Untitled

Thames Advertiser, Volume XII, Issue 3235, 4 February 1879, Page 2

The only business at the Police Court yesterday, before Mr A. J, Allom, J.P., was the punishment of a man named Biohard McColl for baring been drunk and incapable on Satur* day evening. Mr Cooper and Major Boberts, B,M;, flat as a Commission at Weatport yesterday in regard to the charge of intemperance, and consequent neglect of duty made asainst Warden Broad R.M., by the police officer in charge to his superiors. It is said the latter has been inoited by the Warden reporting the said officer un< deseryedly.'

Some of the members of the Grahamstown Fire Brigade wish to apologise for the lengih of time which elapsed before they reached the fire, but considerable delay ensued in giving the alarm, and they were mustered as quickly as possible afterwards, whilst some of their number, who lived on the spot, were there to render valuable assistance before the arrival of the engine.

A meeting of the Water Committee, and the first meeting of the Thames High School Governors, will be held at the Borough Chambers, at 7.30 this evening. /

The case of Henderson, J.P., versus the Mayor ot Blenheim, for the use of threatening language, was to be heard at Blenheim yesterday, but on the application of Mr McNab, solicitor for defendant, was adjourned for seven days to enable defendant to obtain material witnesses, 31 of whom are to be called.

Bishop Nevill Iks applied to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Part: for a grant of £3000 with which to purchase Government lands in New Zealand as an endowment for the diocese of Dunedin,

McKenzie's house at the Hutt was burnt down on Saturday night. The fire arose from the explosion of a kerosene lamp. The flames spread with great rapidity, and in the confu-

sion one little girl, aged five years, was burned to death, The other six children were resThe house and all its contents were -entirely consumed. The house was insured in

the South British for £200. The stock and furniture was uninsured. McKenzie lost the

whole of his stock, valued at £200, and all his household goods, and also lost £40 in cash.. Cleland's store opposite had a narrow escape, and' was'-, on fire at one lime, but was extinguished,

It is understood that two or three gentlemen on the Board of Governors of Wellington College intend resigning, owing to circumstancrs connected with the recent system of management and the proposed changes in the same.

. The Coromandel return of gold for December was nine hundred and three ounces, and for January two hundred and twenty-one oances.

At the meeting of the Coromandel County Council yesterday the Act was brought into force.

The Bank of New South Ws!b shipped for Auckland, per s,s, ' Eotomahana,' on Saturday, one box containing 1,3750zs lldwts 12grs of gold,

The New Zealand Tims contradicts a statement made in Wellington that the Governor had applied for the use of the ! Hincmoa' to take him to Victoria.

For the Ohlka bridge contract (Westport) the tender of a local man for 998 haß be en accepted. The Koronui Company, who hare let the contract for their bridge, propose to push on the construction of a branch line, and put No. 2 issue scrip into the market when the time is completed.

The blondenettes, or female minstrels now playing in Melbourne, are arranging for a New Zealand tour, commencing at Wellington,

The house of Mr Ardenson, shipwright, was broken into in Wellington on Sunday night, while the family were at church, and £40 in gold taken,

The result of the distribution of the pr v es in the Champion Schooner Bace at. the Auckland regatta, was as followslst prize, £100 to owner, and chronometer, presented by Mr Marshall, to master; 2nd, £30; 3rd, £10.-' Adah' (owner, Stone Bros.; master, W. Jones) wins from 'Transit' bys6secs, 1; 'Transit,' 2; 'Torea,' 3; Beward (saves her stakes), 4,

The condemned man Walsh's fate will not be decided till Mr Sheehan's return to Wellington, early this week,

The Court of Inquiry on the dispute between the Surveyor-General and Chief Surveyor JackBon is proceeding in Wellington, The Hon, W. Buckley attends as counsel for Jackson, and all proceedings are recorded by shorthand reporters,

' Mr Hi T, Clarke, tinder Secretary in the Native Office, retires on a pension at the end of the mouth, It is expected Mr James Mackay will succeed him.

The Wellington Gold Cup, manufactured by Kohn and Co. for the Wellington races, weighs 17ozs of 18-carat gold,

The s.B. ' Hero' left Auckland on Sunday morning for Sydney and Melbourne. Passengers : —For Sydney: Saloon—Mrs Drinkv?ater and family (3), Mrs and Misses Lewis (2), Mr and Mrs E. Brett, Messrs J. Beid, J. P, Coortayne, J. H. Morel), 6. W. Rusden, 1. Baisett, and Bruce. Steerage—Miss Mary Hatton, Messrs Barth, W. H, Hicholls, Nabhill, F. Home, W, Druce, John Dillon, and Monk. For Melbourne: Saloon—Captain, Mrs, and Miss Wilson, Mrs Newhill, Mrs Hammond and two children, Messrs N, and J, 6. Wilson. Steerage—Mr and Mrs 6. B, Timble, Miss Hannah Mead, and Mr George Skipper,

Charles Veith, charged with indfcently assaulting a Maori woman at Auckland, was discharged.

