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

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3294, 12 July 1879, Page 2

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

The local bodies have received the following'letter from the secretary'to the meeting of the Auckland directors:— " Auckland, 9th July, 1879.—1 have the honour to ..forward copy of resolution passed at a meeting.of the Associated Companies, held this day, viz. : ' That the Associated Companies represented at this meeting undertake to commence pumping operations from the four-hundred-feet (400 feet) level, providing the Borough of Grahamstown and County Council agree to' contribute Fifty pounds (£SO) each towards the expenses.' An early reply will oblige." Although it is not stated, we believe that £50 per month is meant.

The subject of " David " will be treated by the Eev. Mr Neill as the fifth of his course of lectures on Bible heroes, at the Presbyterian Church to-morrow evening.

MB.iJEYDOiir will sell the property in Davy street at 11 o'clock on Monday, instead of 10 o'clock as previously adtised.

The friends of Mr McMurdo, of the Government Life Insurance Department, will be glad to learn that he has been permanently appointed chief agent at the Empire City.

Mb A. G. Hobton, of Auckland, is gazetted a J.P.'of the Colony of New Zealand. 1 •

The residents of Eolleston street, near the Sealey street junction, are complaining of the bad state of the footpath, which •is quite unpassable. Richmond street, near Mr Saunders', grocer, is also in a bad state. A few loads of gravel in the worst places would be a great boon to the inhabitants. .

Thomas Williamson Brown was charged at the Police Court, Auckland, on Thursday, with attempting to commit rape on Mrs Jane Roundtree, lately from Wellington, and whose husband resides there. She put up at the Governor B/owne Hotel, where the accused also resided, and it appears that he entered her bedroom during the night and committed the alleged- offence. Mr JDunningham, the landlord, hearing a noise of.a scuffle, promptly arose, and went to the apartment from whence the sound proceeded, when Brown attempted to conceal himself under the bed. He was at once arrested and handed over to the police, when he was brought up at the Police Court, and remanded until Monday next. Brown, it will be remembered, was committed for trial at the criminal sessions of the Supreme Court, on a charge of entering the bedroom of a former landlady of the Scotia' Hotel for an unlawful purpose, but the Grand Jury ignored the bill.—S Herald.' '7 . „7,: VV" 7 . . ..7

The Bruce Herald is responsible for the following:—When the late Bishop Selwyn was residing in Auckland, a neighbor used to drive his dairy cows into one of the bishop's grass paddocks after dark, and take them out very early the follow-

ing morning. Tho bishop, on one of his servants,.-complaining o!; 1 the trespass. asltPti lit what tJhie tho cattle were take.i out:. "Six o'clock, sir," was the repl>. " VV*ell, then," said the bishop, " you grt up an hour earlier, and milk all the cows." The servant did as ho was told, and ever after that' the dairyman sought 'fresh fields and pastures new for his cattle. ■;■',..■

Cc Eheenpried has given tho follownotice of motion which will be considered at a special meeting of the Council to bo held on Thursday next:—" That the offer of the County Council re the handing over of the township water supply be accepted."

The following good story is related by " iEgles "in the Australasian :—" On the day of the temporary stoppage of the Australian and European Bank a respectable mechanic; heard the news in town, and remembered that he had a considerable amount in notes at his house,: for he kept no banking account. Leaving his work, he hurried homo to Emerald-hill, and found in his Toll of notes 13 of £1 each issued by the suspended bank. He turned over in his mind how he could promptly get them cashed on the Hill before the news spread. He saw a way^ but, unfortunately, he was a strict teetotaller, and had appeared on temperance platforms. The necessity was, however, urgent, and he said to himself, ' Only this once.' The first acquaintance he met he invited to take a glass of wine with him in the nearest hotel. The offer was accepted, and he changed a note. This operation he repeated at various licensed houses. After the tenth visit he broke down. He was by his latest fnend conveyed homo in a cab to his astonished family with his pockets bursting with silver, and still the possessor of three perfectly good £1 notes of, the A. and E. Bank!" This story reminds us of an incident within our own recollection, with reference to the suspension of the Bank of Auckland some 14 or 15 years ago. When the news arrived at the Onehunga branch the excitement of the old pensioners holding Bank of Auckland notes was intense, and they talked about bursting into the bank, and were preparing to do so when a very respectable member of the community and a large shareholder in the bank hit upon an expedient to divert them from their proposed lawless proceeding. He went round offering them 18s for every £1 note. The people began to think that if a note was worth 18s to Mr Blank, it must be worth £1 to them, so they departed perfectly satisfied, and in a day or two got current coin of the realm for their paper.

