THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, JULY 15, 1878.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2987, 15 July 1878, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, JULY 15, 1878.

Some important changes in the Volunteer Staffs of Auckland and Thames are shortly to be made. As intimated by telegram the other day, Major Withers has received orders to proceed from Napier to take charge of Auckland and Thames Volunteer Districts, and we hear that Majors Cooper and Lusk will be relieved of their commands. Major Withers will make Auckland his head-quarters, paying periodical visits to Thames for inspection and other purposes. During the absence of Major Withers, the command of the district of Thames will devolve upon Captain T.L.Murray, senior captain, whose promotion to a majority is to be gazetted at once; and who, while retaining his position as commander of No. 1 Thames Scottish, will perform the duties of field officer on all occasions when the Officer Commanding' the districts may not be present. Major Withers, who was formerly in the Imperial Army, has seen some service in New Zealand, having been engaged in active service during the troublous times on the East Coast ai>d elsewhere. For some years past he has been in command of tha Hawke's Bay district, and we hear that he is well liked by the officers and men under his command; The severance of Major Cooper's connection with the

volunteers of the Thames, after such a lengthy service, will be regretted, but we presume it ia considered necessary by the retrenchment policy of the Government. ■

"Qtjeeist" writes as follows:—"To the Editor of tho Evening Star.—Sir,— Can you or any of your Volunteer correspondents inform me where and when the first voluntr 3r corps was established ? " The oldest volunteer corps in England — perhaps in the world—is the Honorable Artillery Company of the City of London, which dates from the time of the Tudors, and has maintained an uninterrupted existence ever since. At the beginning of t'.iis century, when, England was in dread of an invasion by Bonaparte, a general volunteer movement was initiated, and in 1803 the strength was nearly five hurdred thousand menr George 111. having reviewed 150.C06. As all danger of an invasion from Fvauee was removed by the discomfiture of Napoleon the I. in 1815, the volunteer force gradually diminished, and as the sense of security grew stronger the movement died out entirely, and the present volunteer system was not inaugurated until 1857-8. In the former year the Ist Devon and the Victoria Eifl s sprang into existence, and, very shortly after, the movement spread with lightning-like r. pidity. We belieye there were companies of volunteers in existence in several of the Colonies, including New Zealand, before 1857; but 'the movement which has now attained such powerful proportions may be said to date from that year—the period of the revolt in India known as the Indian Mutiny. From the Northern Whig of June 2nd, 1877, we learn that Belfast enjoys the honor of having bren the cradle ;Of Irish Volunteers : <; Qn March 27th, i 1778, a meeting of the gentry and merchants of Belfast was held in the market house, Mr Waddell Cunningham in the chair. The object of the meeting was to consider the alarming state of public affairs, and the frequent visits of suspicious-looking war ships to the various . oasts of Down and Antrim. On that rcciision it was resolved that the young men capable of bearing arms should enrol themselves in companies for the defence of their country against foreign invasion, and that the troops so enrolled be called Irish volunteers. The volunteer system commenced in Belfast —soon found sympathy in other quarters —and ere the end of the year nearly four thousand men had become members. These gallant fellows were armed, clothed, and drill 1 at their own cost, not a shilling towards the expense having been contributed by the ■.Government At that period of Ireland's history commerce was gre .tly imped .1 by the one-sidrd legislation of England. Appeals had been to Parliament for a modification of the Act that prohibited the export of butter, beef, and bacon from Ireland, but all these pleas for justice had been rung out in vain. Immej«e numbeis of people were being added to the volunteer troops, and in the ranks were found the principal inhabitants of Ulster; landowners and legislators, the local gentry, farmers and arlLans, and merchants end traders of the different grades, joined together in one bond of union for the protection of their own rights and those of the Crown." It will be seen, therefore, that the Honorable Artillery Company take precedence, and the Irish Volunteers next. Then come our grandfathers', patriotic .movement to cope with " old Bony," at the birth of the Nineteenth Century, and lastly t|ie preseut Voluntrer movement^ which has transformed Great Britain and her colonies from "a na ion of shopkeers?" into tl w most powerful voluntary notary power 'n the world. v ■