The missing trooper from Taupo has arrived safe; the search party met him on the coach road. He slates that he met a man in a very exhausted condition who had lost himself on the Tokora Plains. Eewi arrived at Oranui on Sunday night. There are not many natives here as yet.

The Jane Douglas managed to get over the Foxton bar, contrary to expectations.

F Cooper, of Wellington, who bought the wreck of the 'City of Auckland' for £150, has sold it to Bow, Birchley and Co. for £230, reserving for himself the steering wheel, binnaclc, compasses, and Me bower anchor and chain. The purchasers intend diverting the Otaki river by a cutting, with the object of trying to get her off, If not successful they will break her up/

The open sailing boat race was again contested unsuccessfully in Auckland on Saturday. The 'Neva' got away first, with only a Bmall portion of her canvas on, The other boats got under weigh smartly, with scarcely a atitch of canvas uj.. The 'Dreadnought, 1 which was one of the first to start, filled, and sank, and the crew were seen struggling in the water. An instant later, and the 'Terrible' also filled and sank, The scene now was one of the utmost confusion. The leading vessels were scudding down the harbour, some with a jib set, and others with a close-reefed mainsail, One of the North Shore Ferry Company's steamers put off from the wharf, in order to assist in saving some of the drowning men, Before she could reach them, however, the f Kingi Mapere" had stopped, and picked up the crew of Hie' Dreadnought.' One of the natives onboard jumped overboard in order to save a man. Jones picked up another in the < Alert,' and Hunt one in the 'Brothers.' There was considerable excitement on the wharf until it was ascertained, so far as was known, that all tip men were saved, The 'Neva,' 'Kingi Mapere,' 'Brothers,' and others returned; while the 'Toy,' 'Volante,' 'Alert,' 'Tui,' • Pembroke,'' Missing Link,' and another continued, These vessels came up the harbour, and passed the Bailway Wharf in the following order:—'Toy,'3hrs Omins (wees; 'Volante,' 3hra smins Jjjseca; ' Alert,' 3hrs 6mins gaecs; 'Pembroke,' %s lQmins 15 sees; 'Tui,'3hrs 12mins30secs; 'Missing link,' 3hrs 16mins Ifsecs. The race, of course, will be run over again, the interest in it bring absorbed by the accident recorded above. In passing the flag•hipthe'Toy'held a leading position, with the 'Volante," Alert,' Pembroke,' 'Tni,'and • Missing Link' behind, in order given.

A contemporary relates tie following story A facetious railway guard on the Ot?go trunk line lately oried out as the train was about to enter a tunnel, "This is one mile long, and the train will be lour minutes passing through it." The train dashed through into daylight again in four seconds, ana the scene within the carriage was a study for a painter. Two young ladies were closely pressed by two pair of masculine arms, four pairs of lips were glued together, and three liquor flasks, held by bucolic matrons, flashed in the air.

A writer in the Akaroa Mail affirms that aithough the local Councillors are " Great Unwashed," still he is given to understand that, cut of that Byronic body, " two Councillors at least, have been known to wash themselves."

A Dunedin correspondent explains a cause cilfcbre now pending in the Supreme Court there between the son of the late Engineer-in-Chief, Mr Carrathers, and a lady bar-tender, as follows: —The plaintiff is a young lady who formerly dispensed liquors at the bar of one of Dunedin's most popular refreshment saloons, and the defendant is the con of an erstwhile Government engineer whose name Is associated with many great public works. Rather more than a year ago the plaintiff was employed as barmaid at a fashionable hotel in Invercargill where the defendant was sojourning at the time. The young man became smitten with the per. sonal charms of the colonial Hebe, and shewsd attentions and paid his addresses to her. The couple seemed for a time enraptured with each other, and marriage formed the burden of many loving conversations. As if to prove once more the truth of the ancient ada?e that "the course of true love never did run smooth," an unexpected cloud obscured the the sunshine of their happiness. Adonis was called away to other scenes, The fare (veil, of course, was affecting in the extreme; but the lovelorn pair comforted themselves with the hope of a speedy reunion, However, it did not take place. An time sped on its busy flight the ex-barmaid gave token of an upproaching interesting period in her life's history. She fell ill, aad one fine day awoke to the consciousness of maternal cares and responsibility. The distant lover was duly made acquainted with what had .transpired, and it is said that in his letters he did not deny the paternity of the little stranger, but that be positively refused marriage to its mother, or a payment towards its support, An application for maintenance may therefoie follow the action for breach of promise of marriage.—Sun,

The Wairarapa Daily says that the rabbits may prove to be the means of forcing the proprietors of large estates to cut them up into small holdings. Referring to the Huangaroa estate it adds:--"We fancy the Hon. John Martin would have liked to have lived on his purchase, and ridden over miles of the best land in the provincial district as their proprietor, But the Hon. John Martin is not the man to sacrifice a fine estab to sentiment and rabbits, and so he is cutting it up into small holdings. If the project turns out, as we believe it will do, a profitable speculation, other large proprietors mil follow suit, and there will be an influx of population into the Wairarapa that will soon double and treble its present productive powers. The question whether poor bunny is a friend or foe is yet to be determined, We ourselyri are inclined to believe that ultimately he will prove to be the former."

