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Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3187, 7 May 1879, Page 2

We have been informed that by the late rains fully 2000 logs have reached the boomi. This is good news, and will furnish work for a great many hands. It is intended to start the Shortland mill at once. The following are the amounts of the tenders received for alteration and additions to the Old Men's Refuge, and opened this afternoon by the committee! the lowest, Mr Donovan's, being accepted :—Stephenson, £405 ; Flatt, £348; Twenty man, £335 ; Donovan, £322. Last night the low lying portion of the town were in some places inundat3d by the high tide. All Albert street, from the Advertiser Office to the Pacific, was under water, and a number of boys amused themselves by rowing a boat up and down the street. Several places of business were flooded, but we nave not beard of any damage being done. We are informed that a Special Extra- ■■ ordinary to Enoch will be published on Saturday next, containing startling news from the United States as regards the doings of the Demon Spiritualists. Copies may be obtained from our office. Just fancy a New Zealand Volunteer Officer marching a squad of his men to a private house, and then addressing them as follows :—" Companions in arms, No. 1 is the house which I command you, as your officer, to smash," whereupon the men set about obeying his commands. Such was the conduct of Captain Hamersley, of the Timaru Artillery. This was Timaruffianism with a vengeance. We hare been requested to state that Mr and Mrs Byers, assisted by local talent, intend giving an entertainment at an early date. The piece to be produced will be " O'Callaghan on his last legs." Says a Southern exchange:—The Marquis of Normanby has been rather astonishing the natives over the water by the severe simplicity of his style of living. Accustomed to the somewhat pompous manner of a certain worthy knight, they are hardly able to realise that a live marquis can be so homely. The following illustrative story comes from an Australian paper:—His Excellency, who drives in a buggy as an ordinary farmer, and not in appearance very unlike one, had occasion to drive into town one day last week, and left his orderly who had not had time enough for his toilet, behind him. This might hare escaped notice, had not his servant been observed coming exasperated, and perspiring, on a high stepping horse, at a great speed, after his Excellency, as he came along asking, 'Did you see the Governor ?" The question was put to one of the police on Prince's bridge, and the answer was—" No, by gorar, but I seed an old man dhrivin' by, who had just come from Government House."*" That's him," said the orderly, and increased his speed. At the last meeting of the directors of the Queen of Beauty Goldmining Company the idea of utilising water from the County race for pumping purposes was discussedl It was thought that if the Piako company assisted, at a small expense to each company, arrangements might be made to start the Waio-Karaka pump, independent of the Big Pump starting. We belieye that a local gentleman is prepared to supply a turbine that would give sufficient power to work the Piako pump, and for the small sum of £500. ; Correspondence has already taken place between the company and. the County authorities, and it is probable that the scheme will be carried out. Last, evening, during the inundation, a gentleman, loaded with a carpet-bag, was daintily picking his way on the footpath near the Bank of New Zealand, which was submerged to the depth of perhaps an inch. By some means or other he missed the footpath, and was next seen diving headforemost into the Brown street water table. After floundering out, and rubbing the salt water from his eyes, he was heard to say ——* well not the Lord's Prayer. j The following is Bismarck's opinion of English statesmen :—•" Whenever I come to close quarters with the English Government, and I feel its pulse, the more I am struck with its complete want of systematic and consistent ideas. They waver; and you find there has been an election, or a meeting, or a newspaper article, which has thrown them into a panic. It is just the same whether Lord Beaconsfield or Mr Gladstone is Minister. No Turkish pashas are more afraid of the Sultan than are these grand, viziers of public opinion ; and, unfortunately, this Sultan is not less capricious or less uniformed than the other." Some strange coincidences happen at times, says the Hokitika Star. One of them made its appearance since the last race meeting. Two horses were raffled —Bat, that ran in the last Hokitika races, the other a coach horse. The highest and lowest throwers, with dice, should each be the winner of a horse. Mr Turner had two chances, and with them threw both the highest and the lowest, and in consequence won both horses. The coach horse, howerer, has since died.