The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, APRIL 28, 1879.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3179, 28 April 1879, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, APRIL 28, 1879.

Ok Saturday we stated that the hon. treasurer of the Eaitangata Selief Fund had forwarded the Thames subscription to the central committee. It appears all the money collected was not sent, through some mistake the sum of £6 2s 6d subscribed by the employees of the Moanatairi mine not haying been handed to the hon. treasurer in time. It will, however, shortly be sent on to the central committee. It may hot be out of place here to remark that when money is required for any charitable purpose the Moanatairi employees always shew to the front in a substantial manner.

Mbsshs D. R. Gellion and Co. sold by auction today, at their rooms, Albert street, the lease of four tailings lots on the foreshore between the Burke street wharf and th« Powder Magazine. There was bat a small attendance of buyers, and the bidding was anything but'spirited. Lot 1. from Burke street wharf to Imperial Brown battery, realised 15s per month; Lot 2, 15s per month; Lot 3, Is per month, and Lot 4, from the Kuranui to Powder Magazine, 15s Mr John Brown was the purchaser of Nos. 1,3, and 4, and Mr Perry of No. 2. ,

Ai a special meeting of the Borough Council to-day, Cr Brassey in the Chair, the application of Mr Souter, under Borough of Thames Tramways Act, to Jay down the Williamson street tramway, in connection with the railway reclamation, was granted on the usual conditions.

The monthly church parade of the Naval Brigade took place yesterday. Ihere were close on 100 men present under command of Capt. Wildman and Lieut. Lawless.

We would remind those interested that the meeting re the formation of the cavalry corps will be held at the Shortland Hotel this evening at 7.30 o'clock sharp.

Membbbs of the Opera Company assisted in several of the church choirs yesterday of both morning and evening services. In the morning at the Catholic church, Sbortland, Miss Wangenheim and Mrs Florence assisted in the production of one of Weber's masses and also sang the dnet " Quis est homo " from Rossini's " Stabat mater." In the evening at the same place of worship, Mr Wilson sang an "O Salutaris," and with Signor Bartolomeotti sang " Tantum Ergo " as a a duett. Messrs Browning and Hughes sang at St. George's in the morning, and several of the company assisted in the vocal portion of the service at the Grahamstown Wesleyan church in the evening.

The Cbristchurch Town Council are thinking of erecting at Town Hall, at a cost of £20,000.

Upwards of 1400 Volunteers attended the Easter Review as Invercargill.

Thi Herald says:—Taranaki, in common with the Colony generally, ii suffering from a mild form of monetary panic.

Money is not unusually scarce, although business is not dull, but uneasy. Wages are high, with abundance of employment, and the money of the Colony ia being freely expended on public works which will largely add to the general prosperity. Yet withal people exhibit woeful faces and look forward to the immediate future with distrust. The reason of all this is not far to seek—we are Buffering in common with the rest of the world from the lengthened reaction which followed the unusually prosperous years created by the Franco German war. To use the words of Mr Gladstone, commerce and agriculture advanced by leans and bounds. The profits made were large. The money gained by the ooalowners and ironmasters was unwisely invested in opening up new mines and building new furnaces, and cotton-spinners erected large factories with their share of the golden harvest. Other European nations, stimulated by the high price of manufactured goods entered with equal rigour and want of forethought into the field. The United States under the flattering aegis of Protection, followed suit, and the results are an enormous lock-up of capital everywhere, and deranged and suffering money and labour markets.

Mbsbbs John Fairfax and Sods, with a desire to obtain for publication in the Sydney Morning Herald a poem to fitly celebrate the opening of the forthcoming International Exhibition in Sydney, and as an encouragement to literary talent and an incentive in the production of a composition haring' special reference and worthy to do honor to what will be the first Great International Exhibition .in Australia, offer a premium of one hundred guineas for the best original poem on this interesting and remarkable epoch in colonial history. The competition is open to all the world, and will close on the 31st July next.

