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Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3837, 16 April 1881, Page 2

The steamer Vivid will make an excursion to Coromandel on Monday in accordance with the advertisement in another column.

The Patiki took a large number of ladies and gentlemen to Tetley'* farm yesterday. , The trip was under the patronage of tie : Baptist choir, and the members, having i brought aa harmonium with them, made the i-passage up and down the river a most enjoyable one with songs and music. The little steamer behaved admirably, and' with her capital accommodation she is Hbely to be a favorite with picnic parties and excursionists. The neceßsary alterations have been com- ! pieced, and her time table for next week,will | be found in our advertising columns.

The Vivid made an excursion trip (o Tetley's farm yesterday, and was fairly patronised.

• Me Beassey, in opening his defence of Procoffi, said he would be in a position to prove that at the time, 11 o'clock, when, according to the theory of prosecution, the Maori was murdered, Procoffi was near the tent of a man named Taylor, near a butcher's shop. Taylor spoke to Procoffi, and Procoffi spoke to him. Taylor went into his tent a few minutes after 11 o'clock. According to the prosecution, the murder took place about 11 o'clock. Taylor said that prisoner was not dressed in a dungaree suit, but had only trousers and woollen shirt on, so that the clothes produced were not the clothes worn by the prisoner at the time of the murder. As to the prisoner's character, it would be shown he was a man of very cleanly habits.

Me W. J. Hurst on Thursday in Auckland swore a criminal information for libel against Mr J. D. Wickbam. The alleged libel was contained in an article published in the Fi-ee Lance some weeks ago making statements With respect to Mr Hurst.

The following communication we have received from some ladies of Paeroa:—The married women of Paeroa request, to know how the public houses are allowed to remain open all night, and what is more dreadful than Belling such quantities of drink on the Sabbath day, causing drunkenness and" quarrelling. Paeroa cries aloud for a new bobby, not a Yankee grab piano policeman, but one who would do bis duty. •

The Herald says that ProeofS, upon being removed from the dock when the Jury retired to deliberate, gave vent to his emotion, which had been restrained since the trial commenced, and utter a series of wailing moans, which were heard through the entire building. He steadily refused to go into one of the " dark cells" by himself, and one of the Constabulary was told off to keep him company. This display of emotion wh variously intei preted by those who were present. This trial has assumed more than ordinary importance, no less by the nature of the evidence than by the character of the place and community in the midst of which the ci;.me was committed.

A meeting of the shareholders of McLeod's claim, Tiki, was held on Thursday at Mr Stodart's office, Shortland street. The claim, consisting of eight acres, is situated in the Tiki district, on goldfields land-". Mr George Bl»\ckmore was' in the chair. It was agreed to form a company of 12.CQ0 shares of £1 each, nil paid up. Messrs James Kussell, Charles Hutohinson, George Panter, M. Corcoran, and George McLeod, were appointed directors, and Mr T. L. Whita was elect d auditor.

At' three o'clock on Wednesday afternoon smoke was observed to be issuing from the cellar of Messrs Stone Bros.' st -re, Queen street, Auckland. A passer-by at once went in and drew attention to the matter, and no time was lost in examining the cellar, which;, it* appears, had not beea entered that day. The fire was discovered in a caße of preserved meats, the straw of -which had ignited by spontaneous combustion. A bucket.of water put all danger at an end, but if the occurrence had taken place at night instead of in daylight, thousands of pounds worth of property might have been destroyed, and the cause wouid have been a mystery.

At a lafj meeting of.the Waste Lands Board Mr J. (.!. Firth asked if any informa ion in reference to Messrs Grant and Foster's settlement had been received, and Mr Joseph May wished to know whether the first instalment, had been paid. The Chairman replied that no answer had been received. The Board had taken exception to some of Capt. Steele's plans, and perhaps they had not had sufficient time to reply. The Board resolved "That information be requested re Grant and Foster's negotiations for Te Aroha lands." ■..-..

A. DOS- belonging to Mr Courtney, of New Plymouth, had a favourite companion, n dog owned by Mr Watkins, -which was considered by its owner as unfit to live, and wtv? therefore sewn up in a bag and deposited in the Henui river. Mr Courtney's dog got " scent " of the occurrence, and went into the river and nobly rescued his companion. Ho was found tearing up the bag in the endeavour to liberate his highly esteemed friend.

