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Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3753, 7 January 1881, Page 2

Otjb yearly present of an almanac to our readers is given with this evening's issue of the Stab. The sheet is printed in two colours, and furnishes a great deal of information. We understand the County Council are about making a road at the bead of the Karaka Creek. The ground in the locality was some time ago considered to possess good gold, and several claims have been recently pegged off. Mr Aitken has already inspected and reported upon tho line, and in a day or so tenders [may be called for ita formation. The County are to be commended for undertaking this work.

Ak aeciflenfc occurred at Shoi-fcland about half-past one o'clock. Ifc appears that Campbell was in charge of the Borough horse, and took it to Culpitfc's to try a collar on. While at the door, Campbell proceeded to divest the animal of its blinkers—a proceeding which so much affected the skittish proclivities of the " noble animal" as to cause him to " bolt." Campbell was thrown to the ground, but otherwise escaped with a shaking. The horse, being a young one, it was a foolish trick to take the blinkers off in broad daylight, and it is surprising an accident attended with more^erious consequences was not tho result.

We are glad to see that the workmen of the Borough are laying down a new water table at the Exchadge Corner, and are effecting new improvements by asphalting the footpath, which, from its hitherto rotten condition, was dangerous to pedestrians and a disgrace to the Borough.

Fbom: a late number of the New Zealand Gazette W8 learn that Sis Excellency the Governor has been pleased to approve of the designation of the First and Second Class Superintendents- in the Constabulary being altered to that of First Class Inspectors from the Ist proximo.

Our contomporai-7 this morning made a grand discovery! — " Yesterday, Ascension Thursday," &c. Our contemporary is evidently not well read in feast and fust dajs. For his information we may mention that Ascension Day occurs forty dayß after Easter, and will not eventuate until the end of May, as Easter occurs on the 17th April. Yeßterday was the 'Feast of the Epiphany, and ia observed in all the churches, and h not confined oaly to the Church of Rome.

We are rery pleased indeed to have the opportunity to state that this morning thejjhon. Treasurer of the Hospital received a cheque for £5 from Dr Huxtable towards the funds of the institution. It is very considerate of this gentleman who, no doubt, finding from the last statement that the Hospital was much in want of monetary assistance, unsolicited forwarded his donation.- This example might be with advantage followed by many geatlemen on the Thames who are blessed with more means than are sufficient for their wanta. We need scarcely say that we Bhall be pleased to acknowledge further subscriptions. '

Gee at alterations are in progress in the Government Offices, Qntan street. The office iately occupied by the Receiver of Gold Revenue, Mr F. Burgess, is about to be transformed into an operating room for the Telegraph Department, with a small room partitioned off for the use of Mr .1. E. Coney, Chief Postmaster. The present operating room will ba transferred iuto the Postal Offices, and the private boxes will be situated in the passage rr cently approaching the Gold Revenue Receiver's Office. The Werden's, Mining Ragist tar's, and Receiver of Gold Revenues' Offices have bU been transferred into the room occupied by the Clerk of the Resident Magistrate, DistJct, Warden, Licensing, and Eogistrar of Electors' Courts, where all the business in connection with the aev^ral Courts will in future be conducted.

The Waste Lands Board of Auckland have adopted the following as condition upon which the Hot Springs reserve at Te Aroha will be leased :—That the flat portion of the reserve should be fence 1 and sown with grass; that, with the exception of a few aores for private use, it be open to the public during the day time 5 that the lessee excavate and form one large bath for the use of the public, covered in for privacy, cleaned out daily ; jthat the lessee provide not lesß than four private single baths, properly enclosed, to be •open to the public on payment of 6d for each person ; that the lessee have the priv?lege of enclosing as many more baths as he pleases oharg ing a moderate fee for the use of them ; that the lessee erect a family hotel on the reserve, carrying pipes from the Hot Springs into the hotel for private use ; that all the power to determine the lease in case the provisions are not observed or the baths neglected; that all rents accruing from the reserve be spent in planting and improving it; that the lease be for (en years. The Board altered this last provision from ten to twenty-one years, and supplemented another clause by stipulating that the hotel be errcted twelve months after the leasebe granted. The suggestions were adopted.

A suspicious fire occured at P&panui on Wednesday nighb in an unfinished house, which was destroyed. It was insured for £400 in the National Office. An inquiry is to be held.

A deputation of Imperial pensioners waited on the Governor yesterday, at Wellington, complaining of having to pay stamp duty on receiving the amount of their pensions. The Governor, after hearing their complaint, said Capt. Knollys would advise them as to the best course to adopt. Capt. Knollys then advised the deputation to get all the Imperial pensioners in the colony to petition the Queen on the matter.

