THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR 0'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 1879.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3140, 12 March 1879, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 1879.

The funeral of our late editor, Mr HopoßArT, takes place this afternoon. There will be a full service in St. George's Church, and a Masonic ceremony at the grave. The members of the Masonic Lodges have made preparations to appear in the regalia of their order and in large numbers, and the attendance of the general public may be looked for to swell the moutnful cortbge. To a gentlem an so respected as Mr Hopcbaft was, there now only remains such a mark of respect to his memory, and an expression of sympa hy for his bereaved widow and children. ". '■''./■'■■

To-mobbow Judge Johnston resumes his enquiry into native and other, claims upon the foreshore. It is to be' hoped that the Judge will be able to recommend to the Government that at least a portion of the foreshore may be handed to tho Harbor 13oard. r It is, mentioned, nncl 'it is said upon very go6d,authority, that the native claim' put forward by .Hobepa Brown is do.ne iv lb,e. interest of a weliknown landed proprietor on the Thames, by whom the native interest was acquired

some years ago, but who, under an Act relating to the foreshore, could not legally purchase such land ; therefore the claim is preferred through the original holder. It will be a great pity if for-the sake'of a little gain such a course will have the effect of postponing the transfer of the endowment to the Harbor Board.

The complimentary concert to Mr F. A. Pulleine will take place on next Tuesday evening. Mr Pulleine, out of respect to the friends of Mr Hopcraft, postponed the performance from last Tuesday night, and it is to be hoped such will not have the effect, qf :: marring 4he, success of, the entertainment upon next Tuesday evening.

On Monday next—St. Patrick's Day— our local knights of the willow will try conclusions with the Coromandel Eleven, ;when our men will have an opportunity of jwiping out the defeat inflicted on them jby the boys of the peninsula when coniclusions were last tried with them., The ilocal eleven.. will comprise—Whitford, Burgess, < Steedjnan; Lawless, -Murphy, !Gellion,_ Moriroji Grey, Buttle^ Speucer, land Smeatoii; and Young, emergency man. Mr Heron will act as umpire for the Thames. The Coromandel team will be the same as played in the last match-.

The next lecture in connection with the Your.g Men's Christian Association is to He given at an early date, by the Her. D. jDutton, F.K.A.8., and the subject— "Knowledge : ils importance, and how to i attain it."

! The Fire Brigade! i^nd|taking'% the question of a benefit^perfdVnlance- in laid of the Kaitangata Belief Fund, and intend giving a performance in about 10 days.

The money spent on the recent dredging operationsihas been literally, thrown away, and the?work.of> the dredge is now entirely filled^up, there being the slightest trace of the excavation made. The bringing down of the dredge at all, the slipshod way in which the work was carried out, and the utter failure of any tangible good arising from the expenditure- of a .considerable sum of money, reflect but; little'credit on all concerned. The dredging has with truth been an utter and expensive failure, and it is to be hoped it will teach a lesson of greater caution in the future. .■..■■>,-,■•.-:--:...•■-.-:.•,--•:-

In these dull times there appears to be but little,litigation. The business at the District Court to-morrow will be inexceplionally light, r .the,.only cases,,set down for hearing being McCaul v. the Thames Water Supply Committee, a claim for £76 for goods supplied, and the application for a dissolution order re the New Morning Star G.M.Co.

By telegram we learn that a number of young men are petitioning Sir George Grey to secure the establishment of night classes in connection with the Auckland Grammar School in accordance with the trust deed.

Thb following; appearsi.;in! the Cliitha Times under the heading " interprovincial telegrams : " —" At a meeting of the Thames Borough Council last night, b subscription was opened for the sufferers by the Kaitangata coalmine explosion, andf£BPJ;Was^ colleißtedJin the room;" Taking into consideration the distance from here to Clutha, the amount has not increased very much ! The Council may in time, with a greater distance to travel, expect to get credit for £800.

The Grey Elver Argus says: The New Zealand Insurance Co. have offered-to provide the Grey town; Borough- Council with a first class fire-engine, together with' full length hose, on condition that the Borough will erect a shed for it, take care of the apparatus, and form a brigade to manipulate it in case of future need.

