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Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4251, 16 August 1882, Page 2

The Bank of New Z'aland shipped this morning by s.s. Rotomahina three boxes containing 27400z 19dwts gold buUion. The Convention of the Royal Arch Chaptei*, summoned for this evening, is unavoidably postponed. We would call attention to the avfc union for Mr Driver's pictures, the drawing for which is to come off at the Volunteer Hall, Richmond street, to-morrow evening. Theie pictures, which consist of both oil and water color paintings, are from the brush of our townsman, Mr H. D. Driver, and each one is a real work of art. Mr Driver has now decided to dispose of them, and has selected the avfc union method as the best way of doing so. Thn price set on them is a very low one, and tbare should be no difficulty experienced in disposing of the required number of tickets. Any further information can be learned from Mr Driver or Mr Gh-'gg.

ACOOEDING to the Waikato Times, the Hamilton Railway Bridge is likely to cost a pretty penny before it is finished. The dredge, which has been at work for come days in the northern cylinder of the west pier, has now cleaned all the sand out, the depth reached being eighty-one feet, and so far there are no indications of rock or of any other substance sufficiently hard to resist the immense vertical p essure of the cylinder whon filled with concrete, the weight of which will be something like 40J tons. It is possible that a very much greater depth wil! have to be attained before a sufficiently hard foundation wiU ba secured, and every foot means, of course, a considerable addition to the cost of the work. To the mind of a layman it seems strange that such a large work should have been planned, and commenced upon data which subsequent events prove tj have been bo erroneous. It was generally understood that when the material for the bridge was ordered, proper borings had been made, and the distance of the hard bottom below the river ascertained. This, however, could not have been the case, and operations even now are being carried on to a certain extent in the dark.

Jamfs Wiltiam Eras, the convict who was sentenced at the la3t criminal session to 12 yeW penal servitude and two floggings of 30 lashes eich, for felonious assault on a child in Wairarapa, received his first whipping at the gaol yesterday morning in the presence of Captain Hume, Inspector of Prisons. The punishment h said to have been very severe.

The Australia left Auckland yesterday afternoon for' Frisco. Mr Pickering was one of the passengers. He goes to purchase the latest machinery in America and England for the Union Soap, Candle, and Oil Company j also to visit the Continent of Europe to inspect the latest processes of manufacture. The steamer took gold valued at £67,650 consigned to San Francisco from Sydney.

SiHTJfiri Jo"? again appeared on a charge of bigamy ab Auckland yesterday. Benjamin T. A«hwell deposed that in 1858 he wai officiating clergyman at Taupiri,. in the Waikato district. On the Btli of February* 1858, he performed the marr'age ceremony between Samuel Joy and Caroline Randolf, in the prc3enca of two witnesses, Robert A. Stewart; and Samuel Kandolf. He could nofc recognise the prisoner as £-imuel Joy, owing to the distance of time. He was unable to give the particulars of the marriage. It was performed in a raupo building. His impression was that it was in a church. His memory was greatly impaired by sick* ness and the infirmities of age. He produced c register containing the entry. He would not have performed the marriage^ unless all the necessary preliminaries had been gone through. Owing to the absent of other witnesses the c s.e was adjourned.

Thk Herald learns that the prospects of the Southern Cros3 and Deep Level gold mines have been very mnch improved latoly by the presence of antimony in larg,e quantities at the Southern Cross 4~0 feet level, near the Caledonian reef, which is being driven seaward. Hiiherto the presence of antimony has been the precursor of n rich find of gold. The Southern Cro3s and Deep Level have combined to sink a shaft and erect the necessary winding machinery adjacent to the rich find of the .f riuce Imperial raine.

A MEETING- of farmers ba3 been held at Emoa, South Australia, when it was resolved to send Mr J. Whyte as a delegate to "Victoria, New South Wales, and New Zealand, for the purpose of inquiring into the land laws of those colonies, that the former may judge which is most desirable to emigrate to.

The woola of Australia, the Cape, Indie, and Persia, are driving thoEO of Spuin and the Continent genorally ou' of the market, as the wheat of the United States is driving out (hat of Russia.

"Take that right away," said the young man to the waiter, as he pointed to a saucer of whipped cream which had been brought for his strawberries, " I didn't come here to get shaved."—Punch.