THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1879.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3116, 12 February 1879, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1879.

The Eauaeranga Boys' School, which has shown up so well at the recent examinations, has to add another successful candidate to its list of honours, in the person of Master 0. W. Cropp, who has passed the Civil Service examination. We understand that he would doubtless have gained ' the school another.scholar* ship but over fatigue from previous examinations prevented his sitting through the last one; his papers, however, so far as he went, were excellent. The Inspector of Schools suggests that in order to avoid overtasking candidates the examination for the Committees prizes (of which Cropp took 2nd) be held earlier than the Civil Service or Scholarship examinations in future years. It haa been suggested, that a large quantity of the stuff required for filling in the Railway Reclamation Contract might be disposed of where wauted by means of sluicing. "Enqtjibeb" writes asking when Mr Frederick Whitaker was elected Superintendent of Auckland Province. Mr Whitaker was elected to that office with' out.opposition in October, 1865. The only business at the 11 M. Cuurt this morning was a case of drunkenness, in which the defendant was punishe ! in the usual manner. E. E. Tizard, Esq., J.P., presided. The Caver^ham Council resolved, says the Dunedin Morning. Herald, at its last meeting that persons, laying out private townships within their jurisdiction must not only lay them out with the streets a chain wide, but must form the streets before the Council would take them over. The Council lias power under the Municipal Act to enforeesuch a condition, and looks upon the matter in- the light that it would be a great advantage to all parties concerned that the vendors of townships should form the streets before selling the sections. The man who buys laud to build upon it can afford to pay a better price, and can have his timber carted right on to his section, and even to the man who buys to sell auain. the value must be greatly enhanced by the existence of properly formed streets. It remains to be seen how this idea will work. It niny be mentioned that in other places people laying off townships find it pajs them best not only to form and metal streets, but to plant them with- ornamental trees, and keep the same in good order for 3*ears, though this hardly consorts with the idea to make a " pile " at once. The Wairarapa I'aily say-:—"The manuer in which the land tax papers tire leing filled up is in some instances highly amusing. In some cases the recipients have described their iuterests in their property as ' cattle ' or ' wool," while others simply confess that they 'don't know.' The idea of making each landholder value his own land is a decided failure, and wiil give a great deal of extra work lo the valuers." ■

KvEitYONE in Hobart Town (says a ' correspondent of the Southland Daily News) has something to say about the Kellys. A well known fruit dealor informed me that he believed one of the gang was in New Zealand. A man came into his shop one day and asked for a plate of cherries, and observing the man was a stranger, he asked him to sit down and eat them. The conversation immediately turned upon the Kellys. The man asked the latest news about them, and then went on to say it was no use trying to catch them. ( He then asked the fruit dcalerlf he was ever stuck up. '•' Yes," he said, ".once in the early days." ''And how did you get on?" "Oh, well enough; I forked out quietly all I had, and then asked them to give me something to carry me home, which they did. Some men were afterwards apprehended on suspicion of having robbed someone. T-ho authorities wanted me to swear they were the same who rob bed me, but I knew better than to do that." " Aye " said the man. " you did perfectly right.," He then said good day and left The fruit dealer afterwards learned that a suspicious looking man had come by the Melbourne steamer, and that he had got on the steamer at the Heads instead of Melbourne. He also remembered afterwards that the cherry eater was very like a portrait of one of the Kelly gang. He never could see him again, but believes he went away by the New Zealand steamer. So you see we had better look out.

