The Sharemarket. The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1879.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3114, 10 February 1879, Page 2

The Sharemarket. The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1879.

One gentleman takes the opportunity to day of publicly announcing himself a candidate for the vacant seat in the Middle Ward. Mr Greenwood positively informs us that he intends to contest the seat against all comers. Wk learn that Mr B. Stone will launch the big barge he has been building for the Bay of Islands Coal Company to-morrow about half-past 8 a.m. Sevbbal members of the Gem Comedy and Burlesque Company assisted in the musical portion of the devotions at the Shortland Botnan Catholic Church yesterday. At mass, Mr Mack Alexander sang a grand " Pro Poeatus," and in the i evening, " O Salutaris Hostia." One of the valuers for Thames County under The land Tax Act, 1878, has had one of the forms returned to him endorsed as follows :—" Being a Christian pure and simple, and a pilgrim here on earth waiting for my Lord from Heaven, and for the city of my Lord, New Jerusalem, i I hold no property landed or otherwise on earth. lam simply a lodger in the house I reside in, and must refer you to , —, ■' ' , who is the owner thereof. Yours respectfully, < ." # The Times, in an article on the electric light and gas, says:—We are very far from believing that gas will suddenly cease to be a profitable commodity, but we certainly hope and believe that electricity will soon share its functions as a means of artificial illumination. We shall bid farewell to gas without regret, while remembering its services with gratitude, if, as now serins likely, it can be superseded by a purer and less injurious light.

It will be seen from an advertisement elsewhere that Mr H. A. H. Hitcliens, proprietor of the famous Blood Restorer and other popular medicaments, will arrive here by the Rotoniahana this evening, and that he may be seen at the dispensary of Mr G. Denby, Brown street.

The excise duty paid by railway companies for passengers in the United Kingdom during the last financial year was £741,919 2s o|d. The spirit duty for the year amounted to £15,557,514 17s 4d.

At the Theatre Royal on Saturday night, Mr J. P. Hydes deservedly " went for" the smokists, and lectured the " nasty men " on the bad habit of smoking in the theatre. We are glad to say it had the desired effect, as during the latter portion of the performance the theatre was free from the vile stench of stale Venus and nail rod.

" The proprietor of the Wanganui Herald, being an iutimate and highly esteemed friend of the Colonial Treasurer," says the Chronicle, " came in for a good haul from the Colonial chest on Saturday. One insertion of the notification from the Public Works Office tots up the nice little total of £15. f That's where the ' equality of sacrifice' comes in." The advertisement alluded to occupies over four columns and a half of space, and is the kind of announcement to which, under ordinary circumstances, publicity is only afforded in the columns of the Gazette. But then these are not ordinary circumstances.

A new paper called the Arawa, which is to consist of half Maori, half English, will (says the Bay of Plenty Times) shortly be published at Botorua under the auspices of Mr Robert Graham. We are iuformed that the Maori portion will be contributed by Mr C. O. Davis, and the English by Mr W. B. Langbridge, who is also to be the nominal editor. The printiDg will probably be done in Auckland. We trust the speculation may answer Mr Graham's purpose. With the exception of Te Wananga hybrid journals have not hitherto been remarkably successful, but perhaps, the Arawa may prore an exception. Anyhow, Mr Graham can well afford the experiment.

The directors of the City of Glasgow Bank may be left to the pursuit of the law. The public may, indeed, be surprised to find that for the offence of making false returns under the Bank Act— the most daring of their misdeeds—the bank .itself, and not the directors, are liable. A penally of £100 for every such offence could be demanded ; but, as this would be drawn from the unfortunate shareholders, the accountants have, apparently, thought it probable that it would not be exacted, and they explain that they have deliberately excluded these heavy penalties from the balance-sheet they have published. An amendment of the Bank Act making directors personally liable for such false returns would appear to be expedient; but it must not be supposed that the immunity the Glasgow directors at present enjoy in this particular extends to all their acts. The directors of the Eoyal British Bank were convicted of a conspiracy to represent to their shareholders, their customers, and the public generally, that their bank was in a sound and flourishing condition,producing profits and paying dividends, when they knew that it was approaching insolvency, and that the shares were unsafe and might be ruinous to their holders. If the report of the accountants at Glasgow can be proved, an indictment against the directors of the City of Glasgow Bank would run in the same words as the indictment of the Uoyal British Bank directors. We may leave them and their fate to the law. which we cannot but presume will be set in motion againt them. The directors, the manager, and the secretary, have, indeed, been already arrested, and) we need not anticipate the result of the prosecution that must follow. The question of the moment is the effect of the publication of the detailed report upon the financial world. There is a deficiency of five millions to be made good by the shareholders, many of whom must be absolutely ruined, while those who are possessed of any means may probably have to pay twice over for their weaker brethren. Their miserable fate, however, will scarcely affect the money market in any degree.--The Times.