AUCKLAND.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3823, 30 March 1881, Page 2

AUCKLAND.

This day.

Two stacks of wheat and one of oaten hay were burned at James Elliott's farm at Ihumato, near Mangare. They are insured for £450 in the Union Office. There is no clue as to tbe origin. Kich specimens from Coromandel were exhibited in town to-day, causing a good deal of excitement and a rise in shares. Masonio CeremonialThe foundation stone of the Masonic Hall, Princes street, was laid with Masonio honours to-day. District Grand Lodge, E.C., met at the Choral Hall, where Past Grands of the Lodges of the .North Island I.C. and S.C. were received. Tbe Distriot Grand Master, G. S. Graham, addressed the Masons, and a procession to St. Paul's Cathedral was then formed, where Bro Dr Kidd preached a sermon. The procession reformed and went to the hall site, where a temporary platform was erected and a large crowd had assembled. Pistriot Grand Master G. S. Granam laid the stone, and Bro F, Whitaker, Attorney General and Provincial Grand Master delivered an oration. Tuesday. An arrest for forgery and uttering under very peculiar circumstances has been cleverly effected by Detective Strathearn. In the early days of the colony, when money was scarce, notes were circulated by the Colonial Bank of Issue. They were called in thirty years ago. One of these with date " December 27tb, 1879," was tendered at the Crown Hotel by a man named John Sutherland' bat not taken, He went to the Bank of New Zealand with it, but Watt declined to cash it, and took applicant's name and address. The description was given to tbe detective, who quickly ran his man down. Sutherland claimed to hare obtained the note, which is for £5, as part payment for wages from a resident at Helensville.

Mrs J. Devin, formerly of the Commercial Hotel/Auckland, has died at Te Awamutu, from the effects of fright from an outbreak of fire at Lewis' Hotel.