The "Population of this earth," a work compiled by Dr Behm and Professor Wagner, geographers of great eminence, gives the population of the earth as 1,455,923,5C0, comprised as follows :— ' Europe ... ... 315,929,000 Asia 834,707,000 Africa ..." 205,679,000 America 95,495,500' Australia & Polynesia 4,031,000 Polar Eegions ... . 82,0 CD The world ... 1,455,923,500. It also states that within the last two years the population of the world has increased 1,67,782,000, or afc a rate of 883,063 per month, or 29,<!35 per diem. If this astonishing increase continues whatps the world to ')me to ? By 1900, supposing the same increase to .continue, the world will have a population ef close on 2,C30.000,000.

A stoet comes wafted across the classic Murray, N.S.W. A s4uatter's wife had in her employ a pretty housemaid and a goodlooking Chinese gardnee. With the natural acuteness of women, she soon found out that John was " welly mucliee gone " on the maidof all-work. One evening, just about dusk, the lady thought she heard John's dulcet notes in the front garden, and, softly raising the window, she " popped out her head" to see what was going on. The celestial cabbage-raiser saw the head, mistook in for the housemaid's, and in the twinkling of a bed-post slid up and kissed the owner thereof. John got six months in a New South Wales gaol, and the lady never thinks of the " stolen kiss" without a shudder.

"Paddy Mtjkphy" writas : —l've not boa well at all, at all, for the last few weeks, an* it was only wid a grate sthruggle that I managed to throw off the followin' lines on Misther Wakefield's speech. Yell notice that there rote to the tchune o' the " Weariu' of the Green :"— GERALDINE. Arrah, Teddy dear, be-dad I hear The news that's goin'round, That in Temuka, t'other day, : Yer manly voice was drowned; You wanted for to tell the boys How faithful you have been, So thried an' thrue to Timaru, An' staunch to Geraldine. The railway schaime (an' little blame I'll throw on you for that), You did condimn, an' thin, avick, You next began to chat On Native brawls, an' ugly calls, For taxes—faix, yer keen To plaise the boys who make a noise Below in. Geraldine. • Avick, raachree, it's thrue for me, Yer tongue is mighty sweet, * At blarney you can hould yer own ■ Wid any boy you meet; , Tou've had your say and run down Grey. The boys war purty green To swallow all that you let fall Below in Geraldine.

The prognostication that our new Governor will spend little more than half the year in ■Wellington seems likely to be fulfilled (says the Wellington correspondent of the Lytlelton Times). He is, ifc appears, bound to pay annually a visit, to the Islands over which hfe exercises his High Oommissionership; and I am informed by a gentleman .who was for many years eonnnted with public affairs there that unless the visit is to be a mere sham, His Excellency must devote from three to four months of (he year to that portion of his duties. As Sir Arthur Gordon is about the last man in- Her Majesty's Coloniel Service to lend himself to a sham, the Colony : at large will have to be content with about eight months of his presence, and Wellington with about six months. One of the inconveniences likely to arise from this double Governorship is that Sir Arthur Gordon will naturally be anxious so to time his visits to Fiji as to be there during the healthy season. This is calculated to affect the date of meeting and the duration of the sitting of Parliament. Of course, His Excellency cannot say to tbe two Houses ;—" Ifow, gentlemen, please shut up ; I want to be off to Fiji j" but a good deal of indirect influence can be brought . to bear as to time of calling together of honourable members for' the transaction of business so as to chime in with Sir Arthur's Polynesian engagements j and to hurry on the close should there be indications of JParlianient sitting for an inconvenient length of time. ■

The Opunaka correspondent of the Hawera Star writes;—" Bitter complaints have been made by the witnesses in the late murder case on the very unjuet manner our liberal

Government has awarded expenses, the sum of £3 143 per man being so ridiculously low that nearly all, including: the native witnesses, vefused to sign for it.* A deputation of the European portion; waited on the. Minister of Justice, without any good resulting, and I believe another deputation, composed of natives, waited on the Native Minister, which apparently had a very good effect, for, although not receiving in cash more than the Europeans, it is whispered that the trunks and boxes full of clothing, which the Hinemoa landed here, were presents."

Oir Wednesday Mr J. Lennard sold his chestnut mare Sunbeam, four years old, by Pacific, out ot Minnie Athol, to Mr 0. Bindle, of Waikato, witu all her engagements, for £80. She is engaged in the Cambridge and other races, and is fairly treated in the handicaps. As she has a good turn of speed, she is likely to prove a safe investment. On Tuesday, Mr Lennard purchased from Mr Daivow, of the Thames, his bay horse Ratcatcher for £100.

At about a quarter past three o'clock yesterday afternoon, the smouldering flax in the gutted^Haymarket building, Durham-street, Auckland, was observed to be on fire in several places. The burning material fell through in masses to the ground floor, and there was danger of another small conflagration from the flax which had been prepared for removal becoming ignited. A small hand hose was brought into play, however, and the fire was prevented from spreading, and shortly after Superintendent Hughes arrived with a hose and reel, and, a stream of water having been directed upon the burning material, the fire was quickly extinguished. A quantity of wooden debris on the ground floor burned for some time.