A telegram to the Herald from Dunedin says :—On Saturday evening the Eev. Mr Lindsay Mackie and Messrs Varley, Brunton, and Green conducted an open air reriralistic service on the Octagon. A wooden staging had been erected, and from this the speakers addressed the assembled crowd. The proceedings did not terminate till half-past ten. At the City Council nieetiug, this afternoon, the matter, was referred to by Councillor Isaacs, who inquired why the grass plot in the Octagon had been desecrated by an open-air service on Saturday last? He remarked that the platform had been erected and a large crowd gathered, and he called attention to the fact that if one class of mountebanks were allowed the privilege of the use of the Octagon, the Council could not well refuse it to other applicants. The Mnyor said he had been applied to, and had granted permission. Councillor Fish thought the use of the green should not be permitted for these services. He feared the Mayor had acted out of moral cowardice, and that he. was awed by fear of the clerical editor of the Morning Herald coming down on him. 'He did not think the cause of true religion was advanced by those open-air demonstrations, —smoking, chaffiug, and light conversation went on while the Gospel was being, .preached, and the effect, was not calculated to be beneficial. The discussion was summarily dismissed by the Mayor calling on the next business.

Recently a lady bequeathed to Mr Spurgeon several thousand pounds for his cvn personal use. Mr Spurgeon was induced to inquire into the circumstances of the relatives of the donor, and finding they were needy and that nothing had been bequeated to them, he very generously divided the legacy among them.

There is one feature of the London streets, says a Home correspondent, at this time deserving a passing notice, if only for the ingenuity with which the law against selling lottery tickets is evaded. At the corner of any street leading into a crowded thoroughfare may now be seen a ramshackle old van with a bony horse in the shafts, which van is laden with a great variety of articles dear to the Cockney heart, such as common pictures, gaudy vases, and knives and forks. Sometimes when the proprietor of the concern is more enterprising than his fellows, he enlarges his stock by the addition of a young pig (whose struggles, by the way, give intense delight to the the sans cullotes, who surround these vans in large numbers or an old hen. The articles are displayed with the help of some naphtha lamps, and then Dr Marigold informs the public that the large and excellent assortment they see before them is to be given away that he has some first-class pencils for sale at one penny each, and that to each purchaser lie gives a ticket entitling him or her to a chance in the " drawing." The pencils, of course, are of the most inferior description, and the "drawing" takes place when enough of them hare been sold to cover the cost of the articles he proposes to give away. The "drawing" is conducted in the most primitive fashion the numbers corresponding to those given with the pencils being thrown into a hat, and drawn out by an urchin who is blindfolded for the purpose. Three piizes aro generally given, and when they are disposed of the crowd separates, a new one gathers, and the whole ceremony is commenced again.

This is certainly an age of emulation. We have had walking contests,- bicycle races, and all sorts of exhibitions destined to show that the human frame is capable of a maximum of exertion with a minimum of rest. The Channel has been crossed both wUh and without swimming machinery, the Atlantic has been navigated in boats which to the ordinary mind would appear unsafe to cross a ferry, and there seems very little doubt that, if the American's challenge to join hands with a mctn and jump off' the roof with him were repeated, it would not long remain unaccepted. The last new thing in challenges comes from Cornwall, where it appears that Canon Thynne, of Trnro, has pubj lished a deprecatory paper on the ability of Nonconformist preachers. This has greatly incensed a Wesleyan minister, who writes to the Cornish Telegraph stating that he cannot stoop to talk or argue on the subject, but will challenge Canon Thynne to preach against him. As betting is scarcely consistent with preaching the Gospel, he challenges the Canon to select a text ; let each of the parties write a sermon on that text, and i send it to some competent theologian in i London, a stranger to both parlies; who shall decide which is the better sermon of the two. The minister, if he loses, is willing to pay £5 to any Cornish charity if Canon Thynne will consent to pay £1 if the verdict is against him. The Canon may obtain the name and address of his challenger on application to the editor of the paper. The whole thing irresistably reminds one of the announcements in sporting papers that the " Chelsea Slasher is ready to meet the Putney Pet when and where he likes, and fight him for £5 to £1; terms, &c. oh application at the office of this paper."' But might not the clerical pugilists hare some little difficulty in finding an umpire? Would Canon Thynne and hisichallenger agree in their ideas of a " competent theologian."

ITolt.owat's Film.—Let the eick lnK-o lierd.—Tin; etomiich is tlii commissariat of Ihe pliysiciil (•ye<'orn. Ifc furnishes the material sus'cnance of every O'gaa. If dig*

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