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Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3550, 12 May 1880, Page 2

Dominoes, Cribbage, etc. The eaergy an perseverance of 0. McL. iv securing good brands of Tobacco and Cigars for the district is meeting with its just reward. N.B.— Great variety of Meerschaum, Briar, and Cherry wood Pipes.—C. MoLrviiß, Tobacconist.

The unrivalled success of 0. MoLivbu's Smoking-rooms are quite apparent through the crowded state of his rooms nightly, enjoying and amusing Lliotnselvoa a« Drau^ ■,

Cardinal Newman is slowly recovering from his broken rib. His Eminence is over 80 yeees old, and was naturally prostrated by the accident. He has begun reading and writing again, but is not yet strong enough to walk about. It is said that he received this serious hurt by a fall while walking in his sleep, having no wife to put a stop to such midnight pranks. Indigestion can hardly be the cause of his Eminence's somnambulism, as his diet consist.} principally of crackers and water. It would be a curious medical experiment to give the old gentleman a supper of lobster, chops, and Welsh rarebits, and see what effect they would have on him.—Sun.

The other day. at Gibraltar, just when the Himalaya was about ' > weigh anchor off the new Mole, a pet dog feli '"afco the water, when a large octopus rose to the surface and pave chase, making gi-erdy prabs at it with arms quite two feet long horn cad to end. When the enemy was about to close on its victim a sailor, fresh from foreign parts, appear i on the scene, tad dragging .rom iis much tattooud breast a rival pet in the shape of a marmoset, sent it to the rescue in a basket. The little creature, half cat, and half monkey, must hare b^en acqainted ;ilike with its duties and the English language, for it did not seize the dct pus, but, laying hands on the dog, was safely haulr i up, to the disgust of the enemy, and the joy of friends. Altogether it was a pretty piece of bye-play, when tender hearts wsre. sobbing ad.ieux to brown hands waving aff etionately from every port hole to the military strains of " Auld Lang Syae."—World.

A teiemetor which, if it answers the description given of it, will for many purposes far surpass any range-finder yet invented by the professor of mechanics at High School, Belgrade. The instrument, it is stated, will show with unvaiying precision the expet position of the enemy. The rapidity with which sound travels is the basis of measuring distances; the distance require J to be known being shown upon the face of the instrument m less than a minute. The lelemetor itself is of onb the size of a watch, and is there fore easily carried in the pocket, while the error in the measurement of any range i'rom 500»up to 20,000 yards does not cxc id If yards, and does not increase, as it does in any optical range-finder with the disi nee. Finally the cost of teleme« tor is only about £2. lv a word it is claim i for the new insti ament that it is portable, cheap, rasily lo use and exceedingly accurate.

The Dundee Free Presbytery have " acknowledged the hand of God '' in the Tay Bridge accident, and have resolved to invite the Generrl Assembly " to devise means for removing f mptations to Sabbath travelling." A reverend fanatic expressed his conviction that the disaster should be regarded " as the judgment of Gc 1 upon mercantile trickeiy in building a bad bridge." But it s' 3ms rather hard lines that the mao ent passengers should suffer for the sin of the parties thus accused.

The tenders for cawying out the harbour reclamation at Auckland are still at Wellington, end we understand that no communication has been made to the office there as to how they are to be dealt with. The amounts of the tenders are not known. Dempsey's tender was £32,7C0; but it is belie? d that all the new. ones are mtich above that. The report is, ind'fd, that they range from between £50,000 and £60,000, Co as high as £90,000.

Before Butler received his eighteess years' sentence on Thursday last, His Honor askrd the Crown Prosecutor the question " What is known of the prisoner ? " and Mr Haggitt replied as follows :—Before the prisoner came to this Colony at all, your Honor, I am informed that, mJer the Name of George 1 3e, alias James Wilson, he received va ious sentences. He received a sentence of twelve months for vagrancy at Melbou.ae on the 17thSeptember, 1860; twelvemonths for larceny on the 2nd February, 1863; six months for vagrancy on the 19fch May, 1862, at Richmond ; five years for assault and robbery under arms on the 15th December, 1864, at the Supreme Court, Melbourne ; six months' imprisonment for receiving stolen property on the 15th December, 1861, at the Supreme Court, Melbourne; and five years for burglary on the 15th September, 1871, at the Supreme Court, Melbourne. In addition to these the prisoner here received three months' hard labor for larceny in August, 1876 y and in October, 1876, he was sentenced by this Court for burglary, lnceny, house-breaking—six distinct charges—to four years' penal servitude.

Yestebday afternoon His Worship the Mayor received the following telegram from Mr Tinne, a member of the Boyal Commission on local industries:— 11 Mercer, —The Commissioners leave per Kotomahana to-morrow, but can only remain one day with you, and must return to Auckland by Friday's steamer. —Theodobe F. S. Tinne." As will be seen by reference to our advertisement columns, His Worship the Mayor and the County Chairman announce this fact to the Committfe on Local Industries and others interested, and these gentlemen will no doubt clearly represent the wants of the district to the Commission. On the renort of the Commission it is probable future, legislation will be based, and it is desirable that the fullest information should be supplied to them.

