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Thames Advertiser, Volume XIII, Issue 3634, 23 June 1880, Page 3

The mail steamer left Auckland at two o'clock yesterday afternoon for Honolulu and fian Francisco with the outward mails for America and Europe. The inward mail is expected on Monday next,

A very large number of logs crowded the booms of the f hortland Sawmill yesterday, brought down from every conceivable spot by the heavy fresh, tho result of long continued rains. There will be no lack of work at the mills for Borne seasons to come if the demand keeps up as at present.

His Worship the Mayor will leave for Wei Sington on Monday next.

A total eclipse of the moon took place at an early hour this morning. The Bky was overcast »nd cloudy, but the contact with penumbra and shadow were clearly visible, and the time given by MrS. J. Lambert, F.8.A.5., of Auckland, Were most accurate, namely:—First contact with penumbra, 10.48 p.m.; first contact with thadow, at 11.15 p.m.; beginning of totality at 1.2 a,m,; middle of eclipse, at 1.20 a.m.; end of totality, at 1,39 a.m.; last contact with shadow, at 2.55 a.ra,; last contact with penumbra, at 3,52 a.m. Fhe will be totally eclipsed for 37 minutes. Magnitude of eclipse, 1.063, moon's diameter being (1).

The soiree in connection with the Congregational Sunday School anniversary celebration, announced to be held yesterday, wds very wisely postponed owing to tho inelemendy of the weather until this evening, at the saipe hour and place. Some good speaking and better music may be anticipated.

The County authorities have received a grant if £1000 towards the Paeroa-Katikati road, tenders for the formation of which at certain points are now being proceeded with, A vote for the Tauranga end of the road is also being expended by the Tauranga County Council,

The charge of indecent assault on a girl of tender years, named Margaret Ferguson, will ie proceeded with at the Police Court this morning, the accused being a gum digger named William Cornell. The circumstances of the ease were given hv Monday's issue. Since the arrest, a female witness has been procured from Taranaki,

A new arrival who had taken up land in the Upper Thames, brought with him last week a supply of timber from Auckland at a cost of 3s 6d per 100 feet additional to the mill price, laving been told by a merchant in town that it was impossible to procure such here. The fact is the steamer which he chartered to convey his goods could have shipped the same here at a much less cost, seeing tbat cargoes of timber ore sent direct to Auckland, Canterbury, Sydney, and other merchants.

• The steamer Enterprise has proceeded direct to the Shorthand Wharf without landing her passengers at Grahamstown for several trips lately, and the travelling public complain of the inconvenience occasioned thereby.

■ The County Council are not likely to get the Bum of £3,000 promised for'the road through the Komata, in consequence of the hon. the Native Minister'determining that the work should be done when convenient by a detachment of the Armed Constabulary. We believe a portion of the sum intended to be ex pended on' the road will be forthcoming to keep faith with engagements entered into, but Government prefer to postpone the work for a more'convenient season, rather than push on with a road which has been most urgently seeded for years past.

The following tenders have been received foe the Te Eore Bridge contract, Waipa and Eanglan Countiea:— Accepted: J. J. O.'Brien Grahamstown, £2592. Declined—J. McLean and Son, Auckland, £2692; Briton and Glendinning, Napier, £2695: J. 6. Smilh, Auckland, £2752; Alex Sutherland, Auckland, £2910; Donald Boss, Auckland, £2965; Mercer and Bamßay, Auckland, £3304; K. B. Hunt, Hamilton, £3446; Alexandar Watson, .£3494.

In consequence of the disbandment of iho Wellington Fire Brigade, the sum of £500 standing to the credit of accident fund has teen been divided among the men. Each member has received a proportion due to him according to the term he had served in tie Brigade; the sums, varying from £5 to £50, were thus alloted.

Considerable dissatisfaction is expressed at the Thames by shareholders,' brokers, specu< latoii, and others with regard to the manner in which the result of the breaking down in the Kuranui mine on Friday last was made, or lather hot made, public at the Thames. Although it was well known in Auckland that ■ a breaking down of the big lode would take place, the representatives of the Press were not informed of it, and were consequently quite in ' the dark, During the afternoon many inquiries were made by the brokers as to what was the result, and ultimately it leaked out that a breaking down had taken place. This was late in the afternoon, and toward 5 o'clock telegrams were received by the brokers from their agents in Auckland giving copies of the manager's wire to Auckland. The share- ■ holders very naturally grumbled at being kept so long without the information. Many inquiries were made as to what had become of the man'who usually came off shift at four o'clock, but it was found they had been compelled to remain below until such time as the Information h?d been forwarded to Auckland, and repeated back to the The representatives of the Press received no information whatever, and for once could not answer the many inquiries which were put to them. The mine is now almost under lock and key, and no one is allowed to go down without an order from the, manager, Whether this is the will of the directors, or the manager's own act, is not known; but there can be no doubt it has caused a great deal of distrust, and everyone is suspicious-of what is taking place. All kinds of pumours are flying about at the Thames, but .-Boneof them can be depended upoD,— Etrald.