A case of some interest to business people generally was heard at the R.M.s Cpurt .(says the .Southland ITimesJii/;It was /"a :: the Stamp Act, in which Mr Surman was the defendant (before Messrs Turnbull and Perkins, J's.P.). Mr Reade for the defendant. It appears that an impression has prevailed with some people that when payment is made by a cheque which is stamped, the receipt need not be stamped. The-Act clearly provides, however, that a> stamp must be affixed to the receipt, before it can be negociable. In the present case, it appeared that defendant had intended .to stamp the document subsequently, but before he did so it got into the hands of the Commissioner of Stamps, who brought the action. The Bench took the peculiar circumstances of the case into consideration, and, imposed the nominal penalty of twenty shillings.

A West Coast paper tells us that the spirit-ofi emulation is abroad, and young Reeftohjbas caught,the infection in a singular manner. The ill-fame^pf the notorious Kelly's gang of bufSiangers has reached the ears of the Reefton larrikins, and this is how they improve the shining hours. A split has occurred among the larrikins, and the ni^st expert and unkempt of the class have been designated the " Kelly gang," the remainder being formedintodetectivesand troopers. When night comes the "gang," rigged out in cast off " duds," and looking as ferocious as "big" clothes-will; make them, and fortified with sticks as firearms, attack the troopers, and steal as many of their hats as they can, and bolt. The troopers then hold a council of war, call in the aid of the

detectives, and the incipient bushrangers are pursued through the town during the remainder of the night. It is significant, however, that ?bo great is the desire to play the part of bushranger, that the utmost

difficulty is experienced in getting any of the number to play the role of policeman. If the police could only manage to run the " gang " into the lock-up some of these nights, and allow them to remain there till morning, the fun would be immensely heightened. ;• ', X j

The latest on dit from Melbourne is to the effect that should Mr Graham Berry come back foiled in his mission to the Colonial Office, and proceed to rouse his party to the point of separation from.the old Country, a large party in New South Wales and South Australia will be prepared to join with the Conservatives of Victoria in "annexing the latter colony/ and forming a strong ■ triple federation, holding the old relations to the Home Country. This three-headed Cerberus will scarcely need a stronger hand to hold him -■ ml leasbUihani does :■ the rigorous whelp which is at present straining at the collar in the premier colony of ihe Australian group. Unfortunately for the classical allusion, Sir Hercules Robinson is leaving Australia before having an opportunity of repeating the world-famed labour of his c>reat namesake and ancestor, and another hand must be found to tame the monster.

We believe the Auckland Harbor Board have refused to accept delivery of the dredge and punts. No reason has been yet giveni and the result will be possibly, a few days expenses more to be paid for. : !

The Herald says:—About seven o'clock last Mpnday., higlit; a- severe rain-storm broke over the city and neighbourhood. Throughout the day and especially dur. ing the afternoon, the weather was unusually warm. About six o'clock heavy rain-clouds rolled up from the south and "for over an* hour the rain was constant, and at times exceedingly heavy. During the whole of yesterday afternoon severe thunderstorms, prevailed - in the South and the rain of last evening was probably the tail-end.

The Auckland Star, writing upon the Native Parliament and its results, says :— To a superficial observer the late Parliament may wear the appearance of a farce, but to those who understand the native mind it assumes an aspect of colonial importance: The promoters profess to be actuated by tootiyes of lojalty and.friendship, to; Europeans.- The movement as yet is only in a' tentative Btage. Paul and bis associates know the weakness of their own race, which is easily attracted by novelty. Their plan is therefore to ■begin with elementary forms, gradually educating the native mind to a more elevated and expanded system. Having first decided upon a permanent site, they aim at establishing an independent Parliament for all tribes, including the Kingites. Part of their plan is to bring the: legislation ■„of* the;; Maori Parliament into harmoDjr with that of the Colonial Legislature. The idea was mooted of making all laws passed by the Maori Parliament subject to confirmation by the Parliament at Weilington>-:. This will probtblyjb^e discUssedfat $he igeeting at -■•Ie Kop|fo.| The natives do no| condemn Road Boards and County Councils in themselves^ but only the they entail on themselves in the form of rates.

