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Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4725, 28 February 1884, Page 2

It will be remembered that at a special meeting of the congregation of St. George's Church, held on the 13th instant,. it waa refolded that the Bishop be requested to offer the incumbency of this district ta the Rftv. Mr Evans, of Norbhcote. We ara now informed that Mr Evans has accepted the offer, and will be read/ to enter on his new cure at the end of March.

Mb B. Sckofield, well known on the wharf, had a narrow eicapo from being crushed to death to-day. While walking up Upper Albert street, he heard a noise overhead, and, looking up, saw that a large piece of stone had been dislodged from the side of the bill, which is here veiy strep, by the goats, and was falling directly towards him. To turn and spring down the bill was the work of a moment, but even then he barely escaped the shower of fragments which scattered in all directions. The authorities, in this caae we believe it is the Borough Council, should see that any L jse pieces of rock in similar phrci are removed, or a serous accident may perhaps or^ur, as numbers of people are constantly p ssing up and down the street.

We learn that efforts are to be made by the Regatta Committee to secure the barque Bella Mary, now in harbor, as flagship for the regatta on March 17th. Should they be successful, the vessel will be moored in a position between the two wharves, and as the course for the sailing racrs will be a triangular one, this arrangement will enable all either on the wharves or the flagship to have an excjllent View of the start and finish of each race. Mr Casey's new vcesel is to compete in the cutter raea, while it is the general opinion that the other events will also be hotly contfstc". If the Committee can see their way clear to do so, we would suggest that they add a four-oared gig rare to the programme, and conclude the list by offering a prize for walking the greasy pole, to be competed for by boys only. The programme appesvs in enotber column.

The annual meeting of the Assessment Court in connection with the Borough valuntion list wl.) held today at two o'clock, H. Keririck, Esq., presiding. The name of John Neal was plar 1 on the roll in place of Alfred Buckland, in re pect'of a property in Owen street, and the valuation of one adjoining street, owned by A. Buckland, wps reduced from £12 to £8. An allotment end building in Owen street, the property of the same person, yalu. d afc £CO, was re uccd to £30. The name of R. Comer wes inserl din the list in place of A. Buekland, for allotment in Burke street. On the application of Mr Lush a shop and allotment in Owen street, owned by R. Or. McFarland, was reduced from £26 to £13. In the Middle Ward the name of JS". P. Jack wa^ inserted in place of that of Mrs Strak, and the Tulualion rfduced from £15 to £1 in respect of a property in Davy street, alao on Mr Lush's application. The name of Win. JJurton was substituted for that of 8. Mears for a properf.y in Pollen street. The nama of M. C. Hicltey was inse#ed in place of Robert Graham for six allotments in Davy street. J, Oaborno's name was removed from the list as occupier of premises in Alborj street. J". M. Mennie successfully applied that the valuation for properly of his in Queen slreet b& reduced from £160 to £10). The Court was still sitting when our report closed.

Twb charge against M.W. Owens of deserting hie wife, who is at present in Duaedin, uaß been withdrawn, an agreement having been arrived at be ween the parties. Thk people cf the Thames are well k .own for their musical propensities, and on £;aturday evening they will hare an opportunity of displaying the?r acumen and showing thair apprecia» fon of what is sail to be a really good performance, when they will give their good report on'Mies Vesta Amor's Operetta Company. Mb W. Gabbsti'b iron etea^r was launched off the reclamation, Richmond iitree^ at half-past ten this morning, and was christened the Result. She will be floated off the mud \i»h ta-night'* tide, and removed to Shortland Wharf. The owner intends to take her for a trial trip to morrow morning. She, is intended for the up river trade, but will not be put on it for a week or two.. Shortly d Wharf just now presents quilfl an animated spectacle, the railway contractors having a number of men engaged cracking and spreading metal, while carts are also constantly arriving with rough meial for the facing of the seawall from the wharf to the Hape Creek, which is being built up in the < flume way a» the »bore end of Goods Wharf.

Mb Oaskt's n. w cutter, the Margaret Casey, lately launched from Mr Stone's yard, Shoitiand, had her aails bsnt on this afternoon, and to-morrow she will start work, being employed as a lighter to the Bella Mary barque, r ; > . .

