The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Rsurrexi. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1883.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4399, 8 February 1883, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Rsurrexi. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1883.

Sohb misapprehension appears to exist re* gar ding a local which appeared in our yesterday's issue in connection with a ruling of District Judge Smith as to witness' allowance. The ruling was to the effect, that he would not allow &s costs against a losing partj any fees or expenses of witnesses who were subpoenaed but not called. He did not say that the witness should not be paid by the person causing him to attend. Thb Companies working in connection with the Winding Association shaft purpose — upon permission being granted to them by the local bodies—running a tramway from the shaft in Albert street, to the intake at the rear of the Pacific Hotel, so as to . enable them to deposit their mullock in that feverencouraging hole. Thb unusual sound of firearms was heard in Albert street yesterday aftternoon, and on several persons rushing to the spot, near the corner of Queen, street, from whiiih it pro* ceeded, it was found that, a Mason-ie shot had been fired at a brown dog belonging to a respectable old lady commonly known as Goaty, and the animal was wounded in the neck. Is this an infringement of Borough by-laws. It is stated that quantities of aium hare been found iti the vicinity of Tararu. We have heard that on the road from Queen street to Parawai a very fine specimen of AUom, of a peculiarly white appearance, is frequently seen. Thb events to form the programme for the next meeting of the Thames Jockey Club wil be decided on this week. Thb Colonial Treasurer will leave Wellington on a visit to the South Island at the latter end of this month. LiTTBI/roy,s 'Arry is coming to the fore. A telegram announces that Mr AUwright has been nominated by Government to (be seat j on ibe Lyttelton Harbour Board formerly held by the Hon. B. Eichardson. Who will now lay that ratting is not rewarded. We have to acknowledge with thanks the receipt from Mr John Plumper, news I»Z nt, of Sydney, o 1 the summer number of The Graphic. This publication is so well known to the great majority of our readers > hat it is unnecessary for us io cay anything in its praise. A WOMAN named Mary Ann Long, in for drunkenness, committed suicide last night in the Auckland police cell in a determined manner. On the police going round at relief, they found her hanging, by a bit of gauze netting she had worn round her neck, to the bars of the door. Some natives concerned in the blocks at present before the Cambridge Land Court have posted up a notice to the effect that European lawyers are unnecessarily delaying .business, and thus rating up Maori lands,- and calling on all natives to throw out the lawyers. The notice further states that the natives are j starving in consequence of the lawyers. Mr Whitaker has replied to the notice, askiag if it referred to him j and stating, if bo, his; mind was free from guilt. I Wb understand that some of the Tolunteer j corps in the colony have applied to the Defence ! Minister for an extension of time in, which to make up their numbers lo the minimum strength required by the new regulations. A BATHER singular resurrection movement is now being carried on amor.gst t,he Chinese in Dunedin. It seems that the friends of all the Celestials who came to this colony from one of the Canton provinces, and who died here, have raised a fund' to deport to the burial ptoces of thei? ancestors the bones of the defunct. A society here has charge of the operations. They employ resurrectionists, who are busy not only in Dunedin and throughout Otago, but over the whole colony, disinterring the natives of this particular province aud Dunedin. Thirty-eight bodies have been raised. A special storehouse for the bodies ha* been built near Dunedin, and a considerable number now lie there awaiting shipment to China, each coffin properly labelled *fith the name of its inmate, so that no confusion shall arise, and this has been rendered the easier as a full record is kept by tome leading Chinese of every one of their countrymen buried. Bather a quandary arose over the remains of one individual which had gone to the Professor of. Anatomy at the local University. However, the comfortiug fiction that the Umrereity was » bur-

barian burial place satisfied the inquiring friends, and certain bones were duly produced Vhich were accepted on the word of the Professoras those of the particular deceased.

The American whaleship owners are again turning their attention to New Zealand whaling grounds, as there are expected to call at, Russell in May the California, Bertha^ Piatinea, Palmetto, Alaska, Robert Morrison, Jaaies Arnold, and several other vessels, besides a merchant ship, from New Bedford with stores, and to re-load with oil.

The Herald's Wellington correspondent says :■—"Mr Jphn Knowles, Uuder-Senretary for Public Works/and the oldest Civil Servant in the colony, who has recently been on sick leave owing to illness brought on by overwork, has applied for-permission to retire on a pension, on the ground "of failing healh. Ho entered the service in 1842, and is therefore in his 41st year of service, but has not yet attained sixty years of age. However, the medical certificates amply support hia title to retirement on a pension, and his request has accordingly been granted. It is not yet known who will be his successor. Various rumours are afloat, one being that the. Works and Railway Department will bs amalgamated and that Mr Werry, the present Under Secretary for "Railways, will succeed Mr Knowles. Another, and very improbable report, is that Mr Bußny, late M.H.R. for Wairarapa, is fche coming man, but by far the most likely ftory is that Mr Knowles' next, in command, Mr Benzoni (Assistant InderSecretary in the Public Works Department) will be new Under Secretary."

A Blenheim publican who was Bunimon"d for employing a girl in his bar after prohibited hours, pleaded that she was his adopted daughter and was not paid any wages. The case was dismissed. Publicans should take the hint and adopt their barmeids.

Mb Edwahds, who waa the first to draw attention to the existence of hematite deposits at the Thames, and who started the first paint manufactory there, has just discovered alura in payable quantities, and of good quality. He found the chrystalised alum, together with alum schist,! in a drive near Waioaio, between Tapu and Grahamstown. — Star.

Still more diamond stories are in circulation. It is reported that a quantity of prpcious stones found in the Lower Waikato district, have been left with Mr Grreenshields, in Shortland street. In the present excited state of the popular mind on the all-engross-ing topic, it is most advisable that an authentic test of their value ascertained.— Exchange. .

A coktemp.">baby says:—ln looking over the new volunteer regulations we observe the following, in clause 182: "Any volunteer proved to have written to a newspaper on matters connected with his corps shall be liable to be fined £3; and summarily dismissed the force;" &c. To put it mildly, this appears to us to be a mistake, as it assumfß the regulations, like thelaws of the Medea and Persians, to be perfection, which decidedly they are not, as some of the clauses are repugnant tothe Volunteer Act, while the Act provides no regulation snail be so. And other clauses in the regulation* are practically useless. For instance, the target and judging distance practices, which do not demand even a low minimum of qualification j so that in the former every shot may be expended in the mountain instead of on the target, and in the latter the most absurd answers may be given with im punity. The present reforming regulations are the outcome mainly of letters in the Press, written mostly hy volunteers. We hold there is no finality in the soldier's business more than in any other, consequently fair criticism is an actual necessity, and such penalties as those mentioned in the above quoted clause are mistakes, for who knows the defective ropes in a ship so well as the crew ? Moreover, as it has taken Borne eighteen or twenty years of free discussion to obtain the present ai.tempfc at reform, how many years will it take for further improvement under such a repressive clause as that referred to ?