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Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4729, 4 March 1884, Page 2

The Thames is a notable place for tea meetings, &c.j bub the Ttmaru people must be awarded the palm for eating heartily, if the following, from the Canterbury Times, is to-be i-r-" The. tables v were boantifnljy Wpplied,an<f certainly if anyone went with the sordid-hope of getting " the worth of his money," he was not at all disappointed. The tea was served at 6 o'clock, but it was a quarter to eight before the visitors were satis* isfiedj and an adjournment was made to the Churoh." Half-an-hour at the table is gene* rally enough for most people, but theTimaru. , ians appear able to keep it up for an hour and three-quartsre. 'U'

Comhandee Oitjham, of H.M. Lark, and hiß first lieutenant, left for Tu-itiri yesterday morning, to take soundings where the steamer Triumph struck. The Anne Milbank brought a cargo of iron and hardware from tbe scene of the wreck, and leaves again for another cargo.

Mb J. Tow^SEND notifies in another column that he has removed from his Pollen street shop to newly erected and more commodious premises in Mary street, near Pollen street, where we expect bis rnasv customers will find his extended promises of more convenience to them.

Anctheb case of poisoning from taking " Rough oo Bats " ocourred in Wanganui on Sunday evening. A man named Peoples, who bad been drinking, took a bottle of the poison, whioh be bought at a local store, and took two dceej, though it is not known how much. He

was in a very bad state when visited by Dr Tripe, but is now out of danger and recover* ing. No reason is assigned for the. deed-, except that the man was t3mporarily deranged from the effects of drink.

The result of the Bhooting for the Champion Belt caused great excitement in Wanganui, being the first time the Belt has gone there since 1863, when Lieut. Owen, of Rangitikei, secured it, and the fact of three Wanganui men heading tbe list makes the victory doubly gratifying. Probably a public reception ot the competitors will be held on their arrival on Saturday.

Sib Juiltrs and Lady Togel are amongst the passengers which left London on Sunday by the s.s. Tongariro, for Port Chalmers.

The Customs returns for the colony for February are £124,493 18s 9ei, as against £189,606 3a Id for the corresponding month of lsst year ; the beer duty from the same periods was respectively £4,913 6s 3d, and £5279 6i 9J. For the Thames the general duties were for February, 1884, £768 Is 81, as against £346 Os Id for the corresponding month of laßt year. These figures show an increase of over 100 per cent., while the amount of beer duty collected here wa? in February, 1884, £96 9s 7d, as compared with February, 1883, £136 11s 4'J, showing a d?crease of over £40.

The tenth annual meeting of shareholders in Lhe" Standard Insurance Company was held yes 13rd ay afternoon at Dunedin. The accounts showed a credit balance of £4420, from which a 7J- per cent, dividend was .declared. The first meeting of tho^Equitablo Insurance Company was also held in.Dunedin yesterday afternoon. The credit -balance for for the year was £3350 13; 2d, out of which a dividend of S per cent. was declared.

It is understood that His Excellency the: Governor, with his family and suite, willleavo Wellington by the'Hinemoa on.the 12tb inst.. for Auckland, and will stay for about two months iv the latter oify.

The Auokland publioans have fina'ly de> cided (o .lodge petitions to upset the city licensing elections on technical grounds. If successful, they will, *at tbe new elections, adopt 11 o'clook closing sad Bern-Sunday trading as their platform. - '"'

The several public schools of the Thames are being supplied with clubs as an addition to the gymnastic curriculum* The contractor for the current year is Mr F. Chappel, who was tbe sncceasftil tenderer for the supply of gymnastic apparatus to all schools under the Board.

A' flHOCruro accident occurred on Sunday in Wanganui, by which a boy named Hall may lose his life, tte was walking beside a boy on horseback, with another lad on the other aide, when the lalter touched the horse's leg with a stick. The animal kicked out with a start and caught Hall just above the eye, j inflicting a terrible gash, from which the brain protruded in a sickening manner. He was found by some men nearly suffocated from blood clottiug in his mouth, and taken to the adjacent hotel. An operation was performed by Drs Connolly and Earl, and nine pieces of bone taken from the wound, which was covered up. This morning the boy was sufficiently rational to detail the circumstances. The other boy ran away on the occurrence, and last evening Hall was sufficiently recovered to be removed to the hospital, where he ia making satisfactory progress, and some slight hopes are entertained of his recovery. The topsail schooner Endeavor 78 tons, Capt. Huxton, has received quick despatch from Bagnall Bros., and came down the river as far as Kopu this morning. She wiil probably.sail for her destination, Lyttelton, with this evening's tide.

The Police Court this morning was presided over by Dr Kilgour and H. C. lawlor> Esq., J.P. Herniora was fined five shillings and costs, or ordered to be imprisoned for 24 hours, for inebriety. Alexander Phillips was charged (the second time within six months) with drunkenness. The defendant was arrested in a helpless sate in Owen Btreet, and had over £30 in cash in his possession. The Bench lectured him for his reappearance, and told him that he would probably be prosecuted for habitual drunkenness under the Vagrant Act. He wos fined £3 and costs, or in default seven,d>tys imprisonment. The fine was paid.

Some Auckland residents hare started the adventurous sport of shark-hunting, the harbor at present swarming with these monsters. On Saturday Mr T. T. Maiefield was out with a party, and harpooned a very large fish, which was only captured after a deal of trouble, it dragging the boat for three hours. Finally it was dragged up on the beach, and found to measure 13$ feet long by 9}feet in girth. Yesterday morning it was disembowelled, and amongst the contents of the stomach no less than 96 fish-heads were counted, as well as the leg and blade bones of an ox. It is intended to present the head of the animal to the Museum.

The local Hospital is at present so full that one patient, a boy suffering from a broken arm, has had to be removed to the female ward. There are no less than 24 patients in the institution.

These was some excitement shewn in the important election taking place for the new. Parawai Ward of the Borough to-day. Although only «ight or nine votes.can be polled, cvety effort is being made by two contending parties to " pull the event off." All the cabs in, the Borough were net employed to convey voters to the poll, but canvassing has been energetically carried on all day. Should what is known as the ward party succeed, it is nob impossible that a petition will bo forwarded to Government praying that the ward be constituted "The Pnrawai Borough." . Two men were admitted at the Hospital this Efreraoon. One, named Brew, steward on the p.s. Patiki, sustained a fraoture of one of his ribs by coming in contact with the saloon table while he was '* skylarking." After being attended to he went to his home. Tiae other, David Lynch, an Aucklaatrfesident, was working on the raUi»fty bridge, Te Aroba, yesterday, when the scaffolding on which he was standing gave way,, and he fell to the ground, a distance of 14ft. His right ankle was > dislocated by thfr .shock, and the left; knee was also hart. --=4te" was brought down by the Fatiki.

A day or. two ago- Messrs McKenzie Bros.' in felling bush on the land at Kiwitea, Marlbprpugh, camo across a magnifi. cen^j^a tree, which had two trunks, about; four feet apart, one of, which measured, at a distance of four feet from the ground, sixty-feet in circumference. The two trunks joined at about ten feet from the ground,, and four feet above that, the circumference of the tree was seventy-eight feet! 'The height was computed to be at least 150 feet. The bush generally is very heavy in Kiwitea —ratas, rimus, honeysuckles growing to astonishing dimensions. • It is a common thing to come across honeysuckles measuring 4ft. in diameter. . .