THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1880.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3506, 20 March 1880, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1880.

The Easter holidays for the schools of this district comprise Good Friday, Easter Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

We may inform Borough ratepayers in arrear for their rates that all defaulters after the end of this month will not be entitled to the privileges of burgesses. '

The time for receiving tenders for the cottage for the Alburnia Co., has been extended to Wednesday, the 24th inst.

The Kauaeranga schools, both boys and girls, will be closed from the 20th to the 31st inst., in consequence of the Teachers' Examination. The Easter holidays for the other public schools on the Thames will be from Friday to Wednesday next, both days inclusive.

Some very choice specimens of locally grown fruit can be seen at Mr Wm. Woods' fruiterer, Pollen street, amongst which are peaches of the yellow kind fib. in weight, Blenheim oraoge pippins over lib. each, and a very choice sample of white graper, some bunches of which are over 21b in weight.

Wbitin.o- on the comet that recently visited our firmament, a contributor to a southern contemporary says :•—The.great comet of 1456 was spoken of as an object of unheard of magnitude," but the train of that comet was not of the astonishing length of this one, although incomparably brighter than this comet of 1880. It was this great comet of 1456 that so appalled Christendom on its appearance. At that date the Turks had become masters in Constantinople, and the appearance of the comet was regarded with superstitious dread ; in Constantinople the populace prayed fervently, " Lord save us from the Devil, the Turk, and the Comet!" A lunar eclipse occurring at the same time increased the consternation. Pope Calixtus 11., terrified for the fate of Christianity, directed the thunders of the Church against the enemies of the faith, terrestrial and celestial; he issued a bull exorcising the Turks and the comet, and ordained that the bells should be rung at noon. The custom is observed to this day. A very large and brilliant comet appeared in 53 B:c. This comet was fervently believed to be the soul of Julius Caesar, tben recently assassinated. An epidemic among the cats in Westphalia was .attributed to the influence of the comet of 1668. The Presbyterians in Scotland attributed the destruction of a steeple to the comet of 1701. Science is to be thanked for the complete dissipation of all such ignorant delusions.

At the meeting of the Waste Lands Board at Auckland on Wednesday the Chairman said that at the last meeting of the Board an application had been received from Mr Brodie, chairman of the Thames County Council, asking that certain lands should be set apart under the Homestead Act. There were some Crown lands under the control of the Board, and these were immediately opened. The other lands were embarrassed by timber licenses, and, at the request of the applicant, the Board applied to the lessee, asking him to have those lands denuded of timber re-trans* ferred to the Board, that they might be opened on the same system. Mr C. J. Stone, the lessee, wrote, declining to accede to the request. It was agreed to forward a copy of Mr Stone's replyjto Mr Brodie. .

Loed Chelmsford, afc the dinner of the Grocers' Company on the 14th November, bore high testimony to the military valne of British Volunteers at home or in the colonies- He said:—" If our Volunteers were called upon for active service, they would prove themselves fit to take their place by the side of our Regular troops. From my experience of the Volunteers who served under me in South Africa, I can fully endorse that opinion. During the Caffre war of 1878, a large number of Volunteers were placed under my command and materially assisted in bringing that war to a speedy conclusion. Many of them joined me afterwards in Natal, and together with those of that Colony, again proved their efficiency in the field. —Volunteer Service Gazette.

It is rumored that a new co-operative morning paper is about to be started by the Press employees at Chrislchurh. There is also some talk of another evening paper coming out.

'As Thamesites we were rather proud of our champion carbine shot and other representatives for their excellent shooting at Nelson, and took occasion in writing an Auckland friend to mention the splendid reception and ball which the community gave on the return of our men. Our Auckland chum, we are afraid, must be disappointed in love or some other affecting matter, for he writes rather cynically—-" What is the world coming to, with entertainments and receptions. Your men attended the prize firing at Nelson for their own credit and to make money, and simply because they are lucky they must receive an ovation. Dear me! you Thames folks must have more money than brains. The knowledge that they had done their duty, and that they had made mon'y should have been enough for your representatives."

Some estimate may be formed of th» reckless waste that is the babit at Constantinople from the following fact. Abdul Medjid insisted that all the ladies of his harem should be covered with jewels," and that there should always be a fringe of diamonds round their wide trousers. When ho died, the outstanding bills of the harem amounted to the modest sum of £25,000,00.0. B ■will possibly be a consolation to the British bondholder to know how judiciously and right loyally his money was expended, and to the British husband to compare his bills with those of the Commander of the Faithful.—Truth.

.;, Says the Herald :—"Messrs Grant and Foster, the. Lincolnshire delegates, have now nearly completed their tour of New Zealand, and there are few important settlements in either island which they have not seen. Judging fronuan application which they made yesterday to the Waste Lands Board to withhold 10,000 acres of the Te Aroha block from sale until their return to the mother country to organise a colonising party, it is more than probable that a number of the Lincolnshire farmers will yet cast in their lot with us. It was agreed by the Board to reserve the land for six months. Messrs Grant and Foster will probably leave for England by the next mail steamer for San Francisco.

In London and Paris, ebonized pianos engraved with gold lines are all the rage, and as the Th/mes must not be allowed to be behind the rest of the world, I have imported one of these beautifully finished instruments by the Stracathro as a sample, and it is now on sale at my warehouse.— J Gbigg.