THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1881.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3841, 21 April 1881, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1881.

Sia Geobgt Gbbt will arrive by the Rotomahana this evening. Thb scale of charges for the Te Aroha battery, will be: —For one load, 20s; 5 loads, 15s ; lOloads, 12s \ over 10 loads, 10b. Thj Bank of New Zealand will be closed on Saturday next, it being St. George's Day. A • FEMALE charged with drunkenness, was brought before Mr Kenrick this morning, and ■ discharged with a caution. Thb sale of the Thames High School Endowment has been postponed until June the 7th. See advertisement in another column.

At tbe laet meeting of the Piako County' Council it waß suggested that room should be made f»r a member,to",represent the Te Aroha end of country, and it> was decided to apt'upon the suggestion. The growing importance of the district referred to, and its many requirements, certainly requires a gentleman on the Council well acquainted with jits wants.

We direct, the attention of road contrao tors and others to an advertisement above the signature of Mr Aitk^n, County Engineer! The Council have to be congratulated upon the despatch shown* by them in proceeding with the works for which tbe votes of money were obtained from Mr Rolleston, and Mr Aitken deserve* credit^ for the expedition shown by him in getting the specifications, &c.,*ready for the workmen.

We met youag T~— last night. He said : —"Regarding the sha?s, you f have lost the best! of the joke. When : I got a little way down the road I found they were shags, so I entered into the joko. I took them home and made a present of them to my landlady. She plucked them, stuffed them with sage and onions. I didn't go home to dinner that day. Young G , in tbe bank, hasn't got the taste out of his mouth yet, and Capt. W , who, endeavoring to masticate a leg, say the whole affair was very fiehy."

Concebning the totalizator the Auckland Star says: —An instrument in such high disfavour with " the Ring " cannot be a very bad thing for the public.

The travelling agent of the Australian Lithofraoteur Company being on a visit to the Thames, an opportunity of proving the utility of the arfciole manufactured by the Company was afforded him to-day. Messrs A. and G. Price caused several holes to be bored in a mass of iron weighing 25cwt,, in which charges of the explosive weighing altogether two pounds were placed. The different holes were connected by trains, the result of the explosion being the fracturing of the mass of iron into blocks of four or five cwt.

A oabiegbam says the death of Earl Beaconsfield is deeply deplored by all political parties, and has created a profound sensation throughout Europe, It was officially announced to day that her Majesty the Queen expressed great grief at the loss of her most valued and devoted friend and counsellor, the late Earl.

Air Ashburton census paper enumerates the three members of a certain household, and supplies information on all points required by the Government. The " head of tke family," says the Otago. Times, filled up the form, and after giving bis own occupation— past and present—proceeded to give that of his wife. He designates his good lady's paßt profession as " bossing yours truly," and her present as "still bossing." The "head of the family" has been, like Eugene Aram, " a melancholy man " ever since the " boss " became acquainted with what the document contained.

At the Wellington Magistrate's Court John Henry Whitelaw, the superintendent of Mount View Asylum, was committed for trial for the ill-treatment of a patient named Mclntoih. Bail was fixed at £600—himself in £300, and two sureties of £150 each. The accused, however, was unable to find bail, and was conveyed to gaol.

GhtSAT excitement was caused in Hamilton on Monday by the act of a lunatic, Mr W. H. ' Leckie, son of Colonel Leckie, who inspected the Thames Volunteers some yeav sago. It appears that the young man has been working on some of the swamps in the Waitoa district, and becoming of unsound mind, had tab en to the scrub, a:ino»t in a state of nudity. The police at Waitoa after some trouble succeeded iv catching him, Reekie

swimming the river backwards and forwards to avoid them. On Sunday, Mr Northcroft being at Waitoa with a carriage, and finding him in the hands of the police, who had put a sack over him, to serve the purpose of a straight-waist coat ajid Vkept him in a tent, him aw,i»yi wTfh-him to Hamilton. On reaching ttie bridge at Hamilton, whilst 'Mr 'Noithcroffc was engaged paying the toll, Leckie ffr, out of the trap and threw himself over tbd rails of the bridge, between the cement pier and the first wooden pier, where the river is deepest and there is a strong eddy, He turned over and orer in his fall, a depth of 54 feet,, and struck the water head first. On rising, the first part seen of him was ar foot,' but he speedily floated and swam to shore like a duck', though heavily weighted -with clothes.- Constable Murray happened to be near the spot, and at once took him into custody. ' •