Thg secular press has 80 of'on been charged by narrow minded religionists with' acting in opposition to the pulp^fe, that it is quite refreshing to be able to. relate that at a revival service held in the Grahamstown Wesleyan Church last nighty one of the leaders of the meeting offered tip a special ..petition on bshalf of newspaper reporters, that t'\ey might Tbe enabled to relate correctly what they heard, ao that people who read their reports might be spiritually benefited by their perusal. Our reporter, who waa the sole representative of the fourth estate with enough religion remining in him to attend tbeserrieo, basbe?ii eorely exercised in his mind ever since. He heard one of the " brothers" immediately afterwards relate an anecdote, in which ho said a sick seaman made his benefactor (the captain of a whaler) sit down an hour end a half, while ho read to hioi the whole Bible from Genesis to Ecvelatious. Our reporter.saye be is afraid to publish the statement, lest he should be arcusei by the intelligent British public with having invented the yarn (notwithstanding the special petition). He does not think the work could be done in the time, bufc he hesitatc3 t > say so, for fear he should seem to doubt the words of the pious brother. For his own part he says be must confess ha has such a foggy idea of the number of books intervening between Genesis and Revelation, that lie will leave it to his better instructed reivlera to say if there h any instance of faster reading on record.

A speciai. meeting of the shareholders of the Thames River Steam Navigation Co. wtvs held last night, Mr Eensbaw in the Che'-.

Thero was a fair attendance. The pecrei/ry reported that a total of 783 new shares had been taken up, while further promises brought the number up to 896, only 320 b ir» now left on hand. The Chairman wai pler.3ed to see that tbe secretary had got off so many shares, and thought they would ba able to got rid ;of the whole number, or else get tbc:e who refuged to take up new shares to i-bandon thoae held to the company. After some conversation it was resolved that Messrs Read, Renshaw, Smith, and Marshall be a committee to wait on tho3e who have not taken up new shares, and report in a fortnight. The Chairman Siid the business was going on well, the Waitoa especially giving thorough satisfaction, and he hoped better times ;ere now coming. The meeting then adjourned till March 12th.

The temperan; 3 party has bean again defeated at the election of. Licensing Committee for Chriatchurch South west.

A; I\BBE quantity of the Triumph's orgo— principally hardware—still remaining under water on the rocks at Tintiri, tbe steamer Anne Milbank in now at the scene of the casualty with a diver and the ncee3sary lifting gedr,foi* tbe purpose of recovering 83 much of it as pO3sible.

The Newton East School Committee met last'night to appoint a headmaster for the school. There were twenty-two applications revived) among them one from Mr O'Dondghue, of the Thames. The Committee were unanimous in appointing the Ber. Mr Coates, headmc>ter of the Kamo School, Wangarei. '

Tee Albertlandera, who have consistently opposed the 1 quor traffio for nearly a quarter of a century, returned a temperance committee by a majority of ten to one. A telegram gays that Mangawai, which has recently bten added to their licensing district, will now hare its hotel shut up.

Debbiit, the jockey, sued MrH. P. Lance, at Christchurch, for £100 damages for wrongful dismissal. The evidence showed that Berritfc had b:;n engaged by Mr Bobinson, Mr Lrnce's partner, as first horaeman at £100 a year fee till July 31, 1834, aud was discharged on v November 5. Just before, the C.J.C Metropolitan M; iting he had receiv. 1

£4CJ, and claimed a fifth. .Plaintiff was nonsuited on the ground that the t <ntraot waa with Robinson.

Thk Marlboroagh, for London, from Dunedin, took 10,300 caresses of frozen me -t for the New Zealand and Australian Land Com.* p*ny«

MB. R. Smith, who acted as Duncdin secret ry for the Rifle Association Meeting last year, has sent the following telegram ! j Major B ;illie, in reference to the sat imen* 3 in y: 3tei day's message from Auckland that he had overdrawn his commission:—"You are in possession of duplica':; capiea of all correspondence that has p.; 59.1 re commission, and have maintained throughout that I am sLlctly entitled to the amount deducted by me, which has been thoroughly corroborated by Col. £t^vely through the Dunedin prc33. If the council think differently it is their duty to take legal proceedings for its rccove y. Please request them to do so instead of allowing me to be attacked when not present to defend myself."

At a meeting Of parsons interested in the erection of a bittery at Te Aroha, held in Auckland yesterday, it; was resolved to ort -t a battery at the lower site of Bullocks water race, at the foot of Butler's Spur, Waiorongc* mai. It was also agreed to form a company for this purpose, consisting; of 5000 shares of £1 each. The battery will be'only 20 he-d to begin with, but should inducement offer it will be increased to 43 head.