The ketch Clematis has been rather severely injured by collision with the s,s, Rotorua, and bad she been struck a little further forward would have been sunk. The master throws all the blame on the steamer, but avers that the eaptain told him it was his own fault, and that he could have got out of the way.

'Sweetßose'evidently thirds we are '50 years behind the age' in some respects. He writes:—To the Editor.—Sir, —Permit me through your columns to call the attention of the Inspector of Nuisances to the filthy state of some of the closets in connection with some of the places of worship on the Thames. There ' is one which for the last three years has not been fit for any child to enter, and now—ah! well the door ought to be nailed up, for if any dog or cat looked in it would hurry on. Sir, it is a calamity when the officers of churches ~become so celestial as neither to see or smell ouch terrestrial things, I hope, sir, this notice will cause the removal of the nuisance; if not ■I shall enter into particulars, which will make , some gentlemen blush that now move very complacently among their fellow men. Fifty years ago Christians used to teach that cleanliness was next to godliness, but now some profess to have got beyond this old fashioned orthodox notion.

We regret to learn that Miss Clara Stephenson, the popular actress of the Steele Dramatic Company, met with a serious accident yesterday morning. She was about to descend the staircase of the Pacific Hotel leading to the Academy of Music, when she slipped, and was thrown violently down the stairs for a considerable dislanc, sustaining injury to her spine, which will necessitate rest for some time to come. Medical aid was died iu, and we are glad to hear that the patient is doing as well as can be expectod under the ciicuaislanees. The company sustain a loss in the services' of Miss Stephenson, who takes the part of the heroine in the play of "Trie) and True," annoonced for last evening's performance, and the management was compelled to close the Academy in consequence without giving the piece at the Thames. It will-be produced at the Theatre Royal in Auckland to-night with Miss Wilton as Helen Burton, instead of JRss Stephenson, the company having returned to town last night. We understand they purpose visiting the Thames again on the 12th proximo, when they will no doubt be favoured with larger audiences, the weather having been so much against them on this occasion.

We learn that the additional insurance of £200, bringing the total insurances on the Marine Family Hotel up to £950, instead of £750, was effected in the Victoria Fire Office in Auckland without the knowledge of the local agent, and to cover a further mortgage.

The charge made against Mr A cton Adams, M.H,R. for Nelson City, for perjury, will commence on Friday, Mr Pitt, MH.lt., has been summoned by Mr Adams as witness,

Mr Goodwin, Assistant Government Inspector underthe Auckland Boardof Education, is again on the Thames. This week he is conducting the standard examinations at Mr Horatio Phillips' school (the Kauaeranga Boys) Next week the Kauaeranga Girls' School, of which Miss Hazelden is head teacher, will be examined.

raong the passengers on board a ship from one of the sister colonies to the mother country waß one of the best families in the colony, nud a young man, also of good family, but of dissolute habits. The young man, in spite of repeated refusals, persisted in paying his addresses to a young lady, a member of the family mentioned already. One fine day, while the ship was sailing at the rate of about ten knots an hour, he said to her "If you do not promise to marry me I will jump orerboard and drown myself." "The very best thing you can do," she jestingly replied. He got out* side the taffrail and then said, "I ask you for the last time if you will marry me.'' " Once for all, I will not," she replied. " Then goodbye,'and he jumped overboard, and was seen J no more.

