Auckland Echoes.

Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4236, 29 July 1882, Page 1 (Supplement)

Auckland Echoes.

(FSt/M OTJB SEMI-OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT.) Knowing how much volunteering is appreciated at the Thames. I feel sure J | will be excused if I make a few remarks j on the feelings of Auckland volunteers anent the proposals of the Volunteer Commission. Thoughtful volunteers here feel th'it the coming into force of regula tions based on the report of the commission will effectually squelch volunteering in the provincial metropolis, as attendance at thirteen daylight drills is eutirely out of the question with nearly every member of our present force. Then it is felt the remuneration is not sufficient to remunerate men for the time and trouble, and many have expressed to me the sentiment that the conditions are much too stringent. The war ccnre may induce Parliament to be a little liberal to the citizen soldiery, Cognate to the above, I re-produce a paragraph from the Qtago Witness, just to show my old friends of the Thames Scottish that dead as a body corporate their memory is cherished at the other end of the colony :—" The Thames Scottish, owing to the scurvy treatment received frgm the Defence Department in the nonfulfilment of the agreement undez which they volunteered for Parihaka, have disbanded. Id the dissolution of that corps the colony has lost the services of perhaps the finest and most efficient body of men in the volunteer force of the colony. It is a poor policy which first endeavors to get efficient volunteers and then loses their services when this is accomplished by want of tact, niggardliness, and bad faith. They disbanded after celebrating tha Queen's Birthday with all honors, loyal to their Sovereign, but also faithful to the old national motto of Scotland, Nemo me impune lacesset. The province will not soon forget, if Mr Bryce does, that the Thames Scottish has," done the State some serrice."

. A very curious story, in which one of our leading citizens figures in a most unsatisfactory manner, is going the rounds just now, and I have every reason to be» Here that it is true. Some years ago a young lady, well connected here, married unhappily, and, after the birth of two children, was deserted by her husband, who went to Australia. She struggled hard to maintain herself and her babes, but found the fight a difficult one, and she incurred liabilities she was unable to meet. And now the leading citizen,.who has the name of beiDg a philanthropist in a small way, appears on the scene of this little drama of real life. He sought out the unfortunate woman, and lent her sufficient money to discharge her debts and start her in business. Had his proffered aid ended with the practical evidence of his feelings, all might have been well. But no, the motives of the supposed good Samaritan were not so pure as appeared at first. He visited his protege with the greatest regularity, and having the poor woman in his power speedily effected her ruin, a child was born, and the poor mother poor, wretched, miserable, and with tarnished name was left to fight the world without any assistance from her seducer. In the meantime her husband, being penitent, determined to return to Auckland and make amends to his spouse for the cruel desertion. On his arrival here however, on finding how matters stood, ha endeavored to get possession of his children, determining to cast off his wife for ever. But the lady was obdurate and thought an endeavor was made to prove she was insane she still has the children under her charge. The leading citizen is quaking in his shoes, and for his especial benefit, I may add that circumstances have recently transpired which render exposure inevitable.

By one of the recent ships from England there arrived a young lady who a couple of years ago had been engaged at Home to a presumably respectable man just before his departure to New Zealand, and whose present location is Whangarei, On proceeding to that bucolic neighborhood imagine the young lady's astonishment and horror at finding her engagi living with another woman. It has subsequently transpired that the gay Lothario has a wife residing in Glasgow. So much for duplicity.

We have at present in port a trim German war vessel of 2000 tons burthen named the Corola. She is one of the class of steel built steam corvettes that have of late years beeu much affected by the German JN aval authorities. Her officers are a jolly lot of fellows, and have become immensely popular during their stay here. Mr Gustav Yon der Heyde, the German Consul, has been assiduous in his endeavours to make the visit pleasant, and I am sure he has succeeded, iudeed, Captain Kercher, of the Carola, says Auckland is the pleasantesfc city in Australasia, and he is very loth to weigh anchor.

The war news has roused the Government sufficiently to cause them to face the question of harbor defences, and we expect shortly to be protected with enormous cannons and deadly torpedoes, I overheard an Auckla.nd.er paying the other day that the great southern ports do not require any artiEcial protection, the inaccessibility of Dunedin, Lyttelton, and Port Chalmers rendering it improbable that the commander of a hostile war vessel would risk too close an acquaintance with their bars and sunken rocks.

The Lord Downshire, said to be the largest sailing ship ever" constructed, is on her way (June 15) from Belfast to San Francisco. She is constructed of steel, is 230 feet long, and has four masts. Despatches from Copenhagen say the movement for the severance of Norway from Sweden, and for the establishment of a Republic, is assuming increased proportions. Unpleasant complications are expected. "Boys are like railway carriages—often* times they can only be kept upon the right track by a judicious use of switches. An Irish lady was ao much on her guard against betraying her national accent that she is reported to hare spoken of the" creature of Vesuvius," fearing that the crater would betray her again. ,