There was no business at the B.M Cou-t this morning.

Speaking of Mr • Bracken's " New Zealand Tourist," the Dunedin Star laughingly remarks: " Here is some science, falsely so called, apropos of the Hot Lakes. ' The fumes from the Tikitere springs have the effect sometimes of dissolving the gold ornaments of those who approach the pc >I.' Somrone.has been stuffing the simple bard ; the above is an allegory. It is true enough that many who visit Ohinemutu bring back with them less gold than they had on arrival! The fact is that the Maoris are adepts in blarney, and we can vouch for the ti uth of the following : ' A lady who wishfd to ride from Wairoa to Eotomahana agreed to pay £1 for a horse. When she was ready tp be off the Maoris asked if she would object to a mare, and brought round one that had a foal at foot, demanding an extra lOs for the young one. The money had to be paid.' "

The inhabitants of the Central American Republics carry on their regular revolutions on the most approved and orderly plan :—" Everything," says a London, exchange, " had been arranged for a rising in Columbia, with a view to the overthrow of General Eenhijo, the Governor, when news arrived that M. do Lesseps was about tj visit the* country ; so in order that the interests of the future canal might not be imperilled, a friendly arrangement was made, by which the movement was post toned till the departure of the promoter. During his stay everything went pleasautly, but no sooner had he gone north than the revolution commenced, and the unpopu'ar Governor was overthrown."

At a meeting of the Parnell Borough Council it was agreed to notify publicly that the Council desire to borrow £4,CGO (under the provision of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1876, on that behaii), for the purpose of bringing a watir supply to the district.. The amount is to be secured by a special rat 3of 9d ou the ratable property in the borough. The Mayor in making the oroposal said a poll of the ratepayers wouid have to betauen before anything could be done. The maximum interest provided for is 7 per cent.

Geokge Sydney Hansen was arrai^ied at the Police Court or, Monday on^a charge of committing an indecent assault on a young woman 20 years of age, named Alice McCarthy, in Wellesley street, on the night of the 6th instant. She positively identified the accused as the man who had assaulted her, but from the improbability of her identification under the circumstances, and on account of- certain discrepancies ?n the, evidence, the Magistrate dismissed the case without calling for a defence. The counsel for the defence commented strongly on the conduct of the police in. taking the man by himself to the house of his accuser for the purpose of identification instead of adopting the usual custom of allowing her to pick him out from amongst a number of other persons. The case was heard with closed doors.

Elders Pearce and Sorensen, Latter Day Saints, have during their sermons at Auckland, frequently enlarged on the temperance habits of the saints in Utah. In one of his addresses, Elder Pearce stated that there were several hundreds of towns in Utah territory, and in.none of them, with the exception of Salt Lake City, were there any public-houses. He further stated that the hotels in Salt Lake City were only for the accomodation of Gentile travellers. Judging from the appended extract, these statements are on a level with many others, mads by the Elders during their mission iv Auckland. A telegram in the San Francisco Cali of April Bth, from Salt Lake says:—The three days' session of the semi-annual Mormon Conference closed to-day, and was unusually well attended. This being the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Church, a great deal was said about the growth of the sect. The Saints were severely lectured for drunkenness, which prevails to an alarming extent in Utah.

The Tuapeka Times says: Since the recent fins rain, the claims at the Blue Spur and Wetherstones have again been put on fall time. Saturday last was washing-up day at three of the claims, and we were fortunate in seeing the returns for the month of the Otago and Extended companies, and for the fortnight of Messrs Hales and Hinde's. Each company presented a handsome cake of gold, and a corresponding quantity of loose gold from the boxes. Saturday was the reioriia" day of the Wethers .ones Company, when a good average cake was produced. To make a rough BaUula'lon, we should say that the four claims mentioned yielded between 700 and BPOO2 of gold, or close upon £3030 in money value. Messrs Hales and Hinde's cltiro continues to yield grand resul s. As we have mentioued, their retoitiug was fox* the fortnight, and to all appearances it was very littlo sho.t of tlio monfb's rei-ma ia othc claims. The Extended OoaipHny have also had a continued run of good luck, ?.nd tLo Otago Company, we are glad to mention, have got tbrough the bar of unprofitable cement they have been working for twelve months past, and ale now on good gold.

At the opening meeting of the Christ church Debating Society, recently held, Mr D. Griffiths opened with the query "Is the federation of the Australasian colonies desirable?" A prolonged discussion ensued. The president having called on Mr Griffiths to reply, the lattor answered the previous speakers. After a motion for adjournment had been negatived, as well as an amendment, the original motion, " That the federation of the Australasian colonies is not desirable," was carried by a considerable majority.