'. A meeting of the creditors of John O'Neill was held this morning for giving him an order of discharge under the Debtors and Creditors Act, winch creditors declined to do. The heavy down-pour of rain which commenced on Sunday morning had the beneficial effect of bringing down to the Shortland Saw Mill Company's boom a at Parawai, about 3COO logs. This will be sufficient io keep the mill going for some time, and had tbey not come down the mill would have been stopped from Saturday last. The further hearing of the Te Aroha case has been adjourned in consequence of Mr Preece, Land Purchase Commissioner, being subpoenaed to attend the Supreme Court at Auckland. Its hearing will be resumed to-morrow or Wednesday. At this morning's sitting of the Lands Court a considerable amount of minor business was disposed of. With -reference to the Waiharakeke East case, Ngatupara of the Ngatihinerangi tribe to whom this block was awarded, presented an amended list of the names of owners to this block. The Court had disallowed the previous list, as the names of a number of children had been inserted in it. The list presented to-day was approved of. A memorial was granted to the claimant in the matter of a sir-all block at Ohinemuri, subject to a piece of land bjlonging to another native which had been erroneously in-, eluded 'n the block, being cut off. The Ra.tr. and another small block at Parawri were awarded to Nikorma Poutoutara and oilier claimants. -

Thb juveniles are offered a prize for competition to-night at. Mr Barlow's Eifle Gallery, tKe highest scorer out of any three shots being entitled to c picture. There's a young lady in Shortland who, like many others of her sex, likes to have more than one string to her bow; yes, a good many more than one. One evening lately at a place of public resort, she was carrying on an innocent flirtation with two of her " strings " by means of conversation lozenges. She made one of them happy by giving him one on which I was written " will you come for a walk P " and the other happier still with one on which was "Will you come for a walk, love ? " When the entertainment was over each of the " strings " went up to the young lady for the purpose of enjoying the promised ramble. They had a long and hot argument over, who should have the walk, during which' the cause of the quarrel slipped away, and picked up with another bean, and Lad her stroll with hiji. The two disputants made it up, and were observed shortly a.fcjr walking fiercely down Pollen - reet, and expressing their intention of putting the set on that other bloke." A Cantjeebuby paper relates tte following :—A gentleman in Chriatchurch, when in a room in the dark the other night, resolved upon having a quiet smoke, and proceeded to prepare to enjoy it forth- j with. He put his hand into his breastpocket in which he kept loose tobacco, and fi:ed.Fs pipe. The pocket, however,'

held more than tobacco, for some of the contents of a leaky powder flask which he had been carrying in that pocket must have escapod into it. He put the pipe into his mouth, and bent down and applied a match to the bowl. No sooner had he done so than the pipe exploded, lifting his hat, taking off his eyebrows, discoloring the skin of his forehead slightly, burning his face, and badly jarring his tee'h. Though unable to see for some minutes, it was found that bis sight was in no way injured. Probably he wiJl in future take care what be smokes.

At the usual weekly drill of the No. 2 Scottish Company on Saturday evening there was a marked improvement noticeable in the steadiness of the men in the ranks, and most of them appear to have master I t'ae elements of drill. Captain Mpcdonald announced that he expected the new rifles would be down here by next Saturday, and proba"bly before that. The owner of the following can have it by calling at this office—it was picked up by one of the " P.D.s" coming to work to-day:—" Dere Moike, wiu. you kum round to-morrow nite; and if you're a gud boy and fetch some of those pepperment lollys out of Brett's, you kan take me to the dans.—Yur lovin' K."

The double-barrelled gun presented by a late captain of the Haurakis to that corps, and which has been on view in Mr Barlow's window for some time, was won by Volunteer Frearson for the fourth time on Saturday last; the gun therefore becomes his property. ; The captain commanding has" ordered a valuable' prize from Auckland to take the place of the Hazard gun, now finally won by Froarson. The Haurakis will shortly have to devote their attention to engineering, as soon as official intimation is received that the application of the captain to change the designation from Rifles to Engineers is accepted. The Haurakis beiug composed of tradesmen' and practical miners, with an experienced Royal Engineer sergeant as their first lieutenant, will doubtless soon acquit themselves to the satisfaction of the authorities in engineering drill.