A patent safety cage for use in mining shafts, lifts, &c, has been invented and patented by Messrs Oldham and M'Neal, of Williamstown. The characteristics of the invention is that in the event of the rope used in raising and lowering the cage breaking, by an ingenious automatic arrangement the cage remains stationary. This is effected by sectors firmly clutching the sides of the skids of the shaft directly the cage commences to fall.

It snowed at Timaru yesterday, and amongst the Timaruffians snow balling was indulged iv to a most unlimited extent. Everyone, from the Mayor to the printer's devil, was engaged in it in the public streets. No exception was made even in favor of clergymen or police, who were pelted the same as other mortals.

Me Brandon addressed his constituents at Pahautanni yesterday. He spoke very strongly against Government, and condemned them on their general policy. Though never an admirer of the late Sir.Donald McLean, he did not think Sir G. Grey or Mr Sheehan would ever settle the native difficulty. He condemned the Land Tax Bill as an iniquitous measure. Had he known the sort of men going to replace the late Government he would not have voted as ; he did, and now would gladly record his vote against the Government if a want of confidence motion was tabled.

The schooner Christina, laden with iron water pipes for Mr George McCaul of the Thames, ran ashore at Chamber* lin's Island, near the Sandspit,,at 6.30 last evening, during her trip from Auckland to the Thames. Fortunately while passing the Saadspit later in the evening, those on the Rotomahana heard people calling out from the beach, and the light-house-keeper informed Captain Farquhar that a vessel was ashore. The Kotomahana was;promptly turned, and the schooner soon towed from her perilous position. The vessel is two parts insured, but the cargo was not so. Great credit is due to the Captain of the Rotomahana for his promptitude as, with the prospects of a squally night, the schooner was most dangerously situated.

A Peess Agency telegram says :—The Maoris were in a better humor on Friday. The solitary confinement to which their chief is subjected seems to have had a good effect. All the necessary arrangements for strengthening the place are completed. Barricades are erected across the doorways of the rooms in which the other Maoris are confined, in order to prevent a sudden rush being made upon tho guard. Mr Mackay and his coadjutor, Mr iS. H. Power, are also actively employed in carrying out all the necessary and precautionary measures which the exigencies of the case render it advisable to adopt.

A teleqeam from Blenheim says:— Mr Doherty, late schoolmaster at Wellington, Leld a meeting on Thursday night to refute the slanders respecting two girls. He attacked the Education Board as a farce, and the School Committee, saying the were political bodies. He denounced the Secretary to the Board, Mr Hodgson, Inspector Fell, the Chairman and the Committee as a political party governed by a clique, who forced him to resign. Having got the meeting with him, he proceeded amidst cheers and partial hisses, to read a series of letters between himself and the girls, making accusations of the most filthy character against one man, the guardian of one of the girls. Protests were made by several persons bat were hissed and hooted down. At the close of the proceedings Doherty was carried off his feet by^the excited crowd, the people cheering him. Doherty was subsequently arrested on the charge of sending intimidating letters demanding money from Mr W. Earle. The letter was simply unspeakably disgusting, and asked for money to be settled on the-girl, or he would expose and ruin Earle.

In England the birth rate is 25 per 1000 of. the population yearly, and the death'rate 23 per 1000. In New Zealand the birth rate is 41 per. 1000, and the death rate 12 per 1000. The excess of births over deaths in England is 55 per cuut.; iv New Zoaluud 230 per cent.

As will be seen in our advertisement columns the Royal Illusionists will appear at tho Acndemy of Music on Monday evening. They have been mystifying largo audiences in Auckland vwitlt their interesting entertainments. Mr C. Weightman (" Natator ") is at present on the ThEiues a 8 their agent. «.

„" H.M.S. Pinafobe," with Mrs IMi sgarji aa prinia donna, is. being played at v Melbourne, and is so 'popular that seats have to be engaged days in advanqe.

We learnJ'rom the Wairpa Free Press that four young whales wee recently washed ashore on the Mahia beachj' Hawke's Bay, and.captured. Out of two of them were extracted a couple of miniature whales, perfectly formed ; the larger one measured sixteen inches, and tho smaller one not over six. The informant adds that they are preserved in spirits by a Mr Bendall, who intends to forward them to the Wellington Museum; and further, that they are a curiosity which it has taken a long time to obtain.

What did it cost you'to learn to play the harmonium P Ist, £7 10s for ,an instrument and 2s for a " self-instructor," which I bought at Mr Gbigg's, in Pollen street; and, 2nd, patience and practice.'— fADVT.j : ; ;

LocaTj Exhibition in Albert street. A magnificent collection of newest patterns in Geelong, Moegiel, and West of England Tweeds, at Mabshat/li's Tailoring Department.— [Advt."l