Captain J. Btormonfc Small writes;—To the Editor.—Sir,-I see Mr Barlow does not deny, that all the fulsome praise of himself which has so often appeared in the newspapers jb written by him, and emanates from his own imagination, but with his well-known modesty qualifies the charge by saying, ' When a good mechanic applies for a job it is not considered egotism or vanity in him to inform his patrons that he is master of his trade.' Now this is just where the difficulty comes in. Mr Barlow, I opine, is not master of his trade, I allude to that of drill instructor, &c. What he at present knows in that line was mainly picked up in the Hauraki Engineers. His professed Home experience will not do wilh those who know better. The two greatest bungles made by that corps were caused through Mr Barlow not correctly performing his duty as right guide; the one was made at the review at Waikato, the other at a subsequent review at Tararu. In the one case the whole battalion was thrown into disorder, in the other the H.E, Corps suffered. Mr Barlow still persists in the vain idea that he was entitled to the position of second captain, and goes on to say " The billet was, however, a creation of the captain's fertile imagination, no such grade being allowed the corps,' To show how unscrupulous Mr .Barlow is in his assertions, please read the . following quotation from Mr Barlow on another occasion: "I consider it discourtesy on the part of my commanding officer, inasmuch as I was asked by him whether it was usual in the Soyal Engineers corps to possess a second captain to a company, and on my answering in the affirmative was assured by him that he would accept no nomination for the position but that of myself." Here we have from the same individual two different statements—the one that the idea originated with the captain, the other that it was the result of information obtained from Mr Barlow. Mr Barlow urged upon me the advisability of nominating a second captain, as (so he said) _ second captains were allowed to Engineer corps, and, as the corps had been allowed to largely increase its numbers the work would be too much for one captain, would I nominate him alone for the position ? Be tried to extract a promise from me, but I walked away and left him. To have made any such promise I consider would have been highly reprehensible, no matter who the man might have been. I certainly think the company should have something to say about it. The rest of the story is well known. Mr Bnrlow did not become second captaiD, and in his Joss the company is a decided gainer. The doubtful honour of having been at any time the friend of Mr Barlow's bosom I respectfully decline, the friendship having been' al! one-sided, that gentleman having reaped all the results, for which he has for some time past been showing his gratitude. And I would recommend any other friends of his bosom which he may come across since his sojourn on the Thames to be very wary, as they might discover when too late that such bosom friends are best admired at a distance.

A Cambridge correspondent of the Htrdd says some mention of the proposed local railways in the report of the Bailway Commissioners is anxiously looked for, an impression having got abroad that both the branch line to Cambridge and the continuation of the Thames line from Mr Jenkins's farm at Piako to the head of the navigation, will be shelved for a season. It is scarcely likely, however, that the Government would let No. 1 section of the latter line remain a piece of useless and unremunerative expenditure, unless they had resolved to continue it to the head of the Thames navigation, beyond which, for years to come, it will be unnecessary to take it. Another thirteen miles or so, of comparatively inexpensive work, will complete the circle of steam communication between Auckland, Waikato, and the Thames by mixed railway and river route. Injthe case of the proposed Cambridge branch line there, is the double incentive to its immediate construction.

Operations at the Tararu Hematite claim have .been suspended for three months, 1 and the Warden has granted protection for it for that period. Work has been stopped to enable the proprietors to obtain proper appliances for treating the material in its. serai-prepared state, the Exchange battery, which has been used so far, being unfitted for finishing it off. 'We believe the necessary machinery cm be obtained from Australia, On its arrival here it will be at once fitted up at the Exchange mill, and another start made to reduce the ore to a good marketable commodity. About four tons of coarse powder are now on hand, which will be further ground on the arrival of the new appliances.

Mr H. Follettffalcombe, the promoter of the special settlement at 90-mile buah between Wellington and Hawkes Bay, haß arrived at Home and delivered an address before the Colonial Institute on New Zealand. There was an unusually large attendance, Sir E W. Stafford, Sir A. Clifford, Mr Broonihall and others look part in the discussion.

" M. R." writes in reply to some statements in our contemporary, relative to the filthy condition of the Auckland Quarantine Station, and the extraordinary mortality amongst the Earl Granville's immigrants while quarantined there, "M. B." deniea the assertions of our contemporary m both respectr. He says:—"Being one of the immigrants, per Earl Granville, and one of the first shown over the buildings by Dr Andrews and the officer in' charge, I had an opportunity of seeing the state of the premises on arrival, They were not in such a filthy condition as alleged, or anything approaching to it, It is not truo that the buildings were alive with vermin, hut certainly—it being warm weather—the flies were as numerous as the unemployed in New Zealand. It is possible that the fever-strickeri passengers of the ship British Empire may have left behind them the germs of. a contagious disease; but although, unfortunately, four adults died there, including the medical officer, twelve have not, as stated. And, although the remainder have not yet discovered that 'land flowing with milk and honey' which they ' had seen iu dreams,' only two instead of 100 as stated by your contemporary's exaggerative correspondent, have ' shufied off this mortal coil.'"

A Clergyman's attempt at Economy.—A minister's six-year-old, a few days ago, while at tea with papa and the rest of the family, looking into the watery appearanco of her enp, said: "If I was not a minister's little girl, I'd go straight off to McGowan's for some tea" "Why, my dear," asked papa, "don't 'you like your tea?" With her little heart ready to burst she sobbed, "But you didn't buy McGowan's 3s tea!" Bravo, little maid I Call round this way and you shall have a pound all to yourself,—Jiaea MoSqwar,