The way letters from the Colonial Secretary are treated in New Plymouth may be gathered from the following extract from the proceedings of a late meeting of the Borough Council of that place: —A letter was read from the Colonial Secretary upon hospital matters. The Mayor, regarded the tone of it uncalled for. They had requested Dr. O'Oarroll —not required him—to report on the hospital. It was resolved to send no reply to the letter.

: To the fund! for the relief S>f the distressed in the manufacturing of England, the Princess of Wales has sent £50 to Sheffield ; Miss Florence Nightingale has sent £25, accompanied by a characteristic and charming: letter ; and Mr Cross, Home Secretary, is watching the progress of the distress, to see how the systepri of poor law, relief.- works, and whether additional help from Government is wanted.

,-,-A gentleman travelling down South recently found himself in company with a clergyman returning from his honeymoon. On coming back to the metropolis of the province the gentleman naturally took up the paper of the day, and among the adtertisementsjfound j|ie following :???"?The Eev. Blank," 'haVirig recovered from his recent protracted illness, will preach tomorrow, &c." The Be?. Blank was his travelling companion. Matrimony has been called all sorts of names before now, some of them rather rough ones, but we never heard it called a protracted illness before. {'Perhaps,Showeyer, the reverend gentleman is not far out.

The Herald, speaking of the Russian situation says :—The telegram which tells us of a quarrel between the Czar and his eldest son, the heir to the throne —a quarrel so violent that the latter withdrew from the.palace—is a piece of news, if true,.^.o| greaf political significance. It indicates 4 ih% JeHous^un^opularitj 1 pf the Government, and that things must be going very badly with Russia at home as well as abroad, when in that despotic Empire, and in the autocrat's own family, such a quarrel should be thus publicly exhibited. The idea is likely to occur to most people,—ls this a parallel to/ ? what"basTjust' happened id Afghanistan P Shere Ali came to grief, and his son, Yakoob Khan, at once presented himself, with assurances that he would "prove a different man from his father! The Czar, there is little doubt, is in grave difficulties, and is the withdrawal of the Czarewitch meant to express disapproval of the present unpopular 'system, and the promise that something very opposite may be expected under his hand P Russia is a half-Oriental Empire, and among the princes of the East family ties have ever easily given.; wayrb&fore personal ambition. But whatever sort of man the Czarewitch may personally be, we presume that any change in the occupancy of the throne-would need to represent the altered and advanced tone of public opinion which seems of late to be gaining ground in Russia.

It is somewhat late in the day to tell it (says a writer in the Lyttelton Times), but —inasmuch as the story has not been told before—not too late. Shortly after Sir, George Grey succeeded Major Atkinson, the Major, upon leaving a house they were both visiting, took up Sir George Grey's hat by mistake, and immediately apologised. " Don't mention it," said tbe owner; " it's only a fair exchange." "How so?" asked Major. Atkinson. " Well, you know," was the reply, " I have just stepped into your shoe?" The gallant ex-Premier " smoled a smile."

"It is impossible," says the World, " not to be touched by the purity and maiden bashfulness of the schoolmistress named Davidson, who applied last week for an injunction to prohibit a nefarious bill-sticker from posting on tier virtuous wall -pictorial advertisements of men's shirts. Still, I fancy the cause of virgin modesty would have been better served by quiet indifference to the appalling illustrations, and I cannot help thinking of Sam Slick's profound reflection that " squeamisbnesi and indelicacy are often found united."

It was at the Caledonian gathering at Dunedin. Two Highlanders were listening in rapture to the miserable drone of the bagpipes, "Aye, mon," said one of them, " isn't it jeest gran'—in fac', sub« leemeP"; The brass band of the City Guards struck up an inspiriting march, and drowned the noise of the bagpipes. The man of Caledonia was disgusted, and turning to his friend, he said, " Guid faith, mon, it's really awfu' tae hear sonsie music drooned by the ootlandish skreeks o' brazen trumpets. What's the use o' the poleece, when they dinna put a stop tae it ? "