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Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3768, 25 January 1881, Page 2

The Thames Scottish Battalion will be inspected by Major Witherp, -who arrived last Bight by ■ thi boat, this evening. A good muster is requested. There wts a meeting of the Jockey Club last night, at'which the balance eheefc waß received and adopted. A sum of money in hand was ordered to be placed at fixed deposit in the bank. Bombers of the Thames ScottisH'SreT Hnfepection parade for this evening. Kherß will be inspecting officer, nderstand that Mr Wmj|Bowe ia on from WellingfcoD, ' aniFSnay be expected on the Thames in a few days. An influential committee, with the At-torney-General (the Hon. F. Whitaker) at its head, is formed in Auckland to receive (he Australian Cricketers. •-: Ma job Withbr3 will inspect the Hauraki Engineers to-morrow evening. A good muster of the corps is requested. The followujg* tenders were received yesterday by ttojPounty,..aohoritie3 for the forma-* tioaapifneKarafefi road (92 chains and eul--gSwsT^Kfle'e&one and Mcllhaney, £375 ; ButleV A., £309 1b ; Butler, H., £349 19s; Thompson and Sinclair, £392 17b; McOormick, W. S., £401; McOormick, Jas., and Co., £275 8s ; Oilmore, Thos., £490; Horn, J., £599; McE>ejpjofcfc, ,£2BO. The lowest tender, McCormife^and party, will be accepted. YifSil* "♦ Mb and M"rs Gk N. Brassey were passengers by the Rotoniahana from Auckland last evening.

The pupil teachera who are competing for assistant teachers certificates were examined to-day in the Waio-Karaka "School. There • were 33 candidates for examination, nearly all members of the fair sex. They were examined* thia morning in English Composition, and in Geography and Sewing thia afternoon. Tomorrow the subjects will be Arithmetic, History, and in the afternoon Drawing. J^The examination will conclude on Thursday, wlfen the subjects will be Laws and Theory and Practice of Music. *Wrs John S. Goodwin, Assistant Inspector of Schooled is conducting the examination. The foilowiog are the names of the young ladies and gentlemen being examined to-day :—Senior Division : Misses Bennett, Davis,' Greenville, MoNeice, Steedman, Mrs Osboldatone, Misses Ashman, Cleveland, M. E. Fisher, S. J Fisher, Fletcher, Harris, Horgan, Joynt, Lamb, Mcllhone, Patterson, Souter;TrußCott, Whyte, Wolff, Watkin, Masters May, Newton, and Home. Junior Division : M'sses Ellis, Joll, Mooney, Phillips, Trimnell, Wilson, and Master Lowe. ■

Wb were eho^wn to-day an exoellent piece of workmanship that has been executed at Messrs Price Bros., foundry i It is a portable engine, with horizontal boiler 4 feet long *nd 2 feet in diameter, mounted on four cast iron wheels. It has a 5 inch cylinder and 6-inch stroke, mounted direct on top of the boiler, and has a governor and feed pump complete. The boiler plates are of f inch iron, nod the engine is of four horse power, nominal, with pressure up to 801b8; She is destined for Messrs Clifford and Evan's model farm at Remuera. The fittings are of the most, excellent work- J manshiyi, tind tho engine.reflects groat oredit onj.be establishment, and is one more proof a&jshe efficiency of the artificers jn Messrs "price's foundery. ' •'•' 'Pbivatb letters from the Bast Coast go to show that the action of the present Ministr, | in allowing private parties to obtain sections ( of land in and about the Kotorua Hot Lakes I will do them a deal of harm. The whole of the terraces should have been purchased by the Crown as a public estate for the future benefit of suffering humanity. The cutting up of a township after the sale takes place will be the commencement of interminable dispute?. Judge Fenton has got a good denl of newspaper praise for bis action over these lands, but if his recommendations are carried out they may prove more of a curse than a blessing for this portion of the East Coast. A TfEiiir-KKOWIT native chief met Mr Sheehan a few days ago in Auckland, andasked our member if ihe reports that he had heard were true, namely, that the ex native Minister -was about joining Mr Hall and his colleagues. Mr Sheehan was somewhat taken aback, and blandly asked his questioner why the put him such a poser. The chief, nothing jaunted, promptly replied, " Well, you white I hear, have a good plan for cleaning when it is out of order; you get a make a dean sweep of all the and that ie juet what we natives

would like you to dp with the present Government." His listener replied that the sentiments expressed coincided with his own, and on the first opportunity when the Parliament met he would, with the united and loyal Opposition now working in concert, aid in carrying out the wishes just then given utterance to. Mr Sheehan's native ally was so pleased with the answer that, in addition to making a reduction of a few shillings is the pound on a block of land which he waß selling to a pakeha friend, that he further intimated he would " shout" champagne in expectation of the present Ministry being kicked out.

We learn from Auckland that a deal of unfavorable comment is prevalent at Auckland owing to some strictures which appeared in last Saturday's New Zealand Herald, consequent upon the visit of Sir Arthur Gordon, our Colonial Governor, to Sir George Grey. The signature to the communication is of course what is termed the writer's " norn da plmne," but it is generally understood that the vindictive writing was the production of Mr G-eorge Martinmuin, one of the Herald's staff.

Mrs Hampson, the evangelist, conducted the services at the Free Methodist Church, Pitt street, on last Sunday evening. There was a large congregation, and the lady delivered one of those earnest, effective addresses which have characterised her services in Auckland city.

In All baints' Church, Ponsonby, on last Sunday forenoon, the Rev. Mr Bree, expressed strong opinions regarding the education system, and t3ndered advice to his congregation with regard to the election of ichool committees. He referred to the fabt that the election of school committees would fake place to morrow (Monday last). He pointed out that if this, as a Christian country, supported the Bending of missionaries to educate the heathen in religious instruction, and yet refuse the same to their own children, they were not acting consistently. If they did not afford to their own children a religious education tbey promoted crime. The Government, he said, went to a great and unnecessary expense in the matter of school buildings and high class teachers, and he advised his congregation to elect a committee to secure Bible-reading in school as a preliminary to further alterations in the system.

It is with considerable difficulty that persona accustomed to the eccentricities in spelling and pronunciation of the English language can bring themselves to appreciate the simplicity of the almost purely phonetic spelling of such languages as the Italian and Maori, and hence it is not to be wondered at that new-comers frequently make the most ridiculous mistakes in their attempts a*, pronouncing the commonest Maori words which they have seen only in print. The pronunciation of the word "Tauranga" is always sure to be murdered by new chums, the accent being invariably placed on the penultimate 'syllable, and the "g" being sounded hard as in English words. Under this manipulation the word is sounded as if spelled " Tawrang-ga j" nor is this vicious pronunciation;coftfined to strangers and new coiners, but we know old identities that are guilty of the same fault. The rew settlement of 1 c Puke is also generally metamorphosed into the " Puke," pronounced " Pyook," and prior to the recent sales of the deferred payment lands much amusement was caused in town by hearing strangers enquire how they would find t heir way to the " Pyook." It may not be out of place to remind Borne of our old identities who think they^lsjigsfc, everything, and are quite beyon!^"t eac hi n g i -i^J^^}]^SLJ!^^Jf^ is purely phonetic, that every letter has one invariable sound, and that there aro no silent lettefrs as in English or Franch.

Ik Auckland a race iot public favour is being run by fyn/b newly published sets of waltzes, the; " Flirtation " and"the "E^rst Extra." Copies of both may be obtained at my Music Warehouse in Pollen street. —J. GtaiGK*.—LAdvt.]