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Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4220, 11 July 1882, Page 2

A meeting of the Thames Harbor Board was convened yesterday to consider a com* munication from Mr Bcere relatire to the propose! breakwater and whavf. There were present, the Chairman (Col. Fraser), Messrs L, J. Bagnall, Marshall, Osborne, and McGovran. After some discussion, it was dccidril to have a joint report from Me3sr3 Beere and McLaren as to the beat course to pursue. The late Mr Millett.'it is well known, took great interest in the subject of the harbor, and Mr McLaren possesses the gre.it advantage of being conversant with Mr Millett's views, and having a knowledge of his plaas Mr Beere's memorandum is said to be to tbo eftvet that the amount vo;ed, £3000, would be insufficient to carry out any satisfactory wcrk, and that it would only construct some 150 ft of the wharf, giving a depth of 4£ft at low water.

Pbofessob Denton's lecture on "The Age of Beasts and the Advent of Man," was guile as interesting as its predecessors. Mr Denton enunciated the theory of evolution, and illustrated it by the successive gradations of the horse. He said :—Take the fossil prototype of the horse, found in Wyotaia^. This was only ar large as a fox, and had toej resembling the human hand, though only four fingers, the fifth being missing. The horse of to-day walked on one toe, but it had two splint bones in the leg. In the pleiscene they found the hipparion, which though having th?ee toes walked only on one. Going still further back they found an animal that had four toes and a splint bone, and they were looking still for the animal with five toes. Now all this

proved that the horse bad not been made all at once ; that millions of yeara had been consumed in bringing it to its present state. Ir. exhibiting a view of the gorilla, he said that wi;a the nearest approach they had to man, but iheie was a gve; t gap between them. Still he was of opinion that the origin of man was not different io that of the rest of living furmals. To-night the subject tvili be "The Glacial Period and Age of Man. Tomorrow another series'of lectures will commence, the fir3t of which will be, " The Bae s of Mankiud : theii 1 Origin and Destiny." On Thursday the 6uhject, " Aociont T£j»ipl: its History, its Mjnuir.enfcs, and its Rslision," will be puriicularly interesting, treating as it dots of the cradle of religion, and one of the most ancknt o; civilisations. <~n Friday Mr Dentcn will (a^i-- a bite at that big a t >p)e of discord amongst latter day scientists, " The Origin of Man." O:t Saturday the lecture will come much nearer home than the most beautiful and attractive of speculntive themes : it is, ;| Minerals, Mctala, and Miiing" That affects the people of this distvio, in a moat sensitive plats—rthe breechei pi cket.

Me Bfkbt Cas3 »s still at the Tbamcs, and will remain fora few day.'. We under stand . that should anyone be desirous of eliciiing further light or afford ng more information on the subject of eternal suffering or otherwise,. "Mr Case will be open to discuss the question. We must coufess to having a certain amount of sympathy for him, inasmuch ast some of his opponents at hi* meeting met him, not in the true".spirit ~df iuqu'ry, but "apparently in a carping, unbbariJable, bullying spirit. How ridiculous it wa;, for instance, to put thrre. questions at ones and expect them to be answered. And how ungenerous it was tdfauutMr'Cass with want of capacity when he requested that they should be put one ab a; time. Cn the other hand, Mr Cass was Beircely polite iif terming an interrogator who declined to answer a qarstion before he had been replied to a coward. Mr Ca9s had only the right to a*k a question tv render more plain the meaning of the questioner, but he did not explain that such was his object. He seemed to forget that he took the platform to answer such questions a3 were put ;obun. It was amusing to observe a profound divine mauipulatin 3 the coat tails of one of Mr Oa?9's slaunchest opponents with a view seemingly to prompting or coucbing him. The questioner wns quite able to take his own part, but he has not (he sweetest of tempe.ii, md be seems to bave forgotten that one of the first principles of debate is to treut ones opponent ai a gentleman. Here ?s a Ciiitr!bution which we have re eiv«d, and respect.ng the writer rs we do, cannot help exprcs ing surprise H<it he condescend to pen such rubbish. Surely, to shrd light upon davk subjects would be a muck more worthy object Han tf\»rp to "sHupon "Mr Cas,. It ,eids: —" MaC ass's Whistie.—Mr Caes tells us in last night's :Itab tiiat the whistle thai; he plays cost him years of time, thousands of pounds of money, and all his brains, and he is of a sad heart b'cause the public are not charmed with the one tune ; t plays. I," for one, accept-d Mr Gas's mviratioo, aad heard him play hi' del'gblu 1. tine upon his whistle, which in plain Engl'sh is a? follows:— * Pig and man, all the 3 >mt — 'luiho:, Qol will roo* him ; Lnok, thii world's not round But ma le flat 11 suil him.' Alas! Poor CS3'."

Me3sbs Pbiceßb:s. will sVipfoi-Kossiown, near Hukitike, by the :cbuoner Gael, which leaves here in a day or two, a largo hydrau'ie pump for mining purpose:l. The cylinder i* lift, in li.nglh and 18in. in diameter,- and as the pressure of water obtainable is alout 13Olbs to the square 'ncli, the pump is capable of lifting nearly 15 tons. It is of comoo sdfecting, end is worked by equilibrium' valvcr, which'ar; in turn governed by Btn Her onc3 under the control of the engineer, who is able by 6e.f-acting arrangements te regulate the spectt. The pump wr.s trieJ a few weeks ago, and was found to work sati'fe.itorily. Ax persons interested in promoting muscu'ar Christianity amongst the gentier sex are invifed by Mrs C lde, 1 to nitefc at Si-. G orga's Pdi..ona;-;e on .Thursday rexti at three o'clock, to consider the adrs'bility of forming a gymnastic and clisthenie class, under the auspi *j< of the Ath etic Club. At the Police Court this morning, Wi'liam Moron wf^ se«t?nced to pay a fine of 5s and costs, or undergo twelve horns' imprisonment, for beJDg dru .k and disorderly. Mr T. L. Murray, J.P., presided.

A fbw Jo.".ds of gravel put on the County side of *?olle3:on Street would bn appreciated by the ve^dents of that locluy. JSczv Kicbmond Street,Bome of the placas are very b .d.

A meeting- of the shareholder: ii the Crown claim, Otadui, i 3 convened to be held at Messra F.atei* Bio. office to-morrow evening afc sc»en o'eJcek.

Captain William Jaokost Bauet, wl>o hi 3 Lcen lecturing in the Ws.ikito settlements, interviewed Twhiao and his chiefs, and was courteously received.

In the Supreme Court, Wellington, yesterday, I'aipli Levoi, at one time well known oa the Thaai 9, applied for a dissolution of his marriage on the grouud of hi* wife* adultery with one William King, a steward. After argument-, Jud^e Richmond reserved judgment until tt--iovrow.

The City Council of Cbrißtchuroh lias refu3«d to allow any of its oSeeia to act bs inspectors .fur .the.Society of Prevention of CruoUv tj Animals.

At tie oiiminal sessions of the Supreme Court, Auckland, Edwaid Fitzgerald, for ?a.'(?eny, was sentenced'(o Iwu ye. rs. Simuel Henry Cox, for unlawfully wounding—owing to hav/ng sustained aeriou.< injuries at ibe name time—was imprisoned only to the ri.iag of the Court. A trne bill for murder was found a,,dn«fc Winiata. No bill wai found in the case of Samuel Wa^er, fo:- ra^j.