Says a Wagga Wagga paper:—A few days ago a smart-looking person was charged at the Court Jwith theft, and in order to show the Bench that he was of respectable caste, in reply as to who knew him and could testify as to his character, he named the inspector of police. The functionary, on being called, declared he had never to his knowledge seen the prisoner before, when the prisoner remarked that he had made a slight mistake—he intended to hare named the sergeant of police. This officer, being called, also declared he had no knowledge of the prisoner. The prisoner, scratching his head, as if calling forth fresh facts, said, " Your Honor, it must be the senior constable of this district I meant." The senior constable being called, answered in the same way as his superior officers, This appears to have been the prisoner's point, for he stated as follows :—" Your Honor, have I not given you proof sufficient to show that, as I am not known to the police, my character must be unquestionable ? "

The New York Herald is authority "for the statement that in the past thirty years Mr Beecher has earned $1,000,000 in preaching the gospel of Christ, or whatever it may be most properly called. This has kept him in bread and water tolerably well and enabled him to perceive that a dollar a day is enough for a poor man.

" Nature," a high-class scientific journal, published in England, has a very eulogistic obituary notice of the late Mr Charles Eobt. Thafcher, who will be remembered as a rocalist on the Australian diggings and through New Zealand. After referring to his discovery ot an entirely new genus of shell, which Mr C. F. Angas named " Thatcher mirabilis," the notice concludes: " There is no greater loss to conchologial science than this gentleman* death, as he was undoubtedly the most successful collector of his day." It appears by this that Mr Thatcher was something more than a mere rhymester.

The Cincinnati Times lays: The circulation of all the newspapers and periodicals at St. Petersburg is 257,000 copies. The Neeva (or Cornfield), an illustrated weekly, containing the fashions and a novel, leads with, 27,933 subscribers ; a cheap and influential daily, the Scan Ottecbestva, comes next with 17,500; the Novoe Vremya has 11,387, and the Golos, the leading Russian journal, has 10,983. Fashion and illustrated papers succeed, and monthly reviews prosper greatly.

Says "the Christchurch Globe of a recent date:—One of yesterday's telegrams states that a gold bearing reef of considerable dimensions has been struck in the Golden Calf mine on the Thames goldfield. This mine has for a long occupied a very, low position among the northern mines, never having been at all remarkable as a gold producer, and the intelligence conveyed by wire that it has at last come to the front, is, in the present state of things very encouraging. It also calls to mind an incident ot the early days of the Thames goldfleld, which has an amusing side, especially for those who know what life on the diggings is like. Just after the proclamation of the Thames, or Hauraki goldfield a gentleman («ay Brown) sent his family home to England whilst he went to try his luck on the Thames. The Brown family had been home about eight months when a gentleman they had known in Auckland called on them one day, and conveyed the welcome intelligence that Mr Brown had "struck it heavy," in other words, that ho had a half share in the "Golden Crown," which was worth at the time about £6000, to say nothing of { dividends. The Browns immediately (as Joe Small would say) " packed up their , traps and started again" for New Zealand. Arrived in the Auckland Harbour tbey were met by Brown, whose appearance was sufficiently blooming to justify the belief that he might possibly own not only half the Golden Crown, but all the Thames. Imagine the feelings of Mrs Brown and the young Browns (who had dwelt for three long months on the sea, on the wealth they were coming to) on learning that their informant in London had only made a mistake in the name, and that instead of possessing a " Golden Crown," Brown had only a " Golden Calf," which, so far from being of the value of the one in the fairy tale, was at that time worth nothing.

Accobding to adrices from Colombo of December 21, a blue sapphire of marvellous size has been reoently found in the gem district of the island. It weighs two pounds in the rough and wag discovered by two boys, who sold it for a trifle, not aware of its nature. It is said to be worth £10,000.

No preacher is listened to but Time ; which gives us the same train and turn of thought that elder people have tried in Tain to put into our heads.