THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1878.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2996, 21 September 1878, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1878.

A pbivate telegram from Wellington informs us that the vote of £6500 for the extension of Thames Water Bace was agreed to in the Cabinet yesterday. It will be remembered that this sum was included in last year's estimates, but was not expended. This session .the Minister for Public Works put on the estimates the sum of £25C^ only for the same purpose, the sum of £4000 paid over for a claim settled by arbitration having been deducted from the original vote. The Cabinet have also agreed to hand over the Water Bace to the County Council from the Ist proximo, together with accrued revenue therefrom up to a certain date.. With the sum of £6500 for extending the race, additional gathering and distributing plant, the County will be able to make this a permanent source of revenue, as well as a cheap motive power on a more extended scale than at present; and as it is scarcely likely there will be any opposition, in the.House to the vote unanimously agreed to by the Cabinet, we may consider it as good as passed. Probably the extension of the race will soon afford skilled employment to a number of men, as well as work for unskilled labor. The County Chairman, we believe, may be credited with having induced Ministers to come down so liberally.

We hare been favored by the Editor with an advance sheet of a portion of "Enoch," which is to make its appearance on Saturday next. The leading article is .devoted to a review of "The Eastern Question: fall of the Ottoman Empire and the results to follow." The writer brings forward extracts from previous numbers of " Enoch " to show that his predictions on the fine! results of the struggle—based on the " sure word " of prophecy—are coming true. He affirms and reaffirms • that the peace arrived at by- the Berlin Conference is hollow; that England is perfidious, and Beacons* field blind. That the present is only the beginning of a struggle by. land and sea, and " compared with which the FrancoGerman war, and, we may now add, the Russo-Turkish struggle, were mere child's p.lay." The editor remarks that this is what Lord Beaconsfield is being congratulated on from all parts of the British dominions, and " for taking the very steps that must eventually, and that veiy soon, bring England into the tb'ekest of the

fray." We cannot follow tho Editor of "Enoch" through the whole of his Ion? article, because we do not pretend to regard passing events by tho light of the "sure word '' of prophecy. JNeither do journalists generally, for the Editor of "Enoch " remarks, en passant: " Oui? view of the matter ia certain to bo very different from the view of most writers, because we happen to be one of the very few of these dayg who loot at every thing in the light of prediction's ' sure word.' " Besides, it would be unfair to " Enoch "to anticipate its contents too much, while a brief notice may raise expectation for the coming number. As the iid'.tor of f 1 Enoch "is partial to, and professes to be guided by, prophecy in arriving' at conclusions regarding passing events, we commend to his earnest study a passage from Zechariah viii,, verse 23, which, it has been suggested, applies to I?arl Beaconsfield and the Berlin Congress:—

, , "Thus saith; the ...Lord of Hosts, in those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." ;,

About 50 men hare been put tm to work by the Borough Council this week — some at cleaning out drains, others at s onebreaking, and a number of parties on small jobs at' piece work on^e Waiotahi Spur. This has considerably thinned the ranks of. the unemployed, and taken men.from the street corners,, where for a few days some of the malcontents who wanted a change of air were Wont to air their grievances. Considering the actual state of things now, as evidenced by the surplus labor being absorbed so soon, we believe that should the County Council have to enter upon any extensive works during the summer labor will be' found very scarce.

Aur All-comers' Match takes place at the Brown Street Rifle Gallery to-night for a splendid . oil-painting of " Pat's journey to market." The conditions, as usual, are the production and deposit of a "bob," and the firing six consecutive shots, which proceeding can be repeated by each all-comer as many times as he thinks fit, or until he makes the highest score. • . .

Following upon the valedictory dinner to Mr James Mackay on his departure from the district, a number of gentlemen have taken steps for purchasing a souvenir of Mrs Mackay's residence on the Thames, and her untiring efforts in the promotion and maintenance of local charities. They have been very successml, and Mr Cook* son. has been instructed to make a hand* some set of jewellery—brooch, earrings &c, which will be sent to Mrs Mackay at Wellington. . ■ .