The 'Colonial Office (says the Australasian) has made an admirable appointment to the governorship of "Victoria in the Marquis of Normanby. Should the war and revolution projects of Messrs Berry and W. C. Smith be attempted to be realised, there are troublous times ahead for Victoria. And it is well to know that at any rate the vice-regal office will be filled by a man of tried capacity and unchallenged impartiality. If the political clouds which lower upon our hotizon clear away and dissipate, it will be very satisfactory. But, at any rate, it is satisfactory to be sure that there will be a firm and steady hand on the helm of the ship of the State should tempests unhappily ensue. lord Normanby during his tenure of office in Queensland and New Zealand hp? passed through serious political and constitutional difficulties, . In passing through them he has exercited the powers of his high office in a way which has materially tended to preserve the political peace, while it has also availed to secure the paramount rule of law and English constitutional principles. His Excellency, while not shunning responsibility or contenting himself with the position of a political cypher, has yet alwaya gained the respect of all sides, and his perfect impartiality has been unquestioned. There is no room for doubt that his official career in this colony will be as beneficial and creditable as it has been in the colonies he has already presided over, and'that when in the fulness of time he quits Victoria after the expiration of his term of office, he will leave the sense of his capacity, and fairne:s, and constitutional wisdom that he has left elsewhere,

•Military inventions move apace,' observes an English contemporary, 'as the Afghans and others who may chance to be interested in the operations of our troops will presently discover. Not only are rockets improved and mountain batteries perfected,'but amongst the aids of warfare sent out to the North-West frontier are some curiously-contrived shells, which, when fired into the air on a dark night, will, by means of a parachute and some magnesium stars, turn the gloom into light, and enable English artillery or infantry, as the case may, be, to disturb at their leisure the repose of their enemy. Signalling, too, has received an impetus, and supposing, that the excellent system which has been invented by Colonel Yonge, R.A., and which has been adopted by the Austrians in Bosnia and the Herzegovina, be finally taken up by the English Government, a great atep will by made in advance of the old flag arrangement which, admirable so far as it goes, is all too complicated and tedious for the purposes of rapid warfare. Colonel Yonge, by means of 12 segments of a circle identical with those formed by the spaces between the figures on a clock face, has contrived a series of signals which are so perfect, and at the same time so simple, that their use is possible after a few minutes' instruction, and they are, besides, infallibly safe against either mistakes by friends or comprehension by the enemy, If to this ingenious invention another be added, by the same clever officer, for finding the hours of sunrise and sunset at any given place, and also the latitude and longitude, enough will have been said to show that for the moment we are not behind our neighbours in moving with the times, The conflict with Afghanistan will, m all probability, bring to the front many useful discoveries of a practical and instructive kind, as was the case in the Abyssinian and Ashantee wars, Why, for example, should we not ere long have a captive balloon, amply supplied with an Edison light and the necessary reflectors, pouring beams of electricity upon a discomfited foe? There is no limit to science, as possibly the Ameer may discover before his misunderstanding with England has been settled.'

The Bendigo Evening News contains the following somewhat improbable story" It may not be known to all our readers that a gentleman, formerly a resident of Punjaub,lndia, is now a citizen of ours. When coming to Australia he brought with him several native animals. Among them was a Bengal tiger whelp. This interesting quadruped arrived safely, and in due course found its home in Sandhurst. Its owner, a fatherly man, with many olive branches, allowed his children to play with it, so that familiarity with the animal led the children to sometimes leave the cage opou, One day, as the youthful tiger had finished liis dinner, which consisted of raw beef given by Masters Johnny and Theodore, finding his cage door open, he came out for a sunning, Soon he jumped the garden fence; afterwards espying a goat, he oautiously followed, spiangatit, and quickly devoured the poor animal. The warm blood of the goat having given a fillip to his appetite, he started for other plunder of a like sort. He went down View street, and when at the reserve gate beside the survey office, saw a perambulator with a baby in it, going through the wicket; He sprang at the child, but the nurse girl instantly got the vehicle through the gatei The tiger, enraged at its quarry's escape, started growling most furiously. The strange Bounds soon brought a lot of dogs about, which barked and yelped round the fierce brute. This evidently had the effect of putting the tiger off the scent of the baby, for he instantly attacked the curs, and before leaving off he had doomed four of them; one of the doi>s was a lady's pet lapdog, a beautiful and costly Prince Charlie, By this time a crowd had gathered around, and one of the spectators fortunately had a revolver with him, and with cool aim soon despatched the brute, The incident is extremely curious, and were it not so well authenticated by so many witnesses, would be past belief. W incerely hope that gentlemen from India will, (future, i leave their tigers behind !