THAMES TITTLE TATTLE

Observer, Volume 3, Issue 72, 28 January 1882, Page 308

THAMES TITTLE TATTLE

—Charlie Hudson has returned from Te Kopuru, on a visit, looking sprightlier than ever. —Miss Newell (from Waikato) and Miss McVey (from Kaipara) are at present on a visit to friends at the Thames. — Mrs and the Misses Coney returned here on Thursday of last week, after spending six weeks in the metropolis. — May has returned from the metropolis, and Tom M. is consequently in the seventh heaven oif . delight. _ — Mrs Sheehan looked charming at the Mayor s picnic last week in a costume of pale blue satin elegantly trimmed with white lace, set off with pearl ornaments. The hat was to match. — Captain and Mrs Crawford passed through the Thames last week, en route for- Aucklaud, which place they left some days previous on a, pleasure trip. They came round via Waikato and the Upper Thames. V —Mi- James Ripley, of Wanganui, paid a flying visit to the Thames last week, and was shown the lions of the place by a conple.of our to wu sm en. He has returned South, with a favourable impassion of the Md. *

—Most of the volunteer officers here are very dissatisfied with Major Withers as commander of the force, and some go to the length of affirming that it he persists in his present course of action volunteering will soon be a thin.- of the past in this district. — Rhodes and Gilmour, of the Bank of New Zealand, intend to purchase a stately mansion in a most aristocratic part of the town, and are going m tor the ease aud freedom of a bachelor's life. The latter gentleman who has an ambition to become a second Paganini, will then be able to saw away on that fiddle of his to his heart's content. —I have ascertained for a fact that a prominent citizen who has times without number denounced the Observer as a wretched rag, and boasted that he never purchased a copy of it, has for months past subscribed to and been a regular reader of it. This worthy, I may mention, is a shining light in one of the big churches. Comment is needless. — Another mean woman has been discovered, this time in Pollen-street. The other evening she placed a pat of butter, weighing about seven ounces, and worth a little more than sixpence, before five hungry men and boys (employes of her husband), and because it bad all been eaten in the course of the meal, she promptly lectured one of the youths, and clothed him with the garment called the sack. _ . — A local Jehu took a mean advantage of a stranger to the Thames one day last week by charging him three times the ordinary fare, and when remonstrated with on the exorbitant amount added insult to injury by cheeking his victim. Cabbies should remembdr tbat such actions are illegal, and that by an infringement of the regulations they render themselves liable to a substantial penalty. —Frank Egginton, of the Telegraph Department, has purchased a six -roomed cottage in Kirkwoodstreet, and is stocking it with bran new furniture- The Rev. Calder will most probably hear the case. Messrs Mennie and Dey are building a three-decker, and the services of Jim Finlay, the popular jeweller, are also | being brought into requisition. — A grand picnic was given by his Worship the Mayor (Mr VV. Wilkinson) at Puru last week, and was attended by the elite of the district. Unfortunately, Mr W. was unable to be present, through serious indisposition, but a very pleasant time was spent nevertheless, the.Mayoress exerting herself to contribute to the comfort and enjoyment of the numerous guests. — I am told it was splendid fun to see a certain ! Borough Councillor and a civil engineer floundering through the municipal endowment (which is nothing more than a vast swamp) oue day last week, on the occasion of a visit of inspection by Councillors Wilson, Osborne, and Speight'. The latter, I believe, was the only one of the trio who was game enough to cross the waste of mud and water, the others preferring to view the " promised land " from a distance. — A young lady, living iv the neighbourhood j of Richmond-street, had occasion last Sunday evening, about ten o'clock, to go to a friend's house in RollestonI terrace, and in hurrying down the steps nenr the Pres- | byterian manse, on her return, tumbled over a loving couple who had seated themselves on one of the lower planks, and who were so absorbed in each other that they failed to hear the sound of approaching footsteps. The gay Lothario was no other than a gentleman well | known in the sharebroking world, his fair companion | being an ex -barmaid. j — Is it true that tlie worthy pastor of tho ' Presbyterian Church declined to read the burial service at the grave of a man who was conveyed from the hospital to his last resting-place a Sunday or two ago, on the ground that he had a service to attend to ? And, further, is it a fact that the rev. gentleman neglected to j provide a substitute, and in consequence of which the friends of the deceased were put to much inconveni- | ence? It is alleged by one of the chief mourners— who, it may be remarked, is a member of St. James' Church — that such things were done, and I give publicity to I the matter with no other object than of eliciting the real facts of the case. From wbat I know of Mr Meill, I think he is too much of a Christian to be guilty of anything of the sort, and I am anxious to see a satisfactory explanation given. — I was much amused when passing along Coromandel-street on Thursday evening at witnessing a very amatory demonstration on the part of a young lady towards the gentleman whose name is engraven on , her heart, and for whom only it beats. The happy man | is a son of the yardstick, employed at a certain establishment in Queeu-street, and had just stepped aboard j the Rotomahana, for Auckland, when the fair creature came hurrying down the street to the steamer to bid j him good-bye. Much to ber annoyance, the vessel steamed oft' as the lady placed her foot on the pier, but j her disappointment was shortlived. Taking up a position at the foot of Coromandel-street, she amused herself for J fully ten mimites " throwing" kisses at her beau, who returned this exhibition of love and affection by the repeated waving of a handkerchief from tbe' steamer. The whole affair was as good as a play, and, it is needless to say, was heartily relished by "your own," of whose presence the dainty Miss was in blissful ignorance. — Mine host of the Provincial, in Queen-street, Grahainstown, tells a good story apiopos of the flood last week. On his way to the Academy to take part in the first performance of " Chilperic," young Williams, the principal tenor singer of Gary's juvenile "Pirates," fell into the Albert-street culvert, which was overflowing and lost one of his shoes, and in endeavouring to pick it up received another cold bath by overbalancing himself. In the descent one of two raw eggs which he bad in bis pocket to clear his throat before singing became broken. The youngster failed to regain possession of his shoe, and made the best of a bad thing by partaking of the remaing egg, saying, " Darn it ! there'll be no performance to-night ; it will be a pity to disappoint | the hen tbat laid this egg, so here goes ;" and go it did. — For out-and-out meanness commend me to Mrs Blank, the wifeof a tradesman known throughout the length and breadth of this peninsula. Some months ago this inestimable 'ady begged a friend of hers (a female, of course), who was about to visit the city, to purchase for her a small quantity of rich dress material, as none was obtainable down here. The friend readily agreed to oblige Mrs Blank, and in due course went to Auckland. No difficulty in obtaining the required article was anticipated, but Mrs soon found. that she had been mistaken. Shop after shop was visited by lier iv search of the material, but without success, and she was about to give up what appeared to be a fruitless errand, when she bethought herself of the firm of merchants with whom her husband had frequent dealings. Hurrying to their warehouse, she found, to her delight, that they had in stock the very stuff Mrs Blank wanted. The commission was so small that the firm hardly thought it worth while to effect a sale ; but as the husband of the lady was an old customer of theirs they determined to oblige her, and the material was handed to her at wholesale price, or at about half the figuro it conld be purchased for at a retail establishment at the Thames. The parcel was forwarded to Mrs Blank a few days after, but up to the present time her obliging friend has not been paid for the same, and the only reply she vouchsafed when a request for 'payment is sent in is that she has not used the stuff, and will return it, which, of course, has not been done, for the simple reason that it has' for some time past adorned the person of one of the family, a blooming damsel of eighteen summers.