Me Aiuphue Coiiins, who has been requisitioned to contest the seat in the House of Representatives for Nelson Suburbs has already had the doubtful honour of affixing M.H.R. to his npme, and was a persistent opponent of the Fox Government. In reference to that episode in his life, the Auckland Observer records the following story:—" Mr Pox frequently twitted him with assuming the role of leader of the Opposition. On one occasion Mr Collins concluded one of his tirades agrinst the Government, by saying that he was not at all ambitious of office, but was simply endeavoring to do his duty in that etafre of life t~> which Providence had been pleased to call him. Mr Fox immediately rejoined that he was pleased to find the hon. member had not forgotten his catechism, as be would no doubt remember the sentence coming after the one he had just quoted, which was also singularly applicable to the position and the hon. member. It was, 'My good child, know this: thou art not able to do these things of thygehV "

Weliington is laughing over a really clever joke. Wellington has a journal which claims to be the "leading journal" of the Colony. People are exceptionally critical of a leading journal which doeßn't know how to lead, and cannot oven follow. The new manager has made the leading journal absurdly pompous and stupid, so that Wellingtonians are making fun of him for not getting the harbour on fire. Now that the Empire City has disbanded iLs fire brigade, the people may console themselves in having a leading journal which will always be handy as a "wet blanket " to smother even a conflagration. That is no joke; but a joke that was a joke has been printed by the " leading journal" with charming innocence. " Cecilia" sent a " poem "to the editor—a nice poem neatly turned 5 and the editor printed it." Wherever he went next day he heard people laughing and sniggering; but he didn't see the joke, nor even smell a rat. Jokes don't penetrate sometimes, without a surgical operation. Tbis one didn't, for the editor of the leading journal is a serious person. Cecilia's little poem was an acrostic. The initial letters of the first stanza formed the editor's name, and the initials of the other lines suggested "he is an idiot." This was clearly libellous; but as the editor had printed it in his own journal, he decided not to sue himself for damages. The acrostic reads thus:—•

CHANGED. Changed, did you say ? The change is not in me. How many years have passed sines first we met, And pledged our troth, and felt matbut to be, Nay—but to breathe self-same air, and whet The appetite of love on mutual smiles and tears Revealed the wealth of all this world can give, Even through the vista of the coming years. . Yet, do you say I'm changed ! and still I live. Is not the change in you who charge me so ? Say, has not time bedimmed the early love? And li^ht of youth ? And yet lam your wife ! Nay, scorn me not— I am your wife, you cannot say me no., Days, months, nay years may pass my head In weary following 1, until that welcome day— Oh, that it were at once, when in my narrow bed The loves and wrongs of life might be forgot fer aye. Editorial noto on the above: —Your pretty verses are ac: opted with thanks. We hope their insertion will prove an incentive to further efforts, and trust to hear from you again. —[Printed and published by the proprie^ it, John Chantrey Harris, at his registered pvJiting office, corner of Lambfcon Quay and Waring Taylor street, Wellington, New Zealand.] —Poverty Bay Standwd.

Among the "Snapshots " of the Auckland News is the following rough one:—Hen: 7 Ketten, the pianiafc, is coming, and they tell me he's such a fellow, bangs the instrument so that it just doesn't go tj pieces, and that's all. But they say he can play a inerveille. He and his dog are the pets of hotelkeepers, and the hour of parting is always one of anguish, especially for the dog, if he Kngors behind. He vs a dog of very delicate constitution, and particular respecting his food, so that cooks love him. His master fortunately is the gentlest and least exacting of men, and and that's why ne'e so beloved. That's why hotelkeepers don't like to keep him too long ; they feel that they shouldn't monopolise him. .

The world says: —"Ifc is now generally understood amongst the Baroness ,-Burdett» Coutts' friends and near relations that she has quite resolved to carry out her intention of .marrying Mr Ashinead Barfclett, but with the proviso that the settlements shall be all on her own;,-Bide, and her money (such as remains to her) safely tied up. It is also believed t'lat the marriage will no!; take place till all legal difficulties with regard to the Duchess of St. Albans' will are cleared up." Judging from this we should imagine there is just a chance that, the lady may be induced to change her mind, so as not to stultify herself in her old age.

A woman at Carson is said to have under* taken to i efrain from speaking for forty days. The report runs as follows :—"She began at 9 in the rooming, and at' 10.30 her pu-ae was so feeble from exhaustion that the physicians feared she would die by noon. At 11 her heart beat but twenty-six, a minute, and her respirations were hardly noticeable. Her friends urged her to discontinue the terrible task, and told her some gossip about a neigh* hour. On hearing it she immediately rushed from the house, and, going across the street, met a lady friend, and talked till 6.30, and is now fully restored."