Th_ Rev. A. B. Gill writes as follows in the Pacific Methodist:—" Some men think it a great thing to be known all over the world, but I believe I am somewhat knoWa in three worlds already. There are men on earth who have heard me preach, and there are men in heaven who have heard me preach, and there are men in hell who often reflect over truths that I have announced from backwoods pulpits ; and men may deny it as th jy will, and sneer at it if they like, but one single summer day's residence in hell will teach Hume, Voltaire, Peine, Bolingbroke, Renan, Tyndall, Huxley, Darwin, Ingersoil, Wendell Phillips, and the editors of the San Francisco Chronicle, lessons which they failed to learn in a'whJle lifetime on earth. Experience is a school in which the most inapt oupils m iy learn." Padres, according to tneir own account, are terribly familiar with the lower regions as well as with all shades and haunts on earth of vice. Either they obtain their knowledge by touching pitch; or they indent on a too lively imagination.—Ed.

The following is given by a Home paper as the style of derisive appeals regarding England a Moscow paper regales its readers with :—" Have the bloated shopkeepers of the North Sea Sand Bank forgotten the time when the [Russian sea heroes drove their porterdrinking Admiral ' Charley' from the shores of fortgirt Cronstadt ? Have the purse-proud aristocracy of the, „foggy, smoky London forgotten the day when the serried ranks of jtussian steel swept down the slopes of Alma and Inkermann, and carried mourning into half the houses of England?"

Tjie anniversary celebration of the Borough Fire Brigades will take place at the beginning of next month, and will take the usual form, namely, a torchlight procession and banquet. The latter will, we u^ders*and, take place in the new billiard room in course of e.ectipn at the Provincial Hotel, and Mr W. Drew, Cafe Koyal, will be caterer. These rev lions of our "fire fighters," besides bringing the Grahamstown and Shortland contingents into close association at the festive board, are generally patronised by members of the Borough Council, especialy those who take a prominent interest in the Brigade.

We understand that, owing to the great scarcity of fet stock, ard the consequent advanc 1 prices obtained at the cattle markets, the butchers have advanced the price of meat one penny per Ib. We are also inform;d that such is the scarcity of fat cattle in this province, that were it not for shipments from other provinces relieving tne markets somewhat,. we should have meat at almost famine prices immediately.—Herald.

s . The Emperor William has addressed the following letter to Prince Bismarck, under date the 14th May :—" The act of a man, fallen into evil ways, who attempted to take my life, which has for so long been protected by the merciful dispensation of Providence, has been the occasion of uncommonly numerous manifestations of fidelity and affection towards my person, whereby I have been deeply moved and heartily gladdened. Prom the whole of Germany, as well as from many places abroad, from^ public authorities, corporations, association's,andprivate.. individuals of all classes of society and all ages. I have received proofs that the heart of the people is with its Emperor and King, that it feels with him both in joy and sorrow.. I read the same feeling, here in every eye.into which I gazed after this event, and I am indeed deeply and warmly moved by the worthy and elevated manner in which the Berlin population displayed their sympathy with me. I desire that each one who shewed me that sympathy shall know that he thereby did my heart gcod, and ■••! commission you* with that object to make this commmication public."

At a meeiing recently held in London in connection with-a movement to provide ," Speech for the Dumb," Professor Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, in the course of his speech said: To illustrate the purely mechanical nature of speech he spoke of having received from arross the Atlantic a few days ago one of Mr Ediron's phonographs, and after placing the machine on a table in bis Liver, pool hotel, and turning a handle, his friends, who had brought the instrument, 'were addressed by name, and were thus greeted, "Once for all, I wish you a pleasant voyage and a happy time in England." These words, he said, had been spoken into the. phonograph at starting, and rendered faithfully at the other shore of the ocean 3000 miles off.