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Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3050, 23 November 1878, Page 2

A spiEBE and concert, in .connection with the St. George's Sunday School, will be held at the school, Holleston street, on Tuesday next. The music will be rendered by the Church Choir. ;

A meeting of the stewards of the Thames Annual Baces was held at the Marine Hotel last night. It-was decided to hold two days' races at Tararu, on the 27tK and 28th December, following the Hospital Demonstration. A programme is in course of preparation, and it is expected that, a successful meeting will be arranged, as the decision to hold the. Hospital Demonstration at Tararu should settle the differences which exist as to the suitability of the place for sports or racing. Mr Wm. McCullough' was appointed judge at the meeting. .

That beautiful suburban resort, Tararu hardens, is in even a better condition this summer than any previous year, the enterprising lessee Mr F. Bennett having since last fall done a great deal in the improvement of the ground, and it will be doubtless largely patronised during the summer months. The large area laid out in strawberries this year is bearing very well, and Mr Bennett announces that the admission to the Gardens in future will be sixpence including a plate of strawberries. One of the chief floral beauties of the Gardens this year is the magnolia flowers, Mr Bennett having thirty or forty of those beautiful flower bearing trees in full bloom just now. The Gardens are well worth a visit.

The following amounts were subacribed at the meeting on Thursday night towards the preliminary expenses of starting the Tararu arid Karaka Tunnel scheme :— W. McCullough, £2 2s; J. Eenshaw, £2; W. De'eble, £1; G. A. Eeddish, £1; J. Cocks, £1; — Newton, ss; Wm. Smith, £1. • .

The rumour that Mr R, 1. J. Creighton was about to return from San Francisco to edit the New Zealander or the New Zealand Herald is authoritatively denied.

■A CONFBBBKCE of the local governing bodies was held -at the Borough Council Chambers yesterday afternoon for the purpose of discussing several matters of importance to the district. There were present—The Chairman of the Harbor Board (in the chair), the Mayor, County Chairman, Crs Carpenter, Ehrenfried, GreenviUe,; McGowan, Speight," Thorburn, Brown, and, Deeble. The matter of the lailway was subjected to a long discussion, and the heads o.f the local bodies were appointed , a committee to arrange for the reception of Mr Wakefield, Under . Secretary for Goldfields, w;ho will arrive here shortly, and of Messrs Conyers and Jjawson, Eailway Commissioners, who are also expected here, a request from the Thames for a visit from them having been sent to the Minister for Public Works,

-A meeting of the general committee appointed to promote the candidature of Mr Wm. McCullough for the position of Mayor was held at the office of Messrs Frater Brothers, last night. There were from'4otoso burgesses present, Mr R., Comer being in the chair. < The minutes of previousmeeting were read and confirmed, and the appointment of subcommittees was then considered, when the names of a number of gentlemen having been submitted, the same were approved, with the addition of one or two others suggested at the meeting. Some routine business was then transacted, and the' meeting was adjourned till Monday evening next, at the sarnie time and place. .

The Thames Rifle Rangers will hold a uniform parade on next Thursday, which will be notified by advertisement in these columns. We believe' the object is to reconsider the design- of their hew uniform, and also a change in the color, and that when the company have finally decided, the order will be given at once to supply them. It is to be hoped that all the members will attend, as we are informed there are other important matters to be considered.

The Australian cricketers had some amusing experiences in the old country. Our (Auckland Star) London correspondent relates the following: " I met one of them at a picnic, and he told me that in country places they were constantly accosted by farmers and men and women of the agricultural classes, who insisted upon a shake of the hand, because they came from the land where "our Bill" was settled, and it always ended with, " Well, you'll tell him you've seen us, you know, and we're all hearty," without even communicating the name of either speaker or recipient of the message, much less the address." v

Fob some tithe past, says the Auckland Star, paragraphs hare been going the rounds of the Press of the Colony announcing that Sir George Grey intended to make a trip to Melbourne and Sydney in the Hinemoa during the recess for the purpose of arranging the basis of an agreement for reciprocity, and other matters of. importance. It hat also been asserted by the Napier Telegrdph, Grey River .Argus, and come other journals, that the Premier would proceed to England, without resigning, and return in time for next session. With regard to the first rumour we have now an authoritative contradiction from our x>wn correspondent at Wellington, who has continual access to the best sources of information, and whose stater ment may, therefore, be relied on; and, probably, the rumour of Sir George Grey's intended visit to England will prove to be as ill-founded as the .other. The telegram received this morning is as follows:—" There is no truth in the rumour that Sir George Grey intends to visit New South Wales and Victoria on a semi-official tour during the recess. He never had-any such intentions, and has merely left for Eawau to recruit his health." :

The Times, in a leading article, contends that Fenianism is dying out. ■ It says:—ln the subsidence of Fenianism into an almost forgotten conspiracy we may read the signs of Ireland's returning content. The sweeping but beneficent legislation of 1869 'and 1870, though its failure was confidently predicted, has at least produced some of the effects for which it was designed. The national discontent of Ireland, if still chronic, is no longer acute; apart from the constitutional though wholly impracticable demand for Home Eule in Parliament, it finds no expression, save in obscure local prints, which excite neither sympathy nor enthusiasm. A fervid Irishman may still talk of his country's grievances, ,but when pressed to specify them, he can find nothing worse to complain of than the distance of London from Dublin, an inconvenience from Which many Scotchmen- suffer .equally, though they say little about it. The legislation of Mr Gladstone's Government, if it did not satisfy everybody, at least she.wed that Parliament was ready, to consider real grievances patiently, and to redress then! ungrudgingly. The effect has been seen in several years of comparative peace and tranguility. Fenianism is dead, and nothing like it has taken its place, though Irish restlessness may still find ■ an occasional outlet in wayward and almost fantastic expressions of imaginary discontent. .''■•'•■ ..'■'.'