The Te Aroha left tbe Grahamstown Wharf yesterday moaning on an excursion to -the Miranda, taking about 100 passenger.'. The run over W£J a very pleasant one, occupying only about an hour and three quarter*. A very enjoyable day was spent by the exour.sionists, Mr and Mrs Smith—who keep open house on occasions of this kind—doing all in their power to make things comfortable for their visitors. During the day, a cricket match was played between the Miranda Cricket Club and a number of the excursionists, which resulted in a victory for the home team with two wickets to fall. A harmonium on board gave certain ladiea and gentlemen possessed of fairly good vocal powers an opportunity of exercising them, which they were not slow to avail themselves of. The proceeds, after payment rot expenses, will be devoted to the building fund of the Primitive Methodist Church.

A number of the Naval Cadets went over to New Brighton in their boat yesterday. The journey across was, owing to the favorable winds, made in good time, and the young fellows appeared to enjoy the outing immensely. For the return journey, however, the wind was dead ahead, so Captain Dalton kindly took them in tow, and brought them safely home. We think the adult officers of the iNavals are greatly to blame foe allowing a lot of young lads to leave here on an excursion like this without sending a competent man to take charge of them. Of course they get on all right with a calm sea and favorable wind, but knowing the danger attendant on traversing the Gulf from sudden changes in the weather, we should not-be at all surprised to hear of a boat load of, St. George's Naval Cadets losing the number of their mess some of these days. A small boat with three young gentlemen on board, who bad pulled over during the day, were also given a free passage back by Captain Dalton.

Just as the longariro wub about leaving the wharf at Auckland on her last trip, a person considerably the worse for drink attempted to get on board, but instead of taking the gangway he tried to step on to the paddle box, and missed hia fooling, the consequence being that he fell between the steamer and the wharf into the water. There wae considerable excitement among the passengers and persona on the wharf, but

Captain Miller and his officers were quickly to the rescue, and succeeded in getting the unfortunate man out; of the water. He was nob so intoxicated but he knew his danger, and so managed to grasp hold of the paddles of the steamer, keeping himself from sinking till assistance reached him. He, however, received some nasty wounds upon the head and shout the shoulder. His name is Paul, and for years he was a workman of Mr Oulpitt's, saddler, of Shortland. A cab was waiting on the wharf, which Mr Culpitt hired and got the unfortunate fellow taken to his house.

The Hawke's Bay Herald says:—" An Irish' ■' patriot' has, we are informed, been distinguishing himself in Napier of late. He carried around a subscription list in aid of the funds of the Irish Laiad League, and collected something like £85, in sums varying from 2b 6d to 10a. The collector has suddenly disappeared—so has the collection." ,

Or the last Maori scandal at Cambridge* the Waikato Mail says : —" The gay Lothario Karetai, whose doings were chronicled in our last issue, was in some danger of personal violence from the friends of Kerona, the injured husband, but waß smuggled away to Hamilton at night. On Monday a strong force proceeded to his late quarters and demanded satisfaction, when £5 was offered aa utu, and scornfully rejected. Au aged but agile ruhuhi, who wps brandishing a apear, brought the weapon in contact with Mr Mackay's head, inflicting a wound which drew blood, and this wt»s regarded as au atonement for the destruction of Kerona's domestic peace, a drop of blood in Maori estimation, being of more importance than the chastity of a woman."

Pbacticaii joking appears to have been carried on with considerable success on board the ship Oxford, and one or two of the victims are still unconscious that the laugh is against them. During the voyage several sharks were captured and brought on deck, and before the majority of the passengers were aware of the fact;, several erticles, such as knives, boots, and anything else that came handy were thrust down one of these monster's maws. The shark was then put up in the presence of the assembled passengars, and the things found inside sold as relics to t!ie highest bidder. We believe one passenger paid a fancy price for his own clasp knife, which he had lost only a few days before the shark which, according to his story had swallowed it, was caught.— Bay of Plenty Times.

: Sib Gt-rOTGE Grbt entered on Thursday upon his seventieth year, having beeq,born at Lisbon, Portugal, a week after the a'orming of Badajoz, at which his father, Colonel Grey, leader of the first division, fall at the third assault. It will thus be seen that he ia close on the borders of the liurils assigned by the Psalmist to human life. Fvom his entiy into the army in 1829 t j the present time his :ife has been p.n eventful end busy one, whether as a soldier, an explorer, a Governor, or a statesman. Even many of those who dissent from Mb political views will agree with us in wishing that " the old man eloquent" may be spared to celebrate many more birthdays, and to give in years to come to the colony the benefit of bis extensive experience and unquestioned ability.