Tub inquiry re the collision between the stumers Wairarapa and Adelaide in Hobsbn's Bay was contiaucd yesterday. The fouvth engln ,r and of her witnesses said they heard nothing of the vessels racing, as it was stated th?y had' been. C pt. Ohatfield w&} recalled, and depo^d, ." I Bt>pped off Williamßtown for about half-an-hour to land the pilot. There is no truth in the rumor that we wan+^d to race the Adelaide We weio going at our ordinary sped, and I suppose the Adelaide was doing her best to pass us. I gave no orders to let the Wairarapa out, or to do anything extra. We could sea the fiUjtnes trom the Adelaide all the way down the bay. In the channel three ships length of water is the width we ehould have had where we collided. I never spoke to the Adelaide' or it to me. It did not oc^ur to me to isk the Adelaide to k op the other side of the chnnne'. Captain Cameron et ;ted that about £250 would be required to repair fch« Wairarapa.

With rogari to the soundnoss of ropes v ed at mines, one experienced mining manaager sesuris a Victorian paper that " he never allows any of Lv ropes to remain exposed within 4ft. of the ground, because he has proved that the urine of doga— and especially of the kangaroo epecies^-complotely rots the strands, and in suoh a way that the injury re* mains unobserved, unleaj a critical examination is made."

A. WrsTiiifD paper thus refers to the unfortunate Mr Seddon, M.H.S., who, it may bo remembered, managed to get an effusion of bis published verbatim el literatim in one of his district's journals some time ago : —"The redoubtable "Richard John "writes a balloon of a letter to ihs Hokitik* morning pnpar in defence of hwneolfr.nd his 'UilUe bill'" that nobody could do anything w.'tbl Anaon;;st other hard thing?, be refers to the a obtr_ ,'tation " of. the legal lutLinavion of G-oyuioulh. This is Tery hard } Tkeso " lcg.»l luminaries " roust be bad indgcl "when the ganulous llicburd oannot find tei.aa of condemnation strong enough and suitable enough to pelt them with, but that he must go to the graveyard of the language and throw the verb::", interments of a past age at them. Poor Biohfrd, What next ?

The Home Nova, of Junua y l?tb, says : — Now that New Zaaland has been brought within forty days of the Thames, ifc is hardly possible to believe that a .little more than ten years ago the only service to that thriving csloriy was by sailing ships, which" oocupied more than double the time. The fact is hailed with great satisfaction in this country, as it mast certainly stimulate the importation of frozen meat. Consumers'are already realis* ing the merits of New Zealand mutton, arid would gladly have more of it if they could. As each of these 'steamers are fitted to convey 14,000 carcases, there seems at first sight no| reason why the desirei should riot be gratified ; and yet it is an extraordinary, fact that New Zealand mutton as such is not to be met with in the markets. It appears to under. sort of transmutation in the process J of thawing, an<?, passes from the docks to the butch er'e-shop as the primest Southdown... O£. course, the explanation is uot far to seek The best New Zealand mutto ? can be handed to the retail trade at about sixpence a pound, but this would not suit the middlemen, who call it English and sell it at home exorbitant .prices. There k a fine fortune waiting for an enterprising capitalist who would attaok and break up this ring. Thb New Zealand University Senate c^mmen/ :d its annual session yesterday. The supplementary charter granting power to confer degrees in science was receive!. Including the Government grant of £3CZ9, the revenue of the year had teen £3713, and the expenditure £3431. This yezv the Senato will.; have mtde provision for examination in medicine and science. . For the B,A. Degree, first srotion, there were 44 candidates,^ and final section 27; for tbe L.L.B. Degree 4, and for M.A. 1, LL.D. 1, honours 7, and preliminary wedical 1; total 85, being 24 more than in 1882. Eleven teachers derating to qualify fo^class under the Education Department were olso examined. For the December examinations there were 135 candidates for matriculation, and 43 for junior scholarships, being an increase of 43 on the previous year. The peculiar season we arehaving in New Zealand is much the same as is being experienced in the other colonies, where the weather is extremely variable. Several inche3 of snow fell at Brandy Ore ok, Victoria, on Jan. 23, and yet from evei-y quarter in Qucinsland, New South Wales. South Australia, and Northern Victoria, complaints arise of the intense heat with whioh the summer is accompanied; The thermometer at Adelaide lately registered 165 in the buo and 103 in the shade. The; yor 1883 was the wettest year in South Australia since 1853, hence the big grain yield. Wise FoirtiY.—"For ten years my wife was confined to her bed with such a complication, of ailments that no doctor could tell what was the matter or cure.her, and I us d up a small fortune in humbug stuff. Six months ago I saw an American flag with Hop Bilters on it, and I though I would be a fool once more. I tried it, but my folly proved to be wisdom. Two bottles cured her, she is now as well and strong as any man's wife, and ifc ost mo only two dollars."—H. W., -Detroit, Micb. tiead __^