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Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3802, 5 March 1881, Page 2

A Southern cont.prnponiry has gone in for a ' Graelic column." To judge by the first specimen this column must be rather rough on Saxon compositors and proof readers. Far>cy a poem of fifteen stanzas with the following cheerful refrain— Seisd.—Ho ro, chairdcan as gaoh glean, Gabhaibh misneachd's no bi'bh faun, Tha a Ghaidhlaig togaid ceann, 'Sa fas gu fllain ladair. The editor warnicgly says:—Communications in Q-aelic, if not plainly written, cannot be received." We think so neither.

Beacon, the spoiling contributor to the Otago Witness writes, I hear on good authority that our great race horae M*ta, w; o after carrying everything before him in this colony, cut so unhappy a figure in Victoria, has been sold to go to India. The price for which he was sold I am not aware of, but a deposit of £100 has been made to bind the hoi-gain. Perhaps it is well that he should disappear from amongst us, still we must all regret the loss ot one of the beat, horses ever bred in the Colouy.

Aptee the annual distribution of prizes at the Toowoomba Grammar School, His Excellency Sir Arthur Kennedy, in the course of »n excellent spepch, eaid life is a great battle ; it is a great scramble in our own country at home, and very soon it will bo as rnnch so here for all you boys. Above all, let me impress on you to keep clear of all Government billets. A boy who will go in and give lip his lif'e!ime to sit on an office stool for £100 a year is, to my mind, a great muff. There ia plenty of room in t.hia country for boys to exercise their energies without going into the principal towns and loafing about street, corners. Let them go iota the country instead. To the parents of the boys I would say I hat to-day I read—what I read a great deal of in this country —the newspapers. I am rich a shareholder in any, but read all of them indiscriminately, and always find good in them.

Ms, T. Scanlak, who returned from Waihi this afternoon, reports thtifc arrangements re the buttery have been completed. He says tlie stone is the best he has yet seen in the colony Gold is visible in the Prospectors' from wall to wall.

The-highest score made at. the firing of the morning squad for the District Belt was by PO. lYearson, T.N.8., 70 points. Johns made 68 and Lucas 66.

We understand that a number of recent converts to the Baptist persuasion will be baptised according to the teuets of that .okui'oh on Monday nazfc.

On the departure of Bishop Selwyn for his diocese of cannibal*, Nevr Zealand, the Rev. Sydney Smith is said to have taken leave of him in these affectionate terms : —" G-ood-bye, flelwyn ; I hope you will not disagree with the man that eats you ! "

That Yankees are not the only people who practice adulteration may be known from the statement of Mr Medhurat, a British officiul in China, who reeeutly wrote that fifty-three thousand puunds of willow leaves are being made ready to be mixed with teas at one port alone.

Last evening Oapfc. Small received a telegram from Nelson to the efi'ecfc that GHII was only ten points behind in the aggregate, having taken sfch prize in the seventh match.

THBLigurian bees are voted a nuisance in Canterbury because they attack the bivea of the common bees and carry off tbe honey by force.

A home for Btray doas is (o be founded in Christohurch by a Mr Jackson.

The Prince of Wales in a Russian lock-up, on a charge of being drunk and disorderly, while on a visit to St. Petersburg, is one of the latest canards of a veracious Yankee newspaper correspondent.

Messes. W. Mabtin and Sou announce through our columns that they are now holding a cheap sale of drapery, clothing &c, prior to their taking atock. Housewives! now is your chance !

Auctionsebs are not all so innocent (or so knowing) as fcha gentleman uear Napier, who, when asked the name of tbe maker of a telescope he was selling, pulled out the brass slide, and explained—" This telescope, sir, is by the celebrated London firm of Day and Night."

A beturned Te Arohan relates an amusing atory of tent life in that locality. Lying in bis bed of fern he was reading to his mate an account of the cricket match Australians v. Cornwall—won by the former. A drunken Corniahman going past heard his native county mentioned and listened to fcbe reading. No sooner had our friend finished than cousin Jack shoving his head through the tent exclaimed vehemently " Yer a Hard. The Haustrelians never won."

The latest Pinaforeaiiii. After church parade. Small boy No. 1 : " Oh, ma ! The N=»val Brigade all wore white pants." Small boy No 2 : " and so did their sisters and their cousins and their aunts." The proud mother i< still relating the story. Aa a large number of people have of late turned their thought to religious subjects, the views of some of the most profound thinkers of the present day must bn of .considerable interest just now. In this evening's issue wo publish two extracts which a,ro well worth peru-al.

The following piece of information cannot be too widely known or diffused in Wow Zealund. The Rangifikei Advocate ia writing about the payment of members, and says without the slighti-st, hesitation, or winking : —" We know know that many of the present M.L.O's would prefer not to be paid, and wo think that those who hold any other opinion should resign their seats." Where are these men to be found ? Last June or July Mr Peacock brought a proposal before the Council that Councillors should not be paid, and he could not. find a stHCondtsr in » Council of thirty. Perhaps oui 1 •on Temporary will tell the people I hi' mimes of at least some of the men who would pivfor not to be paid.

AMONG- the presents offered to the Prince of Wales on his 'Royal Highness' birthday one of tho most curious was presented by the Marquis dv Lav —si r<>al chef d'oeuvre of cutlery, such as Sheffield proud of. It is a pocket knife with 191 blades.