening next, at the Congregational Church, kindly lent for the occasion. When the details are arranged, further information will appear in an advertisement. .

At S. George's Church last night the Rev. V. Lush announced that Bishop Cowie would (d.v.) on Sunday evening next hold a confirmation service and preach a sermon

We have heard that Mr F. A. Smith, formerly assayer of the Bank of New Zealand, Grahamstown, who left here some six years ago for England, has returned to Auckland as a full-fledged doctor of medicine.

The meeting of the Football Club, which w«t to have been held on. Saturday, lapsed a second time for want of a quorum.

A soiekb will be held in the schoolroom adjoining the Grahamstown Wesleyan Church to-morrow evening at half-past six o'clock, after which a public meeting will be held in the Church, wFen addresses will be delivered by ministers and friends The proceeds will be devoted to the Circuit Fund, and a statement will be read of the success which has attended the special effort made to reduce the debt. Some;musical selections will be,given by the joint choirs.

On Saturday afternoon," while the people were waiting for the war dance that did not come off, the indignation of some pakehas was aroused by seeing a lusty Maori dragging off a respectably dressed lad., of nine or ten years of age in a very rough manner. Cne of pur townsmen, of a naturally impulsive disposition, thought something was wrong and went to the rescue. JHe stopped the Maori and found that he had constituted himself a policeman and was taking the lad to the lock-np on a paltry charge of stealing a kumeva. We are told that the Native treated the boy (the child of respectable parents) brutally, and that the gentleman who went to the rescue would have been morally justified in administering personal chastisement to the cowardly brute;. "We deprecate violence in any shape which presumes to take the place of the law, but if our account of the affair be correct the Maori ought to be charged with committing an assault upon the small boy.

At the E.M. Court this morning, before Capt. Fraser, R.M., three individuals were punished in the usual manner for drunkenness and incapability. One of them pleaded hard to be let off, a»Jie had been locked up since Saturday. This His Worship declined to do, as it wag the second offence within a short time:

A large number of people visited the encampment of the Whakatan* Maoris yesterday afternoon and amused themselves inspecting the hideouj carvings and representations of the various " heathen gods and goddesses " on which the natives have been lavishing their savage skill for the past few weeks. The tools used are chisels, gouges, &c, aud other European instruments, consequently much better progress can be made than could be with the native works of "art of the pre-Euro-pean age, when the carvings were literally worked out with rudely shapen stone implements. The ridge pole, which is a splendid piece of kauri timber, some SO or 90 feet long, is now in the carvers' hands, and is fast becoming covered with curious grotesque ornamentations. The structure promises to be an imposing one when completed.

—Sbtbkaii extremely strong -g«Bts "of wind passed over the town on Saturday afternoon, which bad the effect of making a number of fences, &c, assume a horizontal position. Beyond that the only damage of any consequence we have heard of is the carrying away of the sails and pear of .Mr Nicholls' recently erected windmill. The sail portion of the mill worked round on a cogged wheel, its own weight holding it in position without any other fastenings, and during one of the strong gusts referred to the mill was lifted bodily and precipitated on to the roof of a shed some little distance off, from whence it fell Into the yard. The woodwork was smashed to pieces, but the iron work sustained comparatively little injury. The machine was being used at the time, of the accident, and several children were playing in the yard. It is fortunate none of them were maimed or killed by the fall of the mill.

Yestebday morning a section of the mains leading from the Domestic Water Supply reservoir, near Mr Spencer's residence, Parawai, gave way and seme 13 or 14 lengths of pipe fell out of position, and the township was left without water for a few hours. Mr F. C. Dean, secretary to the Water Supply Committee, who resides in the vicinity, had a number of men shortly at the scene of the accident, and the break was repaired with all speed.

We would call the attention of the proper authorities to the unsatisfactory state of the roof of the R.M. Court House, Grahamstown, which leaks most disagreeably. This morning rain had found its way into the building in more than a dozen places.

A kumbee of people'put in an appearance at Parawai on Saturday afternoon to see the Maoris "do" a haka,' but it did not come off, and a second time people were disappointed. The excuse given was the bad weather. We believe the real reason that the exhibition has been twice is that .the attendance has not. been numerous enough. The Natives who are going to "show their muscle" in their own barbarous fashion want to " raise the wind :•" after the haka it. was intended to send the bat round. Perhaps they may find that instead of .the attendance being better next time it will be worse. There were women and children in attendance on Saturday. We can only infer that; they are unacquainted with the objectionable character of Maori hakas. They are not edifying displays for females, and we may add that men and boys would be just as well away unless these East Coast visitors can be induced to keep within the bounds of decency.