The usual week night parade of the Hauraki Engineers was held in the drill hall, Grahamstown, at half-past seven o'clock last night. After an hour's drill in rifle exercise by Captain Small, who was assisted by Staff-Instructor Grant, the men adjourned to their lecture room, when the'second lesson in engineering was received from Lieut. Barlow, who briefly explained in a simple and explicit manner the system by which correct angles-could, be obtained (with very primitive appliances) for laying out, tracing, and constructing the various slopes and gradations of redans, redoubts and lunettes. He also explained the different duties and tasks required of officers, non-commissioned officers and sappers from the commencement to the completion of an " anchored: fascine redoubt," on level, falling, and rising sites. The revetting of earthwork slopes by sods, sand-bags, gabions, and hurdles was also exemplified by the aid of chalk and the black-board. The lecturer said that he would reserve for a future'lesson the. manufacture of fascines, gabions, and hurdles, and in view of the approaching 9th November, field day, concluded the night's instruction with the explanation of two illustrations of field-gun epaulments. The lecture was attentively listened to, and at its termination Captain Small notitified that the subject of the next lesson, to be delivered oq the evening of the 4th proximo; wtould be ion "laying and exploding mines and charges." >.

The annual meeting of the members of the Thames Cricket Club' was held at the Governor Bo wen Hotel last evening. There was a large attendance, and Mr T. Spencer, President of (he Club, occupied the chair. After the reading of a highly satisfactory report and balance sheet, Mr Thos. Spencer was elected President and Mr Steedman Vice President of the Club for the ensuing term. The following were elected a managing committee -.—Messrs T. Murphy, J. Gudgeon, T. Lawless, G. A. Buttle, and Lumsden. The following selection committee was then elected:—Messrs W. H. Hi.rgreaves, T. L. Whit^rd, and Burgess. Mr Hargreaves was re-elected secretary, and Messrs Carrick and Cameron auditors. Votes of thanks to the secretary, Mr J. £. Macdonald, and the Chairman brought the meeting to a close. General satisfaction "was expressed at the formation of the Union Club, which the older club desire to help in anything they can.

The following was wired to and appeared in last night's Auckland S't~r;—A highly-respectable elderly gentleman, who takes an active part in the affairs of the city, found himself in an awkward predicament the other day.- Slaving undertaken: to collect subscriptions for the Bishop's Residence Fund, he called in with unsuspecting innocence at a dwel-ling-house wit'iin the city boundary. The door was opened to him by a young lady,' whose toilet arrangements were as yet somewhat incomplete, and looking along the,passage, a vista of yourg ladies in a state of still greater dishabille met his astonished gaze. The visitor staged the object of his call, and the young ladies at once promised him a handsome subscription on behalf of such a laudable object. By this time, the heart of the old genttamah had begun to misgive him as to his position and theirs, and without waiting for the promised donation, he retired in confusion, overwhelmed by the shock to his modesty, and muttering that it would not be proper to build a residence for tbe Bishop with the wages of iniquity. The hero of the story is not unknown within ihe walls of the Legislative Council. . The subscriptions towards the Bishop's residence include one of £100 from a Boman Catholic, and one of £50 from a Hebrew.

A "weiteb in Sunday Afternoon thinks that one of the most remarkable things in human nature is.the willingness of women to sacrifice a girl's life for the chance of saving the morals of a scapegrace man. If a pious mother can only marry her son Beelzebub to some " good, religioui girl," the chance of hit reformation is greatly increased. The girl is neither here nor there, when one considers the necessity of saving the dear Beelzebub.

The inspection of Nos. 1 and 2 companies Thames Scottish Volunteers is likely to be largely attended by members of both; as well as-the band, on Wednesday evening next, and as a good many of the public will no doubt like to witness the presentation of the district champion belt to Corporal Lucas, as well as view the inspection, the parade is arranged to take place in the Academy of Music. Mrs W. Fraser has kindly consented to make the belt presentation.

The No. 1 Company Thames Scottish hold a meeting this evening at seven o'clock to elect au additional sub-Ueu-tenant.

We understand that Major Murray has been advised by Government this afternoon that both companies of the Scottish are to be gazetted into a battalion under clause 17 of Volunteer Regulations. The battalion has also been authorised to oar.'y colors, and to have an Hon. Colonel, Major Adjutant, Quartermaster, Surgeon, Assistant Surgeon, and Chaplin, and also two, additional Sub-Lieutenants for the colors.

The schooner Josephine, which cleared out from this port on the 13th instant, with 55,000 feet of timber from Bagnall's saw mills for Lyttelton, arrived at her destination to-day. She must have made a very fair passage.

A month or two ago a young girl in Boston, the daughter of. one of the' wealthiest men there, being about to marry, asked her father to let her wedding be as quiet as possible, and to give her the money which would have been spent in flowers, wines, .&c. With this money she gare a certain sum to the poor of each city which she visited. on her wedding journey. She had the blessings of the. hungry and naked strewed along her path instead of roses. The story, without the names, crept into the newspapers. Last week the wedding of one of the great capitalists in this city was marked by as touching and beautiful an incident. One of the gifts to the bride was the sending of 100 orphan boys to homes in the West.—New York Tribune.